Bestevaer 49ST

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by HR42

In regards to gloves, the ultimate for warmth I've found to me is polartec gloves with a large sized heavy duty rubber gloves over the top, all long sleeved. Not terribly good for doing fine work as you can imagine. I read about this solution in the Italians book about sailing in Patagonia and tried it there recently.

Thanks for the suggestion. I have just tried rubber gloves over my possum/merino ones (I am a huge fan of wool) and the combo feels pretty good. Dexterity isn't too dreadful either. Far better than with ski type gloves. The only drawback is that it looks like I am ready to do the dishes .

SWL

[malbert73]

I do same but use a set of waterman/crabber black rubber gloves over whatever warm gloves I want. Very durable. Can use by themselves for mucky anchor work if need be

[JPA Cate]

Plus, they don't look "girly!"

[Seaworthy Lass]

This post comes very late, but I would like to thank the CF member who brought us the lovely gift of spiced Swiss honey bisicuits to KM's open day. Apologies that I didn't get a chance to thank you properly at the time (and I didn't ask your CF username). We were just inundated with people.

The biscuits were super delicious with coffee and very appreciated. Again, many thanks.

SWL

[noelex 77]

Sink storage:

One of the things I love about boats is that there is no shortage of satisfying little projects that can make life better.

When offshore, or for that matter even costal sailing, we use thermos flasks for hot drinks. You can boil the kettle and make enough for several cups of coffee. Perfect for those night watches.

Pouring boiling water when the boat is rolling and pitching needs to be treated with some caution.

The idea of a wooden board that sits across the sink to hold a thermos or other useful equipment, as well as acting as a chopping board is not new, but making your own is not only satisfying, it can tailored to fit exactly what you want. Our board only takes up less than half of one sink so the freshwater tap can still be used with it in place.

I used a router to cut groves underneath so the board drops into place and is quite secure. The timber used has a bit of story. It was originally the front door step to one of our first houses. We eventually knocked down the old house but this lovely thick solid bit of hardwood (of unknown species) was salvaged. The carpenter (who will now will be long dead) would never have imagined the timber he fashioned a century ago for the entrance step of that Australian home could end up on a yacht in the Netherlands. I wonder how many people have entered that house and stepped on the same timber board ? Were any brides carried across the threshold? We had several happy years in that beachside home.

Thoughts to contemplate on those night watches when the stars are out, the universe seems vast and a small boat seems insignificant.

[cj88]

Loving all the details. How deep did you make the sinks? So many boats sinks are too shallow IMHO but yours appear to be quite good.

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by noelex 77

Sink storage:

One of the things I love about boats is that there is no shortage of satisfying little projects that can make life better.

When offshore, or for that matter even costal sailing, we use thermos flasks for hot drinks. You can boil the kettle and make enough for several cups of coffee. Perfect for those night watches.

Pouring boiling water when the boat is rolling and pitching needs to be treated with some caution.

The idea of a wooden board that sits across the sink to hold a thermos or other useful equipment, as well as acting as a chopping board is not new, but making your own is not only satisfying, it can tailored to fit exactly what you want. Our board only takes up less than half of one sink so the freshwater tap can still be used with it in place.

I used a router to cut groves underneath so the board drops into place and is quite secure. The timber used has a bit of story. It was originally the front door step to one of our first houses. We eventually knocked down the old house but this lovely thick solid bit of hardwood (of unknown species) was salvaged. The carpenter (who will now will be long dead) would never have imagined the timber he fashioned a century ago for the entrance step of that Australian home could end up on a yacht in the Netherlands. I wonder how many people have entered that house and stepped on the same timber board ? Were any brides carried across the threshold? We had several happy years in that beachside home.

Thoughts to contemplate on those night watches when the stars are out, the universe seems vast and a small boat seems insignificant.

Nice story, noelex. .....And the tree from which it came, is still giving.

Ann

[Fiveslide]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

Nice story, noelex. .....And the tree from which it came, is still giving.

Ann

Yeah, I initially skipped straight to the picture and was going gig them for not matching the other cabinetry. Glad I read the post before inserting my foot in my mouth! [emoji1]

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by cj88

Loving all the details. How deep did you make the sinks? So many boats sinks are too shallow IMHO but yours appear to be quite good.

The two sinks are an identical size at L 340 x W 340 x D 200 mm (13.5 x 13.5 x 8 inches)

I agree the deeper the sink, the better on a boat. As well, if you can squeeze in two or least one plus a half, it makes life easier. It is also helpful to place sinks close to the centreline if possible.

The sinks are deeper than on our previous boat, and these worked fine. Given a free rein we would have gone deeper again, but even with using custom made sinks, the limitation was that all our through hulls are on standpipes. All the seacocks are 200 mm above the waterline, which means a seacock failure will not flood the boat. It also means the seacocks can be removed for replacement and service while the boat is in the water.

With an aluminium boat Marlon seacocks are the best choice, as it it removes any dissimilar metal issues. The Marlon seacocks cannot lose strength due to corrosion, but they are less strong than metal equivalents. Many boats mount Marlon seacocks on the hull below the waterline, but when using standpipes, in addition to all the other advantages, it means if they ever are broken (which I think is unlikely) it is not a big issue.

Standpipes are a great system, however, one of the few drawbacks of placing the seacocks well above the waterline is if very deep sinks were used a gravity drain would not be possible and a pump would be required for discharge.

So we went for the deepest sinks that were possible with the simpler gravity drain. I think this is a good compromise, but with conventional seacocks attached to the hull I would opt going even deeper.

[cj88]

Thanks, that makes sense. One of the things I love about aluminium boats is the ability to weld directly to the boat so having standpipes is very logical. I do also like the idea of a sea chest but the hose runs could be an issue.

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by Fiveslide

Yeah, I initially skipped straight to the picture and was going gig them for not matching the other cabinetry. Glad I read the post before inserting my foot in my mouth!

It's the non matching elements that make this boat a home .
Artwork was framed by my 90 year old father-in-law using leftover brushbox floorboards from our last house. Chopping board is a mix of Aussie timbers, bought at a local market before we started cruising a decade ago. Cheese boards in olive wood came from Hammamet and Paros, half way round the world from there. None of them match (nor does much of the china), but they all trigger good memories .

SWL

[250224]

You're welcome (and you did thank properly ;-)) There were really a lot of people and it was so kind of you to show and tell us about your boat/home and the thoughts behind it. Some ideas (food storage, e.g.) can also be applied to much smaller boats, it was very interesting for me to have a look. -- Good journeys (and wind etc.)!

Originally Posted by Seaworthy Lass

This post comes very late, but I would like to thank the CF member who brought us the lovely gift of spiced Swiss honey bisicuits to KM's open day. Apologies that I didn't get a chance to thank you properly at the time (and I didn't ask your CF username). We were just inundated with people.

The biscuits were super delicious with coffee and very appreciated. Again, many thanks.
SWL

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by blu3534

You're welcome (and you did thank properly ;-)) There were really a lot of people and it was so kind of you to show and tell us about your boat/home and the thoughts behind it. Some ideas (food storage, e.g.) can also be applied to much smaller boats, it was very interesting for me to have a look. -- Good journeys (and wind etc.)!

I have been reading through recipes for Basel Lackerli biscuits. Their popularity is not recent: they date back to Medieval times. An absolutely perfect boat recipe too, as all ingredients will store happily for months unrefrigerated, they can be mixed quickly by hand, they need little baking, and they keep for ages if they can be resisted. The latter is unlikely, as they are very lekker .

SWL

[Seaworthy Lass]

Photos of our new boat on the water were commissioned by KM and the first ones have just been emailed to us.

I remember browsing KM's website over the last few years looking at images of other Bestevaers, and it almost feels unreal now seeing our own boat sailing .

The photographer was again Arthur Smeets:

[Wotname]