St. Francis 50: "Wayfinder"

[xxuxx]

Originally Posted by Hugh Howey

I'm spending a lot of time with Duncan. He picked me up at the airport, drove me around town to orient me, showed me around the yard and boat, and then got me settled in to my B&B.

George, the sales manager at St. Francis, told me all this would happen when I first met him three or so years ago. It was at one of the Annapolis shows. I asked about how much the boat could be customized, and he went into a speil about how you fly out to the boat, Duncan picks you up, drives you around, and you lay out your interior with cardboard so you can really "see" it and walk around it before they build it out of wood.

I remember the conversation very well, because I would go on to hear the exact same pitch four or five more times. Every time I visited a SF at a boat show, I would hear the pitch. And I would overhear George saying all this to other customers, as they asked about interior options or how the build process goes.

What's weird is having heard the pitch, and then having seen what happens in reality, and realizing it isn't a pitch. It's just George telling you how things are going to happen. Because they've done it dozens of times before.


I can feel the history of their previous boat builds just by spending time here in St. Francis Bay. People hear my American accent and ask if I'm on holiday. I say that I'm here because of a boat. "Oh, you mean Duncan," they'll say. Or "Leftbridge," depending on how they know him. "You're the new boat buyer." And they might have something to say about a previous boat buyer who passed through. Or the reputation of the boats. I guess what I mean is that you feel like you're part of a larger process here. That this is a normal way of life for this town. A few times a year, a massive catamaran rolls down the highway, pulled by a tractor, all traffic blocked off, until it backs down the ramp at the sea port and bobs on the water for the first time. It's as regular as the squid boats.

What was so hypothetical and unreal sitting on a demo boat at a boat show is really bizarrely real and normal sitting here in South Africa. What's so strange is how normal it all feels.


Back to Duncan, though, and who you work with as you go through a build: Duncan is the heart and soul of St. Francis Marine. Not sure if you know the history of the company (and I could be messing it up here), but he didn't set out to build a bunch of boats. He wanted to build himself a boat to go sail around the world with his family. He was a land developer in this area. He looked at boats, didn't see the mix of what he wanted, and so he hired a naval architect to come up with a solution. By the time he was done with the boat, he had offers on it, and he also saw how he would build the next one a little better. So he did. And a friend wanted that one as well. So he kept building them, and people kept buying them, and I honestly think his love of tinkering and designing and perfecting just took hold.

I can see how it would. It's addicting. Walking through the boats with Duncan (at boat shows and now here) is a blast. He not only has so many ideas, he has so much experience from past builds and from tens of thousands of miles of sailing these boats (in some really bad conditions and also in many Cape to Rio races and deliveries). He's seen more of the sea than I ever will and been a part of more boat builds than most human beings. So we walk around the boat and geek out over ideas. I tell him some crazy thing I want, and he says, "Oh, sure, we can do that." I tell him something else, and he says, "We tried that before, and here's why that didn't work out great, and here's how I would go about it this time."

I've been to the yard nearly every day since I've been here. Not sure if this is normal or not, but I just walk up and knock on his office, and he waves me in and asks if he can get me tea or coffee, and we sit and look at paperwork together, or schematics, or lists of items, or mock-ups. He might tell me a story about his sailing experiences. Or walk me over to the boat to ask if something should go this way or that way. Or I walk around the conference room and agonize over color choices.

I also spend a lot of time with Jaco, his yard manager, who has been with St. Francis for 20 years. He started as a carpenter or a plumber (can't remember which) and worked his way up, so he's familiar with the entire process and all the iterations. Both are brilliant when it comes to engineering. They calculate load forces and know how to buttress things. I give them a weird idea, and one of them immediately gives me a tweak that makes it better. Both are crazily accessible, to the point that I have to really force myself to stay out of their hair. I find myself apologizing for taking up their time and staying away more than I really want, because they don't do anything to shoo me off. They just make me feel very welcome. Which puts the onus on me to be mindful of not slowing down the work by being there during shifts.

Today, Duncan is meeting me at the yard (on a Saturday!) just to let in a family I have become friends with in town to let them see the boat under construction. My feeling (and I've felt this at boat shows, and it really sold me on the yachts) is that he loves showing the boats off because he's proud of them. And he continues to build them because he loves the process. But that's just my gut feeling. I'm sure if you cornered him at a show and asked him his thoughts you'd get a better answer. And I'm just assuming here that my experience with the build is normal. So far, it's gone just like George said it would, all those years ago and so many times since. It's been a dream. And I have a good idea of what to expect at the end, because I've sailed on the finished product, and that was a dream as well. I've spent a total of two weeks living on the model, so I know how the daily routine works and how the systems work. I know two weeks doesn't sound like much when you're talking about living on a boat for years and years, but it's a lot more than a few hours walking through a boat before pulling the trigger. It was crucial for me, to remove any doubts I had over which boat to purchase.

I would probably still be hemming and hawing over which cat to get were it not for the personalities and people involved. I'd be putting off the decision, because I'd be worried about not making the "perfect" decision. The owner of hull #18 said when he walked on a SF 50, something in his gut told him this was the right boat. It was the exact same feeling I had years ago, and then had again every boat show since. That was key. But it was getting to know the people involved that really pushed me to take the leap. You're working with normal people. Sailors. Nothing against other builders, as I'm sure the experience is similar. Just relating what it's like with this company, since you asked. Not to get emotional or anything, but I've already told several people involved with the project that they feel like family already, and I've only been here a week.

OMG Hugh, what a candid and heart felt response. I have met both 'Duncan and George in Annapolis and had a very good feeling about both of them and your thread confirmed my feelings. I am sincerely thinking of selling my mango plantation and getting a SF 50 for myself...we shall see.

[Hugh Howey]

Originally Posted by xxuxx

OMG Hugh, what a candid and heart felt response. I have met both 'Duncan and George in Annapolis and had a very good feeling about both of them and your thread confirmed my feelings. I am sincerely thinking of selling my mango plantation and getting a SF 50 for myself...we shall see.

Two things:

1) "Mango" would be such an awesome name for a boat.

2) Come do part or all of the delivery with me, and then you'll know for sure.

[Bulawayo]

Having recently sold our V45 we are in the market for a new (used) cat. We met Duncan many years ago at his yard and were also impressed by his passion. The yard also happens to be located on the Garden Route, which, for us, is on a such a beautiful drive. That the workforce is so integrated with what they do makes it such an attractive proposition. At that particular time, we also met Fred Scholtz who used to build the Mayotte 47 (subsequantly absorbed into Voyage Yachts) who shared Duncan's passions. It is refreshing to hear such a story when you constantly read of terrible experiences elsewhere. I am looking forward to your next installment. The end product looks as though it shall be utterly awesome. At some stage, I hope, you shall create a page with all the detailed technical information - I love seeing what other people have done with their homes, to improve/modify/adapt them to their personal needs. About 25 years ago we saw a boat with a large family on board, 6x children and the parents. They had done a small mod to their fridge as the children were constantly opening it to get cold water. They had added an integral ten litre water tank with a hand operated pump tap on the counter top. When ever someone wanted a cold drink they could, without having to open the fridge constantly. It worked really well and they refilled the tank every evening so it was cold by the morning. We drink our water at ambient temperature, but still thought idea's like that were worth copying. It was also that family that convinced us that >900 watts of solar energy was the way to go.

[Hugh Howey]

Hey Bulawayo,

That drinking water solution sounds awesome! I drink a lot of water. A LOT. I would totally get a ton of use out of something like this.

What I end up doing at home and on boats is filling a Pur or Brita water filter jug with tap water and leaving the jug in the fridge. I like my water cold. It does mean going in and out of the fridge a lot.

One thing I insisted on with WAYFINDER is drawer-style refrigerators. I fell in love with these on the power boats I used to run. Something I noticed as I worked on a ton of different boats was that fridges with doors spill a lot of cold air onto the ground, while the drawers seem to hold the air in. Makes sense. Cold air is heavier. So it sits there like in a bucket. When you open a door fridge, the air avalanches out, and warm air moves in at the top. So that's one tweak I made.

I've already discussed the squared settees inside and out, which were a big modification. And the paddleboard storage, which I think is a must for anyone serious about paddleboarding or who wants to carry them on a voyage. Strapping them to the rails is not a good solution.

Going with a large dinghy was a difficult choice. I weighed the performance of the cat to the ability to get around and really explore places once I'm at anchor. For me, the purpose of sailing around the world is to stop and enjoy the sights and people along the way. I'm not in it for the thrill of sailing as much as the thrill of travelling and living on the water. So a lot of time has gone into the setup of the dinghy and how to launch/retrieve it.

One little tweak that I think will have a huge impact in the neatness of the boat and how it impacts day-to-day living is a hinged step by the forward bunks with two USB outlets inside. I'll be able to plug in my phone and Kindle, close the step, and the devices and wires are out of sight and always in the same place, so I can find them. Spending time on boats over the years, I've watched the number of gadgets, chargers, and cables creep up and up. There are a few cubbies like this on WAYFINDER that will keep things organized and charged.

Another place I'm going a little outside the box is the size of the TV I'm putting in the saloon. I'm going with a massive 50" Sony TV. These things have gotten so thin and light, that this 50" weighs less than half the first 32" plasma I mounted in a boat for an owner back in 2001. I know TVs don't seem to mesh with the "living at sea" lifestyle, but they do for me. I won't have TV service, but I'll carry a nice collection of films for movie nights and rainy days. The TV is a repeater for the nav system, so you can have it show a nice big chart while underway, if you want. I'll be taking a lot of pics and videos during the trip, and the TV will let you look through them with a group, rather than hunching over a laptop. One crazy design idea I'm trying to pull off is to have the TV mounted on a swiveling bracket, so that it faces the settee while recessed into the cabinet, but then you can swing it around so that it faces the cockpit, for lying outside while watching a movie or going through pictures. For charter boats, this would be a great feature, because you could point the large TV toward the dock and show a promo loop for those passing by the stern.

Probably my biggest alternations are the technical things you'll never see, but that I think are going to become standard over time in the industry. Lithium Ion batteries (these will probably give way to Aluminum Ion as that technology comes to market) and the DC generator. As well as the DC watermater, rather than an AC watermaker. Where things will get interesting will be when I pull the starboard Yanmar out in 5 or so years and replace it with an electric motor. Once I give the system a trial with one diesel and one electric, I may replace the other motor and go all-electric. It'll depend on how that technology matures. And I'll probably add another 300AH to the battery bank if I do this, to go from 900AH to 1,200AH. The idea is to make the system flexible with future upgrades in mind. This is one of the reasons I went with sail drives, as they are more plug-and-play than shaft drives. I could still have converted a shaft to electric, but companies like OceanVolt are making their systems so they drop right in to existing sail drive mounts.

Most of the stuff on the boat is normal, of course. Just a few things here and there that I hope will make living aboard more enjoyable. If nothing else, I enjoy learning, so I look for ideas that make sense to me that might require a little extra homework so that I pick up something new along the way. I get restless like that. To me, the maintenance and upkeep is part of the joy of living on a boat, not the drudgery. Even when I'm on friends' boats, I'm always looking for something to fix or polish or grease or make a little better. It's fun for me.

If I think anything else funky we're doing, I'll add them.

[Bulawayo]

Yup, we are the same - or at least I am. My wife is always amused at seeing me get excited at seeing new idea's. One of my sons is always tinkering with ways to improve something. I love the idea of the paddle ski stowage - wish we could have something like that. Unfortunately, there are to many of us and we have to make do with inflatable versions - but they are still great. We deflate them when making a passage otherwise they just get tied down to the tramps over night. We are with you on the recharging of 'toys' - we fitted a small shelf, with a 50mm fiddle, in each cabin with a twin USB outlet at each. The fiddles stop anything sliding off at sea and the shelf area was based on a 13" Apple Mac footprint. The kids and ourselves were then able to recharge as we wished. We sold our generator - we simply did not use it as we had so much solar and still had a our wind genny on top. We have not had to use the engines a single time for power generation since fitting the extra solar. We have never had air-con and sometimes wish we did have it - usually when the bugs are intent on invading us. However, with bug nets and screens, and plenty of fans we are generally comfortable, regardless of the weather. We have stuck with so called conventional batteries having had good experiences with these. We use Rolls lead acid batteries (12MD375) x3 and with our consumption we are just fine. We use around close to 200A per 24 hours whilst at anchor and this goes up by about 60A whilst sailing. This with a family of six aboard, with a washing machine (no drier), 12v water maker, a 32" flat screen TV, music system, and other items that are never switched off, e.g. VHF, anchor watch, depth - one per hull- etc. Other items we carry that we have found useful are fuel and water bladders. We regularly give the boat a fresh water wash. To do this reasonably, we shall fill one of our 2x two hundred litre water bags and use this to merrily wash down the whole boat, including the sails (usually needs two washes). The water bags roll away into very little space. Similarly, we may store an extra 400 litres of diesel when appropriate - typically when transiting the Red Sea, South to North and you know that a lot of motoring is required. Our fuel bags are not something I would go with again, though, as they are rarely used. Our water bags, in comparison, get used a fair bit. We also use them when in remote locations to donate fresh water to other yotties who dont have water makers. It is satisfying to help out when we can. With our solar panels, we are usually at float voltage by around 10am (when at anchor) and it is a nice feeling to have this every day - with the both the freezers maintained at around minus 15 deg C and the 2x fridges at 4 degree's C. We also keep a largish plastic barrel which we use to fresh water flush our outboard motors. The barrel has a clamp top lid and normally lives on the swim platform whilst at sea with our masks, fins and snorkels in it. Staying a moment with water - we also saw a boat in the Med last year that we intend stealing an idea from. He had fitted a fixed shower, with a narrow angle spray pattern, on his wind generator post at about 6ft above the deck. It was operated by a plunger tap that operated for around 25-30 seconds. When coming out of the sea you could stop at this shower, push the plunger tap and rinse off whilst having both hands free. It was a big improvement on our version of having a solar shower hanging up. The narrow angle avoided water being blown around and the plunger tap reduced water wastage. We loved this and shall be doing the same as we have always hated the little plastic pull out shower arrangements with the retractable shower hose. They always seem to fail on us.
We have 4TB of movies on board and around 700GB of music - and we have movie nights with other boats. However, these are not as frequent as we once thought as most evenings are spent doing something else. We try to maintain a routine on board which is not always successful - and try to have a movie each Sunday evening as the sun goes down. This got a little wrecked when we saw another small cat that had a 60" roll down screen in front of his saloon/cockpit sliding doors and an overhead high definition projector! It all took up very little space when folded away, took moments to bring into service, yet he had his own movie house with surround sound. Jealous? Yes, I was!
We have just sold our cat and now are looking at what we shall buy next - we have just flown to Mexico and Panama to check out a couple of boats but have not found our next cat yet. Whatever it shall be, we intend taking six months to sort her out to our specific needs, starting with the electrical and water systems (we wont buy unless it meets our sailing criteria, and our own survey). We do know that we shall be using 3x 345watt solar panels again, and our D400 wind generator, we shall not be bothering to upgrade the motor alternators again, we need the space for our tools and dinghies (we kept these from our recent sale) and also shall need to replace many of our prefered systems, like the Honda 2000i, the Bauer dive compressor, our anchoring system etc. We have a 20ft container loaded with our stuff ready to ship to where ever we find our next vessel. Its a 20ft container due to the two dinghies.
Anyhow, we enjoy reading your postings and love seeing your cat build - no doubt we shall see you on the water one day.

[Hugh Howey]

Wow! So much useful stuff in your one post, I had to read it twice to wring it all out.

A friend of mine also cruises with a large plastic bin by his swim platform. He uses it for his snorkel gear as well. Never thought about using it for the outboard flush. Great idea.

I love the shower idea as well. I've been thinking about the large baitwell in the cockpit of the SF50 and how I will use it. I don't see myself using it for fishing. What I'd love to do is stopper the bottom in an anchorage and run some hot water in here for a nice cockpit bath. Will have to toy with the idea some more.

Something that I think I'll be using a lot are the tables that convert to beds. Both the saloon and cockpit tables will lower and have cusions that can be inserted here. I can see leaving the cockpit table down often at anchor, and sleeping out there when the weather/bugs permit. For the settee table, lowering this for movie nights will be fun. And also a nice place for overflow guests or little ones.

Having dual-purpose items and spaces always appeals to me. The freezer and pantry area will also serve as a workshop and workbench, with tools stored on the inboard side and the foodstuff on the outboard side. If I have a project that needs a bench, I have a vise right there, can plug in a soldering iron, etc.

Another thing I'm looking forward to is the double-wide nav station. This area gets so much use and is usually too cramped. Mine will serve as the boat's office as well, rather than putting an office down below with no light. A printer will slide out on a drawer, rather than cluttering the top of a dash or counter. With a few drawers for pens, scissors, tape, envelopes, all that necessary stuff.

It will take a few years to sort it all out, I think, and for everything to have its place. But I'm trying to use past experience to give myself the best headstart possible. That means as many cubbies in logical places as I can put them, without the pressure to FILL UP all those cubbies, but to have just the things needed, and a way to get to them quickly and consistently.

[monte]

Yes Hugh, often it's the little tweaks that make you smile and appreciated them. Like your ex ample for multiple use and phone charging. Our setup isn't really a tweak but a use of the existing shelf next to our berth that accomplishes phone charging, some music, the occasional better sound for a movie in bed on the laptop but the most useful is a nice always charged vertical display for the anchor alarm apps. Just open one eye to confirm all is good and a big ass alarm right next to our ear should we drift outside out preset radius.

[Hugh Howey]

Originally Posted by monte

Yes Hugh, often it's the little tweaks that make you smile and appreciated them. Like your ex ample for multiple use and phone charging. Our setup isn't really a tweak but a use of the existing shelf next to our berth that accomplishes phone charging, some music, the occasional better sound for a movie in bed on the laptop but the most useful is a nice always charged vertical display for the anchor alarm apps. Just open one eye to confirm all is good and a big ass alarm right next to our ear should we drift outside out preset radius.Attachment 100958

Nice! Love that little cubby.

[Bulawayo]

Yup, we also sleep in the cockpit from time to time, altho' not as much as we should/could. We carry king size mossie nets for that purpose, as wellas for when we snooze at the beach. In our cockpit we also fitted two outdoor motion detector activated lights. They serve to light up the cockpit area when returning by dinghy and also as a burglar deterent. There one idea that really grabbed me many years ago in South Africa; to fit a trelli door (an expanding steel mesh security gate) that enables the saloon sliding glass door to be left wide open yet still giving full ventilation whilst denying access to undesirables. The security lights and burglar alarm are switched off when at sea. One our friends connected their burglar alarm to a mast head strobe light so that they had a chance to see it when ashore or if visiting another boat. This was also on our list of things to do. For fitting things on the mast it is invariably useful to carry an electricians fishing tape.
Our vice is mounted on 4ft long piece of hardwood with holes in each corner. We can move it around to where we want to work. Usually, it is ok to be used as it is, resting on a cheap camp foam mat. If it needs extra securing, I can lash it down using the holes but usually having the kids stand on either end is enough. We used to carry a Black & Decker workmate but it never really got used so that was eventually given away. To avoid damage to work surfaces I have for years carried one of those very dense plastic cutting mats - it measures about 30" x 24" and it simply cannot be demaged - it lays where ever I happen to be working.
With the plastic barrel; we also have the remains of a second one cut down, vertically. That barrel was a square section, with a handle incorporated. It serves as my fish cutting board and it goes overboard when sailing to self clean. It prevents accidental damage to my teak swim platform and reduces staining. If you decide that these are useful then consider buting the square-ish shape as they are easier to secure and dont waste space. To prevent our barrel being damaged by the outboard engine skeg I leave an old plastic chopping board in the bottom. It may seem daft but we always carry a couple of various thickness chooping boards and several of those thin foam camp mats. The chopping boards are used for multiple jobs. The last use was to make spacers for the dinghy wheels. I have previously used the thin flexible variety as a pump gasket and as a corrosion barrier when fixing two different metals together. The camp mats get used for anything, from wrapping the cooler box when its in the dinghy as sun protection, as floats in the sea, taken to the beach to lay on (as they roll up so compactly) to being cut up for various jobs to insulate, protect or stop rattles. We use up three or four a year. One even went to a friend who put in in his chain locker to save his gel coat. It is still there several years later. As these things are so cheap we are not sensitive to them being abused. We keep two in our dinghy when on passage as our dinghy is also our liferaft - the mats provide some comfort and insulation should we ever need it.
A question for you; what is your refrigeration choice? We use the standard fridge and seperate freezer provided by the builder. We have never found it to be enough with six of us. As a result, a number of years ago we bought a stand alone double door unit that enables us to use both compartments independently of each other - as fridge/fridge, fridge/freezer or freezer/freezer. This has worked out brilliantly for us as my wife can organise as she wishes, using the standalone unit contents first. It then gets switched off, unless we are very fortunate with fishing, and then it goes back into use. It also serves double duty for long forays ashore - be they camp trips or a big all day long shopping & reprovisioning exercise. We reprovisioned last year when at anchor in Oman and the big supermarket was a two hour drive away - using this very effective 12v unit meant our frozen food was still frozen when we returned to the boat, having also raided the local fruit and veggie market on the return journey. It is a large item but one we now consider invaluable to our life style. We are always curious about how others manage their boats.

[Bulawayo]

Originally Posted by monte

Yes Hugh, often it's the little tweaks that make you smile and appreciated them. Like your ex ample for multiple use and phone charging. Our setup isn't really a tweak but a use of the existing shelf next to our berth that accomplishes phone charging, some music, the occasional better sound for a movie in bed on the laptop but the most useful is a nice always charged vertical display for the anchor alarm apps. Just open one eye to confirm all is good and a big ass alarm right next to our ear should we drift outside out preset radius.Attachment 100958

nice, Monte.

[Hugh Howey]

Originally Posted by Bulawayo

A question for you; what is your refrigeration choice?

There's a dual-drawer Isotherm unit going in the galley. I believe it's around 30" wide. Lots of space there. Then in the cockpit, one of the settee benches is insulated and has another refrig unit. It's massive. You could probably fit 12-15 gallon jugs in there. And then you have a large drop-in freezer down in the port hull, outboard. Just a ton of space. I might not even have the cockpit unit on all the time.

[Bulawayo]

Those drawer units always look the business.........

[Heath68]

Originally Posted by Hugh Howey

....
Another place I'm going a little outside the box is the size of the TV I'm putting in the saloon. I'm going with a massive 50" Sony TV. These things have gotten so thin and light, that this 50" weighs less than half the first 32" plasma I mounted in a boat for an owner back in 2001. I know TVs don't seem to mesh with the "living at sea" lifestyle, but they do for me. I won't have TV service, but I'll carry a nice collection of films for movie nights and rainy days. The TV is a repeater for the nav system, so you can have it show a nice big chart while underway, if you want. I'll be taking a lot of pics and videos during the trip, and the TV will let you look through them with a group, rather than hunching over a laptop. One crazy design idea I'm trying to pull off is to have the TV mounted on a swiveling bracket, so that it faces the settee while recessed into the cabinet, but then you can swing it around so that it faces the cockpit, for lying outside while watching a movie or going through pictures. For charter boats, this would be a great feature, because you could point the large TV toward the dock and show a promo loop for those passing by the stern...

:-D big smile to find someone who appears to value everyday life and luxuries whilst on a liveaboard. I'm sure you've probably already thought of this but as a suggestion have you considered building up a DVD bank? I am as i said before a couple of years behind where you are now but already I've taken all my DVDs and backed them up onto a synology drive (4tb storage). This is then linked to the TV. This allows me to watch any one of my large collection of DVDs on demand. In addition it provides backup storage for all of my Photos, home videos etc meaning I can also reminisce on demand any family events I've video'd in the past AND have confidence that if my pc/laptop fails I don't have to panic (and if you're halfway through writing a book this can be a concern with the amount of invested time).

Also.. and food for thought before they begin fitting it out too much may be if you are hoping to have a surround sound/TV sound bar added and the wires this also may need... finally if you want to have the option of playing a blueray/dvd not already copied, you should be able to wifi/allshare it direct from your laptop to this and any other TVs in the cabin.

I don't know how I did this but I mistakenly thought the paddleboards were to lie in their side and go in the backrest section of the seating.. the video suggests that they are in the lap section.. but don't you then loose storage in these?

Great Thread by the way... I am also very much looking forward to seeing the finished product so will have to visit whichever show you make. The only questions I am probably still wondering about is performance before choosing an SF50 so would also be very interested in information on this aspect.

[Heath68]

Originally Posted by monte

Yes Hugh, often it's the little tweaks that make you smile and appreciated them. Like your ex ample for multiple use and phone charging. Our setup isn't really a tweak but a use of the existing shelf next to our berth that accomplishes phone charging, some music, the occasional better sound for a movie in bed on the laptop but the most useful is a nice always charged vertical display for the anchor alarm apps. Just open one eye to confirm all is good and a big ass alarm right next to our ear should we drift outside out preset radius.Attachment 100958

Having just come back from a trip where the skipper's drogue fell off and we drifted 50ish miles.. is the anchor app an apple only app?? trying not to hijack the thread maybe you could pm me with details?

[cruisingkrol]

Hugh, thanks for your post on the Alpha 42 thread. This thread on your build is awesome, should be required reading for serious sailors contemplating a buy vs build. Lots of great ideas for folks to contemplate. Marc Anasis is trying to do the same interior customizing with his Alpha 42's. Our #3 build will be a model for the cat's potential, I hope.

All the best - Carol