Handy stuff for pocket cruisers, et al.

[Cobbeydale]

Maybe you chaps across the Atlantic have a different idea of pocket cruisers. Now passed on unfortunately but Charles Stock and Shoal Waters are a bit of a legend in the UK. His boat was a 16' gaff cutter that he finished and rigged himself - no engine at all - but he clocked up some miles
Home Page - Charles Stock & Shoal Waters
His boat was taken on by an enthusiast for the same sort of cruising
Creeksailor
Well worth a look.
Going a bit smaller: I had a bit of contact with Jim who sailed a 14' Paradox. This was a flat bottomed lug rigged mini pocket cruiser in which he did lengthy coastal cruises. I met him anchored in Plymouth Sound and the boat fitted him like a glove; although I did for a minute think it looked like a coffin. Sadly Jim passed away not too long ago as well.
Compared to them my 30' old school cruiser/racer is palatial

[Don C L]

This Frittata pan is now my primary cooking pan for anything, even if it doesn't need to be flipped (got an Origo but that doesn't matter.)
And I installed that Lagun table too, and for my narrow beam boat it is a gamechanger! As an experiment I mounted a temporary table board off center and that doubled or tripled the various ways to deploy the thing!It will take a while to play with the geometry and size to maximize the utility, but for now I'm loving it.

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by Cobbeydale

Maybe you chaps across the Atlantic have a different idea of pocket cruisers. Now passed on unfortunately but Charles Stock and Shoal Waters are a bit of a legend in the UK. His boat was a 16' gaff cutter that he finished and rigged himself - no engine at all - but he clocked up some miles
Home Page - Charles Stock & Shoal Waters
His boat was taken on by an enthusiast for the same sort of cruising
Creeksailor
Well worth a look.
Going a bit smaller: I had a bit of contact with Jim who sailed a 14' Paradox. This was a flat bottomed lug rigged mini pocket cruiser in which he did lengthy coastal cruises. I met him anchored in Plymouth Sound and the boat fitted him like a glove; although I did for a minute think it looked like a coffin. Sadly Jim passed away not too long ago as well.
Compared to them my 30' old school cruiser/racer is palatial

Welcome aboard Cobbeydale! My first experience with boats came in the form of 16 and 17 foot whitewater dories my dad developed for running the Grand Canyon, so when I got my first sailboat, at 24', I thought THAT was palatial.

[406Columbia]

Originally Posted by Don C L

This Frittata pan is now my primary cooking pan for anything, even if it doesn't need to be flipped (got an Origo but that doesn't matter.)
And I installed that Lagun table too, and for my narrow beam boat it is a gamechanger! As an experiment I mounted a temporary table board off center and that doubled or tripled the various ways to deploy the thing!It will take a while to play with the geometry and size to maximize the utility, but for now I'm loving it.

Don,

That pan looks great, looking forward to setting up my galley area asap. Still waiting on my cabinet from the carpenter and am very excited about the Lagun table leg. Do you have any pictures of your yet?

[swordds]

These are some things I find useful on my Alberg 30:
* I removed all my amazingly heavy interior boat cushions. The hard surfaces on the settees of my boat make much more functional storage/working surfaces then the cushions and now I have much easier access to the locker spaces below. My V-berth area is now more of a utility room storage area and my starboard berth is now an extension of my galley (with an Engel refrigerator which I love) and a chart table. If you don’t need to sleep 4 on the boat why have all those cushions, and I think my boat floats about 1/2” higher without them.
* I replaced the port settee cushion with a Coleman single air mattress (Part #20000216). It fits perfectly, is much lighter than the original cushion, is much easier to move out of the way when accessing the locker space below, and it is great for floating around on when anchored or at a beach. Also, a fitted single bed sheet fits nicely but I use extra large beach towels for bed linens. They also fit nicely and securely and as a bonus they allow the extra flexibility of changing my interior decor by simply changing the covering towel (a nice touch).
* I keep an Aere heavy duty inflatable dinghy beach roller on board for use as a fender . They are very rugged (made for rolling over gravely beaches), about 5 ft long and easily inflated for use or deflated for storage. Because they are long they can be stretched horizontally along the side of the boat and used for protection against pilings without needing fender boards, plus they could serve the dual purpose of having beach rollers if ever needed.
* I use a Leveco dry flush toilet (available from Home Depot by mail order). My boat had a Porta-Potty instead of a holding tank and I don’t believe there is space for a composting head? The Leveco is connected to my house battery. You can google to get the details on how it functions, mine works great and I have had no oder issues and it is very light. Also it can serve as a food waste garbage disposal. Admittedly I mostly day sail so it doesn’t get a lot of use but I like it much better than emptying the Porta-Potty.
* My lazy jib sheet was never lazy, it was always very industrious at finding ways to snag on the forward hatch or the halyard winches and cleats on the mast when tacking, causing me to have to abandon the tiller and rush to the mast to battle a flogging genoa. So I ran a single 5/16” double braid line from the mast at the height of the halyard winches to the stem at deck level which I keep taught with a truckers hitch. The height and slope of the line keeps the lazy sheet off the deck and away from the mast so it no longer snags on anything when tacking, and it makes a great support when working at the mast (raising or reefing the main) and a secure handhold when making the “leap of faith” from the mast to the bow pulpit.
* I have replaced many of my SS schackles with dyneema soft shackles. I first replaced the SS shackle on my topping lift to stop the rattling noise when the topping lift was loosened but left attached. Next I replaced the SS shackles on the mainsheet blocks at both the boom and the mainsheet traveler, mostly just as a test to see how strong and chafe resistant the soft shackles are (no problems after a year of use and flogging in up to 40 mph winds). Then I used one to attach my jib sheets to my genoa. I attach each sheet with a buntline hitch to the soft shackle to avoid using bowlines which would occasionally hang up on the shrouds and yet still be able to easily detach the sheets from the clew without the danger of using a hard shackle. Now I use them anywhere I might otherwise use a shackle and have yet to have any problems or chafing issues. I say “simple soft shackles” because most people tie pretty difficult (for me) and elaborate stopper knots at the end of their shackles due to concern with the slippery nature of dyneema. I use just a simple overhand knot as a stopper knot and mine have never slipped, rolled, or otherwise failed. A figue 8 of course would also work. I wouldn’t use my simple soft shackle to hang a boson chair from but it seems to work fine in every application I have used.
* I have gotten very good at setting up sheet to tiller self steering and can move about my boat without touching or adjusting the tiller for hours. So much nicer for single handed sailing than lashing the tilller. My system uses only two small dinghy blocks, several soft shackles, probably about 10 ft of 3/16” double braid, and up to four West Marine 12” rubber/plastic bungees (which I highly recommend for strength and durability). Difficult to explain the details but if you can find a copy of the book “Self Steering for Sailing Craft” by John S Letcher, Jr buy it immediately. It used to be available as a free PDF online but I can no longer find it and I may have purchased the last affordable used copy from Amazon. It is a great book. It takes some practice to become proficient but it works from sailing on a close reach to a broad reach. A wind vane would be better but I can’t afford one (why doesn’t someone make an affordable self-steering windvane that mounts to an outboard type motor bracket for daysailing or pocket cruisers, it wouldn’t have to be Cape Horn rugged?). One caution, the boat sails an apparent wind course, not a compass course so you need to keep track of your heading on inland waters.
* Klein Tools canvas bags - I use their model #5471 electrode holders for holding winch handles (perfect fit), their model 5104MINI bucket which I hang inside near my companion way for holding scissors, a couple of screw drivers, pliers, a butane lighter, etc which keeps these often used tools immediately available, and a model 5109 large collapsible canvas bucket (proabably two gallon size?) for everything a collapsible bucket might be used for. These are heavy duty canvas and though not designed for marine use (they use galvanized instead of SS rivets) they hold up very well. If they start to get a little mildewed just spritz them with some dilute bleach and they will look new again in minutes.
* I recently purchased some Davis shroud mounted Wind-Tels #1260. I thought these might be either among the dumbest or among the best things I ever bought. I mounted mine on the aft lower shrouds and I love them. A strip of Dacron or some yarn will do the same job but these last longer, never tangle up, and look classier.
* I replaced my mainsail reefing hook with a swiveling snap shackle. Much easier to use when reefing than juggling the halyard tension with one hand while attempting to keep the reefing tack on the reefing hook with the other hand while attempting to hold on the the mast for dear life with my third hand (won’t apply to those who have run their jiffy reefing lines to the cockpit).
* I also replaced my hatchboards with butterfly doors but I hinged my butterfly doors inside the cabin leaving the hatch board track clear so that my hatchboards can still slide in place if ever wanted (security or fowl weather).

[Don C L]

Sounds great swordds, but let's see some photos!

[swordds]

If only I had the skill to post iPhone photos I would, but I do not. Anyway, my too long of a post seems to have killed this thread. Sorry.

[Adelie]

Try this:

[swordds]

Photos (if this works) for very long post #140 - in no particular order so dear reader must make an “I am not a robot” game of connecting the right photo with the appropriate paragraph:

[Don C L]

Good tips swordds! And no harm done at all to the thread!!

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by swordds

If only I had the skill to post iPhone photos I would, but I do not. Anyway, my too long of a post seems to have killed this thread. Sorry.

you can't kill this thread it just keeps plugging along .
Sometimes as long as a couple months between posts .
Us little boats are out here when the bigger ones are dockbound .

[swordds]

Perhaps this should go under a different thread title, something like “Cheap Tricks” - about four years ago I made a cockpit sole grate out of 1” X 2” treated lumber and deck screws from Home Depot. The treated lumber has nicely rounded edges. Originally it had a greenish tint but that as weathered to a sun bleached grey very similar to my unfinished teak. The whole project took only about 3 hrs and probably cost less than $30. In 4 years it has never been varnished or oiled and it gets plenty of exposure to salt water, rain water, and the hot Louisiana sun and there are no signs of rot or rust. My point is - perhaps there are other uses for treated lumber and deck nails as much cheaper and more sustainable and available alternatives to teak?

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by swordds

Perhaps this should go under a different thread title, something like “Cheap Tricks” - about four years ago I made a cockpit sole grate out of 1” X 2” treated lumber and deck screws from Home Depot. The treated lumber has nicely rounded edges. Originally it had a greenish tint but that as weathered to a sun bleached grey very similar to my unfinished teak. The whole project took only about 3 hrs and probably cost less than $30. In 4 years it has never been varnished or oiled and it gets plenty of exposure to salt water, rain water, and the hot Louisiana sun and there are no signs of rot or rust. My point is - perhaps there are other uses for treated lumber and deck nails as much cheaper and more sustainable and available alternatives to teak?

I wouldn’t use treated lumber in that particular application. Treated lumber typically uses an arsenic compound to inhibit rot. Any slivers from that material are likely to fester. Even after the sliver is removed some of the compound will be left behind and healing will be slower.

[odonnellryan]

Lots of people mention coffee, I'm not sure if they have mentioned that Trader Joes sells concentrated cold brew. Very strong stuff, and a small bottle makes quite a bit of coffee.

Ice or no ice it tastes good.

[Bullshooter]

"Speaking of power...this summer I was asked twice for a "jump" by powerboats "in distress" because their batteries were dead and could not start. So now I carry a long set of jumper cables."

My son got one of these and jumped his F250 4 times on one charge. About the size of an iPhone Plus and only $37. I got one - very handy