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Roy M · 17-10-2015, 08:44

Bring foulies. The weather has turned damp. Damn! I want to get this painting underway and over with.

Tri Del Sur · 18-10-2015, 09:38

Hi everybody. Just found this thread and I am stoked about so much Searunner owners taking part here. I am the new owner of a 40 ft Searunner ( ex Sergeant Lewis ) and am working/ living on the boat since 2 years. Did a big refit/ repair on the boat over the last 2 years and sailed here on the Canadian westcost. Some of the works done Include building a new hard dodger and softtop enclosure for the cockpit, replacing the keel ( previous owner forgot to mention

that he hit 2 reefs with it ... so lots of ' wildlife ' in the exposed wood) , overhauled rudder and centerboard, copperepoxied all underwater parts, stripped mast/ boom and put a new epoxycote & some awlgrip on. I also had the trimtap windsteering build but could not get it to work properly so I finally gave up on it and ordered a " Cape Horn" a couple of weeks ago. Once fitted I hope the boat is ready to go offshore. Sorry this introduction became longer than I intended to.
So here is a question for the Searunner 40 owners. I am considering to buy a used symetrical spinnaker before going offshore as I noticed that it is hard to get the genoa/ mule combination to stand solid on a wing on wing course. At least not without booms which I don't have and also kind of don't want as I am single handed. On a boatshow last year I talked to the owner of the Quooring boats DK ( Dragonfly Trimarans) about downwind sails and he recommended a spinnaker over a genaker/ drifter etc. for single handling as gybing them is supposed to be so much easier and they are more stable on a deep downwind run. Any thoughts, experiances or recommendations on this topic? Regards Wolff

Roy M · 18-10-2015, 11:48

Tri Del Sur, welcome aboard! I, also, have a 40 that I built and launched in 1978, and have lived, for the most part, since then. And, like you, am just finishing off a total overhaul of all systems, prior to taking off on a series of adventures, one of which will put me in your neighborhood next summer.

Singlehanding is my favorite mode. Therefore, please allow me to suggest a few things. First, I don't like wing and wing, since dead down wind (DDW) is pretty boring, slow and rarely a convenient direction. For me, it's better (meaning more comfortable, faster and easier) to tack downwind, especially using an asymmetrical chute and a snuffer. I lead the unused ("lazy") sheet FORWARD of the headstay. When jibing the chute, I simply let go of the sheet, allowing the tack of the asymmetrical to drift directly downwind. As I jibe, I take in the former lazy sheet and tighten up on the new course. Easy peasy.

Also, if you are committed to symmetrical spinnies, consider using snatch blocks on the float bows, instead of using poles. I use double stacked turning blocks aft of the mainstrength bulkhead that lead to the sheet winches. The lower sheave is for the genoa, the upper for the chute.

As far as the Coppercote, I wish you luck with that. The experience of others has been that it requires far more burnishing than is worth the effort in warmer waters. If this turns out to be the experience for you, you can just prime and paint over it with Trinidad when you get into southern climes.

I look forward to meeting you next summer, when I hope to arrive in Anacortes for the summer months. It will be cool to see what you have done on ex-SERGEANT LEWIS. I've watched their web stuff over the years.

Cavalier MK2 · 18-10-2015, 18:01

I posted a diagram and some pics of the symmetrical chute system I use earlier in the year. Definitely use snatch blocks on the end of guys run through blocks on the ama bows. The snatch blocks connect to the sheets and of course use a snuffer. Jibing the chute never collapses and can be easily adjusted from dead downwind to reach. I find it more controlled than a asymmetric set up.

Single handed you'll need good self steering. an auto pilot might have an edge if the speed change from chute up to down changes the apparent wind and course too much for the windvane. Sailing solo I'll often skip the chute because the Nicol does great with the genoa pulled out with barber haulers- snatchblocks over the sheets on a out haul line to the beam. In fact being thrifty (I'm not cheap, just inexpensive) I use the same barber hauler set up for the spinnaker guys, just moving the blocks from the ama midships beam to the ama bows. Have fun, I'll keep my eye peeled for you up here in the PNW.

sea dragon · 26-10-2015, 15:50

Hi Tri del sur,
I have a SR40 just south of you.I've owned it for 30 years.
A spinnaker would be great.
I don't own one, but I would like to.
In allot of windy downwind situations,I really like one big Genoa run down to the forward outside ama cleat and back to a winch.
It's really easy on the rig considering the amount of sail area you have up
Of course that doesn't get you straight downwind.
But I usually don't care that much
I've had some good results with twin Gennys of two different sizes
I just run them down to the forward cleats and back to the winches
These boats love to surf down wind riding the trades.
My brother and I made it from San Diego to Kona in 11 days on one trip.
We were flying twin or single jennys surfing 17 ft seas for days.
You have to really concentrate steering while surfing so you don't broach.
Reefing is easy with two jib halyards by just dropping one sail.
If you need to hove to for any reason,drop one sail and half drop(or more) the other one leaving it cleated so it's still drawing but with much less area
At the appropriate time(right after surfing one wave and before the next) jibe with the sail backed.
Then tie the wheel to the other side.
That way you can get off the roller coaster for a bit once in awhile and take a break from steering

Roy M · 27-10-2015, 13:49

sea dragon, Does your boat have a sail number? Mine is 68. I'm trying to identify who your builder is. Got any pictures?

sea dragon · 27-10-2015, 15:45

Hi Roy,
My boat was built by Art Cox in Long Beach in the late seventies.If it has a sail number I don't know what it is,or how to find out.
He built it with Epoxy, which helped it to still be around today.
I have pictures, but I just can't seem to be able to re-size them to get them online.
Thanks for the hospitality when I was down there a couple of years ago.
Looking through the posts, I came across Mark Johnson's boarding ladder.
I want to build one very similar to it.
Do you have any more pictures of the construction Mark?
Would you do anything different if you built another one?
Eric

Cadence · 27-10-2015, 16:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roy M

Bring foulies. The weather has turned damp. Damn! I want to get this painting underway and over with.

Weather turned damp? We in SC will send some really damp.

Roy M · 27-10-2015, 17:11

sea dragon, I think I have been on your boat in the seventies. Does it have the galley and dinette in the main salon area, with the sterncastle as a stateroom? I recall the builder telling me he had specifically asked John Marples to assign him sail number 69, for personal reasons. As I recall, it had red flocked wallpaper on the cabinsides and a very cool spray painting of manta rays on the outside of the cabinsides. I'm hoping to be in the San Juans this summer, so perhaps we can meet up.

sea dragon · 28-10-2015, 11:41

Must be a different boat.mine has none of those things.
The sterncastle was set up as a dinette when I bought it mid eighties

Tri Del Sur · 28-10-2015, 22:33

Sorry Roy M., Cavalier Mk 2 and Sea Dragon for the late reply. Had a very busy week ( insulating the front cabin, building a new ceiling for it and hiding all those power cables) . Thanks for all the input about symetrical/ assymetrical spinnakers. Still have a bit of time to make the decission as I am planning to buy one once I made my way down the US coast. There are quite good 2 nd hand saillofts down in California. One consideration for me is also performance of a spinnaker in combination with the windvane. Was running wing on wing with my genoa on the outer headstay and my mule on the inner stay in quite gusty conditions along the coast this summer . That combination was already way easier on the helmsman and autopilot and only very sudden gusts overwhelmed the autopilot as the genoa overpowered the mule . So with a symetrical spi on a downwind run I can imagine the boat will be even easier on the helm.

Roy M : Would be great to see you next year. Maybe somewhere on the way as I am planning to head down towards Frisco and LA in the beginning of May. For the Coppercoat there was a missunderstanding. I bought copper powder and added it to the epoxy when I redid my amas and part of the main hull. After sanding that I put a normal antifouling on top. Talked to a guy in New Zealand a couple of years ago with a 50 ft cat who used this method.He couldn't haul the boat for 6 years ( working overseas and boat was in New Caledonia) but had someone who brushed the hulls off every 6-8 weeks. The antifouling was gone after 14 month but when he finally hauled it there was no hard growth except for the prop and shaft . Hope I can report the same in a couple of years.

Sea Dragon: Thanks for the advice for heaving to. Thats the one thing I haven't tried yet. I had her drifting with bare poles in 35 kn and a 5-7 ft chopp and was impressed how unspectacular that was compared to the 30 ft mono I had before.
Did you try that in the big seas by any chance? There is the theory of quite a few cat & tri owners that this is the best storm tactic but so far I only talked to one cat owner who pulled up his daggerboards and let her drift every time he hit bad weather on the Argentinian coast.
By the way what anchor are you using as your main? I have a 30 kg Jambo which did a great job all summer until I reached Haida Gwaii. Anchor bottom here is mostly soft mud and even with a kellet and a scope of 1-7 I have trouble getting it to hold the boat ( I suspect that the hughe blade area prevents it from digging in deep enough in the soft stuff but will take a dive next werk to confirm that)

Roy M · 29-10-2015, 08:28

Tri Del Sur, In Southern California, in Newport, is located an incredible resource called Minney's Marine Surplus (MINNEY'S YACHT SURPLUS - WE MAKE BOATING AFFORDABLE). You can shop on line for used sails and propellers. It's a good place to sell your old sails, as well.

I used to use a boat length of chain and 5/8" nylon rode, then I switched to 1/4" high-test chain for the whole shot, with a hundred feet of 1/2" yellow polypropylene as a tail. Usually, the poly sits in the bilge just forward of the centerboard, with most of the chain, then leads forward, along a chute, to the forepeak, then out through the Lewmar electric windlass. The poly is not meant for strength, merely to create a nest for the chain when in the bilge, and to act as a floating "tail" if I ever need to "cut and run", coming back later to retrieve the ditched anchor. I have two backup anchor rodes which are the old nylon and chain ones, one set up in the starboard forward wet locker, the other in the starboard aft locker. My primary anchor is a 15 Kg (35 lb.) Rocna. I will be purchasing two more anchors, as I got rid of my old CQR, but kept my little Danforth 12H lunch hook. I will probably get a Fortress and another, larger Rocna, for my spares. I also have a small folding grapnel that I keep on my RIB for its anchor when I go diving.

At the moment, though, I am completely immersed in dust as I complete the priming of the hatch board and the cockpit, in prep for painting, hopefully, next week. I removed the steering pulpit and disassembled it so I could paint the old baked finish with the LPU that I'm using on the cockpit and on the mast next month. The rain is supposedly coming next month, so it's a race to get the outside all coated.

Do you have a dodger and bimini? I have never had either, but all my time with WILDERNESS has been in Southern California, where even the winter is pretty mild. I use a boom tent while at the dock or at anchor, but I think the dodger ad bimini will be a transformation, especially for Haida Gwaii. I am so stoked on being up there for a summer. Send pictures. I don't have anything recent except for overhaul shots and details.