Voyage 38 Boom Crane - HELP

[billyehh]

I have just finished a shakedown cruise on my Voyage 38 from Grenada to St. Vincent and back. I now have a lot of things to do to get the boat in good and proper shape. Most problems centre around the electrical system and wear and tear on an 8 year old boat. It performed well in winds that constantly exceeded 30 knots and even wnt above 45 knots in seas that were from 8 to 15 feet.

However one thing that puzzles me is the boom crane for lifting the dingy. I tried many different configurations and the only one that seemed to work was using the main haliard. This meant disconnecting it from the Main sail and feeding it through the lazy jacks to the end of the boom. I have to walk on the framework of the soft bimini to get there. As you can imagine this is a pain in the butt. Anyne got another solution?

Also, my chocks for the rear platform are missing. I had new one fabricated with mixed results. Are proper ones available in the US or do I have to go to the manufacturer in South Africa?

[fastcat435]

Originally Posted by billyehh

I have just finished a shakedown cruise on my Voyage 38 from Grenada to St. Vincent and back. I now have a lot of things to do to get the boat in good and proper shape. Most problems centre around the electrical system and wear and tear on an 8 year old boat. It performed well in winds that constantly exceeded 30 knots and even wnt above 45 knots in seas that were from 8 to 15 feet.

However one thing that puzzles me is the boom crane for lifting the dingy. I tried many different configurations and the only one that seemed to work was using the main haliard. This meant disconnecting it from the Main sail and feeding it through the lazy jacks to the end of the boom. I have to walk on the framework of the soft bimini to get there. As you can imagine this is a pain in the butt. Anyne got another solution?

Also, my chocks for the rear platform are missing. I had new one fabricated with mixed results. Are proper ones available in the US or do I have to go to the manufacturer in South Africa?

The Boom crane is supposed to be connected to a separate line that slides it out on the Maxim/Voyage 38 and after that you connect a line and block to the exposed block at the end of the crane and it will work fine for you.
Good Luck
The name of the manufacturer is maxim Yacht out of Durban
Alex Small the owner

[craig boorman]

Yes, use the halyard to raise and lower the dink, If your dink is small you might try the topping lift which I used to do but not recommended. Once you get a system going it's easy. Once you get new chocks tie them to the cross beam.

[craig boorman]

Just remembered,,,,if you can go to Hemmingway marina in Cuba, they carry the same Merlin electrical products as your boat at a fraction of the cost anywhere else.
Good luck.

[billyehh]

Sorry to take so long to get back. Been away from WiFi for a while in the midst of nowhere.
Yes, the boom is spring loaded and there is a single line to entend it. It retracts on its own now that I have got it properly lubed. I tryed putting a block and fall on it. However, there is two sheves at the end of the boom and the on board side of the blocks are rigged so a line cannot come straight down. This causes binding if it is used as a regular block. Thanks for the info on the builder. I will get in touch, possibly they may have the answer I am looking for.

Yes, tried the topping lift and it did not work. Besides it is used to hold up the end of the stack pack. I will definately have some way of holding on to the chocks. Already almost lost one of the makeshift ones. I hope to make it to Cuba, but it will be a few years yet.

[fastcat435]

Originally Posted by billyehh

Sorry to take so long to get back. Been away from WiFi for a while in the midst of nowhere.
Yes, the boom is spring loaded and there is a single line to entend it. It retracts on its own now that I have got it properly lubed. I tryed putting a block and fall on it. However, there is two sheves at the end of the boom and the on board side of the blocks are rigged so a line cannot come straight down. This causes binding if it is used as a regular block. Thanks for the info on the builder. I will get in touch, possibly they may have the answer I am looking for.

Yes, tried the topping lift and it did not work. Besides it is used to hold up the end of the stack pack. I will definately have some way of holding on to the chocks. Already almost lost one of the makeshift ones. I hope to make it to Cuba, but it will be a few years yet.

The rubber and aluminium chocks are produced by Sparcraft in cape town and can be ordered there.
Contact Pete Shaw or richard stubs
richard@sparcraftmasts.com

greeting and good luck

[svAlegria]

Yes we have a Voyage/Maxim 38 and you do use the main halyard. With the help of a boat hook it is not that bad. You get used to it. Let's keep in touch us Voyage 38s have to stick together. We are in the BVI right now and heading south.
Dan
www.svalegria.com

[Chuteman]

B:
Had the same setup on a Belize 43 (now voyage) charter boat......it was a PITA.
Certainly the platform provides a secure base for the dinghy but the effort to get it done is time consuming and can be frustrating w/small crew.
Also did not think the cleats to secure the dinghy once place were misplaced

Wish there was a line running in the boom that was part of the extension process......vs disconnecting & reconnecting the halyard/bimini dance
Sympathy to you

[sv_makai]

USe the boom as described. The only change I made was to make a lifting harness that attaches to my dinghy at 3 points going to a single lead which is about 10 feet long. This what I run up over the block and connect to the main halyard. It is easier to connect to the dingy and to the halyard.

After losing one of the oringal blocks I made my own and and am much happier. The dinghy (caribe c10x) sits solidly on the new blocks.

[Tropic1]

Hi billyehh,

The voyage web site has a good description with pictures on how to do it. Here's the link On Deck and then scroll down a bit. Can you give any more "first" impressions from your shakedown cruise? I haven't had much of a chance to use mine yet.

Dave

[billyehh]

Thank you all for your Information. I am back home for the rest of the month. I am in the process of ordering 4 130 watt solar panels and a Blue Sky controller and shipping them south. I am not sure why the previous owner did not go solar because I had to run the engines at least 2 hours a day just for the refrigerator and not the freezer.
I will try the extension line for the lifting rigging and I guess it will take some practice to fish the halyard through the lazy jacks.
Thank you for the link to On Deck. It contains some valuable information as well as confirming what I had figured out.
Slowly I am getting things the way I want them and hopefully will be able to single hand Oceanaire in moderate winds. I have practiced motoring, anchoring and partially raising the main, but have not sailed because of the high winds and swell this year. Things should be more moderate in May.

[billyehh]

Dave

When I finally got going on my shakedown cruise which was supposed to be to St. Maarten, I only got as far as St. Vincent. I had electrical issues that were only partially solved when my buddy Gary and I left Grenada for Carriacou. The weather forecast was for the usual 15 to 20 knots NE to E. I know that there are gusts at the northern tips of all of the islands. It was blowing about 30 knots at the tip of Grenada and the seas were sort and confused. On we went. Just past Kick Em Jenny the wind piped up to over 45 knots. The rest of the trip averaged 35 knots. We ended up doing almost double the rhumb line since the current took us to the west and we had to tack into Tyrell Bay about 10 miles.
The boat behaved magnificently. We had a double reef and just half of the Genoa out. To help with pointing I had the lee engine on at about 1500 RPM. It made improvements in both our heading and boat speed. There were 2 monohulls out at the same time and both were occasionally rounding up. The next day we just rested because we were so beat up.
The Grenadines were a joy as always, with short sails between islands. Stayed out on the reef at Tobago Cays. It is unfortunate that Hurricane Ivan has damaged the coral so much, but ther are signs that it is coming back. There was still lots of fish, turtles, rays etc.
Returning from Blue Lagoon in St. Vincent to Bequia was another very windy day as well as large rollers. The autopilot could not cope so I had to steer by hand. This made me appreciate the cable steering, be cause I got lots of feedback through the wheel. Its to bad that many cats use hydraulic steering, you lose so much. Anyways, it was really sporting surfing down the waves at over 14 knots, but I was glad it was less than 10 miles because it was hard work and I really earned my beer once we anchored.

[Tropic1]

Sorry to hear of the bad weather but good to know that you found the boat performed very well (the same comment I've heard from other Voyage/Maim 38 owners). We've experienced strong winds at the south end of Granada by the airport and struggled to get east. The extent of my experience with my boat was motoring directly into the wind and waves from New York to the Chesapeake and then hauled it. We will be launching this fall and heading for the Keys/Bahamas for our shakedown cruise this winter. I'm intimidated by everything I still need to do to get the boat ready.

[billyehh]

Just finished single handling my Voyage 38 from frenada to Carriacou and back over the week end. On the way up I towed the dingy, what a mistake. Although the wind and waves were not excessive 20 - 30 knots, around Kick em Jenny it blew up and I thought the dingy was in danger.By the way it is a 10ft APEX RIB.

On the way back, Ilifted the motor onto a coner of the rear platform and lashed it down. I tied the dingy bows close to the motor and then pulled the stern up onto the platform and tlashed it down. It was very stable and easy to handle. The hardest part was to get the Yamaha Enduro 15 HP motor back onto the dingy.

The boom crane takes much longer and is very difficult to do with one person. It looks like manhandling it is theway to go. I'll Just have to refine the motor part of it, the dingy was easy.

[jsgehrig]

Only way is Halyard. I am doing the great loop currently and had the problem of Mast down for locks . Added Davits They work great and I am very Happy. Any one that wants pictures let me know.