Lessons from Nomad

We have been doing some serious work on Nomad. As a result of having so many parts off I have learned a thing or two about what I want to see on an ocean going boat.

I was surprised to find that Nomad had no backing plates under the bow pulpit mounts or lifeline stanchions. The washers used at the factory had crushed their way into the fiberglass. We put 1/4 inch mica blocks under the bow pulpit mounts and used fender washers under the lifeline supports. On any ocean going boat those items should be mounted as solidly as possible, with big, glassed in backing supports that can take a hell of a load.

Swim ladders must have steps. Round bars of bar steal are just too slippery to be of any use. Even on a calm lake to climb back aboard after a dip is to risk a broken limb. In a rolling sea fully dressed? No chance. Note: swim ladders are made of some hard stuff...punching holes in it will take effort and the best drills available.

Nomad's companionway steps, which hinge up to get to the engine like many boats, has no latch to hold them in place. On the lake it is an item I am likely to leave as is. On a blue-water boat everything that opens or moves or swings should be latched in place.

The hull / deck joint on Nomad is held together with self tapping screws set on about 9 inch centers. Okay for a lake boat, but during this last bit of work I discovered several of the screw heads pulled through the deck flange with some gaping of the joint. Oversize hardware and some new sealer fixed her up. On my next boat I want to see bolts with big washers on each flange, glassed in. That joint needs to be solid.

Once again it seems to me that boats are not assembled with the kind of robust quality I would have expected in an item intended to face some pretty hostile environments. Little things, but Deb and I are going to spend literally hundreds of hours this spring, fixing a list of "little things."

Nomad is a 1986, factory boat that has spent her whole life in fresh water. Given the amount of work needed just to keep her (or get her) in the shape I find acceptable, just how much work would be involved in an early 1980's salt water boat? If we buy such a boat as our home will we spend a year in the yard, spending money like mad, trying to make it into something we feel secure living on? Should we move "age" up near the top of the list of things to consider? Quality of maintenance, not year of manufacture, is what is important when it comes to airplanes, and I am sure the same is true of boats. But I can look at an airplane and its maintenance logs and get a good feel for what shape the machine is in. (A skill that didn't keep me from taking a job flying a Poppa-Oscar-Sierra Citation V!) I'm not as confident I can do so with a sailboat.

Chicago Boat Show

My thoughts on boats continue to evolve as we get deeper in and closer to the decision to pull the trigger on this thing. (3 years into a 5 year plan.) Catamarans are still my favorite platform but, unless I get a job on the East Coast, I fear they are just too expensive. We could probably afford one if we wait long enough, but therein lies the rub. I'm not sure how much longer I want to wait.

So, with the tide appearing to favor a mono-hull, what are the things what matter, and the things what don't? The first "thing what matters" is size. With an exception or two I think anything much less than 40 feet is just too short to call home, and anything over 46 is unnecessary. Catalina frames the tape measure, with the 375 lying just over the "too short" call and their 445 just short of "unnecessary." With boats in that length draft doesn't seem to be much of a "deal killer."

A modified fin keel with a skeg hung rudder seems the underwater shapes for good passage making when things get rough. Though truth to tell I am having trouble keeping the "modified fins" and "modern full" keels separate. I think one sort of morphs into the next depending on the specific boat / designer. I am not a fan of the racing fins and balanced rudders. I know they mean "performance" but it looks to me like they also mean "easily damaged" and "expensive to repair."

Though Deb and I will spend more time on the hook than we do underway, (just like everyone else)I like the idea of a boat whose design parameters emphasize sea keeping and passage making. I'll give away a little floor space in the V-birth for a boat that doesn't pound or a knot of hull speed for a boat that is stable in the wind and waves. I like a cutter rig but would do away with a bowsprit, though I like the way Nomad looks with hers. Still, one often pays for the length of the bowsprit when at the dock, so why not have that length in the water? And I always wondered as the wisdom of having a rigging load tied to the boat at or near the waterline and right at the bow.

Even though I sill would like a Cat, I often ponder the issues that come with not being able to track well to windward. (Unless you get one with boards.) Deb and I plan on making the East Coast home. Going to windward would seem to be the task at hand at least half the time. Something to consider with various mono-hulls as well.

Cockpit locations no longer matter much, though a completely open transom seems a poor idea on a cruising boat. I have become fond of twin helms.

Separate shower stall (with overhead hatch please) is close to a deal breaker. Water maker, probably. Big fridge, not really but a little ice maker would be nice. And make mine a close to being energy independent as we can get, solar and wind.

And make it sooner rather than later.

Blue Water Class

I'm sitting in Nomad on a lake full of muddy brown water, so I guess that sparked my "blue water" musings. Deb and I are considering taking a blue water course at Emerald Coast, the same place we did the Catamaran class last year. They treated us so well and their prices are so good that it seems the right choice to take advantage of their combined "Advanced Coastal Cruising" package. We could renew our acquaintance with Lady Marian for the 5 day Gulf of Mexico Sail, (our dance partner from last year's catamaran class) but we are thinking of going to the opposite end of the spectrum. Emerald Coast has a Beneteau 381 available for this course. It is a production boat a bit more than 10 feet longer and two feet wider than Nomad, with another foot of draft. We know we could live on a 38 foot Catamaran and barely notice we have left land. (Not really, the ocean is a pretty big place. Still there is no doubt that living on a 38 foot Cat is living the good life!) I'm kind of curious how 38 feet of production monohull looks and feels after a week on board and a couple of hundred miles of water have passed by the gunnels.

Besides, I haven't sailed a Beneteau before. Why not try something new?

Thoughts on the 09 Annapolis show

The cat vs mono-hull debate is pretty much settled in favor of cats - depending (of course) on $$. I wonder at the difference between the sea kindliness of a 38' cat vs. a 50' mono but suspect that the stability of the cat, even though shorter, would win. Upwind is still a concern for me, but again, the stability of the cat and the quality of life living aboard would probably make it the preferred choice. I did see a Benetau I really kind of liked, the 43. Deb saw a Hunter she kind of liked (a bit of a surprise that). We both really like the Pacific Seacraft 40, the Caliber 40 LRC and the Gozzard 41. (Deb likes that one a bit more than I do. Interior is fantastic but somehow the exterior of the boat has lost some of its luster to my eye.) I was disappointed to be disappointed by the Dufours, even the 525 left me a bit unmoved. The Island Packet Estero was a disappointment as well. Though the interior (like the Gozzard) has a great living room space in the forward hull, for some reason it just doesn't work as well as the Gozzard's.

Of the cats the new-for-this-year Leopard 38 was a stunner. The flat front windows make its deck salon feel more spacious than the older model 40. It needs some work on the cabinet hinges. They are not mounted well and, given sea conditions where people end up putting some pressure one them, will soon fail. But that was the only complaint I had. I liked the retracting dingy davits and the cockpit seat back that swings so that one can sit facing aft. Sitting and looking out over the ocean at the end of the day, sipping a cold one with an unobstructed view from the world's best back porch...how cool would that be?

The F/P Lapari 41 was another stunner. My only concern was a boat with a 39' LWL and a 22 foot beam. That wide beam made for an interior space in the hulls that was amazing, though I wonder what the additional wetted surface will do to performance. The tub like helm station hanging down into the cockpit was a bit awkward as well. (If the boat was mine I would get Brian to paint something there to cover the "ugh" factor.) A show-goer who has chartered both the Leopards and the F/Ps several times, (though admittedly neither the brand new 38 from Leopard or the Lapari) shared his opinion that the Leopard was a far better sailing boat; which would break the tie for me. (And, truth to tell, I think the Leopard is a prettier boat. I know that shouldn't matter much, but life is too short to own an ugly boat.)

I'm also getting pretty comfortable with the idea that Deb and I could handle a 50 foot boat, cat or mono, with a little practice. Besides, if we had a boat that big I'm thinking we would have a lot of "temporary crew" around to help out.

Big Cat Doors

A lot of catamarans have these huge sliding glass doors that open the back of the bridge deck onto the aft cockpit area. It is a big selling point; in fact SeaWind folds the doors up completely into a hard top Bimini, effectively removing the wall altogether.

I'm beginning to cool to the whole idea. In the first place it means there is a large portion of inside area that cannot contain any counter space (a chronic shortfall in boats of all kinds). Such a design also means that any supplemental heating / cooling of the interior space is going to be that much more difficult, though of course open ventilation is wonderful. Mostly though, I wonder just how tough those big panes of Plexiglas would be if one was running before the wind in gusts of 40+? How much water, rain and following seas, will they keep out?

I may never be a true "blue water" sailor but my inclinations are moving toward boats that seem to be designed for less than ideal conditions. A big glass wall that opens the entire interior of the boat to whatever the ocean can gin up would not seem to fit that description. That is one of the reasons why I really like the Gunboat and Chris White designed catamarans. (Now if I could just come up with $1,000,000 and change I could buy one.)

More Sail Trim

The winds were called out to be 10-15 gusting to 25. A year ago we would have put up all the sail we had and charged down the lake, rounding up every 1/4 mile. Today, we headed out of the cove with a single reef to start. We had a very pleasant sail heeled over to 15 with occasional gusts taking us over to 25 degrees. We were making 5-6 knots and doing it a lot more comfortably than we would have with all the sail up. We're learning, slow but sure.

Sail trim

Last weekend we buried the rail on Nomad, sailing in a nice but not overwhelming wind. When the rail went under we were healed nearly 35 degrees, and a couple of things puzzle me. The first is that we were heeled over that far in winds that were not as strong as we have seen in the past. (When Jeff of Gail Force joined us later, he said that the winds had been around 17 knots, max.) The second is that Nomad held her course without rounding up.

I had moved the jib traveler aft, which allowed us to sheet the jib in much tighter than we have in the past. (The traveler track arc matches the widest part of the beam. The aft end is actually several inches closer to the center of the boat.) In fact the sail was touching the stanchion, and I think that explains the heel. It might also help explain why Nomad held her head down. In addition, when I hoisted the main I didn't get the luff pulled completely tight, allowing a bit of a sag or "bagging" of the main. Maybe, having a bit more power on the jib and a bit less on the main, added to Nomad's ability to heel without rounding up?

Another puzzle; even with all of the heel, we (according to the GPS) were not making hull speed. I would have thought we would hit hull speed first, then start heeling over more and more and the sails worked against the keel.

I'm not sure. Even with my aviation background sail trim is still a bit of a mystery. It was sure fun though.

LATER: According to some internet forums...
I have it backwards; tightening the jib and easing off on the main halyard de-powered the jib and powered up the main. Apparently pulling the jib foot tight spills air off the top of the sail. I had assumed that pulling the sails in tight extracted the maximum amount of energy out of the wind when close hauled, but it seems sheeting them in tight keeps one from overpowering the boat.

But I still haven't figured this out to my satisfaction yet.

LATER STILL: Clearly there is a lot to learn about sail trim. One thing for certain is I need to play with the outhaul more. I think I have adjusted it once since we bought the boat, and that's when I bent the main on the very first time.