Line Hangers

Whether halyard tails or docklines, sailors always have ropes to hang. A few ideas. Bags are good to, when there is room (the lines will grow more algae in a bag).

 Button Line Holders from United Yacht Manufacturing are my favorites for halyard tails. Easy to adjust or replace the string. Nothing snags on them. Comfortable to lean against.

 

 

For dock lines and other spares, I like these DIY aluminum non-snagging holders installed in a locker. I can hang multiple lines on one hook by slinging the coils. I've used them on several boats without a failure. Strong and light.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Non-Sailing Projects

 I'm kind of out of boat projects, so I've been welding up stuff. With the exception of some of the rebar, everything is recycled from scrap.

 

 One of my first efforts. Simple.

A representation of my F-24, sailing the lawn. The sail trim is sharp but it doesn't float well. Too many leaks.

Glasswing Butterfly mobile. The lilly pads (helium cylinder ends) under it will get bright metal flowers soon. Repurposed anchor chain, of course.
 

The planter was welded from old bedframes.

The head is an old worn-out weld chipping hammer head.

Steady rest, also mostly bed frame steel. Very stiff.

Rolling kayak rack. This makes loading it onto the car much easier, and rolling it away easier and neater. Bed frame, straps from old PFDs, and casters from Amazon.

If you have a portable metal band saw you NEED to make a stand/base for it. I use it 20 times as much now. Many examples on-line, and you can buy them for newer saws. I had to make this one, because the saw is older. Even a little table makes cutting parts and backing plates so easy and far more accurate.

The saw just lifts out of the base. A few screws take the table off, leaving the stock rest in place for hand-held use. But I've never taken it off the stand.

 For cutting long material, I have several adjustable stands, similar to those used to support long work on a able saw.  One was made from bed frames. The other is a photo light stand for which I fabricated multiple heads, either for support or for work lights.

 

I had this piece of glass, so I made this end table for our front porch. Bed frame.

 

More stuff that I have given away. More to come. Once you get the hang of it, welding open many fun possibilities. I have quite a few bits of tooling for my lathes (wood and metal) that involved both machining and welding--machining is subtractive and welding is additive--combining them results in great flexibility in fabrication.  

 

 

 

Tramp Lacing Knobs

 After 30 years the original knobs are breaking down. A few days ago a line tried to jump off. Time for replacement. The tramps are good and the line OK (replace in a 1-2 years?), but the knobs are toast.

 

 

The knob in the foreground is missing chunks. Behind is a portion of the 46 replacements I turned. 

 

I could have bought them, but I had something a little different in mind. The replacements are twice as strong and should outlast the boat. The screw is recessed.  There is non-skid on the top.

 

So I turned them from 1/2-inch HDPE on my metal lathe. The first few took an hour, figuring out the measurements, materials, and machining a mandrel. But after that I was down to about 3 minutes each. Not a bad way to spend a few hours.

 

 

 

 

Blanks were cut from 1/2-inch HDPE sheet using a hole saw with a 3/16-inch center bit fitted (1/4-inch is standard). They were then turned on a mandrel, and the hole countersunk on the drill press. Assembly line.

 

 Installing them was another matter. Most of the screws were seized and grabbing round heads with Vice Grips is a pain. But the end result was pretty.

 

 

 

Snubber Design

 How can we get more stretch from a bridle?

 More length. Yes, but there will also be losses from friction. In the left center (below) illustration the stretch would be 5 feet in 50 feet, given the assumptions about line size and stretch, but it is only 4.5 feet because some force is subtracted by friction over the bow.

Double around a low friction ring (left illustration). The problem here is that we lose a lot of tension going around the ring. They are only 70-75% efficient in a 90 degree bend (testing). Stretch goes down to 3 feet and a new chafe point is introduced. What if we use a thinner line (center right illustration) to increase stretch? The safety factor stays the same and stretch goes up to 3.4 feet.  The only way the doubly method comes even close is by using pulleys, and it is still less efficient.

What about energy absorbed by friction? Yes, that is valid, but work is still force through a distance and the damping distance is still reduced. The same effect would be had by using one size larger rope, and without the chafe risk.

 In fact, there is fourth case, (left), where the stretch increases to 8.4 feet, using a 0.5:1 purchase. In stead of rigging the bow as a 2:1 purchase, a line runs forward, but on the side deck a reverse purchase is rigged, so that the forward line moves twice as far as the side line stretches. Complicated, though.

 

 

Shore Power

 A boat a few marinas down burned up a few weeks ago. The cause is not clear, but bad shore power is suspected.

 There really should be a marine code for 15 amp shore power, but there isn't, so things like this are too common. Oh dear. 

 Strain relief. The ring is missing, the cord is not looped around the pedestal, and the plug is tortured when a storm comes. But the owner isn't around the boat on windy days. It's a locking plug, right?

Not marine 30 amp shore power, but there are in-use covers, GFI, and strain relief. And all they are running is a battery charger and a bilge pump.

 

Making Your Own Parts

 I needed a winch feeder block so that I could cross sheet for certain operations. Specifically, reefing on port tack requires two operations on one winch.

 I had a large low friction ring I didn't need. I had some 1-inch thick HDPE sheet. I have a metal lathe.  

 Works perfectly, VERY high load. The HDPE was turned to make a top, bottom, and core for the LFR to run on. The oversized LFR allows for a wide range of in and out angles, and the large core provides friction as low as ball bearings. he full story is in Practical sailor.  

 

 

This could be made on a 3-D printer. For me, the lathe was faster and I could use solid HDPE. A printer would be faster if you were making more than one.

 

I need more boat machining projects.

 

Why Did I Sell My PDQ, Why Am I Downsizing?

This was a while ago (about 7 years), but I never posted it. 

 

November 2020 

I've been asked this question dozens of times by friends, family members, and fellow sailors.  And although I was certain sometime ago it was the right thing to do, it took me a long time to understand and get comfortable with the reasons. It's many things, of course. So will apply to other people, some only to me, I supose:

Kids Grown

• My daughter is finishing grad school, so we just don't do the same family and friends cruising that we started when she was about 8.
• I've done the cruising I wanted to do with that boat. Been everyplace I like multiple times.

Down Sizing

• Financial. There is a small money aspect, but it's not about cash flow. First, I really hate waste (read "Keeping a Cruising Boat for Pennies") and I didn't feel like I would be using the boat enough. I like the idea of house, car, and well, life that fits my actual needs. Nothing excess or superfluous.

Simplify

The Need to Keep Learning

• I'm not learning anymore from the boat. Handling the boat has become as familiar as pulling on my shoes, and it is the learning process I enjoy. That is why I am always testing things.
• I've tweaked this boat as far as I want to. I like to study a boat and then decide how to upgrade her in subtle ways, always endeavoring to maintain a factory look and feel. Nothing should look pasted on and the changes should work with the original design (which in the case of the PDQ 32 is pretty darn good). Though I could probably point out 100 small changes, the most important ones were revised settee bunks, winterization fittings, inside genoa tracks, Heat, AC, modified keels, and 2' transom extensions. A lot of this is on my blog, but some has also been reserved for Practical Sailor or Good Old Boat. If you want to tweak a boat sensibly, you should subscribe to both of these. They both good search functions, particularly PS.

My Sports Car

• I like the feel of the wind. I like a boat that tacks on a dime and that one person can throw about in tight harbors. A bicycle will always be more fun to drive than a Winnebago. You only need the Winnebago when you are cruising; for a day sail it feel ridiculous.

I am in no way satisfied with the PDQ 32 and Shoal Survivor specifically. If I wanted a cruising cat for where and how I sail, I would be looking to buy exactly this boat. She's fast, durable, roomy, seaworthy in a blow, and easy to singlehand. She's tweaked exactly the way I want her. I don't think there is another cruising cat that would make me happier, and I'm including some pretty fancy rides. I trust her to go anywhere, any time.

I will be getting another boat and soon. It will back to my performance multihull roots. I see myself a little bit as the older Englishman in the flat hat and the open top sports car. I sold my SUV and bought a Mazda 3 (zoom). The focus will be daysailing with a few solo overnights. Yup, I'll tweaking it. Speed will be one thing, but this time I will be more interested in nimble handling for the singlehander. I want something "fun." Unfortunately, this means giving up a meaningful cabin and (gasp) a real toilet. Damn. I've got a dry suit for winter.

------

I have no intention of leaving this forum. I have too many friends here. I will maintain my blog. After all, it started when I have Stiletto 27. I will maintain some PDQ stuff like the Word version of the owner's manual. But the way I see it, a new boat should help invigorate my writing, opening up some new topics. An who knows. In 10 years I might be looking for a PDQ again. Sailing is sailing.

But I'm not going to be one of those sad sailors that has a boat at the dock that doesn't get used but a few times a year. If I'm not sailing her every week or two, year round, it's time for someone else to love her and for me to find another boat to love. I could never stand to see a boat just sit.

I thought the PDQ was going to be my retirement boat. I really did. Good quality and would do everything I wanted. However, I have owned three boats, each for 10 years, and I think I think that is simply my nature. Thankfully, I do not feel that way about my wife, which is my constant.

Grok Goes on a Rant

(From "Stranger in a Strange Land" by Robert Heinlein, for those of you that are young or do not read science fiction. A Martian word that means I understand you deeply.)

 

xAI has apologized for Grok's "horrific behavior" and said that new instructions caused the AI chatbot to prioritize engagement, even if that meant reflecting "extremist views" from user posts on X.

 Put more simply, the AI is dumb enough to read from social media and believe it. And so are people.

 I'm scared for what social media can do to society. Maybe I'm part of that too. Read Socrates: learn to question everything, to look at everything from several perspectives, to evaluated things for yourself, and finally to recognize that virtue, morals, and even "truth" change with time. Not as easy as listening to sound bites, is it?

2:1 Main Halyard

 Thirty years ago, when I had a Stiletto 27, I switched from a wire/rope halyard to a 2:1 high modulous line halyard. Part of the reason was a wonky shoulder, the same one that is flaring up now. Both the Stiletto and my current F-24 MK1 have bolt rope-in-slot luffs, which can be high friction for the size of the sail. It's a new sail and moves as smoothly as any I have seen, so that is not the problem. 

I'm not sure how much clearance there is between the fully hoisted sail and the masthead. Some, because it tension well with a winch. But I need to hoist and probably look from down the dock with a spotting scope.

 These  images give me an idea of the other clearances.

• There seems to be enough fore-aft offset  between the pulley pin and the pin the topping lift is secured to for the dead end of the 2:1 halyard. My blue ladder is hanging from the main halyard (red), so it looks to be a good 1.5 inches forward of the pin. If I knot the halyard to the pin, the knot will not contact the sheave attached to the head of the sail. But I will need a low-profile sheave stack. I might just lash a large LFR to the head grommet, pretty slippery with Dyneema, low profile, light, and no chafe points.
• There are some sharp spots cause by a shackle hitting the masthead I should do something with. But they have not chafed my current halyard, so probably not a big problem. 

 

 I'm thinking 8 mm NER Viper with a stripped (about 6 mm) last 25-30 feet is the proper rope. The current halyard is10 mm polyester DB.

Hero Life Jackets

 Yeah, I know it is PFD in the us.

 

I very nearly never wear a PFD sailing. It's hard to fall off a multi-hull and it's easy to rig jacklines and tethers that will keep you inside the lifelines. 

Whitewater kayaking, or open water paddling, yes. Beach cat and dinghy sailing, yes. But I don't wear the common inflatables. I wear either a whitewater-specific PFD or a Hero Waterwear inflatable. What you do not want is:

• Auto-inflatable. If it inflates while you are under the boat you will not be able to swim out. This has happened too many times. They also snag on everything when inflated.
• A jacket with gadgets attached. A light. A PLB. A radio. They will snag on ropes, and much worse, lines when the boat flips. You want something clean and simple, with no snag points.

 I was asked to test a HERO some years ago, and it has become a favorite. It's comfortable, better than a fixed PFD. Unlike an inflatable, it is not a snag machine when inflated. In fact, it is the smoothest, least snag-prone jacket I have ever found. It is just as effective (turning and flotaion) as standard inflatable PFDs.

 

Not in the way paddling. 

 

Pops you right up, even if starting with an intentional inverted kayak capsize. It contains some foam, so it can be worn on manual and will still provide some flotation.

 

Easy to deflate.  Standard oral inflation, backed up by foam, should you go in more than once in a day (which kayaking and dinghy racing are not that unlikely).

 My one recommendation is to pre-wet it on really hot days. The cooling effect is very nice.

Hero Waterwear