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Voyaging Tips

  • Reducing radio interference

    Jun 30, 2010 12:00 am

    It sounds like a crude form of Morse code on your single sideband transceiver. The interfering signal is strong enough to disrupt fax reception, render voice reception unintelligible, and bring your onboard e-mail to a halt. It seems to occur all across the bands, stronger on some frequencies, weaker on others. Turn off your 12-volt refrigeration and if the interference stops immediately, read on — this article is for you.

  • Dinghy mooring methods

    Oct 21, 2009 12:00 am

    Cowboys and their horses; voyagers and their dinghies — these are natural companions. A voyager must have a sturdy vessel to cross the seas, but once safely at anchor in some romantic port, without a dinghy, that foreign shore will still be just a dream.

  • Regular winch maintenance

    Oct 06, 2009 12:00 am

    Can you imagine what sailing was like before the winch came on board? Not me. Just the thought of hauling in a feisty genoa by hand makes my back hurt. It is easily the most versatile piece of equipment on the boat, and whoever invented this mechanical marvel deserves to be in the Sailing Hall of Fame.

  • Rudder bearing replacement

    Jun 01, 2009 12:00 am

    Story and Photos by Harry Hungate

  • Data From Your SSB

    Jun 12, 2008 12:00 am

    We decided to add a Pactor modem to the HF SSB set up on board ourWarwick Cardinal 46, Skylax. This piece of radio gear allows us to send and receive small emails while out at sea and out of range of mobile communications. Here are some considerations when setting up this system:

  • Winch cover seats

    Apr 14, 2008 12:00 am
    If your boat is anything like mine, sailing gear is everywhere and cockpit seating is at a premium. One way to put the former in service of the latter is to turn winches into seats. You can purchase a chair that fits into the hub, or you can modify your winch covers to incorporate a foam top, which provides a soft seat for the tush.

  • Clearing the Bridges

    Jul 18, 2007 12:00 am

    We've all heard about sailboats being heeled over to clear bridges but few have ever done it, particularly when the mast height of Bluejacket, a 42-foot Ted Brewer-designed cutter, is 63 feet and bridge clearances up the river are 55 feet. It's one thing to inch it along under a single bridge with full 55-gallon water drums hung out on the end of a boom or spinnaker pole, or using a twin outboard pulling on the spinnaker halyard; it's another thing altogether to secure the cutter alongside and hold it over for 15 miles, doing 4 to 5 knots, in order to clear five bridges.

  • Image logs

    Apr 10, 2005 12:00 am

  • Keep your cool

    Nov 14, 2003 12:00 am

    Many boats are equipped with 12-volt DC-powered refrigeration. While it's convenient to leave the refrigeration operating when the boat is at a shore-power-equipped dock, if shore power fails or is disconnected, the refrigeration system will continue to operate, drawing power from the battery bank.

     

  • Beefing up the bow roller

    Aug 20, 2003 12:00 am
     Our boat Andiamo, a Wauquiez Pretorien 35, was designed in the late '70s as a cruiser/racer, and it was a competitive racer in its day. Those days are now past, and we are outfitting the boat in preparation for our planned circumnavigation starting in 2004.

  • Fresh Bread Every Day

    Jun 13, 2003 12:00 am
     On the longer legs of voyages aboard my Westsail 42, Fiona, we usually run out of store-bought bread after a couple of weeks. From then on, we bake our own bread every day. And we do this without using the large oven, which is a voracious propane consumer. Instead, we bake the dough in something called a Swedish oven that sits on top of the stove and uses only one burner adjusted to a very low level. A secondary advantage is that we have that delicious fresh-baking smell emanating from the galley every morning, and we have warm bread for lunch.

  • Stepping up to a new battery box

    Apr 25, 2003 12:00 am

    We wanted to increase the battery capacity on Andiamo, our Wauquiez Pretorien 35, so we'd have the amp-hours to power our radar, autopilot, HF radio, refrigeration, instruments and lights. ds. Just fill in the table and add the loads up. Be sure to prepare two separate totals — one for passages and one for staying at anchor. It's amazing how an amp here and a few watts there add up to a lot of amp-hours!