Habemus bowsprit.........

After all my bowsprit machinations I found the impossible.  A complete, "Tops in Quality" manufactured bowsprit made by the original steel fabricators to the Canadian Whitby Boat Works.  It was destined for a stalled project boat in Tampa.  Its now in my yard.

While there I naturally bought the Garhauer mainsheet traveller on offer. 

Time to get installing, that was the last major part of the jigsaw.

Aft Companionway - we have a winner.

I like having access to the aft cabin when in harbor and on a nice bay sail.  I am less impressed with it offshore.  In fact, unless you are dealing with flat calm conditions I believe that the aft hatch should be closed and secured once you venture offshore.  As the aft companionway on TIH needed a complete overhaul I took the opportunity to redesign it.   

I will replace the existing hatch board and cover with fiberglassed coosa board.  The front will be hinged about 2" up and open forward.  It will be bolted closed against heavy rubber gaskets.

 The top lid will be hinged about 2/3 of the way back.  The teak board represents the location of the main sheet track.  The black otter box represents a Lewmar 20 ocean hatch.

The top lid will have a front edge.

Lid hinged up. 

http://catalog.monroehinge.com/viewitems/all-categories/plastic-living-hinge

Will be held up by a brass hatch holder;

http://www.downwindmarine.com/images/P/891549.jpg

Location of heavy duty rubber gaskets.

Aft Companionway.... continued

Ask six sailors a question and you will get seven opinions because at least one has a split personality. 

I posted the aft companionway question on the Whitby Facebook page and got a number of great responses.  I also got one phone call and one e-mail from owners who either don't trust FB or are on the witness protection program.   I expect to get at least one reply written on papyrus, delivered by a man with a split stick, such is the diversity of our owners group.   To all I say thank you.

The lack of consensus breaks down as follows;

1. Owners who love and use the act companionway and scoot up and down with impunity.
2. Owners who have removed the ladder, installed temporary steps and use the existing companionway as an escape hatch and for ventilation. 
3. A small number who have blanked off the companionway and installed a standard hatch, even one Brewer 44 which I believe was factory ordered this way. 

As usual the Whitby/Brewer lives up to her reputation as a  "A many-faceted boat"

These are photos from Rich and Carol Middleton's boat CREOLA  (Thanks for the input Rich and Carol)

Garmin iPad Bluechart app......

with ACTIVE CAPTAIN and GRIB forecasts and Premium weather ($4, needs cell phone access - i.e. within 10+ miles from the coast).

Uses all of the above on my recent short hop on friends Whitby 42 from Marathon to Fort Pierce.  220 miles in 28hrs, motor sailing, but still nice.

Shots are taken in my apartment but you get the general idea.

Aft companionway.......??????????????

TIH is a center cockpit boat and as per the tradition of her era she has a forward and aft companionway.  I can be corrected on this but it seems that modern (i.e. post 1990) center cockpit boats seem to tend towards a single companionway.

To date I have tended to ignore the upper-deck elements of TIH(with the exception of the ports and hatches) but the looming rainy season has gotten me motivated.

TIH companionway hatches are the traditional type, teak on aluminum "U" shaped channels, with a front drop board.  The drop board is held in place by two vertical retaining boards, screwed onto the fiberglass.  All in all this is a functional system, but is prone to leaking.  I don't like having an open hatch facing forward in any type of sea.  I would like to keep the access but am looking for a more elegant and robust solution. 

Aluminum "U" shaped channel

 

Settee continued....

This shows the removable back strip to allow access to the drawers behind. 

Getting a bit better at the wood butchery.

Epoxy fillet.

SSB receivers.

A fellow Whitby owner asked a question about SSB receivers. While my ultimate choice for long distance cruising communications is an Icom M802, I have to accept that this is a $2K+ investment which may be overkill for the US East Coast and the Bahamas. 

My short term solution, and one that I had on my last boat, is a Sitex Nav-Fax 200 SSB receiver. (Search around as prices vary a lot). 

This worked very well for listening to Chris Parker and his predecessor David Jones. I also used it to download weather faxes onto a laptop with varying degrees of success. An interesting development is the availability of iPad apps to download weather faxes from the SSB receiver. I have not used this yet but it looks promising;

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