Interior lighting test - White

Not a very scientific test as the camera adjusted for the light level. The color of the Alpenglow certainly looks nice. I might be inclined to use the Hella where I need sharp light e.g. over workbenches / Engine room etc. Dr. Led didn't make the grade.



Alpenglow 9W - $97 from Alpenglowlights.com
Power consumption .82 Amps.



Dr. Led Mars Dome light - $84.99 at WM
Power consumption .25 Amp.



Hella EuroLED - $129 at WM
Power consumption less than .33 Amp.

Putting the pieces back together...at last..

More painting...ZZzzzzzz......

Cetol V. Varnish...

When it comes to stuff like varnishing etc. I am very much in the 80/20 camp. If you can achieve 80% of the results in 20% of the time - party on!!!!!!.

In the lower photo the door was lovingly sanded and painted (not by me) with three coats of varnish. The panel on the left and in the top photo were sanded and painted with two coats of Cetol Light followed by two coats of Cetol Gloss. Spot the difference???



Before photos for reference.

The arch / dinghy hoist on our last boat...

As they say "beauty is in the eye of the beholder".... but it worked.

The case for a sloop rig on TIH

Even thinking about converting your sailboat from a ketch to a sloop, while surrounded with ketch owners can be a dangerous activity. I cast no aspersions on ketches in general and my thoughts about converting TIH are governed by my planned use of the boat. From my research on the subject the benefits of a ketch rig are as follows;

1. More manageable sail size split between both masts.
2. Heavy weather option of Jib and mizzen.
3. Redundancy in the event of loss of rig (assuming they are not connected by a triatic stay).
4. Place to hang radar and/or wind gen.
5. Nice on a reach.
6. Permits the use of a stay sail between masts.


The drawbacks are;

1. More complicated rig.
2. Will not go to weather as well as a sloop.
3. Mizzen doesn't work well on a run.
4. More expensive (mizzen sail costs $1,500 approx).
5. Interferes with wind vane.
6. The mizzen makes it difficult to mount solar panels / install dinghy davits etc. aft.


Specifically on my Whitby 42

1. The stays are pretty close together requiring running back stays on the mizzen and the use of a triatic stay. At least two W42 have lost their mizzens and I believe that I would have to install a beefed up compression post under the mizzen mast.

2. The main boom is the old style tube type (designed for rolling reefing) which I would have to replace as I want to use slab reefing. This will permit me to increase the main boom length from 14.5ft to 18ft.

3. I will be installing wind vane steering and the mizzen would complicate this.

4. I am a huge believer in a dinghy arch which incorporates a mount for solar panels etc.

Converting from a Ketch to a sloop!!!!!!

If only real life was as easy as photoshop?

Painting

TIH as found.


Deckhead painted.


For the aft cabin I used Pettit Semi-Gloss. It seems more forgiving that Interlux Brightside.

Dry boat concept - part two.

If you ever want to test deck leaks on a boat, Miami in summer, is hard to beat. Afternoon rainfall is measured in inches/hr. I had assumed that the few leaks in TIH were the chain plates and the odd cap rail bolt/screw. Imagine my surprise to see a constant stream of water appear in the after cabin (port side, aft). Once the monsoon stopped I inspected the area and could find no obvious source for the leak......until I opened the Gas locker. The photo shows half the water drained away. The locker had filled and the overspill came into the after cabin via a small hole in the bulkhead. That in itself is interesting as this is meant to be a gas tight LPG locker with no leaks to the inside of the boat. Something else for the work list.