VOL 33 NO 3 MARCH 2007 $7.50 (US) The “Real” Morgan 41 PAGE 8 PAGE 13 PAGE 18 PAGE 28 8 Southern Belle 22 Ocean Tested: AIS Radar ALSO IN THIS ISSUE Florida-born 41 combines Device is a good safety aid, 2 Rhumb Lines – With spring on the balance, beauty, and comfort. but no substitute for a lookout. horizon, ya gotta let her soul shine 3 Mailport – Strippers, harnesses, 13 Life Rafts Guide 26 Have Tools, Will Travel tethers, and cords gone wild PS looks at the new standards Advice from a veteran cruiser 7 Where Credit is Due – Hats off to and what they mean to you. and all-around handyman. Harken, Raritan, and Kenyon 24 Chandlery – A small washer and dryer, and a BIG fish bag 18 VHF Antennas 28 Maintenance Special 40 PS Advisor – Blisters and Shakespeare, Digital Marine One-step waxes; freshwater wintering in the water offer top-notch big sticks. paints; teak caulks; and more. RHUMB LINES The Morgan 41 Hombre, owned by mere production model at that. The Charley Morgan’s partner Bruce modest sloop, a Morgan 41, was Bidwell, shows some soul. the talk of the docks it seems, and I quickly saw why. Though launched is assured a soul. Fiberglass and in 1968, the graceful centerboarder metal boats, for instance, start with looked as clean and new as any a minor soul deficiency, and need show boat (and far more beautiful a little boost to become complete. to my eye). Its name is Circe III, and This opinion was likely forged by its photo is on the cover. my wooden boat years, when the Over the course of three years, Yachts Morgan of courtesy Photo mantra, “Yes, plastic boats are easy the owners David and Susan to care for . but so are plastic Woolsey, with the guidance and flowers,” sustained me througha occasional help of professionals, decade of hard labor. had gutted and rebuilt Circe III. Of course, to believe that boats This was no cosmetic makeover. have souls raises the second ques- A structural fiberglass grid was tion: What is the source of this added along the keel. The hull-and Spring is in atman? The easiest explanation is -deck joint was fiberglass-taped to also one of the oldest: The artist form a monocoque hull. I’ve seen the wind or creator is also the animator. many boats, ranging from Allied It’s easy to imagine a bit of Olin Seawinds to Block Island 40s, nyone who goes to sea in a Stephens in Stormy Weather, but whose owners have undertaken Awell-built boat is bound to how much of Bill Shaw remains bare-hull restorations, but none of believe it has a soul. For how else in a thoroughly rebuilt Triton? them could compare to this. could an object of wood, metal, or This question, I think, leads us It was then that I realized that plastic so deftly cleave a breaking closer to the truth. with every ounce of sweat we pour sea, or hold a true course with the About five years ago, I was walk- into a hull—truly a reservoir for helm unattended? And how else ing the docks at the Coral Reef dreams—so goes a bit of our own could a genoa in perfect trim— Yacht Club in Coconut Grove, Fla. soul, too. It is by the rub of the nothing more than a tenuous I had been invited to sail aboard buffer or stroke of the brush, that arrangement of molecules—make Comanche, a legendary SORC racer our boats truly live and breathe. our hearts beat faster? designed by Wirth Munroe, son of At least this is what I tell myself Of course, there are those of us the South Florida pioneer Ralph this morning, as once again the who more easily adopt this convic- Munroe, whose adventures on Bis- rites of spring loom large. tion. To believe otherwise would cayne Bay inspired my childhood concede we’d lost our wits long ago, escapades. It was, by birthright, a Darrell Nicholson when our boat spoke to us, offered soulful boat. Editor advice, and consoled us in times of Oddly, the proud owners of despair. Comanche were more interested On the cover: Circe III at home on Still, I don’t think every boat in showing me another boat—a Biscayne Bay. Photo by Billy Black Practical Sailor (ISSN #0161-8059) is published monthly by Belvoir Publica- tions Inc., 800 Connecticut Ave, Norwalk, CT 06854-1631. Robert Englander, Chairman and CEO; Timothy H. Cole, Executive Vice President, Editorial March 2007 • Vol 33 No 3 Director; Philip L. Penny, Chief Operating Officer; Greg King, Executive EDITORIAL OFFICES Vice President, Marketing Director; Marvin Cweibel, Senior Vice President, EDITOR Marketing Operations; Ron Goldberg, Chief Financial Officer; TomC anfield, 7820 Holiday Drive South, Suite 315 DARRELL NICHOLSON Vice President, Circulation; Michael N. Pollet, Senior Vice President, General Counsel. Sarasota, FL 34231 CREATIVE DIRECTOR Periodicals Postage paid at Norwalk, CT, and at additional mailing offices. judi CROuse [email protected] Copyright © 2007, Belvoir Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or ASSOCIATE EDITOR SUBSCRIPTION DEPARTMENT: in part is strictly prohibited. Printed in USA. 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Box 54, Windsor, Ontario N9A 6J5. ken DELAvigne, RiCHARD GReenHAus, WEB, BACK ISSUES, FAX SERVICE AL HeRUM, CHRis LAndRY, DAve LAskA, OR CUSTOMER SERVICE: QUANTITY REPRINTS AVAILABLE FRAnk LAnieR, DOug RitteR, RObby RObinsON, Minimum Order: 1,000 SCOtt ROsentHAL, DAN SpuRR PO Box 5656 Norwalk, CT 06856-5656 Contact Mona Kornfeld, Belvoir Publications, 203/857-3143 PUBLISHER 800/424-7887 TIMOTHY H. COLE [email protected] PRACTICAL SAILOR ACCEPTS NO COMMERCIAL ADVERTISING MARCH 2007 WWW.PRACTICAL-SAILOR.COM MAILPO R T SOY StriP vs. Peel AwaY Based on your recent ranking of Franmar Soy Strip as the top- rated antifouling stripper (“Strip- per Showdown,” November 2006), I purchased two gallons of that product to remove four coats of six-year-old Interlux Micron Extra self-polishing paint that we had applied over Interlux Interprotect We re-tested Peel Away II and Franmar Soy Strip on a larger section of our 2000E on our Caliber 33. I tried test boat, a Union 36 (above). Soy Strip was still more effective, although several methods of using the Soy some readers have done better with Peel Away II. Strip—from leaving it on for six hours covered with plastic wrap, to scraping it off after one hour— and I found that the Soy Strip SOY StriP REPORT messy job, took another 3½ hours was totally inadequate in remov- I was reluctantly coming to the by the two-person team. (The resi- ing this paint. conclusion that the antifouling due should not be left on for too In desperation, I tried Peel paint needed to be removed, so long.) In the end, I would estimate Away Marine Strip II, which was I eagerly read the article (“Strip- that 75-80 percent of the paint easy to use and did an excellent per Showdown”) in the November came off. At least I avoided the job. It was quite easy to apply issue. risk of inhaling sanded paint—a with the provided spatula, like ic- An e-mail and a couple of real plus. A little additional work ing a cake upside down. I applied phone calls to the local Soy Strip in the spring and the hull will be the Peel Away stripper and paper distributor were most helpful. He in good shape for repainting. one afternoon and went back the pointed out that since the product next morning to remove it. is sensitive to both ambient air Mike Gerhardt It was quite easy to remove: I temperature and the temperature Warren, R.I. scraped the paste—which had of the hull, I should tackle the job dried and mostly stuck to the in the fall rather than wait for the We repeated our stripper test on paper—and pulled the paper off hull to warm up in the spring. larger sections of our test boat at the same time. Quite a lot of He also emphasized the need to with the same results as our initial red antifouling was left on the cover the product with thin plastic test (see photo above). However, as boat. However, when I washed sheets to hold it on the surface mentioned in the original article, it off with No. 4 wire wool and a and prevent evaporation during past tests lead us to believe that course pad, all paint was removed the “dwell time.” (This is, in fact, some paints remove easier with back to the Interprotect coat with a big part of the job.) My 30-foot Peel Away than Soy Strip. Tem- just a wipe, no scrubbing. Catalina required about peratures during our test were Based on this, I sug- Franmar Soy Strip 2-1/3 gallons of Soy Strip. above 80 degrees, and humidity gest that before anyone Application by a team was very high.