Volume 27 • Numbers 17 & 18 September 2001

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DOUBLE ISSUE

SPECIAL SECTION: ROPE 6 Market Scan: Running Rigging Replacement guidelines for sheets, , and topping lifts. 14 Bench Test: High-Tech Rope We'd read about problems with terminations in high-modulus line. They're true. 20 Webbing Untangled There are several places where the flat stuff is the right stuff. Make sure type follows function. Rope Market Scan ...page 6 22 Offshore Log: Mediterranean Idyll Calypso checks the styles in Marmaris, and overhauls her chain. 26 Boat Review—Com-Pac 35 This Charley Morgan design has a shoreline layout and fleet feet for a cruiser. 30 Handheld Spotlights Sixteen lights from six manufacturers. Spotlights for dark nights...page 30 Also in this Issue

2 Editorial. Give Me Enough Rope 3 Mailport. EPIRB Batteries. Boat Evaluation. Pilot 35. Personal Strobes. Small Batteries and Chargers. Boat Bags. Customer Service. 5 Credit Due. Wells Marine Tech. Wilcox Crittenden. 35 Chandlery. Walker Bay 8. Walker Bay 10. 38 PS Advisor. Deck Bung Epoxy. Wiring for Dual Voltages. AC Vacuums, Blue Topsides. Cavitation. Little plastic boats everywhere... page 35 EDITORIAL

Give Me Enough Rope ¨

Left to their own devices, some sailors pop up and demand to be tried out. buy rope the way Imelda Marcos used This can actually lead to some hair- Editor to buy shoes—impulsively, profligate- brained schemes, like the time some- Douglas Logan ly, with a kind of bulemic urge. Even one who shall remain nameless man- Executive Editor Dale Nouse today when some of us go to a boat- aged to lash a trailer to a hitchless car show we have to stand for a long time bumper with something that became, Editor at Large Nick Nicholson next to the booth with the stacked coils in the space of a mile or so, both of multicolored climbing rope and Gordian Knot and Fender Bender. Contributing Editors Ermanno Di Lorenzo, Richard odds-and-ends in all lengths and di- On the other hand, rope, arguably Greenhaus, Ed Lawrence, Doug ameters, wishing we could come up the most versatile tool in the sailor's Ritter, Jay Chris Robbins, Scott with a reason to get just a little bit chest, can and should be used in a lot Rosenthal, Daniel Spurr more. There's no such thing as too of places where plastic or metal fit- Publisher much. We're melded with Imelda. tings are now installed in the name of Timothy H. Cole In the basement I have everything convenience, but at the cost of weight, Editorial Offices from spools of whipping twine and corrosion, and holes in the boat. 10 Bluff Ave. #111 tarred marline (which, when you put Truly there's nothing so important, Clinton, CT 06413 your nose to it, takes you directly to the so familiar, so comforting to sailors as e-mail: [email protected] fo'c'sl of the Charles W. Morgan) to big rope. It's nice to sit down on a winter's Subscription Department coils of nylon anchor rode waiting for night with Clifford Ashley or one of his 800/829-9087 a project. [email protected] disciples, and 10 feet of three-strand www.practical-sailor.com - click If you have enough rope, projects rope, and work things out. For many, “Subscribers Only” suggest themselves all the time. Last a well-made knot board is a fascinat- Box 420235 winter, the morning after shoveling off ing sculpture, and a Carrick Bend is Palm Coast, FL 32142-0235 th our 57 snowstorm, I got out the gant- an example of symmetry and strength for Canada line I used to use in a four-part tackle to rival the most sacred geometry. Box 7820 STN Main to go up the . It's a nice soft blue Before I wax maudlin, though, London, Ontario N5Y 5W1 braid, about 160 feet, and I made a there's business at hand: It's tough to Web, Back Issues, Fax Service, rope-tow with it up the little hill in the make systems work without Other back yard—put a snap hook in it with rope, and that's a big concern in this Customer Service a cow hitch so I could pull the lighter month's issue—specifically the stuff PO Box 2626 Greenwich, CT 06836-2626 kids and their sleds up the hill. The we use for basic running rigging. It 800/424-7887 top end went through a block tied to a was time to take a close look at high- [email protected] tree up the hill, the bottom end through tech line . What we learned (see page a snatch block hooked into a loop 14) was not a shock, thanks to Brion Quantity Reprints Available Minimum Order: 1,000 around another tree at the bottom. The Toss and some others, but if you haven't Contact Mona Kornfeld, Belvoir loop was closed by two rolling hitch- heard about the very great differences Publications, 203/422-7343 es, so the whole thing could be adjust- in the properties of high-modulus line The Practical Sailor (ISSN No. 0161-8059) is pub- ed easily. I had more fun than the kids. and double-braid Dacron… lished twice a month (except March, June, Septem- ber, and December, which are combined) by Belvoir Chris Caswell, in a commendable N ot to give away the story, but even Publications, Inc, 75 Holly Hill Lane, Box 2626, Green- column in Sailing a couple of months as the ropemakers strive to work the wich, CT 06836-2626, (203) 661-6111. Robert Englander, Chairman and CEO; Timothy H. Cole, Executive Vice ago (extolling the habits and skills of kinks out of the high-tech stuff, the rest President, Editorial Director; Philip L. Penny, Chief Operating Officer; Greg King, Senior Vice President; seamanship that make sailors so handy of us are going to have to learn some Marvin Cweibel, Senior Vice President, Marketing —nay, almost godlike—on land) told new marlinespike tricks. It won't be Operations; Andrew Thorne, Vice President, Group Circulation Director; Michael N. Pollet, Senior Vice the story of a friend who needed some easy. We will need handy references President, General Counsel. Periodicals postage paid at Greenwich and at additional mailing offices. Copy- furniture moved out of a second-story with all sorts of diagrams, and we will right © 2001, Belvoir Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part is strictly apartment. Someone retrieved a main- knit our brows in perplexity. But we prohibited. Printed in USA. Revenue Canada GST system from a boat in the harbor, can bear in mind what Hervey Garrett Account #128044658. Canada Post International Pub- lication Mail Product (Canadian Distribution) Sales and bingo, out the window and down Smith said in his introduction to The Agreement #0739588. Subscriptions: $84 annually. Single copies, $7.50 the stuff came. Arts of the Sailor, back in '53: "In the (U.S.). Bulk rate subscriptions for organizations and Rope, rightly rove, can make you final analysis, the pleasures that I educational institutions are available upon request. Postmaster: Please send address changes to Practical look devilishly clever. The more you have derived from the practice of Sailor, Box 420235, Palm Coast, FL 32142. Practical know about it, and the more you prac- these skills more than compensate for Sailor, P.O. Box 39, Norwich ON, N0J 1P0 Canada. tice with it and rely on it, the more the endeavor." PRACTICAL SAILOR ACCEPTS NO projects and jury-rig solutions will —Doug Logan COMMERCIAL ADVERTISING

PRACTICAL S AILOR 2 S EPTEMBER 2001 MAILPORT

EPIRB Replacement Batteries received it back the day I read the vessels value is a marine surveyor. I read with great interest and concur- article. Much to my pleasant surprise, Many surveyors regularly value ves- rence the July 15th J.D. Bitzer and including shipping, my battery re- sels for insurance interests with a Pompas' letters regarding the Litton placement by ACR came to less than Condition & Valuation (C&V) survey, EPIRB battery and the policy of Guest. $200 and was done with pleasant and for purchasers/financial institu- I've run into the same situations and interactions by very professional sales/ tions with a Fair Market Value (FMV) refuse to pay half the price and haz- service people at Mike’s Marine. This survey. There are marine surveyors ardous shipping of a now out-of-date appears to be a completely different who specialize in marine appraisals. gizmo just to replace the battery. experience than those described in The American Society of Apprais- When it no longer passes a test run or the Guest/Litton situation. I was, how- ers (ASA), a multidisciplinary apprais- I'm going on a serious passage I will ever, without the service of that EPIRB ers group, offers a designation for buy a new one and will try to avoid for the time it was in for exchange, specialist appraisers as Marine Sur- Guest products. something I had timed to coincide vey-Commercial and Marine Survey- I have gone so far as to prepack and with a period of no sailing. Yacht. Candidates, most of them ma- test my own liferaft, and felt vindicat- Michael G. Altmann rine surveyors already holding a ed when the last certified packer had Marquette, MI NAMS or SAMS designation, screwed in the tapered valve after must have five years of appraisal ex- hydro enough to crack the CO2 bottle perience, then must pass an ethics neck. A sympathetic distributor was After reading your PS Advisor regard- test, a test on the Uniform Standards of kind enough to supply a tested, used ing EPIRB battery replacement and Professional Appraisal Practice (US- one at no cost. Getting the raft to a the most current issue of the Commo- PAP), an ASA comprehensive exam- packer is inconvenient and expen- dore's Bulletin of the SSCA with an- ination that covers technical and ap- sive, and it shrinks my soul to pay $4 other EPIRB horror story, I think Prac- praisal areas, and, finally, a peer re- for the same D-cell I can buy at Wal- tical Sailor could do all of us cruising view and approval of their appraisal mart for 89 cents. sailors a big service by doing a speedy reports in order to get an Accredited There is a vast difference between evaluation of the new ProFind 406 Senior Appraiser (ASA) designation. the liability incurred in the case of a from Seimac Ltd. If this is a good unit The biggest difference between a commercial boat and private cruisers I’m sure the other EPIRB manufactur- "normal" appraisal and an ASA ap- who simply want to be safer. The fact ers will suddenly discover that they praisal is the compliance with US- is, the restrictive policies that some of can produce an inexpensive user ser- PAP, a set of standards developed these suppliers hold to actually re- viceable unit with a sub $100 replace- after the Savings and Loan debacle duce overall safety by inconvenienc- ment battery. I believe that I will have that can be compared to the standards ing and overcharging customers to the a ProFind 406 aboard when I depart set forth for boat design/construction point that they use sub-optimal main- this fall. by ABYC. An ASA/USPAP appraisal tenance intervals or skip them alto- is not yet required by law but it is Ray Seiffert gether. rapidly becoming the benchmark for Niantic, CT I have no problem paying for good courts and lending institutions. expert service when I need it, but I The real estate mantra is "Loca- Editor's Note: Thanks for the tip, Ray. have a clear idea when I'm being tion, Location, Location," and for Seimac is a well-established compa- overcharged and unnecessarily in- marine equipment we know it is "Con- ny, based in Halifax. They specialize convenienced. dition, Condition, Condition." You can- in "data acquisition and telemetry The EPIRB batteries should be avail- not value a vessel without knowing systems for oceanographic, safety of able with precise instructions at a what is normal, what is above normal, life, meteorological and defence ap- competitive price. If they want a liabil- and what is below normal, and how plications." We're not familiar with ity waiver, no problem here. I would each of those translate into dollars. their ProFind 406 EPIRB yet, but their suspect they could just as well be And this changes by vessel type, ves- website (www.profind406.com) does sued for failure to provide a needed sel make, and vessel location, which indeed offer an owner-replaceable bat- battery. you pointed out. tery for the ProFind 406 at $99 U.S. or Getting information from BUC, Bruce Stewart, MD $150 Canadian. NADA, brokerage ads, etc., is only one Ithaca, NY of the steps in arriving at a value. Boat Evaluation The best appraisal information is mar- The discussion in the July 15 issue Your do-it-yourself article on boat val- ket information, or, comparable sales. was rather timely for me— I had sent uation (June 2001) was well done. and That is what BUC and NADA sell. But my ACR 406 in through Mike's Marine I would like to add some comments to how do you know what is compara- Supply, 24910 Jefferson, St. Clair what you presented. ble? Commercial "sister ships" are Shores, MI (810/778-3200) in June and Another source for determining a very rarely the same and production

SEPTEMBER 2001 3 P RACTICAL S AILOR MAILPORT yacht "sisters" are only similar in their the article appeared in PS, Jupiter, my lute discharge and can even change early years. The older a type of 1966 Pilot 35, won the 66.7 nm Lake valence if you do it; I read that you production boat gets and the more Michigan Queens Cup Race on cor- should discharge to the drop-off point owners it has had, the more "custom" rected time over 198 boats. Included where a light dims or a tool loses it gets, via real or questionable im- in the fleet were several Santa Cruz power, and then STOP, not drain to provements. When you look at asking 70s, a new Open 50, and a number of "absolute zero." What is correct? prices you really don’t know what lies other hot race designs. The race con- Although you state that you "don’t behind the ad. Two sister boats in ditions were perfect with 10-15 knots believe manufacturers' claims that adjoining slips can have significant of breeze from just forward to just aft their batteries perform best when differences in asking prices because of the beam, allowing us to carry a charged in their own chargers," I’m one owner wants to sell and the other spinnaker almost the entire race. On not sure if your belief is correct. After will sell only if someone is willing to the ride home to Milwaukee from reading your article, I put 8 AAA Ac- meet the asking price. The best way Muskegon, MI we had winds 30-40 cucell batteries in my older Ray-O- to know comparables is to have good knots from the north and 6-8 foot seas. Vac Renewal Power Station (not the 3 widespread contacts where a phone My crew, all of whom were experi- in 1) and not one light came on. Same call will provide you with details. enced fin racers, were amazed at for 4 AAs. I then made sure I Your inclusion of graphing is great. her comfortable motion in the sea- had discharged the AAAs and still no The larger the number of comparables way. She’s much more than a pretty charging light. Then I put the identi- the better, statistically, your trend lines, face. cal batteries in the Accucell charger, and the more anomalies stand Bob Fritz and the charging light came on until out. As one who has done a number of Milwaukee they were charged. I don't think you graphs, I think your graph on the can mix types among chargers. I can, Catalina 30 shows a typical "tight" Personal Strobes however, put Renewal batteries in the trend and not flawed data. I don't think Accucell charger, but not vice versa. Just a couple of weeks ago I showed that the Marshall 18 or J/24 are typical Finally, a suggestion. It would be up as crew for an ocean delivery, boats bought by typical sailors, so I am great if you tested the life cycle or "life pointing out my new acquisition, an not surprised that their graphs show energy" of renewable batteries, i.e., ACR RapidFire light (PS July 1). Our the effects of "personality" rather than how many times they can be charged very experienced captain quickly economics in buying decisions. That and the total power produced after say pointed out its one major drawback: said, the tracking guides, BUC and 15 cycles. That would help us decide yes, it lasts for eight hours, but you NADA, should be more accurate. The among the trade-offs. For example, it can't pick which eight hours. If you only excuse is that they may not have may show that the rechargeable alka- fall into the ocean in the morning and had enough sales information to pro- lines have low self-discharge and high it activates from the PFD's inflation, it vide a statistically accurate picture initial voltage, but little life after a few will be useless by the time night comes! and would rather not present too many charge/discharge cycles. A strobe that can be turned on and off blank years. Keep up the good work. at will seems like a much better choice. Your point on indexing historic Thanks for your excellent publica- Bill Beery cost was also good. Annual inflation tion. Via e-mail multipliers are satisfactory for the do- it-yourselfer, but the professional Dan Costin Author's response: I can only speak also has industry specific trend tables Via e-mail from experience: I've gotten many available for indexing. years of life out of NiCads by making I appreciate you covering this eso- Editor's note: That's a good point, sure they were discharged to zero teric subject. I am not a yacht apprais- Dan. However, readers should be re- before recharging. What upsets Ni- er but I am an appraiser of commercial minded that the ACR RapidFire can Cads with this procedure is they don't marine equipment, so forgive my be operated manually (independently like to be short-circuit discharged when enthusiasm . I am also the owner of a of the auto-inflatable PFD) as well. they are fully charged or near full "cult" and know about the charge. The discharge currents are artificial market that boat owners can high and ugly stuff happens to the build against their own interests. Small Batteries and Chargers crystal structure internally. The cells Norm Laskay NAMS-CMS; ASA A very helpful and generally accurate need to be well discharged before Mandeville, LA article (PS June), but I have being further discharged. a question, an observation, and a rec- Tin foil is a kind of last resort. ommendation. Although you state Incredibly, it's actually difficult to main- Pilot 35 Review that NiCads should be discharged to tain good terminal contact with tin foil; Your excellent review of the Hinckley absolute zero (e.g. "wrap in tin foil"), the wrap has to be tight, and it's apain. Pilot 35 was most timely. Shortly after I've read that NiCads are hurt by abso- I much prefer using a utility flashlight

PRACTICAL S AILOR 4 S EPTEMBER 2001 left on to discharge NiCads. Better Boat Bags Customer Service Credit As for recharging in the competi- I'd like to add another manufacturer to I recently returned from four months tion's chargers, your reports aren't your list of superior boat bags. Boat cruising in the Out Islands of the consistent with what I found. I worked bags (dry bags) made by Jack's Plastic Bahamas, Turks and Caicos. Now primarily with D and AA cells and Welding stand and shoulders searching for weather fax for laptops, both chargers handled both the Ray- above the rest. In addition to offering a I asked Practical Sailor's customer O-Vac and Accucell batteries. The number of differently sized bags made service for input on these systems. older model Ray-O-Vac Renewal Sta- of raft fabric, they will make a custom Customer service responded with a tion took considerably longer than did bag exactly to your specifications. great reference (May 1, 2001 issue). I the Accucell charger where the Ray- I have been using their products for had the issue in my 'to be read pile.' O-Vac 3 in 1 unit was more competi- years in canoes, rafts, and . It was precisely what I needed, even tive. The bags are moderately priced, tops citing the specific systems I was con- One thing I did notice was that the in quality of construction and materi- sidering and including significant cost Accucell unit would charge fully als, and all but bombproof. You even savings re. some systems I had not charged batteries where the Ray-O- get a color choice. considered. Practical Sailor's research Vac units would not. The time the The source is Jack's Plastic Weld- will give me the confidence to go Accucell unit would show charging ing, 115 S. Main, Aztec, NM 87410, forward with these systems and save varied from just a few minutes up to 30 phone: 505/334-8748, fax 505/334- me untold hardship in "tuning" the minutes, which was curious because 1401. systems for use at sea. Thanks. the batteries didn't need it. When I saw this, I was prompted to see if the Walt Hodge Richard L. Coleman Ray-O-Vac units would respond in the Stone Mountain, GA Via e-mail same way, and they didn't (no lights). I didn’t think it was a serious issue, so I didn’t report it. ...WHERE CREDIT IS DUE I liked the Ray-O-Vac 3 in 1 be- cause it showed me a bad cell where the Accucell charger could not. Rechargeable alkalines need to be To Wells Marine Tech, Brielle, NJ: "I have had a Battmax 70 battery pulsed to be charged and the voltage relay switch on my J/120 in the Caribbean. It failed and the mounting has to be measured to shut off the brackets broke on a recent delivery from Tortola to St Vincent. I e-mailed charger when the charge is complete. Wells Marine Tech, the makers, to enquire about the location of my There's a wide latitude in assigning nearest distributor and whether a Battmax HD would be a better model the frequency for this pulsing, which for my use. I fully expected to pay—the unit had had nearly three years is demonstrated by these manufactur- of service. Imagine my surprise when I promptly received a return e- ers. Either way works just fine for both mail from the president of the company, offering to ship the upgraded manufacturers' batteries. model (Battmax HD) to the address I specified! The main gripe I had was with so- "Truly knock-your-socks-off service. Apparently Battmax products called "camera battery" chargers. are now standard on all J-Boats. I can understand why." They pretend that the camera battery David Martin, Youngstown, NY is different from the off-the-shelf NiMH or NiCad battery and they simply are not. So, why pay more for a camera To Wilcox-Crittenden, Waterford, CT: "I took my Skipper MSD apart battery charger when a cheaper charg- over the winter for servicing. When I took it apart I realized that after er will serve the same purpose and 18 years of service, more than the regular replacement parts needed maybe even do it better? evaluating. I called Wilcox Crittenden and asked them if I could bring Regarding your suggestion: I did in my buckets of parts and get their help in reassembly and evaluation some of this, but quit when I realized on some of the bronze fittings. Although they do not have a repair shop I could be at it for years. I recycled a or offer repair services, they were still exceedingly gracious and helpful Ray-O-Vac cell every day for a couple in assisting me. They charged me for one large bronze item and refused of weeks and was amazed when the my offer to pay them for assistance with reassembly. clock would stop on exactly the same "Although I expect my Skipper to outlast me, I will make every effort minute day after day. For now, suffice to patronize Wilcox Crittenden whenever I can. They support their it to say these things have a lot of life products 100% and I haven’t met a better group of people in the marine in them. The more popular they be- industry." come, the greater the need will be for Joseph M. Ballerini, Stamford, CT some serious testing.

SEPTEMBER 2001 5 P RACTICAL S AILOR SPECIAL SECTION: ROPE Market Scan: Running Rigging Finding the right rope for the job used to be easy: polyester braid served almost every purpose on board, except for anchor rode. For most of us, it still does. But it's worth having a close look at some of the fancier rope. It does have its uses.

o you occasionally contemplate A good-sized chandlery, like the West Marine store pictured above, will have replacing the frayed, stiff, dirty a standard variety of spooled rope that will serve all the purposes of most D running rigging on your boat sailors. They may or may not carry the full spectrum of the lighter, fancier with some of the beautiful new stuff stuff, so if you're interested in experimenting with something exotic aloft, do that hangs in reels on the wall of your your homework online or in catalogs. chandlery? Unlike having the luxury to replace all the furniture in your house at one number is 800/424-7887.) "selvagee." Aboard big sailing ships, it time, which few of us ever can afford You can call it rope, line, braid, was anything less than about 5/16" in to do, replacing running rigging is cable, plait, cordage—they're all cor- diameter. within the realm of most nautical rect, although some purists like to use Whatever you call it, rope was one wallets. "rope" to refer to the stuff in a generic of mankind's first tools. Long before As a guide to how close you can sense, and "line" when referring to learning how to spin or weave, man come to reality, this Practical Sailor rope that has an identified purpose; created rope of leather, vines, sinews, market scan takes a look at cheap, e.g. a sheet is a line made of rope. grass, hair… anything long and stringy. medium-priced, and expensive ap- The main exception is the anchor Papyrus rope found in the Great Pyra- proaches to fitting out a 32-foot sloop. rode, which is occasionally called a mid in Egypt and dating from 4000 BC For a different boat size, you can line, or even a cable, but never a rope. has exactly the same twist and "lay" as ratchet the figures up or down propor- The names of the lines themselves are modern rope. tionally and still get close to the actual of course based on function. To the In what might be regarded as a cost to do that glorious renewal of the unanointed, it may seem like jargon or "middle" period, rope was made of lines that hoist, trim, lower or control overblown nonsense, but when a sail- natural fibers—Abaca (a member of the sails aboard your boat. or asks for some action to be taken with the banana family), sisal (also known For actual tests for abrasion, splic- a , sheet, rode, pendant, top- as henequen), jute (it's that soft stuff of ing, and ease of handling, you can ping lift, lazy guy, or after-spring, it which fuzzy, brown twine still is made), consult the many reports in Practical may make a considerable difference hemp (Cannabis sativa, and you know Sailor on rope intended for halyards, in what happens next to you and what else they get from that...), flax sheets, anchor rodes, etc. If you keep everyone aboard the boat. (a.k.a. linen) and even cotton (as in back issues, consult the annual index- The little cords that landlubbers ordinary clothesline). es (published in the last issue of each call string or twine? Sailors call it Abaca was for several hundred year) or call PS for a steer to whatever "small stuff," or "sennet" if it's braided. years the most often used to make interests you. (The Customer Service If it's marled in bundles, it's called what was commonly called "Manila."

PRACTICAL S AILOR 6 S EPTEMBER 2001 The Philippine Islands produced 90% ments with bewildering names. (There Olefin, a family that includes of the world's supply. Manila is mur- are 17 official classes of such long- polypropylene and its near cousin derous on the hands, as in splicing, chain arrangements, one of which is polyethylene, was once rather scorned because it extracts all the skin's oil called spandex, without which rock- for marine usage, but is increasingly and leaves the skin dry and vulnera- stars and health-clubbers might as being worked into very high-tech line. ble to manila's sharp-edged fibers. well head home.) Despite the fact that it's lousy for lines In that era, rope was made on 600- (it's slippery, difficult to knot or splice, foot ropewalks—long, low narrow Four Basic Types and deteriorates in sunlight), its light buildings in which the rope maker, a So, for a boat, which ones are best for weight pleases the dedicated racers. bundle of stuff round his waist, walked what jobs? Polypropylene is the lighter and more backwards while twisting up strands Basically, there are four varieties. buoyant cousin, used mainly for wa- in his hands. Henry Wadsworth Long- Good old nylon is a long-chain polya- ter skier towropes and as rescue lines fellow described it in his poem "The mide. In other countries, nylon is called on some throwable devices. Ropewalk." polyamide, Perlon, Lilion, Brinylon or Finally—and that's a poor choice of In 1793, about 40 years into the Enkalon. a word in this magic new world of Industrial Revolution, an Englishman, Traditional-appearing, three- manhandling the atoms—there are Joseph Huddart, invented the first rope- strand, laid nylon is readily available. high-performance fibers, lots of them, laying machine. John Tolman, of Bos- It's still heavily favored for anchor a new one every year or so. Their ton, came up with a braiding machine rodes; its stretch makes it an ideal generic names have fancy handles in 1854. John Good, in New York City shock absorber. like HM (high modulus), polyester- in the late 1800s, made practical im- Dacron, a name owned by DuPont polyarylate, para-aramid, PBO, or provements and patented his ma- but slowly slipping into common us- UHMWPE (ultra high molecular weight chines. By 1900, most of the world's age (we'll probably get a letter from polyethylene). rope was made (and still is) on ma- DuPont's lawyers about taking this They're more commonly known by chines based on Good's work. liberty) is polyester. In other coun- trade names like Kevlar, Technora, Rope's next metamorphosis came tries, you might find it called Terylene, Spectra, Dyneema, Twaron, Vectran with nylon, which was developed by Tergal, Trevira, Wistel, Diolen or For- and Zylon, which get used in rope DuPont to reinforce automobile tires. trel. with proprietary names like Vizzion, Without the need for better automo- Basic Dacron (polyester) is avail- Z-Tech, Crystalyne, V-12, Tech-12, bile tires, sailors wouldn't have had able in braid and in three-strand. In Aracom, Spectron 12, Ultra-Tech, T- this marvelous new rope. three-strand it's smoother and slip- 900, Spectron 12 Plus, Vectrus, SM For sailors and their boats, nylon perier than nylon, which calls for an Ultra-Lite, Warpspeed, Spectrum, did to manila what rayon, the first extra tuck when splicing or another HRC, Marstron. (See the accompany- man-made fiber, did to silk. half-hitch on your clove hitch. ing table for the names and properties With the genie out of the bottle, the Whether nylon or Dacron, any of of these man-made fibers.) chemists quickly produced a string of this traditional "twisted" rope is easi- For some reason, it's popular right thermoplastic (meaning flexible) fila- est to splice. now to include "12" in a trademarked

Man-Made Fibers Used in Ropemaking

Trade Specific Break Elongation Abrasion Name Owned By Gravity Strength* Modulus** at Break Resistance

Vectran Celanese 1.40 22-27 525-585 3.3-3.6% Very good Kevlar DuPont 1.44 18-29 432-1100 1.5-4.4% Fair Twaron Teijin Ltd. 1.44 20-29 432-983 1.8-3.6% Fair Technora Twaron, Inc. 1.39 28 590 4.6% Good Spectra Honeywell .97 25-41 790-1450 2.8-3.9% Excellent Dyneema DSM Fibers .97 32-39 1025-1190 3.5-3.8% Excellent Zylon Toyobo Ltd. 1.54 42 1300-2000 2.5-3.5% Fair

*Measured as grams per denier; denier is the fineness of a fiber, with 1 being a fiber that weighs one gram per 9000 meters. Higher numbers indicate higher break strength. ** Modulus indicates stretch resistance and stiffness. Stretch may be good or bad, but stiffness would be undesirable.

SEPTEMBER 2001 7 P RACTICAL S AILOR Sailor long has considered 1/2" or 7/ the hardware that’s at risk. Blocks English-Metric 16" a good all-around size for bare with nylon ball bearings are found hands. When some pulling is called with ground-up remnants. Far more Conversion Chart for, the smaller the line diameter, the expensive Torlon balls are better. Sol- tougher it is on the hands. A piece of id metal bushings often are needed. English Metric quarter-inch Yale Vectrus Single Braid Because some new fibers don't like 1/8" 3 mm ($1.60 a foot) has a breaking strength of to go around sharp bends (Kevlar, in 3/16" 5 mm 8,000 pounds, but bare hands couldn't fact, is so bad at it that most ropemak- 1/4" 6 mm tolerate a hundredth of that load. ers have given up using it), sheaves 5/16" 8 mm have tended to become larger. To get 3/8" 9.5 mm About Breaking Strength long service from these lines, one 7/16" 11 mm In the rope industry, there's an inter- must heed the sheave size recom- 1/2" 12 mm national move underway to clarify mendations. 9/16" 14 mm what "breaking strength" means. In Most of this powerful, modern line 5/8" 16 mm the United States, it means "spliced is made as braid. The braids first 3/4" 19 mm breaking strength." Rope is tested with appeared as "double braids," which 7/8" 22 mm the ends fixed with eye splices. In were a loosely-braided core contained 1" 25 mm other countries breaking strength is a in a more tightly-woven cover. They calculated figure based on individual could be hard or soft, stiff or pliable, yarn strength times the number of fuzzy or shiny. They could rely com- yarns; it yields a good comparative pletely on their cores for strength, or Because so many of us haven't figure but it doesn't hold up when a share the loads between core and made it yet into the long promised line is clamped, knotted or spliced. cover . Such characteristics were con- (or threatened) metric world, here is Use of the "spliced breaking strength" trolled in the manufacturing process. a handy guide for use with cordage. figure would deflate somewhat the Nowadays, braid comes as not only The only easy one to remember is foreign manufacturers' claims. double-braid (sometimes the core isn’t that, using the numerals 1 and 2, The exotic lines, in those sizes that braided but is laid in "parallel" strands); 1/2" equals 12 mm. Don't use the make it easy to handle, present differ- it can be single braid, a.k.a. plait, table in the 2001 BoatU.S. catalog; it ent problems. They're far stronger than multi-plait, eight-plait, 16-plait, or even contains errors. is usually needed for sheets and hal- (and we consider this one a misno- yards. With a 1/2" piece of really fancy mer) plait with a three-strand core. It line, something like New England could be called “strand/plait," but try name. Hyphens are hot, too. Ropes’ Z-Tech PBO Zylon ($10.50 a saying that fast three times. Progress never stops. The United foot), you could pick up your whole By the way, if you're of a curious States Army has a high-security labo- 32-footer—plus the one next to it. (If mind, don't ever pass up a chance to ratory in Massachusetts that is spin- you have a curious chemical bent, you see ropemaking machines in action. It ning atoms into something it calls might like to know that PBO is poly- all happens in the open, right before "Spider Silk" that is twice as strong as paraphenylene-2 6 benzobisoxazole your very eyes, but the high-speed Kevlar. Go fish. fiber made by polymerizing diami- machines are perhaps the most per- noresocinol dichloride and trephthal- plexing and noisiest devices known to How Much It Costs ic acid in polyphosphoric acid. With man. Rope prices vary radically. For exam- this chemical stuff, maybe it’s better How are the high-tech braids to ple, for 1/4" line you can pay as little as not to ask.) splice? From "not easy" to "very diffi- 8¢ a foot for stranded polypropylene However, because it might help cult." Some are almost impossible to made by Crowe Rope Industries, or 20 you in the selection of line, an accom- cut. A hot knife is useless. The com- times as much, well past $1.50 a foot, panying chart displays the properties mon approach used by riggers is to for the exotic stuff. of seven of the chemical fibers used in use an old knife, sharpen it, hack For general comparison purposes, marine rope. away at the line, then sharpen the here are some basic, easy-to-remem- The fancy lines made from these knife again. ber figures: fibers have made a big difference to Because most of the really exotic For 1/2" line, the best three-strand hardware manufacturers. Gear like braids do not take kindly to ordinarily- nylon is about a half a buck a foot. blocks, padeyes, sheaves, cam cleats, reliable knots (see our story on page 14 Good Dacron double-braid is about track, and clutches rarely used to for some eye-opening figures), it's best twice as much—75¢ to $1 a foot. The fail—and then usually only when hit to learn to make eye splices. exotic stuff can be five times as much with a huge shock load. More often, as Dacron, right up around $5 a foot. excessive loads resulted in parted The Players Whatever line you like, Practical lines. Now, with such strong line, it's Samson was the bellwether in this

PRACTICAL S AILOR 8 S EPTEMBER 2001 Left: Eye splices in Sta-Set, Yale Light, and MaxiBraid Plus. While the polyester Sta-Set will hold standard knots like the bowline fairly well, high-modulus lines like Yale Lite and MaxiBraid+ should always be spliced. If they must be knotted, use a good stopper like a constrictor knot or buntline hitch to help make sure the original knot doesn't slip. Above: Because of the slipperiness between core and cover in Yale Light and other high-tech double braids, riggers like Aramid Rigging in Portsmouth, RI have some tricks up their sleeves. Here they've removed the core from the bitter end, whipped the buried part, and melted the cover together to encapsulate it.

technology, and for a couple of de- the recreational fray. As little as a quarter century ago, cades had most of the yacht business. There are some small makers— low-stretch line merely meant that a As part of something called The Amer- like Pelican in California and Novatec line had been stretched crudely and ican Group, it still is the biggest rope in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia—who turn perhaps heated to make it less elastic. maker in the Western Hemisphere. out beautiful line, some of it favored by Rope-making has become intensely Other big manufacturers are Co- mountain climbers. There's a compa- technical, with many different sorts of lumbian (which used to give Samson ny, Pigeon Mountain Industries in material and many designed-in char- some competition), Crowe and Well- Lafayette, Georgia, that specializes in acteristics. ington. Wellington very recently safety ropes and another, Whitehall in It can be made hard (meaning tight bought the 132-year-old premium rope Lima, Pennsylvania, that makes line and dense), soft (meaning flexible and maker named Hooven Allison in Xe- up to 11" in diameter—with breaking easy on the hands), or stiff (a cowboy’s nia, Ohio, also owns U.S. Rope and strengths up to 2,200,000 pounds! lariat is difficult to bend). The design Gladding Braided Products (more Good line also is made in Germa- can concentrate on straight-line widely known for fishing line) and ny by Gleistein, in France by Lancelin, strength, flexibility, durability or abra- claims to be the biggest US manufac- and in Britain by Marlow and Bridon. sion resistance—and, of course, the turer. However, the most conspicuous so-far impossible dream is to make a In the halcyon days in the 1970s suppliers of rope for pleasure boaters single line that is tops in all categories. and 1980s, when pleasure boating in the U.S. currently are New England Again, there are problems atten- ballooned, two smaller companies Ropes, Yale, and Samson. dant upon any such specialization— (New England Ropes and Yale) ap- bending around sheaves and resisting peared and worked their way to the The Processes the degradations of sunlight, to name head of the parade. They were aided All modern line is engineered to a two. As we found in our rope test this by Samson, which for some reason, fare-thee-well. The filament usually is month (see page 14), not only are decided to downplay its recreational coated not only to give it color and some of the high-tech ropes devilishly line and concentrate on industrial protect it from sun, water, and wear slippery, but they weaken consider- business. (Most rope made is used by but to equalize the loads during the ably when knotted. And, as men- utilities, commercial fishing, and the manufacturing process. The tension tioned earlier, some line is almost construction business.) Several years on each filament should be as nearly impossible to cut with a knife, hot ago, Samson decided to get back in equal as possible. knife, hacksaw, or anything else, and

SEPTEMBER 2001 9 P RACTICAL S AILOR Topping Lift (1) Main Halyard (1)

LEAST COSTLY LEAST COSTLY NER 3/8" Sta-Set……$39 NER 7/16" Sta-Set……$80 Yale 3/8" Portland…...$37 Yale 7/16" Portland….$81 Samson 3/8" XLS……$25 Samson 7/16" XLS……$57

MIDDLING MIDDLING NER 5/16" Sta-Set X……..$40 NER 8 mm T-900……..…...$161 Yale 3/8" Yacht Braid..…...$39 Yale 7/16" Vizzion…...…...$176 Samson 1/4" Ultra-Tech…$43 Samson 7/16" XLS Extra...$135

EXPENSIVE EXPENSIVE NER 5 mm V-12…...... $60 NER 8 mm V-100……………$188 Yale 3/8" ULS…...... $37 Yale 3/8" Crystalyne……….$220 Samson 5/16" Spectron 12 Plus…$75 Samson 3/8" Warpspeed…$144

Mainsheet (1)

LEAST COSTLY NER 7/16" Sta-Set…..$53 Yale 7/16" Portland.....$55 Samson 7/16" XLS….$38

MIDDLING NER 7/16" Sta-Set X…..$59 Yale 7/16" Vizzion….....$118 Samson 7/16" XLS…..…$40

EXPENSIVE NER 10 mm Spect-Set II…...$150 Headsail Sheets (2) Yale 7/16" Maxibraid…..…. $177 LEAST COSTLY Samson 7/16" Ultra-Tech.…$137 NER 7/16" Sta-Set…....$217 Yale 7/16" Portland...…$222 Samson 7/16" XLS……$153

MIDDLING NER 7/16" Sta-Set X…..$242 Yale 7/16" Vizzion…...…$478 Samson 7/16" XLS……$144

EXPENSIVE NER 10 mm Spect-Set II….…$607 Yale 7/16" Maxibraid….…….$722 Samson 7/16" Warpspeed..…$560 Paul Mirto illustration

PRACTICAL S AILOR 10 S EPTEMBER 2001 Headsail Halyards (2) so would not be a good choice for a life Samson double-braid. Once called harness or liferaft tether. Parallay, it’s now called LS. Twenty years ago, many racing and cruising LEAST COSTLY Mix and Match Options sailors were delighted to be rigged NER 7/16" Sta-Set…..$160 Now, let's return to the original prop- with Parallay (or perhaps Columbi- Yale 7/16" Portland.....$163 osition, which was a complete re- an's ). Because you need 624' Samson 7/16" XLS…..$114 placement—on three different cost of line, you might even get a special levels—of basic running rigging for a price on a 600-foot reel. As shown on the sailboat diagram, MIDDLING 32' sloop. Included are halyards, main the price to replace the running rig- NER 8 mm T-900……....…..$322 sheet, headsail sheets, and topping ging with some good-to-beautiful line Yale 1/2" Ultra Low Stretch...$223 lift. Not included is an anchor rode (a can be as little as $299 or as much as Samson 7/16" XLS Extra…..$270 subject all in itself) and short lines used as outhauls, downhauls, barber $1,552—a five-fold difference. haulers, reef pendants, cunninghams, Every rope manufacturer listed EXPENSIVE preventers, vangs, etc. below offers printed material describ- NER 8 mm V-100…………..$376 The sailboat profile shown at left ing its offerings, and most have excel- Yale 3/8" Maxibraid………...$396 contains suggestions for the kinds and lent websites, some of these have Samson 3/8" Warpspeed…..$266 sizes of line that might be used and the rigging guides showing what kinds approximate costs that are involved in and sizes of line they suggest for cheap, medium, and expensive refits. various purposes. ■ If you wish to mix and match—expen- sive halyards but inexpensive sheets, Costs shown here are for instance—a bit of arithmetic is in Contacts—Aamstrand Ropes based on three 90' order. (Intrend), 629 Grove, Manteno, IL halyards (one for the For the three-level estimates, only 60950, 800/338-0557. Buccaneer main, two for headsails), the three major manufacturers of rec- Rope, 22319 AL Hwy. 79, Scottsboro, a pair of 52' headsail reational marine line will be used. AL 35768, 800/358-7673. Columbian sheets (port and They are New England Ropes (NER), Rope, 145 Towery, Guntown, MS starboard), a pair of 70' Yale and Samson. They are the rope 38849-0270, 800/821-4391. Crowe spinnaker sheets (double makers favored, respectively in the Rope Industries, Box 600, Waterville, this if you like an extra order listed, in the discount catalogs of ME 04901, 888/848-4405. G&B set of light-air sheets), West Marine, BoatU.S. and Defender. Ropes, 2921 Oro Ctr., Oro, ON LOL and a 50' topping lift. What’s involved here is more than 2X0, Canada, 800/643-6350. Glad- The figures are generous 600 feet of line. That's a heap of ding Braided Products, Box 164, approximations for a 32- expensive spaghetti. To make price South Oselic, NY 13155, 315/653- foot sloop. It's better to comparisons reasonable, lines from 7211. Marlow, 7600 Bryan Dairy measure them, of course. each manufacturer were chosen ac- Rd., Largo, FL 33777, 727/545-1911. cording to the makers' recommenda- New England Ropes Inc., 848 tions or the lines' rated breaking Airport, Fall River, MA 02720, 800/ TOTALS - EXPENSIVE strengths. In some cases, the strength 333-6679. Novatec Braids, 234 NER………..$1,381 match-up was about 10% off. Many of Water, Yarmouth, NS B5A 4P8, Yale………..$1,552 these lines come in a choice of white Canada, 800/856-6259 or R&W Samson…..$1,204 with a bit of color coding or solid Enterprises, 404 Nash Rd., New colors; for pricing purposes the lower- Bedford, MA 02746, 800/260-8599. priced white always was selected. Pelican Products, 23215 Early, TOTALS - MIDDLING Even with only three manufactur- Torrance, CA 90505, 800/473-5422. NER…………$760 ers, the choices, although logical, must Samson, The American Group, Yale…………$906 be considered quite arbitrary; the lines 2090 Thornton, Ferndale, WA Samson……$632 were chosen primarily to illustrate 98248, 800/227-7673. Sunshine three cost levels available to a boat Ropes, 7520 N.W. 41st St. Miami, FL owner interested in renewing running 331666799, 305/592-3750. Unicord, TOTALS - LEAST COSTLY rigging. The totaled figures for New 12010 Paulina, Calumet Park, IL NER…………….$422 England Ropes, Yale, and Samson are 60827, 800/929-3110. Wellington Yale…………….$431 intended only to show the price range. Puritan Marine, 1140 Monticello, Samson……….$386 If you wanted to keep things very Madison, GA 30650, 800/221-5054. simple you could, for $343 (55¢ a foot), Yale Cordage, 6 Morin, Biddleford, rig the whole boat with the original ME 04005, 207/282-3396.

For Web addresses click "Links" at www.practical-sailor.com. SEPTEMBER 2001 11 P RACTICAL S AILOR Spread Ad - "10 Things"

PRACTICAL S AILOR 12 S EPTEMBER 2001 Spread Ad - "10 Things"

SEPTEMBER 2001 13 P RACTICAL S AILOR SPECIAL SECTION: ROPE High-Tech Rope Test Tortured on the rack, various examples of high-modulus rope show enormous straight-line power, but give up alarmingly fast when subjected to The Knot.

he Knot really isn't something A generalization on which you can the Cordage Institute to be: bowline, that should make rope run rely almost universally is that the 67-75%; square knot, 43-47%; fisher- Tscreaming from the deck. The strongest end treatment on any rope is man's knot, 50-58%; sheet bend, 48- knot is something we're used to. It's a a splice. A neatly done splice, with a 58%; Carrick bend, 55-60%; two half good thing. properly sized thimble, cuts the break- hitches (on a 5/8" ring) 60-70%, and Most experienced sailors know that ing strength of a line only about 10%. (on a 4" diameter post) 65-75%; and an any rope, when knotted or even rove However, when knotted, the deterio- anchor bend (on a 5/8" ring) 55-65% over a bend (like a sheave in a block), ration in a rope's breaking strength is and (on a 4" diameter post) 80-90%. undergoes some stress that detracts much more severe. (Proper terminol- It gets more complicated. The Cord- from the strength that its maker claims. ogy calls for distinguishing between age Institute figures are for new rope The part most likely to come close knots, bends, and hitches; but in this and straight, static (slowly applied) to the rated breaking strength is the report all will usually be called knots.) loads rather than dynamic loads— straight, middle of the rope. Unless Although you'll see minor varia- what you might call shock loads. Fur- abraded in some unusual fashion, tions listed here and there, the figures ther, in the market scan article on rope almost never breaks there. What for the percentage of retained strength page 6 there are several references fails are the secured ends. for commonly used knots are said by both to the difficulty of splicing mod-

Left: The hydraulic pulling rack at Aramid Rigging in Portsmouth, Rhode Island. Aramid's professionals set up many sample lines with eye splices at the stationary ends. The working (pulled) ends included eye splices, bowlines with two round turns, anchor bends, constrictor knots, and clove hitches. Knot-induced weakness notwithstanding, it soon became clear that these common high-techs are just too slippery to hold standard hitches at any reasonable pressure—so buntline hitches were added to many, just to keep them in place to be broken. Below: Aramid's production manager Brian Fisher gathers read-outs after putting the screws to the ropes.

PRACTICAL S AILOR 14 S EPTEMBER 2001 ern synthetic rope and about the dan- ger of using time-honored knots to belay these slippery lines. Another warning came from Brion Toss, one of the world's most respect- ed riggers, in an article in a recent Sail magazine. Toss threw up a large red rocket about knotting any rope made of what he called "HM fibers," mean- ing high-modulus fibers. Speaking of the great all-purpose bowline, Toss said that its strength isn't reduced by a mere 30% in high- modulus line, but more like "60, 70 or 80 percent." As an example, he said a piece of 3/8" line made of Spectra, with a breaking strength of about 8,500 pounds, would, when formed into a Left: 5/16" Yale Light, with a rated breaking strength of 5,000 lbs., secured to bowline, have a breaking strength of a smooth pin with an anchor bend finished by a buntline hitch as a lock. but 2,000 to 2,500 pounds. He said that Right: Bang. The failure occurred at 2,652 lbs., at the outside round turn of with some HM line subjected to heavy the buntline hitch. loads near their breaking strength, the core would snake out of a bowline. That's downright alarming. of Aramid Rigging in Portsmouth, was chosen; it has a composite poly- His observations (including "…there Rhode Island. The company, owned ethylene-Spectra core and a cover of simply is no way to tie a knot in an by Alex Wadson, does all kinds of braided polyethylene. It seemed most appropriately-sized HM line and still rigging—from conventional to very likely that Yale Light would be trouble. have any factor of safety…") sent a lot high-tech approaches for large yachts Finally, to test a specific splice eyebrows skyward around here. and racing boats. As implied by the recommended by Brian Toss, a piece Toss suggested that sailors go back company name, Wadson and his crew of Samson's most expensive line was to splicing or, if they wish to tie knots know much about the advantages and chosen. It is Spectron 12 Plus, a 12- in high-tech line, they accept that the limitations of man-made fibers. strand single braid made of coated line must be "massively oversized, in After extensive discussions, it was Spectra. which case it is far bigger, heavier, decided to use line of four different It must be emphatically noted that and more expensive than necessary; categories. this was not a test of one company's or it is the right size and probably on To serve as a sort of base, we chose line against another. New England the edge of breaking." New England Ropes' Sta-Set, a dou- Ropes, Yale, and Samson (and other For those of us who have, for a ble-braid (Dacron cover and Dacron companies, too) all market line that handful of years now, been knotting, core) that is very popular with sailors. would fit in each of the three catego- hitching and bending line like Yale's It was expected that our various end ries. MaxiBraid, New England Ropes' T- treatments (knots) would fare best with The size of the lines, six in each 900, and Samson's Ultra-Tech, this this "traditional" line. category, 18 in all, seemed not very was a piercing call for for a Practical As a example of moderately high- important. The sizes were chosen for Sailor bench test. tech line, the choice was Yale's Ara- approximately equal breaking com-T, which has a Technora core strength—with no consideration for The Planning and a Dacron cover. If there were cost. The 7/16" Sta-Set (89¢ a foot) has The goal, really, was to see for our- problems with knots, it might be with a listed break strength of 6,600 pounds. selves just how much knots really do line of this type. (As a rope compo- Yale rates its 5/16" Aracom T ($1.44 a rob high-tech lines of their breaking nent, Technora, which is similar to foot) at 9,700 pounds. Yale's 5/16” strength. Kevlar, is fading and being superced- Maxi-Braid Plus ($1.70) has a break Practical Sailor in years past has ed by Spectra and other even more strength of 5,700 pounds. The 3/8" been given the use of pull-test equip- technical and forgiving fibers.) Yale Light ($1.26 a foot), the largest ment at both Tillotson-Pearson (the Moving up the line, the next choice size made, is rated at 5,000 pounds. boatbuilder in Warren, Rhode Island) was another popular line, Yale's Maxi- Samson’s 1/4" Spectron 12 Plus has a and at New England Ropes (now in Braid Plus. It has a braided Spectra break strength of 9,200 pounds. Fall River, Massachusetts.) This time, core and a smooth Dacron cover. Next, it was decided to pull test Practical Sailor engaged the facilities For a very exotic line, Yale Light most of these lines with five kinds of

SEPTEMBER 2001 15 P RACTICAL S AILOR Bench Test: High-Modulus Rope

7/16" STA-SET 5/16" ARACOM-T 5/16" MAXIBRAID PLUS Rated @ 6,600# Rated at 9,700# Rated @ 5,700#

KNOT Failed at % of Break Strength Failed at % of Break Strength Failed at % of Break Strength

Bowline w/double turn 3,768# 57% 3,106# 32% 3,380# 59%

Anchor Bend w/2 half hitches 5,184# 78% 4,222# 43% 1,800# 31%

Clove Hitch w/1 half hitch 1,802# 27% 674# .07% 722# 13%

Constrictor Knot 3,992# 60% 2,744# 28% 2,824# 49%

Eye-to-Eye Splice 5,926# 89% 10,036# 103% 9,030# 158%

terminations. They are a bowline with were tied over or slipped on smooth 2" ful look at both the chart and the a double turn, an anchor bend, a pins, to minimize the damage done by boxed-off information entitled "Added clove hitch with one half hitch, a severe bending. (Our first couple of Thoughts." constrictor knot (also known as an tests used a section of 3" steel pipe The test figures certainly support Ashley's hitch, and said by Brion around the shackle pin, but this quick- the position of Brian Toss, which is Toss to be the best of the knots), a ly deformed and we discarded it.) No that these HM lines lose a great deal of plain eye splice, and, for the one thimbles were used on the splices, their strength when knotted. piece of single braid, a Wadson adap- because it was the knots that were The figures don't do much to lend tation of the multiple Brummel splice expected to fail. credence to his position that the Brum- (which Toss said was developed by Everything in this linear line-up is mel splice solves the problems. The Margie MacDonald, a rigger in his firmly anchored. Along with intermit- Brummel splice is a difficult splice, Port Townsend, Washington, shop). tent snaps, cracks, and groans as knots not known to many sailors and not With one exception, one end of and splices draw tight, the testing gets even shown in most books on rope- each of these pieces of line had con- noisy (like rifle shots) when a good work. In addition, it is used mostly for ventional splices, as specified by each piece of line lets go. single braid of the type used primarily line's manufacturer. And in some Coupled to a computer read-out, by racing zealots or by removing the cases, some extra line samples were the machine permits on-the-spot ob- cover of a double braid and making pulled to destruction with knots in servation and also records data about the spice in the core. (On double-braid both ends. properties like strength, elongation, with, for instance, a Spectra core and creep, snap-back, hysteresis failure, a Dacron cover, the core has all of the The Test Equipment extensibility, residual strength, and strength.) Working with a very patient Brian whether Michelle Pfeiffer is more beau- The test data shows which knots Fisher, Wadson's production manag- tiful than Deborah Kerr. are best and that splices are better er, the game plan called for mounting So, besides being observed visual- than any knot—except that in very each piece of line in Aramid Rigging's ly, each of the pull-to-destruction seg- slippery line (like Yale Light) splices giant stretching machine, which runs ments produced a graph paper chart tend to pull out. 88 feet, from the front to the rear of the clearly showing at what poundage the So, it’s tempting to shout, "Don't tie shop. breakage occurred—as well as a bro- knots in exotic line!" However, that Basically, the machine is two 5" I- ken piece of rope to examine and would be both an exaggeration and beams, with trolley cars (secured by photograph. over-simplification. huge pins) and a pneumatic ram If you like generalities, here are mechanism in the box-shaped space The Test Results several: The more expensive the rope, created by the beams. It applies the The data, shown in the chart, does not the more strength is lost when knot- load very gradually. fall in patterns as neat as one might ted, and the more likely a knot can be The assorted rope spices and knots prefer. Practical Sailor suggests a care- expected to slip.

PRACTICAL S AILOR 16 S EPTEMBER 2001 3/8" YALE LIGHT Rated @ 5,000# COMMENTS

Failed at % of Break Strength With Yale Light, the spice broke at 2,241#. Secured with bowlines at both ends, Yale Light went to 3,162# 2,241# 45% before one of the bowlines broke.

Good performance by Sta-Set. Even with half hitches, Yale Light slipped at 890#. Figures shown for Yale 2,652# 53% Light was with the bend backed by a buntline hitch.

In Sta-Set, this hitch held but broke quickly. In other lines, it invariably slipped at low figures. With buntline 250# 5% hitches, Aracom T went to 5,424#, Yale Light to 4,800#

Aracom-T slipped twice before taking hold. With constrictors at both ends because splices pulled out, Yale 2200# 44% Light slipped badly and knot pulled out at 2,200#. This was not, strictly speaking, a failure of the line itself.

Aracom-T broke in the middle of the line, the only sample that did so. Splices quickly pulled out of the Yale N/A N/A Light, so buntline hitches were tied at both ends. The first failed at 4,354 lbs., or 87% of breaking strength.

Mind you, all of this fancy rope is remote reaches of your wallet. fid-length markings and the points at freely recommended, by the makers which the cover goes in the core and and in marine catalogs, for use in The Bitter End the core goes in the cover. At first, it all situations where knots are commonly It's fine to say that all rope termina- seemed very mysterious, but plenty of used by most sailors. These include tions should be splices. dedicated sailors set themselves to halyards; main, jib and spinnaker Amateurs who do their own mar- the task and overcame the problems. sheets; vangs; topping lifts; guys, and linespike work learned with the intro- But the times, they keep changing, travelers. They're often called "ideal" duction several decades ago of three- and the question is, how long can the for winches and stoppers. strand nylon that a couple of extra amateur be expected to keep up? How If you use these ultra-strong (and tucks were called for—to counter ny- many sailors will be able or willing to ultra-expensive) varieties of line for lon's slipperiness. take the next step and fit splices in the such purposes, there's a way out of the The appearance of Dacron double- fancy line now available? Splicing dilemma that is created: It'll take you braid called for even more skill—and the HMs can be very difficult, even for to a black hole—the one in the most usually a diagram to keep track of the a professional rigger in his shop.

Left: The bowline (King of Knots) with two round turns was middling strong—it held to about 48% of breaking strength on average (well below the 67-75% for bowlines in traditional line, as suggested by the Cordage Institute). Middle, a constrictor knot, shown around a piece of pipe that was quickly deformed, is a tenacious little number that did roughly as well as the bowline, holding to an average of 45%. There are several variations of constrictor, including the Ashley's Hitch used by Toss, which he scored at 47%. Right: a buntline hitch with two round turns. It's nothing more than a clove hitch around the standing part, with the first turn taken outside, so that the bitter end is locked in the inside hitch. Shown here in the end of some Yale Light, it was a useful locking hitch throughout the testing, and in fact held to 87% of Yale Light's breaking strength in a sidebar test of end-to-end buntline hitches.

SEPTEMBER 2001 17 P RACTICAL S AILOR The sailor faced with the occasion- has seen the core crawl clean out of • When synthetic line undergoes al need to attach a shackle to a halyard the cover of a line subjected to heavy heavy stress, it heats up—sometimes or attach a pair of sheets to a self- loads, the PS tests turned up no dramatically—and creates a small tailing jib, can stop by the rigger's shop similar instance. welded mass of plastic. You can and pay to get it done. The rigger will • The only test made of the Brummel perhaps tell if a knot is getting near even select the proper line—subtract- splice was on a piece of Samson's its breaking point by feeling it. ing from its rated strength the weak- Spectron 12 Plus. It's an all-Spectra • The double turns over the pin used ness (which he should know) induced single braid with a rated breaking on the bowlines were useless, as by the splice. strength of 9,200 pounds. With splic- they probably would be with any An alternative is to buy oversized es in both ends, it broke at 7,078 knot. Unless there is abrasion, the line and tie knots in it. Although se- pounds—77% of its rating. turn is not where the break occurs. verely weakened even by knots like • In defining a rope's strength, man- • Unless it's used on a surface with the bowline, over-sizing will take care ufacturers and catalogs currently tend some friction, like a rough piling or of the problem. With this approach, to use "breaking strength" instead of mooring bitt, the clove hitch the already-high cost could double. "safe working load," as they used to shouldn't be considered a reliable As Brian Toss observed, you wind do. Breaking strength defines the knot, even with an added half hitch. up with line that is "far bigger, heavier, load that produces a break or rup- The figures on the chart are for this and more expensive than necessary." ture. Long before a rope breaks, it configuration. Early in the testing, And you still have slipperiness to undergoes severe and permanent PS took to adding a buntline hitch to worry about. damage. A better term from the us- get it to hold. That made it a different The last alternative: Unless you are er's viewpoint is "safe working load" ballgame. The lines so secured then a fierce racer and intend to banish at or simply "working load limit," which broke (at fairly respectable loads) at any cost any excuse for losing, equip is the load that can be endured re- the buntline hitch. the entire boat (except for that nylon peatedly without doing damage. Un- • The most unusual result was with anchor rode) with any of the excellent fortunately, the preferable term gets a piece of Yale's Maxi-Braid Plus. varieties of Dacron double-braid. so complicated by things like "de- With splices in both ends, the line sign factors," dynamic loading, age, broke the core (but not the cover) in Conclusions and Observations wear, UV attack, etc., that manufac- the middle of the piece. Rated at • In virtually all cases when a knot turers no longer routinely specific 5,700 pounds, the break came with a held, the rope broke at the very front the SWL. load of 9,030 pounds. Why, we do of the knot, at the first turn com- • In the slippery lines (especially not know. pressed by an overlay. If you have an Yale Light), the splice occasionally • When using slippery line, it's important connection made with a pulled out before the knot broke. The strange and unpleasant to watch a knot of any kind, re-tie it occasional- splices failed when the cover broke, well-made knot like an anchor bend ly in a slightly different place. which released the splice enough to slowly but surely snake its way free • Although rigger Brian Toss said he free the core. when a load is applied.

Demonstrating how a knot grabs and holds steady until the line breaks, Aramid Rigging's print-out below left is for Sta- Set line with a bowline. Note the stalwart straight-line march to destruction. The stepladder display in the print-out below right shows the progression for slippery Yale Light line with a constrictor knot, which seems to hold momentarily, slip a bit, grab again, slip again until finally something breaks.

PRACTICAL S AILOR 18 S EPTEMBER 2001 7/16" Sta-Set, rated at 6,600 lbs. breaking strength 5/16" Aracom-T, rated at 9,700 lbs. breaking strength 9,700 lbs 6,600 lbs Anchor bend Splice-Splice Bowline Splice-Splice Constrictor Clove hitch Anchor bend Bowline Clove hitch w. buntline Constrictor Constrictor (retied)

5/16" MaxiBraid Plus, rated at 5,700 lbs. breaking strength 3/8" Yale Light, rated at 5,000 lbs. breaking strength 5,000 lbs Bowline Splice-Splice 5,700 lbs Anchor bend w. buntline Buntline-Buntline Clove hitch w. buntline Bowline-Bowline Constrictor- Constrictor Bowline Anchor bend w. buntline Clove hitch w. buntline Constrictor Constrictor- Constrictor (retied)

Above: Four Excel charts generated from the testing Below: After the demise of an Aracom-T eyesplice. software at Aramid Rigging show, from left to right, top Rated for 9,700 lbs., it held out to 10,036 lbs. We're to bottom, the general progression of Practical Sailor's talking about a piece of light line 5/16" in diameter—no tests, including efforts to shore up the slipping high- wonder we want this high-tech stuff to work. But for true modulus line with locking hitches, and to try various love to blossom, we need to be able to knot, hitch, bend, knots and hitches just to see what would happen. and splice it without fear that we've dealt it a fatal blow.

• Practical Sailor's seat-of-the-pants reaction to all of these readouts is simple: High-modulus fiber already has an accepted place in the of high-performance boats, where all terminations are professionally made. It can and most likely will have a place in shackle-ended running rigging ( and headsail halyards, topping lifts, maybe heavy-air spinnaker sheets) aboard a lot of weekend handicap racers, where 20 pounds of weight saved aloft can add several seconds per mile on the course. It can make a difference in the same way to performance- minded cruising sailors. But until the ropemakers figure out a way for this stuff to face up to The Knot without sacrificing The Wallet, it's just can't be a trusted mate on deck. Brion Toss, not surprisingly, is absolutely right. ■

SEPTEMBER 2001 19 P RACTICAL S AILOR SPECIAL SECTION: ROPE Webbing: Match Quality to Usage

coptered to the top The flatware of rope of skyscrapers to and rigging is puny little straps on kids' back- particularly suited to packs. Most man- several uses on ufacturers, fled from New En- board, and is gland, are in the South. One of the terminal-friendly. biggest is Tape- Keep a roll or two in craft in Anniston, Alabama. It's your arsenal. owned by YKK, the big Japanese zip- per company. t began with a question from a The biggest Chicago reader, Carl Beyer, who supplier to the ma- I said he's currently cruising in the rine industry is From left to right are six samples of webbing. West Indies: "On anything more than Bainbridge Inter- Purchased from West Marine and fine for light duty a quick passage of a few hours aboard national in Can- are the 1" dark-colored piece and the 1-1/2" white our 35' ketch, we like to get the hard ton, Massachu- piece of flat webbing. Third from the left, with a nickel dinghy aboard and not worry about it setts. While most in the end to show its construction, is a good piece of riding along behind us. This is partic- of its business is tubular webbing. Shown securely sewed to a Wichard ularly so when the weather is brisk or sailcloth and sail snap hook is an even better piece of white tubular better. I say, 'better' (rather than 'worse') fittings, its web- webbing made up as a life harness tether; note the because with a ketch you can stand a bing and web generous and excellent sewing. Second from the right good bit more wind than can those hardware busi- is a piece of flat webbing glued and sewn, (in a 'sloopies.' ness is an impor- questionable way), to the relatively new Wichard "Our problem is lashing down the tant adjunct. double-action hook. On the far right is a piece of thin, dinghy. It's not easy to tie it tightly. Speaking for very cheap webbing glued (not even sewn) to a sliding We've tried both three-strand nylon Bainbridge, Rich- bar buckle. This was taken from an old child's and Dacron braided line, but no mat- ard Morell and backpack. The terminal here is much sturdier than the ter how well we snub the hitches, they Scott Sartrys ex- webbing; today it would be replaced by a plastic clip. always seem to loosen up and provide plained that tubu- some undesirable slack. We don't trust lar webbing, shock cord. Can you think of an op- manufactured in the same way as the devoted to making metal and plastic tion?" cover on double-braid rope, is stron- fittings for webbing. Practical Sailor’s search for options ger than flat webbing. The best tubular Basic to attaching webbing to a turned up, repeatedly and most often, webbing is called, in the trade, maxi deck or bulkhead are what are called a solution called Webbing. webbing and the 1" size can have a footman's loops, a.k.a. bridges. They Webbing is greatly favored for life breaking strength of 11,000 pounds. It are important to provide the webbing harness tethers, sail ties, dodger straps, can be identified by a black tracer with a good even bight, which pre- to lash battcars to sail cringles and to along each edge and down the mid- vents edge-loading (perhaps leading "spider web" the heavy loads at the dle. to tearing) of the webbing. clews and tacks of sails. "If you're buying webbing for use The ends can be fastened with Still, webbing is sometimes called on a boat," says Sartrys, "... or anything shackles, D-rings, triangles, side-re- the most overlooked material avail- else, be advised that there are many lease buckles, sliding bar adjustors or able to sailors—by those who make grades, and you must match usage to aircraft-type buckles. Lengths can be and sell it, of course. quality. Basically, the heavier it is, the changed with three-bar slides. There Who makes it? There are literally better." even are fittings that permit the use of hundreds of web mills turning out Along with proper webbing, you a short piece of shock cord on the end everything from 12" slings to pick up need proper hardware. A fair portion of the webbing. It might be handy in construction equipment being heli- of the marine hardware business is low-load applications.

PRACTICAL S AILOR 20 S EPTEMBER 2001 loads when that happens are more likely to damage or break terminals and knots somewhere along the line in the system. As is often the case aboard sail- boats, the best solution is probably either a matter of seamanship habits or a well-considered compromise pur- chase: Either go with the nylon and make sure you have it cinched up tightly when it gets wet (or better yet, set it up when it's wet and let it dry taut), or buy polyester (Dacron) web- Here's an assortment of hardware intended for use with webbing. In the top bing, which will stretch under load, row at left is a 4" Herreshoff cleat—the kind of thing most of us would tie our but not as much as nylon. ■ webbing to. It's not ideal (and expensive at $20 a pop). Below it are small ($5) and large ($7) Wichard footman's loops or bridges, which are the ideal way to secure webbing. In the second row are an S-hook and 3 padeyes, none of Contacts—Bainbridge, 255 Revere, which is a good anchor for webbing because they don't permit the webbing to Canton, MA 02021, 800/422-5684. make a good flat turn. In the next two rows are metal and plastic triangles, Ronstan, 7600 Bryan Dairy Rd., Largo, rectangles, D-rings and O-rings. Next are two Schaefer stainless tangs, which FL 33777, 727/545-1911. Schaefer, 158 could be bent into footman's loops to fit a difficult location. Next are various Duchaine, New Bedford, MA 02745, buckles and adjusters, including standard snap fittings, an aircraft-type cam 508/995-9511. Sea Sure, Shore Rd., buckle ($1.99), an adjustment buckle ($2.99), a side-release buckle ($2.99), Warsash, Hampshire SO31 9GQ En- several other length adjusters ($7.50 for the big metal one, $1.99 for the gland, 44 (0) 1489 885401. Suncor, 7 plastic) and two sliding bar buckles ($8.50 for the big one). At the bottom is a Riverside Dr., Pembroke, MA 02359, bit of 1/4” shock cord (39¢ a foot) with a web connector ($1.99) on one end, 800/394-2222. Wichard, 47 Highpoint, and a hook (99¢) on the other. This could work in a low-load setting, like Portsmouth, RI 02871, 800/852-7084. securing an awning or a light sail on deck.

Some of the great variety of hard- line on deck. Likewise, in the Offshore ware is shown in the photo above, but Sailing Encyclopedia, Steve Dashew remember—stainless steel hardware writes, "Ideally, jacklines will be made is almost always stronger than plastic. from flat webbing (which doesn't roll Ronstan, Schaefer, Wichard, and under your feet like line or wire)." Suncor make excellent web hard- Both these points are correct, but ware. If you want to see an amazing there's a bit more to consider: Plain variety of hardware available for web- nylon jacklines stretch considerably bing applications, check with an En- when soaked and worked hard, as If you're lacking a terminal, here's glish company called Sea Sure for a most people who have spent a few an elegant and simple knot (bend, catalog. days on a wet passage will confirm. really) favored by paddlers, who use Rousmaniere has pointed out that webbing to make carrying loops and Jacklines some of the injuries in the disastrous for lashing boats and gear. It's called The most prominent use for webbing 1998 Sydney-Hobart Race were the a Water Knot—simply two overhand on cruising sailboats is in jacklines for result of people being thrown long knots tied through each other in safety on deck. They should run port distances after their jacklines and teth- exactly opposite directions (above) and starboard from the bow cleats, or ers had slackened. and pulled tight (below). from shackles on the toerail forward, Minimum-stretch systems made of back to the cockpit, but should stop far wire or high-tech line like Spectra enough from the that you offer greater support to a crewmember don't get swept overboard and dragged leaning against them at the mast or on behind the boat. the foredeck, but these, too, have their John Rousmaniere, in his The An- bad points: Fetching up at the end of napolis Book of Seamanship, says that your tether on a bar-taut jackline can webbing is best for jacklines, pointing be just as injurious as being thrown out that it won't be confused with other loosely. Plus, the stresses and shock-

For Web addresses click "Links" at www.practical-sailor.com. SEPTEMBER 2001 21 P RACTICAL S AILOR Offshore Log The continuing voyage of Nick Nicholson's Calypso Mediterranean Idyll Calypso rubs gunwales with some of the Med's mega-yachts in a cosmopolitan port that caters to the European trade.

he central Turkish port of Marmaris is the heart On turnaround day, dozens of German-flagged of the burgeoning eastern Mediterranean charter bareboats line the marina docks. boat business. Netsel Marmaris Marina is filled Twith hundreds of squeaky-clean bareboats from half a dozen charter agencies that specialize in European catering to the tourist trade. These are primarily Med- clients. Our dock was the home of the German-owned moored in front of the dozens of small restaurants lining Sun Charter fleet. the waterfront. Between the restaurant hawkers, the Several dozen boats—primarily French-built Turkish string bands, the aggressive rug merchants, and Jeanneaus—are turned around by this company every the muezzins calling the faithful to prayer, the Marmaris weekend, disgorging hundreds of logy, sunburned waterfront is a cacophony of conflicting sounds, a verita- Germans on the docks. They are replaced the next day ble Tower of Babel in Turkish, German,and English. by planeloads of pale German sailors trundling cases As long as you keep your sense of humor and aren't of beer and wine down to their charter boats. More Turks bothered by music that continues into the wee hours, in this area speak German than English. it's a wonderful place. The local crewed charter boats, called gulets, are There are huge private yachts here as well. The dock purpose-built descendants of sail-powered coastal behind us is used by megayachts, both power and sail, freighters. Varying in length from about 35' to 80', which take turns sucking big fuel trucks dry. Telecommu- these are massive boats for their length, like their nications and high-tech may be hurting on the US stock cargo-carrying ancestors. Most are exquisitely market, but the big-time owners are still doing well. maintained, lavish with varnish and polished stainless The 200-foot US-built Frequency, which dropped in steel. With huge, canopied cockpits, even small gulets for a few days, is owned by a Turkish digital communi- have comfortable lounging areas. cations tycoon. Smaller high-performance toys—a 40-foot While they all maintain rudimentary sailing rigs, catamaran and a 48' foot speedboat, both operated by these are really motorboats. The canvas rigged on the American crews—follow the big boat from port to port. booms may look like sails, but the "sails" are more With a name like AirWaves, we suspect that the likely to be awnings, unfurled at anchor. equally large motoryacht pictured on the next page is Some gulets are graceful, others clunky. All have the owned by someone who has made more than a few basic characteristics of wooden construction, wide dollars—or lira, or pounds sterling, or Deutschmarks, or beam, relatively shoal draft, lots of varnish, huge Euros—in the communications field. engines, and tons of cabin space. They are usually No matter what the nationality of the real owner, all operated at full throttle, with little attention paid these boats are owned by corporations chartered in tax to the rules of the road. havens like the Cayman Islands or Bermuda. It seems like The town of Marmaris has well over 100 gulets every European has a digital phone in his pocket or in her

PRACTICAL S AILOR 22 S EPTEMBER 2001 Small Sign, Big Problem The seas of the world are polluted with plastic waste, one of the worst byproducts of modern civilization. In the deserts of the Middle East, virtually every scrawny bush is festooned with plastic bags that have blown unimpeded across the wasteland. A lot of this ends up in the ocean, along with waste dumped by ships and garbage dumped along the coasts of many nations. Dumping plastic in the ocean is absolutely illegal, but it continues almost everywhere. We have exported our consumer goods to the rest of the world, and we have created a huge problem for countries lacking the infrastructure to dispose of the inevitable plastic packaging properly. Throughout Southeast Asia, the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea, and the eastern Mediterranean, we have ploughed through floating debris fields of industrial and domestic plastic waste. We met literally dozens of boats whose propellers or en- gine intakes have been clogged by plastic bags. Our engine raw water pump failure on the way to Thailand may have been the result of a bag temporarily blocking the engine water inlet. We regularly shine a flashlight through the clear plastic bowl of our Groco ARG-1000 engine raw water strainer to check for debris, but because there's always a certain amount of slime on the inside of the bowl, you can't easily see what's going on. Every now and then, we open the strainer up to clean it out thoroughly. This time, we had a surprise. The strainer basket was almost completely filled with a shred- ded clear plastic bag. We don't know how long it had been there, because it was virtually invisible Top: The megayacht AirWaves. Middle: An older, when the strainer was full of water. graceful gulet, now a private yacht. Bottom: The Wherever it came from, the message is clear: cockpit of this 50-foot gulet has lounging space for 10. Make it a habit to clean the raw water strainer regularly, even if things seem normal. Above all, handbag, and the money just keeps rolling in. don't contribute to the global problem by dumping ■ The sailing yachts are equally impressive. A half plastic at sea. dozen sailboats over 120 feet long stopped in Marmaris while we were there. The graceful Shamoun and the elegant, modern Yanneke are almost too beautiful to believe. The crews work like dogs to keep them as perfect as possible. After the high tension of the Red Sea and the Middle East, the somewhat decadent self-indul- gence of the Med is a welcome change. We may be on the fast track west, but it's a laid-back, comfortable fast track. We doubt that Odysseus had it any better wandering across the eastern Mediterranean more than 2000 years ago, when he hung out with the original Calypso. The siren song may be a little loud, but the wine ain't bad, and the calamari is out of sight. Our Calypso thinks she's home at last. She doesn't know she still has one more We were surprised to find our raw water strainer ocean to cross this year. ■ completely clogged with a shredded plastic bag.

SEPTEMBER 2001 23 P RACTICAL S AILOR The Ceremony of the Chain Sailors are known as superstitious creatures of habit. One of our own little rituals is the Ceremony of the Chain. For the layman, this quasi-religious experience has a more prosaic name: end-for-ending the chain. We carry 400 feet of 3/8" high-tensile galvanized chain. That translates into 600 pounds of steel. Once a year, we pull out the entire rode and swap it end-for-end to equalize wear on both ends of the chain. We re-galvanized the chain last year during our prolonged stay in New Zealand. Since that time, we have anchored in Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thai- land, the Maldives, Eritrea, Sudan, Egypt, and the Med. We have pulled up some absolutely shocking, stinking muck on the chain in several of those places, including several anchorages that have the reputation of eating the galvanizing off the chain in a matter of days. Despite the fact that we are religious about washing the chain as it comes aboard, you cannot possibly get all the mud off every time you haul the anchor. Mud clings to galvanized chain like glue. Two anchorages particularly come to mind: Langkawi, Malaysia, and Ismailia, Egypt. In both places, the chain came up looking like a three-inch diameter mud rope. In Malaysia we washed and washed the chain before it came aboard, and still the waterways ran That’s 400 feet of chain laid out on the dock for its brown as the anchor came home. In Ismailia, my annual maintenance and inspection. attempts to clean the chain properly were thwarted by our Suez Canal pilot, who was screaming at me to get the anchor aboard and get underway while I was trying year with clean chain. Unfortunately, this has the to get the muck off the chain. I was sorely tempted to side effect of blasting off the paint markings on the plug his mouth with a big handful of Egyptian mud. chain, which are pretty much gone on the first 200' in Part of the dread of the Ritual of the Chain is the any case. mucking out of the chain locker that goes with it. There are any number of chain-marking schemes Surprisingly, all that stinking mud turns into fairly employed by cruisers. Paint markings look great when innocuous sand and dirt when it dries out, and the new, but disappear quickly in use. This year, we decided mucking out is never as bad as you expect it to be. to mark the chain using colored plastic electrical cable With the chain off the boat, it's fairly easy to climb ties. They seem to run through the windlass with no into the chain locker with a bucket and brush to get problem, even without the tails cut off. up the worst of the mess, followed by a wipedown of Unfortunately, colored cable ties only seem to be the locker with a sponge. As I cleaned out the mud available in the skinniest size, so we have no idea this year, the anchorages it must have come from how long they will stay intact on the chain. flashed vividly to mind. Were these shells from Reloading the chain requires some thought. This is a Africa, Asia, Australia? Wherever they came from, they lot of weight to carry in the bow, and it exaggerates are now mingled forever with the mud of Marmaris, the boat's pitching moment significantly, not to Turkey, to the eternal confusion of some future mention the impact on trim. With the chain off the geologist who might someday explore the sands of the boat, the bow comes up at least four inches. harbor here. The most chain we have ever deployed is about 350', After you remove the chain, of course, you have to during an unexpectedly hard blow in Thailand, when clean and re-stow it. we were helplessly embayed on a lee shore with the We clean the chain with a high-pressure freshwater engine's gearbox in the shop for a rebuild. washdown to try to get mud residue off and start the Reasoning that we are unlikely to need to put out more

PRACTICAL S AILOR 24 S EPTEMBER 2001 than about 300' of chain, we decided this year to shift part of the chain to the middle of the boat during the Ceremony of the Chain, reducing the weight in the bow. We can do this by leading the chain through PVC pipe which leads from the secondary chain locker to the bilge section under the saloon. All the floorboards in the boat have strong positive latches, so that in the event of capsize we should not end up with this small pile of chain trying to exit the main cabin by pounding a hole in the deck. We moved 50' of chain—about 75 pounds—almost 15' aft. Allowing for the additional chain which leads for- ward through the bilge, we can still anchor with 325' of chain at the stemhead. This is more chain than most cruising boats carry, and is more than adequate for 99 per cent of anchoring situations we have faced. This year, we're trying colored plastic cable ties as As water depth increases, you can actually get away chain markers, to supplement the quick-disappearing with proportionately less scope, as the weight of the paint markers. chain itself adds significantly to the holding power of the anchor. Even anchored in 75' of water in a fairly exposed anchorage, I would feel comfortable about 25 metric tons—some 55,000 pounds. Our load with 325' of chain out, as long as the bottom is cell is rated for 30 tons, and normally uses 1-3/4" decent. high-tensile shackles rated at 35 short tons—70,000 We've never met a world cruiser whose primary pounds. Unfortunately, our high-tensile shackles anchor rode is anything other than chain. This is yet disappeared somewhere along the way, and we were another reason that a cruising boat gets inordinately forced to use standard shackles rated at 25 short heavy. tons—50,000 pounds. The additional weight is a tremendous burden to Despite the safety margin, we were really uncom- cruising multihulls and light-displacement monohulls. fortable lifting a $3 million boat that With our dry weight of about 27,000 pounds, the might be the core of a $50 million campaign—not to additional weight of chain is felt, but it's not mention the $500 million in potential benefits to the unbearable. In a 40-foot multihull weighing 10,000 home country of any syndicate winning the America's pounds—even allowing for the lighter ground tackle Cup—with shackles that were under-rated for the job. carried—the weight of all-chain rode, coupled with We have only seen one America's Cup boat dropped— the normal amount of cruising equipment, can be fatal not by us, thank God—but it was a sobering experience. to performance. Even though the boat fell only a few feet, it was so We could have saved about 160 pounds in our ground severely damaged that it was effectively out of the tackle package by using 5/16" high tensile chain contest. instead of 3/8" chain. The problem is that while 5/16" Is it easy to find 1-3/4" high-tensile steel shackles high-tensile chain has a working load limit of about in a civilized country such as New Zealand? It is not. 3900 pounds, the normal galvanized anchor shackles At the end of the day, we had Dutch-made shackles that you use with 5/16" chain have a working load air-freighted from Singapore to New Zealand, at a cost limit of about half that. Granted, certified shackles of about $700 for freight alone. Needless to say, we have a six to one safety margin, but exceeding the painted these shackles—which might have been working load limit of any part of your ground tackle gold-plated, for what they cost—with day-glow paint so system is never a good idea. that no one can wander off with them by mistake. This is particularly true when you are world cruising, With our chain swapped end-for-end, cleaned, when your ground tackle is often the only thing re-marked, re-stowed, with newly re-seized shackles, standing between your boat and destruction. We have no the annual Ceremony of the Chain comes to an end. It doubt that you can find fully-galvanized high-tensile only remains to perform the final ritual libation. steel shackles for use with high-tensile chain, but This calls for a glass of wine—red or white, but not they are not readily available, and we would be too old, not too young, not too dry, not too sweet. In delighted if a Practical Sailor reader would come up this case, it is not sacrificed to some ancient God of with a source. the Chain. This libation goes to the crew who have As an aside, we faced a similar problem in weighing performed the Ceremony, for they're the ones sweating the boats used in the America's Cup. These boats weigh like pigs under the hot Mediterranean sun. ■

SEPTEMBER 2001 25 P RACTICAL S AILOR BOAT REVIEW Com-Pac 35 Charley Morgan's design combines 'home-style' comforts, shoal draft, solid workmanship, and a good turn of speed.

om-Pac Yachts is a Florida builder with a particularly in- C teresting history. The compa- ny was formed back in 1957 by W. L. "Hutch" Hutchins, Sr., an entrepre- neurial tool-and-die maker who oper- ated a metal-stamping and fabrica- tion shop in St. Louis. A successful inventor, his creations ranged from automobile accessories, including the "Ah-ooo- gah" horn installed on Mod- el A Fords, to a unique folding high chair. In 1970, Hutch converted a per- sonal interest in sailing to a corporate endeavor when he commissioned Clark Mills to design the Com-Pac Yacht, a 16-footer capable of being shipped in a box. Mills is most famous for designing the Windmill and Opti- mist prams. Hutch's goal was to "build a small but highly efficient sailboat that could easily be trailered behind a compact car." The first boat was finally construct- ed in 1974, and trailered by Hutch behind a Ford Pinto. The company eventually intro- duced several small models ranging The Com-Pac 35 moves well with its shoal-draft Scheel keel. Despite its in size from 19 to 23 feet. Bob Johnson cruising countenance, its D/L and SA/DSPL ratios—and its tested of Island Packet and Charley Morgan performance—suggest that it could be a wolf in a PHRF flock. were employed as designers of three cruisers, the Com-Pac 25, 27, and 35 footers. A line of catboats was intro- cruisers comprise approximately 25 (We found fiberglass and gelcoat duced in 1999. percent of the annual production. surfaces on our test boat to be smooth, Brothers Rich and Gerry Hutchins The company appears to be a com- with no evidence of print-through or now run the company. Rich, 58, has bination manufacturing and assembly crazing.) worked for Com-Pac since childhood, plant, since hulls for the larger boats The manufacturing facility con- once running the metal shop in St. are laminated off-site by JMJ Fiber- sists of three buildings housing as- Louis. He lives aboard a Com-Pac 35. glass, specialists with whom the com- sembly areas, and metal and wood At age 52, brother Gerry is a graduate pany has a 15-year relationship. shops. engineer who began his career at "We're not interested in being in Dealers are located in most major Gulfstar. the glass business because it's a spe- sailing ports. The company has deliv- "We consider the 35 to be a semi - cialized business and requires a huge ered boats to the Great Lakes and all custom boat, because we limit pro- commitment for space," says Rich. three coasts. Many 35s are currently duction to 4 to 5 boats per year, and "However, we dictate lamination cruising the waters of the Caribbean allow owners some latitude in the schedules, and store and maintain the and Florida Keys. accommodations," Rich says. The molds between production runs." The target market for the 35-footer

PRACTICAL S AILOR 26 S EPTEMBER 2001 is the experienced sailor stepping up cruising boat, compared to a full keel." The layup at the keel consists of six from a smaller boat who wants to sail The stubby keel design incorporates a layers of 17-ounce knitted fabric that offshore. wide trunk that runs to a significantly produce a 1/2" thickness of solid wider foot filled with lead ingots. "The fiberglass. Outboard of the keel the Design design provides excellent lift, allows layup consists of layers of 34- oz. mat. Designed by Charley Morgan, the 35 the boat to turn in her length, and to Additional layers of 17-oz. fabric are was introduced 10 years ago as a 33- access shallow anchorages." laid up at the chainplate attachment footer with a standard transom. How- She displaces 12,500 pounds, of points. Chainplates are stainless steel ever, when the market demanded the which 5,700 pounds is ballast. straps attached outside the hull, and addition of a swim platform, the The SA/DSPL ratio is 17.2, typical bolted through backing plates on the molds were retooled and the stern of the breed, and the DSPL/L is 232.5— inner surface. One layer of 34-oz. mat swept aft, adding one foot to the water- is laid up around the sheer line to line. provide additional stiffening. She is a "traditional, beamy cruis- Com-Pac 35 Topsides are cored with a thin er," Rich says, and is "typical of Char- layer of Coremat. ley's designs." LOA: 36' 9" The bottom of the hull also is coat- Morgan describes the design crite- LWL: 29' 0" ed with a coat of epoxy. With vinylest- ria as having four elements: "She had Beam: 11' 10" er resins in the layup, and the addi- to have a shoal draft, be stable and sea Draft: 4'0" tional barrier coat, this method should kindly, and fast enough to give good DSPL: 12,500 lbs. prevent blistering. results under PHRF rules." To that Ballast: 5,700 lbs. "The headliner is a solid fiberglass end he combined "a large sailplan Sail area: 579 sq. ft. section that is part of the hull-deck with moderate displacement, a long Fuel: 30 gal. structure," Gerry says. "It's construct- waterline, generous beam, and a Water: 75 gal. ed of two layers of 1.5-oz. mat and 24- Scheel keel." DSPL/L ratio: 232.5 oz. woven roving, bonded to the hull Her profile reflects a slightly slop- SA/DSPL: 17.2 with knitted fiberglass." ing sheerline accented by a bowsprit The deck is hand-laid with a skin that lends a traditional look while coat of 1.5-oz. mat reinforced in high increasing the sailplan. The sprit also a moderately light ratio. We expect load areas with 17-oz. knitted fabric. facilitates the use of large light-air her to outperform many similarly sized It's cored with 3/8" Klegecell, over sails, eliminating the need for a spin- "performance cruisers." which are laid layers of 1.5-oz. mat naker pole and associated gear. and 24-oz.roving. The 18-inch tall cabintop has a Construction The hull-deck joint is fairly con- rather high profile that creates head- The primary components of this boat ventional, and should not leak. It con- room below while providing light and are the hull, a pan that provides hous- sists of an outward flange on the hull ventilation through five ports. ing for cabinetry and the motor mount, onto which the deck is laid. The joint A teak eyebrow, and two teak hand- a headliner, and the deck. is secured with Bostitch 920 urethane rails running the length of the cabin The hull construction begins with sealant and #10 machine screws and top, add just enough brightwork to the application of a coat of Neste nuts on 4" centers. This joint is also give her a cruisy look without making gelcoat. The skin coat is a layer of 1.5 bonded on the inside of the hull with her a high-maintenance item. ounce mat bonded with Riechold knitted fabric. Hutchins describes the shoal draft Hydrex vinylester resin to prevent Most deck hardware is mounted in Scheel keel as "the perfect keel for a osmotic blistering. drilled and tapped holes, and secured with backing plates, a good method. Winches are attached to plywood back- ing built into the coaming.

Deck Layout Sailhandling arrangements feature in- ternal halyards, a mast free of winch-

The Com-Pac 35 interior layout favors seating nooks and an 'entertainment center.' It's not a seagoing layout, but it can provide happiness for four alongshore.

SEPTEMBER 2001 27 P RACTICAL S AILOR 12" wide, fitted with double anchor gallon aluminum fuel tank is located rollers. It looks sturdy enough to sup- aft of the engine, leaving space for a port the loads of two anchors. heater or generator. There's room between the We think that working on the en- and the forward end of the cabin trunk gine will be a challenge, since it fits for a dinghy on deck, or for lazing. very snugly in the soundproofed com- Stanchions are only 25 inches high, partment. Hutchins disagrees. (A too short for our taste, especially since three-cylinder Westerbeke 27-hp. die- the toe rail is only an inch tall. The sel is standard.) decks on our test boat were covered One owner told us that while check- with a heavy dew, so we appreciated ing the oil level is easy, changing it is the very aggressive nonskid on decks, more difficult, and checking the water cabintops, seats, and coaming. pump impeller a chore. The boat is well-ventilated. Two 20 In order to create space in the aft x 14" hatches are located on the bow, cabin below, the port lazarette is only and pairs are mounted under the 8" deep. However, it's 30" long and 17" and at the aft end of the cabintop. Add inches wide, and provides good stow- a companionway measuring 38" long age for fenders, lines, and other oft- when open and dorade boxes near the used items. This is actually a better front of the companionway, and fresh arrangement than having to invert The Com-Pac's shoal draft keel and air moves easily into spaces below- one's self digging for something that allow her to venture inshore decks. has migrated to the deepest part of a where other boats her size dare not. The T-shaped cockpit is well laid voluminous locker. Meanwhile her waterline length and out and comfortable. It measures 44" Considering the extensive list of sail power give her good coastal from wheel to companionway, and standard gear, our overall impression cruising range. 25" between seats. The well is 15" is that the boat is well-equipped. The deep. Seats are only 50" long, ade- sailor interested in improving perfor- quate for seating two adults, but too mance will add a vang, an inboard es, and sail controls led aft to rope short for stretching out for a nap. track for a small headsail, an adjust- clutches. The single spreader spar is Aquatronics stereo speakers are able backstay, and perhaps spinnaker supplied by Charleston Spars; stand- built into a recessed cubby in the gear. ing rigging is wire. coaming where they are safely out of Halyards are led through Harken the way; a second cubby with fiddles Belowdecks turning blocks installed at the base of provides storage for winch handles The Com-Pac is spacious, well-ar- the mast to Spinlock XT rope clutches. and suntan lotion. ranged, and nicely finished below- The main traveler sits on a heavy The helmsman is elevated by a decks. Standing headroom is 6'4". stainless steel bracket attached to a 6" slightly arched seat aft of a 36" destroy- Access, however, is down a steep inch-tall molded fiberglass pod at the er-style stainless wheel. There's good ladder designed to reduce the intru- front of the companionway. The trav- visibility over the top of the wheel. sion of the engine cover into living eler is 14 inches above the cabintop, so Like many builders, Com-Pac installs quarters. avoids chafing the gelcoat. oval shaped teak seats on the stern The head is to starboard at the foot Winches on the coachroof are Hark- corners. of the companionway, the nav station en two-speed 32s; primary winches Standard equipment in the galley forward; also to starboard are two are Harken two-speed 40s. Track for is an alcohol stove, which Hutchins heavily upholstered swivel chairs sur- headsails is located on the rail. Its says meets the needs of most owners rounding an entertainment center. One length, 68 inches, will produce proper and satisfies those with a concern chair swivels to provide a seat for the sheet lead options for an oversized about the volatility of LPG. As a conse- navigator, who sits opposite the L- or a blade. quence, the optional propane tank is shaped galley located to port. Standard equipment includes a located in the open beneath the helms- The entertainment center houses a Hood furler, though our test boat was man's seat. Leaking gas will drain into cocktail table, TV/VCR combination, equipped with an optional Profurl. a scupper below the seat. We'd like to AM-FM radio, and CD player, all stan- "Hood has done a respectable job of see more protection for the tank and dard equipment. Two halogen read- improving their product in recent gauge. ing lights to starboard and three to port years," says Rich, "and we're satisfied The starboard lazarette is cavern- provide excellent lighting. with it.” ous. It provides storage for sails or an Sleeping cabins are to port in the The 34" long bowsprit supports a inflatable dinghy, and access to the stern, and in the bow. beefy stainless steel plate 24" long and steering unit and through-hulls. A 30- The centerpiece of the main sa-

PRACTICAL S AILOR 28 S EPTEMBER 2001 Used Boat Price History loon is an L-shaped settee and dining Com-Pac 35 - 1993 model table hinged to the forward bulkhead. The table is 38" long and 24" wide, large enough for four adults. When out of service it swings up to enclose a large cabinet mounted on the bulk- head that significantly increases the space available for storage of plates and cutlery. The cabinet, 10" deep and 20" wide, with six compartments, is one of the best we've seen. With the tabletop stowed, the space converts to a 6'x8' conversation pit. The settee also folds out to make a 47" Source: BUC Used Boat Price Guide. x72" long berth. PS uses an average of the retail high and low prices reported in BUC. The galley has some interesting wrinkles. A hinged board on the aft space for 4-6 diners is adequate, and ber easily, and think a properly tuned bulkhead drops to cover the stove, sleeping quarters are large enough for rig and well-cut sails will produce 90- producing a 24"x 42" countertop adja- nights on the hook, or an extended 95° tacking angles. cent to the reefer/dry locker. Double cruise. Since we saw 5-plus knots of stainless sinks are standard, as is a The swivel-chairs and L-shaped boatspeed in light air we suspect per- microwave. Another unique feature is settees are a poor choice for offshore formance in heavier winds will be a hinged shelf at the inboard end of the passagemaking; they're better suited excellent. Morgan described a down- counter that rotates downward to pro- for sailing from port to port along- wind sail under spinnaker in heavy vide a drink tray for the galley slave. shore. This isn't necessarily a criti- seas on the Gulf of Mexico during Storage for pots and pans is below cism; Morgan and Com-Pac were un- which the boat recorded bursts of 11- a stove which, on our test boat, was a compromising in their direction here. knot speed. That's well outside the two-burner Hillerange stove- oven com- average curve for a 35-foot, moderate- bination, a $1,360 option. Performance displacement cruiser. The head is 61" long, 42" wide, and With assistance from Max Heller of has excellent headroom. The shower SeaCraft Yachts in Seattle, we tested Conclusions is separated from the main area by a the boat on Lake Union on relatively The boat's speed and maneuver- half-height plexiglass partition. A bath- flat water. She motored easily, and ability in light air was impressive. In er would need to sit on the grated quietly, at 5 knots; company literature this case the Scheel keel provides bench and spray carefully to avoid indicates that she’ll do 8 knots at top shoal draft at little or no apparent cost soaking the main head compartment. speed with the standard Westerbeke. to performance: she certainly points A curtain would help. While leaving the dock with a light as high and goes as fast as other boats The port stateroom aft is rather breeze on the beam she easily backed in her class, which we might call spartan, consisting of a double berth up in straight line. A three-blade "moderate-performance cruisers." and hanging locker; it's ventilated by propeller stops her quickly, and she The deck layout is typical of her hatches overhead and in the cockpit. spins 360 degrees in one boatlength. contemporaries, and it's easy to move Clearance between the top of the berth We sailed under full main and a about handling sails. Accommoda- and the bottom of the cockpit is 21". 135- percent genoa on the furler. How- tions belowdecks are spacious, and The forward stateroom is enclosed ever, the rig on our test boat was newly reflect the builder's attention to detail. by a door with an arched top, a nice installed and not properly tuned, so She's outfitted with an extensive list of touch. Furnishings include a small there was some sag in the headstay. standard gear that includes sails and seat to starboard, hanging locker large In 6-8 knots of wind she sailed furler, deck gear, well-equipped gal- enough for four sets of foulies, and easily at 5-5.5 knots, and buried her ley, television/stereo/CD players and storage shelves running the length of shoulder and squirted forward in the speakers. Add a downwind sail, elec- the compartment. occasional puff. She was surprisingly tronics package, and autopilot, and The berth measures 84" at the head nimble considering her design and she’s ready for extended cruising. and 76"on centerline. displacement, sails well to weather, The boat is priced at $146,995, FOB On balance, we think Morgan did and tacks quickly. The Scheel keel the factory. ■ an excellent job of apportioning space, produced a stiff ride, a surprise on a since two-thirds of the boat's living shallow draft cruising boat. spaces are in the cockpit and saloon. One owner told us he cannot beat Com-Pac Yachts, 1195 Kapp Drive, The cockpit seats six comfortably; inside 100°, but we matched that num- Clearwater, FL, 33765. 727/443-4408

For Web addresses click "Links" at www.practical-sailor.com. SEPTEMBER 2001 29 P RACTICAL S AILOR FIELD TEST: HANDHELD SPOTLIGHTS Brinkmann, LSI, Optronics Shine Bright in Spotlight Test Plug-ins and rechargeables shoot the best beams; drycell-powered lights last longer, but don't have the punch to penetrate the gloom.

f you've ever tried to locate a chan- nel marker on a dark night, or to I read the number on an unlit buoy in the rain, you already know the value of a handheld spotlight. While other types of lights such as fixed- mount spotlights or flashlights have their uses, they also have their limita- tions. In terms of flexibility and conve- nience of use, there's nothing like the bright, narrowly focused beam of a good handheld unit. In recent years, the manufacturers of these spotlights have been indulg- ing in the optical equivalent of the old automotive horsepower race. Who can claim the highest candlepower num- ber? Well, brightness is indeed impor- tant, but it's certainly not the only consideration in selecting a spotlight. For this report, we obtained no fewer than 16 different spotlights and ran them through their paces.

How Spotlights Work There really isn’t a great deal of com- plexity to a handheld spotlight, which means that each part is essential to good performance. Every one has an incandescent bulb, a reflector, and a switch encased in some sort of hous- ing with a lens. Every one operates from a battery, whether it's the boat's Our test group included 16 models from six manufacturers. Top row (l to r): house battery, a rechargeable battery Brinkmann Q-Beam, Q-Beam Black Max, Q-Beam Spot-Flood; Mini Q-Beam. inside the housing, or dry cells (or a Second row: Pelican BriteLite, King Pelican Light, Pelican Laser Pro. Third lantern battery.) Most have hand- row: Optronics Night Blaster (plug-in), LSI Nite Guard, LSI Night Tracker, grips, although a couple are clearly ACR Super Beam Gun. Fourth row: Guest Great White, Optronics Night intended for clamping to a rail. Blaster (rechargeable), LSI Nite Tracker SU Light, Optronics Night Blaster The reflector used in all the lights 101, Optronics Blue Eye 3000. we tested is parabolic in shape. A parabola has the unique property of reflecting all the light striking its sur- flect light from a single source at its tors, though, aren't perfect. More sig- face from a point source in the same focal point in a beam 6" wide. That- nificantly, light bulb filaments are not direction. A perfect parabolic reflec- beam would illuminate a circle six point sources of light, so some portion tor six inches in diameter would re- inches wide at any distance. Reflec- of the light is reflected outside of our

PRACTICAL S AILOR 30 S EPTEMBER 2001 theoretical 6" circle, resulting in a spread of light that has been described as scatter, spatter or glare. For marine use, the less scatter the better. Any light is going to be reflect- ed by fog, but a really tight beam minimizes this effect. There's been a theory that beam spread is a good thing because it helps estimate dis- tance. While this may be true to some extent, the beam angle of any real- world spotlight is large enough to make distance estimation possible. More glare than is unavoidable is not a good thing. In theory, again, one would expect that a perfect light bulb/parabolic re- flector combination would produce a perfectly round beam. Not so in real The lights were taken out on the Powerboat Reports test boat and shined on a life, for the same reasons. A concen- green navigational buoy from about 900 feet away. We noted strength of trated circular spot of light would be illumination, and how much scatter each light generated. desirable in that it would put all the light energy in the smallest possible area, giving maximum brightness. It Their major drawbacks are that they're dimmer the farther away it is. would also minimize back-reflection relatively heavy and have a relatively The relationship between candle- from fog and spray. Almost as good, in short operation time before requiring power and foot-candles is a simple our opinion, is an elongated light spot, recharging. one: a 1-candlepower light 1 foot from providing the elongation is horizontal. Switches are a potential weak spots the target will provide 1 foot-candle of Such an arrangement makes it a bit on any onboard electrical device. illumination. Double the candlepow- easier to find the object you're search- Unless special attention is paid to er and you'll double the number of ing for without too great a loss of making it water-resistant, a switch foot-candles at the target. Double the intensity. represents a failure waiting to hap- distance, and you'll cut the foot-can- As with any portable light, there's a pen. Cases, too, present a threat. We dles by a factor of four—illumination trade-off between how bright the light prefer tight-fitting cases with as few varies with the square of the distance. is and how long its batteries will last. joints as possible, and with O-rings to We measured foot-candles with a One popular way to minimize drain is keep water out. Fastenings and metal meter that measures the illumination to plug the spotlight into an accessory fittings should be stainless, of course. of light striking it. We placed each socket—the cigarette lighter socket— lamp exactly 30 feet from a sheer and run it directly from your boat's How We Tested stone wall, aimed the light at a mark house battery. This is a fine approach We tested each of the 16 models for on the wall and measured the illumi- but requires a cord long enough to brightness, beam pattern and spread, nation at the mark. This testing was reach the power source. Plug-in mod- and (subjectively) for how well they done in virtually total darkness. There els are very light, which can be a real seemed to light things up. We weighed were no street lamps or traffic, and no plus, depending on who's holding the each one, noted handling ease, ease moon. light and how long it has to be held. At of operation, and balance. We exam- There's always a question of what the opposite end of the power spec- ined fit and finish of cases and quality voltage to apply when testing a plug- trum are handheld units that use dry of fittings. We noted features, power in. With an engine running, the alter- cells. These require no connection to cord length, and type. nator develops about 13.8 volts. With the boat but are heavy and not very The major claim made for most of the engine off, this can drop as low as bright. these spotlights is candlepower. The 11.8 volts. We think that people who In the middle are those models that ones we tested had claims ranging depend on handheld spotlights are use a built-in storage battery that can from 2,200 to 3 million. We did our apt to use them under difficult condi- be recharged from the boat's house brightness tests, not on the output of tions—conditions under which the battery. Some of these can also be the spotlight, but in terms of the light power is on. For the plug-in models, recharged from an AC source, using reaching the target. This is measured we took power from a large battery an adapter. These are extremely con- in foot-candles and takes into account being charged by a car's alternator. venient and can be extremely bright. the fact that a light gets effectively This test also allowed us to see

SEPTEMBER 2001 31 P RACTICAL S AILOR Value Guide: Handheld Spotlights Lights listed in order of preference, top to bottom. Model Price Power Source Illumination Weight Hanging Loop (foot-candles)

Pelican LaserPro 4D $55 4xD-Cells 7 45 oz stand, lanyard King Pelican Light $55 8xD-Cells 9.4 79 oz lanyard Pelican Britelite #5000 $58 4xD-cell 8 *45 oz. lanyard ACR Super Beam Gun $115 Eveready 2746N 8 61 oz. N Brinkmann MiniQbeam $20 4xD-Cell 4 **2-1 oz. Y CELL-POWERED Optronics Blue Eye Beam $40 Plug 61 1-12 oz. Y Optronics Night Blaster 101 $36 Plug 58 1-14 oz N Optronics Night Blaster $36 Plug 146 1-12 oz. Y Brinkmann Black Max $40 Plug 84 1-14 oz Y LSI Nite Tracker SU Lite $31 Plug 62 0-14oz clamp PLUG-IN Guest Great White #235 $78 Plug 24 2- 11 oz. N Brinkmann Spot/Flood $50 Plug 51/24 2-2 oz. Y Brinkmann MiniQbeam $29 Plug 27 ***1-1 oz. Y

Brinkmann Q-Beam $40 Plug/Recharge 116 2-14 oz. Y LSI Nite Tracker #3800 $66 Plug/Recharge 243 3-11 oz Y LSI Nite Guard $47 Plug/Recharge 193 3- 11 oz. Y Optronics Night Blaster 101 $36 Plug/Recharge 61 3-5 oz. Y

RECHARGEABLE * zero-buoyancy weights provided for diving; **with batteries; ***without batteries. what kind of light pattern or beam four of these products, as far as con- The King Pelican light features a shape each produced and make judg- struction is concerned, are superb versatile handle assembly that can be ments about handling, balance and examples of how to build seagoing attached to the light in a variety of convenience features. equipment. Each of the four has a configurations, somewhat mitigating Finally, we took all 16 products out heavy, one-piece molded case, a shock- the weight penalty of its extra four D- for a night on the water to see how well resistant mounting of internal compo- cells. The other four have pistol-type actual experience matched our mea- nents, and a waterproof switch. (The grips; the Pelican LaserPro also has an surements of performance. We an- ACR uses a magnetic switch, while adjustable stand, a handy feature if chored 0.15 nautical miles (about 900 the Pelican products rely on rubber you want to use it as a work light. feet) from a navigational buoy on a seals.) To get at batteries and to re- The fifth self-powered light was dark night and tried to use each spot- place bulbs, you remove the face- the Brinkmann MiniQBeam—a plug- light to locate the buoy. plate/lens. The three Pelican prod- in light that offers the option of dry-cell ucts have screw-off faceplates with O- operation. It's small, light, and by far What We Found ring seals; the ACR uses a press-on/ the least expensive of the five, but it We found enough differences among pry-off rubber ring that holds the lens just doesn't have the ultra-rugged con- the lights, and enough similarities and relies on a large hose clamp to struction of the others. We think that among lights of a particular type, to seal it against the spotlight's case. it's better judged as a plug-in model. convince us that we should discuss Both systems work, but we found that All of the self-powered spotlights them by groups: drycell-powered, prying off the ACR's rubber lens hous- have the obvious advantage of not plug-ins, and rechargeables. ing was a real nuisance: Instructions having to rely on power cords, an specifically warn against prying with arrangement that lets you move around Drycell-Powered Spotlights a screwdriver or such like, and the the boat with a maximum of . We had five lights that obtained power rubber wasn’t that flexible. Result? They're not very bright, largely a lim- from removable and replaceable dry- Installing a battery took considerably itation imposed by using dry cells. cells. Two of these, the Pelican Brit- longer than it should, and our testers Four D-cells provide you with six-volt eLite #5000 and the Pelican LaserPro had some sore fingers. power and a limited capacity for ener- 4D, require four alkaline D-Cells. The The Pelican products shared a very gy storage. Even the eight D-cells used other Pelican product, the King Peli- nice feature: They use twin-filament in the King Pelican light, while they can Light, uses eight D-cells. ACR's bulbs, with only one operating at a provide 12 volts, are limited in the Super Beam Gun uses a less common- time. This can be a boat-saver if a amount of electricity they can store ly available 6-volt lantern battery. All filament burns out in a tight situation. compared to the capacity of a boat's

PRACTICAL S AILOR 32 S EPTEMBER 2001 Rated Cord Coil Sealed Case Waterproof Warranty Effective Comments Candle Power Length Cord Beam F&F Switch Duration

60k - - N E Y [5] 8:15 (hr:min) 2 filaments; one used at a time 100K - - N E Y [5] 12:45 2 filaments; one used at a time ns - - N E Y [5] 12:30 *2 filaments; one used at a time 22K - - Y E Y [4] 15:15 ns - Y N G N [4] 12:00

400K 10' Y Y VG Y [2] Blue anti-glare spot in lens center 1200K 10' Y Y VG Y [2] 2000K 10' Y N G N [2] cord detaches 400K 8' Y Y G N [4] 300K 6' Y N VG N [4] clamp on (no grip) Red filter 300K 8' Y Y VG Y [1] 200k/100K 14' N Y VG N [4] 2-position switch for spot/flood ns 10' Y N G N [4] cord detaches

500K 10' N N G N [4] 0:15 (hr:min) AC or DC Charging 2000K 10' N N G N [2] 0:17 AC or DC Charging 1500K 11' N N G N [3] 0:14 AC or DC Charging 1500K 10' N Y G N [2] 0:19 AC or DC Charging

[1] Lifetime on case [2] 3 years on defects [3] 90 days on defects [4] 1 year [5] lifetime

house battery. We think that they're lumination of 9.5 foot-candles, while the A tight beam with little scatter is an best suited for use on a small boat or plug-ins gave us readings ranging from important consideration. It reduces tender that doesn't have a house bat- 27 to 146 foot-candles. We tested the glare from fog and makes it easier to tery, or as a sort of super flashlight to plug-ins at 13.8 volts—what you'd get find a target. Tightness of the beam supplement a more powerful plug-in with the engine on and the charging pattern, while a difficult parameter to or rechargeable spotlight. The King circuit operative. quantify, was one of the factors we Pelican Light and BriteLite as well as The plug-in models are very light, considered in our testing. Some de- the ACR Super Beam Gun can double ranging from 14 ounces to just under signs, such as Optronics Blue Eye as dive lights; the BriteLite even pro- 2.75 lbs. Our drycell-powered lights Beam, have tinted areas on the lens to vides auxiliary weights to give it neu- weighed from just over 2 lbs. to almost help control the beam. tral buoyancy for diving applications. 5 lbs. There are a number other factors Brightness is important, but it's far not directly related to optical perfor- Plug-ins from the only consideration. The most mance but nevertheless important. Eight of the spotlights we tested were noticeable finding was the obvious We've found that the only power cords powered by the boat's house battery. one that some lights are brighter than we're willing to live with are coil They have a long power cord that others, and some have a smaller, less- cords. We've tripped over enough un- plugs into a cigarette lighter socket. scattered beam. We also found that coiled cords to be thoroughly disgust- This can be a severe disadvantage on unless differences in brightness are ed with them. Of the two basic switch a large boat, or in situations where you large, they're not particularly mean- designs we encountered with the plug- must frequently leave the helm. For ingful. Our ability to discern the target in spotlights—the open, non-water- most boaters, we've observed, this marks was just about the same for a proof trigger or the rear pushbutton isn't the case, and the required power light rated at 400,000 candlepower as with a waterproof rubber boot—we cord becomes more of a nuisance than it was for one with a 2,000,000-candle- strongly prefer the latter. a problem. The fact that a boat's house power rating. Due to nonuniformities The sealed beam design of some of battery is a more potent source of in any given light pattern, the actual the units tested is ideal. Sealed beam electrical power than a dry cell—both brightness can vary considerably, de- models have the added advantage of in terms of higher voltage and greater pending on exactly where in the target never going out of focus. We prefer capacity—shows up in the brightness you take your measurements. We found longer cords for any device that must of the plug-ins compared to the drycell- that illumination could vary by a factor remain plugged in when in use. powered models. The brightest of the of 2 to 2.5 foot-candles without making Our favorite among the plug-in mod- cell-powered spotlights provided an il- much difference. els was the Optronics Blue Eye Beam.

SEPTEMBER 2001 33 P RACTICAL S AILOR It wasn’t the brightest—the Optronics restriction of a power cord. Q-Beam, is listed twice, since it can Night Blaster won in that category— On the downside, they're heavier function as a cell-powered light as but it was adequately bright, had a than the plug-ins—typically 3-4 lbs. well as a plug-in.) Within groups, the commendably tight beam, a water- And the ones we tested, at least, lack lights are listed in decreasing order of proof switch, and a 10-foot coil cord. some durability features, such as the preference from top to bottom, based It weighed in at an easy-to-handle 1.75 tight-fitting cases and waterproof on our test results and our judgments pounds. Our sea test confirmed this switches that appear on the better of quality and performance. opinion. Our testers found it to be the plug-in models. A rechargeable spotlight is the best easiest of plug-ins to use. None was equipped with a cord choice, we think, even while recog- Oddly enough, the Optronics Blue coil, possibly because manufacturers nizing that none of the four we tested Eye Beam is rated at 400,000 candle- feel that they're not going to be used can be considered as seaworthy as power; our next choice is the similarly except in the cordles mode. That's a some of the plug-ins or cell-powered designed Optronics Night Blaster 101. shame, because the ones we tested models. If you have a boat where This Night Blaster is rated at 1,200,000 will operate when plugged in, without you'll never have to use a spotlight candlepower, but provided slightly low- concern for the state of charge. None from more than a few feet away from er foot-candle readings at our test target can be operated directly from AC the helm, one of the better plug-ins and proved less effective in our on-the- power, though that's not much of a should suit the bill fine, even if you're water test. limitation, in our view. not compulsive about protecting oyur If you feel that you need a floodlight We found the performance of this equipment. in addition to a spotlight, the Brink- entire group to be very good, with the While we like several of the stan- mann 800/1302-0 has a two-way switch standard Brinkmann Q-Beam 800- dard cell-powered models as flash- (not waterproof) to select between flood 1700-2 leading the way, largely due to lights/lanterns, we don't think that and spot. And if you’re looking for a a very tight beam pattern. Both in our any of the ones we tested provide an spotlight to clamp to a rail rather than lab and sea tests, this was our testers' adequate replacement for a good hand- a handheld, there’s the Night Tracker top pick. Once again, we found that held spotlight. ■ Sport UtilityLight. (No, it doesn't have rated candlepower is a snare and a four-wheel drive.) In fact, that's about delusion. The Brinkmann, rated at the only way you can use it, since it 500,000 candlepower, performed just ACR Electronics, 5757 Ravenswood doesn't have a handle. as well, if not better, than the Night Rd., Fort Lauderdale, FL 33312; 954/ Tracker #3800 (2,000,000 candlepow- 981-3333. Brinkmann Corp., 4215 Rechargeable Spotlights er) the Nite Guard (1,500,000 candle- McEwen Rd., Dallas, TX 75244; Rechargeable spotlights, in most re- power), and the Optronics Night Blast- 800/527-0717. Guest Co., Inc., 95 spects, represent the best of all spot- er (1,500,000 candlepower). Research Pkwy., Meriden, CT 06450 light worlds. They can be charged 203/235-4421. Lectro Science, Inc., either from 110-volt AC ashore, or Conclusions 919 Sherwood Drive. Lake Bluff, IL through an inverter; they're among Our conclusions are presented in tab- 60044 800/453-2101 Optronics, Inc., the brightest spotlights made; they ular form on pages 34-35. We divided 350 North Wheeler St., Fort Gibson, don't require battery changes as do the the spotlights into three groups: dry- OK 74434; 918/683-9514. Pelican drycell-powered models, and they can cell-powered, plug-in, and recharge- Products, 23215 Early Ave., Tor- be unplugged and used without the able. (One model, the Brinkmann Mini rance, CA 90505; 310/326-4700.

Left: Optronics' Blue Eye 3000, a good, light plug- in option. Right: LSI's big Nite Guard 1.5 million candlepower rechargeable next to the Brinkmann Q-Beam, which is a bit smaller , lighter, and cheaper—and performed about as well in both of our tests.

PRACTICAL S AILOR 34 S EPTEMBER 2001 For Web addresses click "Links" at www.practical-sailor.com. CHANDLERY Walker Bay Dinghies, 8 and 10 These Volksdinghies are the favorite of the marine store chains, at least partially because they nest tightly together and are easy to deliver and stock. What's tops in the chains ends up being 'popular' by default. But is there more to these ubiquitous little boats than sales and marketing momentum? As a matter of fact, there is.

t took a moment to decide whether to be seen in the com- to make this article a boat review or pany of character din- I a Chandlery piece—but only a mo- ghies like peapods or ment. Walker Bay dinghies are un- Whitehalls or even Dy- abashedly placed, by both manufac- ers. Then we went on turer and ship's store, as items to be with our evaluations. picked up along with paint and sand- paper. They lean against the outside Background walls of the store. They rest in the Founded in South Afri- aisles, filled with season specials like ca in 1997, Walker Bay PFDs and bottom paint. They're front is now based in Union and center. You can just nab one at Gap, Washington, with the counter on the way out. offices in Vancouver The prices aren't shocking; in fact and Paris. The stated for such big physical items, and such aim of the company is necessary ones, they're cheap. If you're to bring its boats to the used to going into West Marine or masses, worldwide. It's The Walker Bay 8 is nicely balanced with one BoatU.S. and dropping a few hundred off to a good start, with adult rowing. The seat is comfortable, the oarlocks dollars on a piece of navigation gear sales recorded now in are in the right place, and feet can be braced or some good-sized ground tackle, 50 countries. comfortably against the after thwart. Good oars you could just as easily leave with a The Walker Bay 8 make a big difference. Walker Bay boat on your car. And was first out of the molds many, many people do. in 1998; the 10-footer Walker Bay was kind enough to was introduced this spring. Both din- you removed the thwarts you could loan Practical Sailor the sailing ver- ghies were designed by Paolo Rista, possibly fold the boats from gunwale sions of both an 8-footer and a 10- described by the company as a "water- to gunwale, but not from bow to tran- footer for a couple of weeks this sum- sports professional and artist." som. After the thwarts are secured, mer. We rowed, towed, and sailed There's a lot involved in the design the Walker Bay boats are well-sup- both boats. We trailered them and of dinghy hull forms, just as with any ported in all directions, except, per- cartopped them. We pulled them on boat. There are issues of entry, rocker, haps, in the 10-footer between the their stern wheels over hill and dale. freeboard, deadrise, transom width, middle thwart and the bow. More on (Actually we left Dale outof it.) weight and balance—and there are that later. The essential fact about these boats always scads of small-boat builders On both boats there's a full-length is that they're very, very plastic. This eager to debate the details. The de- molded skeg (or keel, if you prefer) is both their weak point, in that they bates will always go on because, in a from transom to bow. This too, adds have none of the warmth of wood, and dinghy, when you move something, stiffness and helps the boats track their strong point, in that they're effec- everything changes. straight when rowed or towed. It also tive, no-maintenance, and virtually Mr. Rista deserves credit not only houses the handy rolling wheel aft. indestructible. for using a good, versatile form, but, We learned quickly to suppress presumably, for specifying the ersatz Solid vs. Inflatable our Bristol Fashion Sense, assuming lapstrake construction that gives the In a water world increasingly populat- that those with lovely wooden boats— injection-molded hulls some rigidity ed by inflatable tenders, there are still character boats—will generally prefer fore and aft. By this we mean that if plenty of good arguments for solid

SEPTEMBER 2001 35 P RACTICAL S AILOR CHANDLERY dinghies, as long as they're relatively The Walker Bay 8, with performance that's not how we were able to do it. light and manageable, which these sailing rig, costs $920. One-design Instead, over the course of two weeks are. Solid dinghies don't have to be fleets? They could happen. we had to move them around quite a blown up or deflated. They can be bit, on and off trailers and cartops, stowed upside-down on the decks of Construction across yards, and up and down dock larger boats and lowered or tossed Both the 8 and the 10 are made of ramps. This process, while not at all overboard easily. They usually tow polypropylene resin, which is inject- convenient, allowed us to get to know better than inflatables, and they al- ed into a steel mold and pressed at the boats well. We found them easy to ways row better, especially in a head- 5,000 tons. With a slick mold and such wrestle (usually by one person, the wind. Size for size, they have more high pressure, the boats emerge smooth editorial "we") and very tough when carrying capacity, although again, any and detailed, including molded spac- being dragged, dropped, and tossed advantage depends on the distribu- es on the underside of one set of about. Just as importantly, they were tion of weight and the efficiency of strakes to retain stainless hex nuts for meek neighbors when alongside other the form when loaded. the thwarts. The basic hull is born in boats. They don't scrape and bang, Most importantly, some hard din- about five minutes. Take that, Noah. and they don't leave traces of them- ghies, like these, can be sailed, and At the chandlery or at home, the selves on people's topsides. They're there's nothing more fun than poking solid, foam-filled thwarts are then set not much of a worry in any respect. around a far-flung harbor at sunset in in place and bolted through the strakes. We sailed the 8-footer in a light a sailing dinghy. That's about it for construction. harbor breeze of about 6 knots and Walker Bay would of course like to found it surprisingly nimble and fun. see their sailing rigs used in more and Performance It tacked and jibed easily and quickly, more junior and community programs. It would have been most efficient to without being tender, and it was fairly A new JY Trainer costs about $1,850. test all performance aspects of both comfortable to sit on either the center A new Optimist costs around $2,325. boats at the same time. Of course, thwart or in the boat bottom.

Above: The 10-footer under tow at Above left: The 10-footer sits a bit about 6 knots. The painter has been low in the stern when steered by one passed up from the towing ring adult in a normal position. The through the molded hole in the stem middle thwart is situated better for to help keep the bow down. Below: rowing than for sailing. Above right: the 8-footer under tow at about 10 With a bit more breeze and a lean knots. Both boats tracked very well forward on the thwart, the boat at all speeds and through turns. moves out better.

Left: The little 8-footer turned out to be quite fun to sail—lively without being too tender, quick to maneuver, and even fairly comfortable to sit in. At 71 lbs. it can be whisked off a deck, tossed in the water, rigged, and launched on a twilight harbor cruise in a matter of minutes.

PRACTICAL S AILOR 36 S EPTEMBER 2001 A few days later we sailed the 10- Walker Bay 8 balanced dink and finding that all footer in a stronger offshore breeze of you've done is turn the bow into a about 12 knots with puffs up to 14. The Length: 8'3" plow. These are not pulling boats by breeze later faded to about 6 knots. Beam: 52" any stretch of the imagination, but In the heavier air the 10 was not Total height: 21" they do well enough. ideally balanced with one person in Weight: 71 lbs. Finally, we towed both boats at what would be considered a reason- Sail Area (Marconi): 39 sq. ft. varying speeds behind a motorboat on able steering position; the boat sailed Capacity: 2 people long and short tethers, making arbi- slightly down by the stern, and dragged Max hp: 2 trary turns. Here again, both the 8 and water. This would probably have been Basic boat: $499 (includes oars) the 10 were well-behaved, tracking helped by the addition of a five-year W. Sailing rig (Marconi): $920 straight on their skegs and planing old child or a loaded cooler forward. high on the water without skittering or Unfortunately we had neither of those swerving. We weren't able to tow things handy, and it wasn't possible to Walker Bay 10 them in rough water, and can't speak balance the boat correctly without for what they might be like in a sea- leaning well forward on the middle Length: 9'8" way. (Some hard dinghies will follow thwart. Sitting on the thwart while Beam: 57" a mother ship obediently through hell sailing doesn't work, because the sheet Total height: 24" and high water, and some quickly is led down from the boom through a Weight: 115 lbs. become swamped drogues.) If we had block in a clamshell-like device that Sail Area (Marconi): 46 sq. ft. to guess, we'd say they'd do well. clamps to the aft edge of the seat. Capacity: 3 people Once the boats were planing, we Moving through light chop in the Max hp: 3 hand-tested the tethers for tension. In heavier air, the boat's bottom oilcanned Basic boat: $699 (includes oars) flat water behind the towboat, the 8- some forward of the middle thwart. W. Sailing Rig (Marconi): $1,290 footer tugged back at about 15 lbs. The This is one area where too much may 10-footer pulled at roughly 20. be expected of thin polypropylene stretched over an unsupported area. Conclusions It's not really a structural problem and aft in the gunwale sockets, and as These Walker Bay boats are already a because the stuff is so resilient—you they're turned outboard they lock in. juggernaut, thanks to a firm initial could probably leap into the boat with This is good, except that you have to concept, good design, excellent plas- hobnail boots without hurting it, but remember to unship your oars early tic engineering and manufacturing, oilcanning is not good for speed. when coming alongside someone. and the goodwill of retailers. Far be it Despite the stern-down attitude and We rowed the boats with different- from Practical Sailor to stand in the consequent sluggish steering, the 10 ly sized people and batches of gear in way: We like these boats just fine. went well—4.8 knots on a reach. various places, and found that we They do the several things they're The sailing characteristics we ex- could put our backs into it without fear supposed to do very well, and more perienced in the 10-footer slightly of breaking or deforming any of the besides, all at a price that has to be one undercut some very thoughtful design plastic parts. Most gratifyingly, the of the best values in sailing. and manufacture work on the part of boats were balanced well enough that The 10-footer clearly has greater Walker Bay: The sail kit and fittings increased labor yielded increased cargo-carrying capacity, and will be are first-rate: a well-cut sail of 3-oz. speed. Nothing is more frustrating able to stay out in rougher water long- Dacron with a big window, a tension- than finishing a stroke in a badly er. It's a good choice for those who able shaping batten near the head of need to do more serious transport the sail, nicely shaped daggerboard than harbor touring. and rudder, and an excellent rudder- Rowing is the first step. It should be Our favorite, though, is the 8, not mounting system. The clam clamp for learned in a boat like this. because we enjoyed sailing it more the sheet block is also smart, but we'd than the 10, but because it's so easy to prefer to have the sheet simply come manage: You can sling it on your back down from the boom the way it does like a turtle shell and walk far with it. on the 8-footer.It's perfectly possible to You can whip it up on the roof-rack. have it that way—just unmount that You can throw it around, leave it clamp. alone—it doesn't mind a thing. ■ Both boats rowed very well. Walk- er Bay sent along an outstanding pair of 7-1/2' wooden oars with rubber Walker Bay Boats, 607 West collars that set neatly in round plastic Ahtanum Rd., Union Gap, WA oarlocks. The oarlocks are placed fore 98903. 888/449-2553

For Web addresses click "Links" at www.practical-sailor.com. SEPTEMBER 2001 37 P RACTICAL S AILOR PS ADVISOR

Re-Bunging That Teak Deck What do you suggest as an adhesive/ Practical Sailor Back Articles: sealant for replacing plugs in teak decks? I have been using epoxy, but I Don’t Miss The Boat! suspect it may eventually become brittle. I am reluctant to use black Order your back articles in two convenient ways. caulk since it is probably difficult to Log onto www.practical-sailor.com/backissues and immediately down- remove from the wood around the load your article to your computer or mail the order form below. holes for the plugs. 2001 2000 Jim Yeager o AUGUST 15: Tri-Lens Radar Reflector. Gelcoat o DECEMBER Double Issue: Air Conditioning Marsh Harbour, B.I. Repair Kits. Fire Extinguishers. Shoes: Teva, —Part 1. Inflatable boat test—20 stowable Body Glove, West Marine. models. Used Boat Survey—C&C 27. Reader o AUGUST 1: Steering Compasses. Fixed-Mount Forum— Replacing Hull Liner with Reflectix. Practical Sailor published in the Nov. VHF Radios. Used Boat Survey—Columbia 9.6. Stanchions and Bases. Offshore Log—Through 1, 1993 Nick Nicholson's long and Offshore Log—Haulout in Turkey. Indonesia to Singapore. ITT Night Vision Scope, thorough discussion about teak decks. o JULY 15: Radar Pole Update. Stereo Test. Davis FSR. 2000 PS Index. Rope Clutch Test. Keel Bolt Replacement. o NOVEMBER 15: Update—Bolder, Statpower As Nick pointed out, nothing is quite o JULY 1: Sextants. BVI Chartering Tips. Used Battery Power Packs. Shaft Seals. as beautiful as a new teak deck. The Boat Survey—Express 34, Olson 34, Hobie 33. o NOVEMBER 1: Gear of the Year. New Boat Offshore Log—Apogee 50. Ray Greene. Boat Review—Tartan 3700 & 4100. Offshore Log— problem is that once exposed to the Ladder for Inflatables. Queensland coast, Baja fuel filter, Aerofast tie- elements, a teak deck will never, ever o JUNE Double Issue: What's She Worth: Esti- down, SAS OB motor lock. LCD Radar test. look as good again. No matter what mating Value. Boat Loans. How Not to Get Ripped o OCTOBER 15: Update—AGM Batteries. Out- Off. Offshore Log: Into the Med. Small Batteries board Motor Transom Brackets. Handheld Ane- you do or slap on the teak, it’s all and Chargers. Boat Review—Catalina 36 MkII. mometers. downhill from Day One. o MAY 15: Aqua Vigil Bilge Alarm. Sandpaper o OCTOBER 1: Boat Hook Attachments. Inflat- On the other hand, nothing is quite Test. Sunglasses Evaluation. Robert N. Bavier, Jr. able PFDs. Offshore Log—Stepdown Transform- o MAY 1: Weatherfax Software. Used Boat Sur- er, Stainless Upgrades. New Boat Review— as good underfoot as a teak deck. It's vey—Pacific Seacraft 34 and 37. Offshore Log— Hunter 320. arguably the best non-skid surface, Close Call in the Red Sea. KVH Datascope. o SEPTEMBER Double Issue: Toilets. Hose test. wet or dry, ever laid on a boat. o APRIL 15: Radar Pole Update. Stereo Test. Holding Tank test. Offshore Log—High Cost of Rope Clutch Test. Keel Bolt Replacement. Charts, Fear in Western Pacific, Lifesling up- grade. Used Boat Survey—Buccaneer 295 & 305. An entire industry popped up to o APRIL 1: Sextants. BVI Chartering Tips. Used Bottom Paint Strippers test. Chandlery—Sea repair teak decks when they got old. Boat Survey—Express 34, Olson 34, Hobie 33. Marshall Rescue System. Proper Boat Pole. Offshore Log—Apogee 50. Ray Greene. Boat o The repairs were necessitated mostly Ladder for Inflatables. AUGUST 15: Update—Winches. PocketMail. Inshore Rescue Platforms. by bungs that started to leak or seam o MARCH Double Issue: Bottom Paint Tests. o compound that pulled away from the Varnish Exposure Tests. Self-amalgamating Tape. AUGUST 1: Sea Anchors & Drogues. Offshore Abandon-ship bags. Used Boat Survey—Freedom Log—New Sails for Calypso. New Boat Review— wood. The aging was accelerated by 35. Bahamas Gear Review. Offshore Log—Calyp- Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 37. Life Raft Materials. owners or crews who went at the decks so Readied for Indian Ocean. o JULY 15: Update—Lightweight RIBs. VHF An- tennas. Tow vs. Salvage. with acid-based cleaners. About 10 o FEBRUARY 15: Fiddle Blocks. On-Deck Photo Essay. o JULY 1: Liferaft tests—Pt. 3. Used Boat Sur- years ago, Nautor, the builder of Swans, o FEBRUARY 1: WASS vs DGPS. Insurance. Used vey—Ericson 32. Offshore Log—KISS vs. Techno- went to vacuum-bagged teak decks. Boat Survey—Tanzer 22. Offshore Log—Nick Cruiser. Chandlery—Teva Sandals, Books. finds hope in Goldspar varnish. PS Advisor: o JUNE Double Issue: Liferaft tests—Pt. 2. Elec- As Nick explained, most deck teaks Aluminum water tank corrosion. tric Bilge Pump test. Sailors’ Knives. Used Boat now are glued in place with as few o JANUARY 15: Topclimber: Going Aloft Solo. Survey—Cheoy Lee 41. Offshore Log. fasteners as possible. Anchor Reset Test. Air Conditioning, Part 2. o MAY 15: Update—Special Purpose Cleats. Chandlery—Deka Battery Pressure Cookers test. Dock Carts evaluation. You're right, Jim, in assuming that o JANUARY 1: Tillerpilot test. New Boat Re- Self-tending . regular epoxy is not a good idea. Its view—Hunter 410. Offshore Log—Preparation o MAY 1: Liferaft tests—Pt. 1. Used Boat Sur- consistency can be troublesome. When for Indian Ocean. Waterline Stain Cleaners. vey—Freedom 32. Offshore Log—America’s Cup Chandlery—Stearns Inflatable Kayak Blowout. it kicks, it gets quite thin. Sunlight gets to it, sooner or later, and it will crack Please send the Back Issues checked above. like peeling varnish. It may take years, depending on the thickness of the NAME epoxy and the amount of direct sun- (Please Print) light it gets, but it'll happen. (We know ADDRESS

one teak deck owner who, faced with CITY/STATE/ZIP recaulking and bunging the deck of his ketch, mixed powered carbon in Back Issues @ $7.50 ea. Send check or money order to: $2.50 Practical Sailor with the epoxy, not only to make it Postage & Handling 75 Holly Hill Lane, Box 2626-BI black but to counter the sunlight. He Greenwich, CT 06836-2626 Total Amount Enclosed $ said it's been about nine or ten years www.practical-sailor.com/backissues and the stuff is still tight as a drum.) Perhaps the best-known experts

PRACTICAL S AILOR 38 S EPTEMBER 2001 PS ADVISOR are the folks at Teakdecking Systems you can accidentally plug the wrong or electrical supply store wherever in Sarasota, Florida. Technician Bob voltage into an inlet. In the U.S., you you are and buy the local plug off the Nedswick said the company offers a can at least get shore power shelf. special epoxy that doesn’t get as brit- inlets that match in style for both input We carry a 100-ft heavy-duty U.S.- tle. He said they've seen it last 15 to 18 voltages, which we were unable to do made conventional orange exterior- years. The two-part, one-gallon kit when we installed our 220-volt system use extension cord—with suitable end costs $75, but you can mix the 1:1 in Australia. fittings installed—for use with 220-volt components with any convenient con- There is an additional caveat. While shore power overseas. In other coun- tainer. Nedswick said you can buy a step-down isolation transformer is tries, you may not be within smaller quantities (in pint and half- essential for changing voltage, the the 50-ft distance of an outlet that you pint kits). frequency of the stepped-down volt- usually are in a U.S. marina, so you For those undertaking more exten- age is the same as the frequency of the will either need a longer cable sive teak deck repairs, Teakdecking shore power you plug into. Most U.S.- or multiple cables joined together. Systems also makes an interesting built appliance motors are wound for Since for a given load the cable is fitting and fairing compound made of 60 cycles, and will overheat and run carrying half the amperage at 220 epoxy mixed with microballoons. It's more slowly on 50 cycles. volts it would at 110 volts, the cable intended to level out any unevenness If we were building a new boat, we need not be as heavy for a given length of the deck on which the teak is to be would look hard for motors rated for as it would be for the same attached. both 50 and 60 cycles on major wattage at 110 volts. Jim, you can if you like call 941/ appliances or systems such as micro- The ultimate shore power system 756-0600 and talk it over with Bob waves, AC refrigeration, and air con- is the "black box" used by big motor- Nedswick. ditioning. yachts and sailing yachts. These Resistance loads, such as electric devices will accept virtually any input Converting to a Dual AC water heaters, run fine on 50 or 60 voltage or frequency, and convert it Voltage System cycle power. Ironically, electronics into whatever voltage and rated for multiple voltages—televi- frequency you need for the ship's Was it really necessary for Nick Nichol- sions and computers, for example— systems. son to install another inlet in order to are also usually rated for multiple The problem is size, weight, and convert Calypso's AC shore power frequencies, and have no problem cost. The smallest we have seen systm into dual voltage system? Wasn't with 50-cycle or 60-cycle power. advertised, from Global Power Sys- it possible to use his existing inlet with We do not run our microwave oven tems, is the size of a suitcase, weighs just a change over switch? or AC refrigeration directly from 50- 180 pounds, and is rated for 12 KVA What kind of set-up do you suggest cycle shore power, even when it's (12 kilowatts). By comparison, our trans- for a dual-voltage system if you are to stepped down to 110 volts. Instead, we former has a three-hour rating of 3 install it in a new boat? (Our AC use our Heart Freedom 20 battery KVA and weighs about 70 pounds. appliances are 110 volt, with inverter/ charger—which will run on either 50 The Florida distributor for Global charger. A gen-set may be installed in or 60 cycles—to charge the batteries, Power Systems is Yacht Equipment future.) then use the inverter to run frequency- and Parts, 3330 SW 3rd Avenue, Ft. Kazumaza Tada sensitive appliances. This obviously Lauderdale, FL 33315, phone 800/349- Via e-mail requires a bit of power management. 9224. We would also suggest installing a We're currently designing the elec- Nick Nicholson replies: switch between the shore power inlet trical system for our next boat, and it's and the transformer, so that you can a real challenge to come up with the Although we briefly considered it, shut the transformer off when it's not most efficient and cost-effective sys- using a single, switched inlet for both in use without unplugging or turning tem for both on-board and shore power 110 and 220 volts is a recipe for disas- off the power ashore. operation. ter. If you accidentally leave the switch Transformers run quite hot, even You might say that ideally you in the 110-volt mode when plugged when you're not using power on the would never need to go alongside and into 220 volts, you are likely to fry a lot boat. plug into the shore, but that is a naïve of equipment and have a good chance You should also carry a “blank” assumption. In some areas of the of burning up your boat. Electrical shore power cable, with only the boat world—Singapore, for example—you systems must be designed to be idiot- end of the cable pre-wired, so you have few choices other than to go into proof, as sooner or later we all do can install the myriad of adapters you a marina. something really stupid. will need for world-wide operation. Once there, your neighbors will Not only should you have two shore We now have about a dozen appreciate it if you don't have to run power inlets, they should have differ- adapters for various shore-side plug- either your main engine or a generator ent plug types, so there's no way ins: You just go into a hardware store on a regular basis.

SEPTEMBER 2001 39 P RACTICAL S AILOR PS ADVISOR

DC-Powered Vacuums ...ON THE HORIZON Have you ever reviewed 12-volt vacu- ums? If not I would really like suggest one. I see a couple of models at In-Boom Furling. Schaefer has a new system. We'll compare it to BoatUS, but I was wondering how several others we've looked at in the past. these may compare to auto vacs. Maybe a Dirt Devil would be better Daytime Visual Signals. Smoke, aerial flares, and other attention- with an inverter. (I’ve been looking getters for broad-daylight emergencies. for an excuse to buy an inverter.) Website Shopping. Practical Sailor hits the big online boating retail- Mark Clayton ers with the same shopping list to see who has the goods, who can Sudbury, MA. deliver, who can help, and at what cost.

A standard car vacuum with 12V cig- arette lighter adapter works fine for light duty—bread crumbs and saw- color scheme, but feels there is some Cavitation dust. Another option is to get the practical advantage to a white hull On my dock, we've been arguing half inverter (a $40 modified sine-wave above the waterline. The boat is kept the summer about propeller cavita- model from an auto-parts store will do at the marina in Santa Barbara, CA— tion. A big group says the bubbles are fine if your needs aren’t sophisticated) so the weather is mild to warm all year air sucked in when the prop runs out and plug the AC adapter for a re- and there is plenty of sunshine. of water. Another friend and I claim chargeable DC hand vacuum (like a the bubbles are vacuums. There are Zel Canter Black & Decker Dustbuster) into it. The some wagers here. We've agreed that Solvang, CA third option, as you note, is to run a what Practical Sailor says will settle it. standard AC-powered hand vac (like- Do you know who's right? ly to be the most powerful) through the Common wisdom has it that there are inverter, or through shore power if three disadvantages to dark topside Erving Strauss available. paint: 1. It absorbs more sunlight, Portland, Maine West Marine sells a canister-type making the interior of the boat warm- 12V Wet/Dry vacuum by C.E. Smith. It er. 2. Because it gets hotter, it deterio- Well, we didn't, but we do now, after draws 14 amps, carries a 40" hose, a rates sooner that white or light-colored reading Nigel Warren’s Metal Corro- 15' power cord with a cigarette lighter topside paints. 3. It shows salt, stains, sion in Boats, and checking with Bri- adapter, and has various attachments. and dings more than white paint. tannica. You're on the mark, Erving: At $32.50 it's priced very well, and the Now that we have common wis- Cavitation comes from partial vacu- ability to wet-vacuum a bilge space is dom out of the way... A copper-col- ums being formed by the prop. The appealing. It's rotund, however, and ored bottom, bright red bootstripe, and water literally boils, but without heat. would be bulky to stow on a small boat navy hull would look excellent. High- When the vacuum bubbles collapse, with all its attachments. quality topside paint these days is they can implode on the prop blades Here's what to do: 1. Get the invert- tough as nails. It can be washed down and actually nick out bits of metal as er anyway; you'll find plenty of uses when it gets salty, and the shinier it is, well as cause damage to bearings and for it. 2. Get a decent 12V auto vac with the more light it will reflect. For that the like. This isn't usually a problem a lighter plug. 3. Keep the bilge clean matter, a blue hull looks pretty good for us blowboaters, but it can ruin a so you won't regret not getting the wet/ when salt-coated, too. Go for it. submariner's day. dry vac.

Navy Blue Topsides Periodicals Mail I have a 1984 30' Catalina. I have admired some of the other boats in ¨ the marina with navy blue hulls. Is there any disadvantage in having a dark-colored hull? Assume that at the next haul-out, we paint the bottom with a good rust-colored copper paint. I would like to then put a red bar at and above the waterline and then paint the balance of the hull navy blue. My boat partner isn't opposed to the

PRACTICAL S AILOR 40 S EPTEMBER 2001