Recently I had a chance to go for a extended cruise on my sharpie. During this time I lived on my boat for a total of 10 weeks, while she was on the road and while cruising at 3 widely separated locations. The towing involved some 7000km, the cruising only about 300nm in total. My boat had actually travelled much further on the trailer than on the water. During this time she proved to be a very comfortable home, snug and cosy in all weather conditions. The trip was a solo affair, it would possibly have been even more fun with a first mate.
The cruising locations were in sheltered bays and a long narrow lagoon on salt water, on a river and a large freshwater lake. I never sailed at night nor did I venture out from anchorages if the wind blew over 20 knots. I was going to enjoy this trip and not do battle with the elements. Some of the freshwater excursions were on very thin water, motoring in less than 0.5m and sailing when it deepened to 1m. The CB was of course never fully down there and my rudder blade kick-up system got a severe testing which it passed flawlessly.
It all was a big learning curve for me during this time and I got to know my boat very well in the process.
Any old sailors reading the following pages, forgive me if I’m stating the obvious, if you know of better ways about boat handling than my efforts please let me know . Also, as I built my boat myself, her idiosyncrasies might not relate to someone else’s N.I.S. 26.
Anyway, here are my experiences:
Towing; A sturdy reliable trailer is essential for trouble free long distance towing. My home built trailer held together well and made launching / retrieving single handed fairly easy. The towing vehicle, a Toyota Landcruiser 4l diesel, could have done with a turbo on the hills, as it was we got everywhere we wanted to go even if it was in first gear on the steep sections. Travelling at 75-80km/h instead of the legal max. of 90 (towing) was relaxing, it just took a little longer to get there.
The only problem while towing was a broken weld on the forward mast crutch. This could have been serious but for the masts thumping on the Toyota’s roof rack and letting me know something was amiss.
I would suggest that much thought is given as to how both of the masts and both booms (with sails attached in my case) are carried for towing long distances. The supports need to be sturdy, yet easy to set up. They need to keep the masts and booms in their appropriate location for raising and rigging as dragging these items around the deck is no fun. The masts also need to be located high enough over the companion way to allow access to the cabin, and the insertion of the wash board(s), if sleeping aboard while on the road is planned.
I have a fairly good system of which I give a short description; The forward support for the masts fits into the main mast tube, closing up this opening to prevent rain ingress. The aft support looks like a boom gallows and fits onto 2 tubular struts which are supported from holes in the thwart. The masts lie side by side, main facing aft and mizzen facing forward, and slightly askew, which is the way they get raised. The main boom, with sail attached, is stored in a long, zippered, sail bag and was lashed on top of both mast sections. This extra weight may have contributed to the weld breaking on the forward support crutch. I’m now working on a system to store the heavy main boom and sail on the cabin top to get this load off the mast supports. It is important to prevent chafe here by means of foam padding pieces.
The mizzen boom and sail, in its long sail bag, was lashed to the port side deck on foam pads. There was a little of chafing on the deck there and I need to rethink this arrangement too.
The 10’ nesting dinghy was on the car roof rack. A 150mm dia. PVC tube with lids was also strapped there and contained the poles and struts for mast raising. The dinghy mast and sprit was strapped to its top. The rest of the mast raising gear, dinghy oars, rudder and sail was carried in the car, it was quite a load to pack!
Rigging and Launching; The mast raising system I’d devised lets me do this job easily single handed. It usually attracts a few interested onlookers and I often have to decline offers of lending a hand. By the time every step of the operation was explained and keeping an eye on things the job would take twice as long. As it is, it takes about a hour after arriving at the ramp before she is ready for launching.
This was where the fun started, on my local club ramps there are long jetties at each ramp with sturdy posts to tie the boat to while launching. Not so on the ramps I’d encountered on my trip, one ramp had very short jetties and only a hand rail to tie the boat to. I had lots of fun there later during retrieving too, a strong tidal cross flow made this a very tricky operation. It required to come alongside at speed, throw a grapnel over the handrail, tie up its rope and hit reverse to slow her all within one half of a boat length. Needless to say it took me several attempts and I only succeeded in the end with the help of a bystander.
On another ramp there was no jetty at all and I had to row out an anchor with the dinghy to stop the boat drifting beam on to the beach.
I’ve also learned of a peculiar trait of my sharpie when there is a cross wind at the ramps. I always launch (and retrieve) with the jetty to windward of the ramp as this makes this job much easier. Then, when I’m ready to cast off, I run the stern rope in a single loop over a jetty post and back on board so it can be cast off easily from the cockpit. Next I untie the bow rope from its post on the jetty, walk back to the cockpit with the rope end and step aboard. With a cross wind I have to move rather quickly here or the bow gets blown around at an amazing speed. Lowering the CB beforehand does not make any difference, there is just too much windage forward with the tall mast and the bunched up mainsail on the boom. I’ve had the boat facing 180 degrees from its launching position by the time I got back on board after casting off the bow rope. Luckily the ramp jetties were over a boat length apart and no other boat was tied up on the opposite ramp!
If there is any manoeuvring to do after leaving the ramp I find it is best done by keeping the boat in reverse, she handles quite well with the low pitch, high reverse thrust propeller. If I slow down to engage forward gear the bow gets blown downwind long before the boat gathers enough forward way for steering. This could be embarrassing in a confined marina.
These were the problems I had, doing everything single handed, but it can be done with a bit of pre planning.
Sailing single handed; Usually I motor well clear of the land and any moored boats before raising sail. At first I used the autohelm to hold the course while tidying away the bow & stern ropes and readying the sails for hoisting. Later I found that with the CB down about halfway she needs only a lashed tiller to hold the course long enough for these tasks. Motoring slowly to windward I hoist the mizzen then sheet it in hard. Then the motor can be turned off, raised and its exit door closed.
My boat sails quite well with just the mizzen sail, the CB needs to be fully down and the log showing over 2 knots before she tacks reliably though. This is an easy way to sail her if the wind is a bit strong.
With the rotating the mast its easy to hoist the mainsail while sailing under mizzen sail. I have to be watchful of the sail leach, the batten ends like jamming at the lazy jacks if the leach flutters about during hoisting despite my sails having their battens luff – inserted.
I have also been sailing with only the mainsail hoisted, its not difficult to raise it first if the wind is on the light side. I did experiment with the CB draft a little to avoid getting in irons trying to go about while towing the dinghy.
I’ve found my boat easy to steer on the wind with many different sail/reef combinations. I reef the main if the wind is over 15 knots and found that a reef in the mizzen as well balances the boat better. The second reef would be set when the wind speed gusts over 25 knots. I had not yet occasion to tie the third reef in the mainsail and hope I never need to.
Downwind or on a reach its an entirely different matter if it blows and it takes a little concentration on the tiller when both sails are up. It’s easy to drop the mizzen then and the boat is much more docile to handle if waves or gusts are trying to round her up. If the wind speed is under 12 knots there were never any difficulties, its only when I start to think about reefing that she gets a bit lively off the wind.
I’ve even sailed my boat with no CB down at all on smooth shallow waters, she needs to do about 2 knots before she will go about then. My kick up rudder blade restricts sailing in waters under 1 m so I’m building new one now. This version will have an adjustable depth setting but also kick up when hitting something, watch this space for developments.
Reefing the mainsail is done via the forward hatch on my boat, this arrangement was very successful. All the reefing ropes (2 permanently rove deep reefs with separate luff and leach ropes) lead to the front of the main boom and cleat there. This is necessary to allow the mast to rotate unrestricted. The outhaul and vang also cleat there, a lot of ropes but rope hangers keep all tidy.
To lower the mainsail I just have to stick my head out of the forward hatch and release the rope clutch on the mast, I have rigged a small downhaul line to the headboard to haul the sail down should any of the sail slides stick. Most of the time the sail just falls into the lazy jacks, the oversize sail slides work really well.
I also have a mizzen staysail which I sometimes set on a reach if there is plenty of open water around. This is really only good in under 10 knots of breeze as the top of the mizzen mast bends alarmingly with any more wind. The boat gains between 1-2 knots on a tight reach with this sail. It could also be set on broad reaches if the mizzen sail is dropped altogether, otherwise it will backwind off the staysail. The staysail is nearly as big as the mainsail so there is a substantial increase in sail area. I think with a crew this sail could also be flown downwind, setting it wing and wing.
Hoisting it single handed is no problem, just 3 extra ropes to clutter up the cockpit. The halyard is an endless loop with a plastic parrel jamming in the masthead swivel block with the fall of it acting as a stay for the mizzen mast by cleating it on the cockpit coaming. The tack is sheeted to a swivel sheave located just aft of Bulkhead B. The clew is sheeted to a swivel sheave on the end of the mizzen boom. The clew sheave is clipped on and pulled out to the end of the boom with a rope loop under the boom as the boom end cannot be reached from the cockpit. To lower this sail single handed I have to haul in on the halyard fall fast or the sail ends up in the water alongside.
So, sailing my boat single handed is quite manageable, even with 3 sails up. I spent little time steering my boat during the cruise, a double loop of rope, wound around the tiller and cleated on each coaming, was my helmsman. This allowed occasional adjustment by nudging the tiller a little. The boat tracks very well for long periods when sailing to windward.
Motoring; On the freshwater and tidal lagoon part of my trip I had to do a fair bit of motoring in the very shallow stretches. With no CB down and the rudder blade horizontal, steering the boat is tiring if there is any cross wind and hence my plans for a different rudder system. Luckily my external lead ballast skegs draw some 2cm more than the outboard’s skeg. On one occasion, when I had to motor fast to counter a strong crosswind, I misjudged the depth in the murky water and hit hard on an limestone outcrop. There was no damage and only a scratch in the glass layer over the lead ballast. The boat bounced over the obstacle and I spent some worried minutes checking if she was holed.
I am very happy with my external ballast arrangement, with the motor poking through the bottom hatch the leg cannot kick up and serious damage could result if the motor skeg hits something. For this reason, with the motor set up in the well, the motor tilting lock must be set for permanent lock regardless which gear is selected.
The other grounding was deliberate on what looked like a gently sloping sandy beach to see how easy it was to push the boat off. Well, it turned out to be about 1cm of sand over lots of stinking black ooze! The boat came to a halt go gently I felt no bump at all and I only found out about the lousy bottom when I waded ashore with the anchor. Later when the wind shifted and I had to leave this beach, the boat needed only a little push to refloat her but trying to get the sticky black ooze off my feet after I’d got back aboard was not much fun.
I have a 9.9HP Mercury 2stroke outboard and, while this performs satisfactory with the high thrust propeller, there was always the nuisance of smoke coming from the motor well. This made it impossible to close the hatches there to reduce the noise as the motor re-breathed the smoke and lost power despite large vents to the hatch.
After the cruise I had a good look at the motor and discovered that there is an exhaust relief port high up on the aft side of the leg in addition to the propeller hub exhaust. This apparently is to provide a path for the exhaust during idling when there is not enough pressure to exhaust under water.
I then had the idea to route the fumes from this port through the transom. This was easy done as a 1/4” BSP thread barbed hose fitting could be tapped into the 8mm diameter port hole. A 1/2” plastic barbed fitting was epoxied into the transom. A length of 1/2” oil resistant hose connected between the two fittings, this hose must be long enough to allow raising of the motor.
I have discussed this idea with the local Mercury agent and they said there should be no problems as long the hose exit is kept clear of the water. Trying it out, it worked like a charm, a jet of smoke emits from the transom exit during idling and the motor well is now almost smoke free. There was only a very slight loss in power when I closed the hatches to the motor well so now I’m installing two 12V fans at the forward vents. These will be powered from the motor charging output and a 6Amp forward biased diode connected in the lead to the battery. The diode stops the fans as soon as the motor stops running. The fans draw only 0.5Amps in total and they also provide me with an instant indication if the charging output is working as I had trouble there before with a loose connection.
Anchoring; this can be really fun when sailing on your own, I often would have liked to be at the bow and in the cockpit at the same time! I tried many different ways, this is what I learned:
I have a small anchor locker at the bow but it is difficult to get to in a hurry so I led the anchor, chain and rope back to the cockpit to a plastic storage box. To lower the anchor it was held over the side and let go. Then I go forward and cleat off the anchor rope when sufficient scope was out. This system worked well enough but I had to be very careful or the chain scratched the topside and brightwork. Later I hooked the plough anchor over the pulpit where it was ready to let go at an instant.
Leaving a crowded anchorage was a bit more tricky, once the anchor was broken free I had to haul in and stow it smartly or the boat would drift around and head for the nearest anchored boat. Trying to motor slowly ahead under autohelm control was no good, she needed speed to stop the windage of the main mast pushing her around. The problem was solved by hoisting the mizzen first and sheeted tight, no CB down, the tiller centred and locked. I could then slowly motor ahead while retrieving and stowing the anchor.
While at anchor, my sharpie does not like to stay still, she just ‘loves’ to sail about on the anchor rode. On my first night aboard, tied to a mooring buoy in 25+ knots of wind, the boat danced merrily about on her short leash. Setting a double reefed mizzen lessened the gyrations a little but she still gave me a lively night.
Next time, while anchored off the bow and the boat sailing up to 45 degrees each side from dead downwind I started experimenting. Rudder blade up or down, CB up or down, reefed mizzen up or down, nothing seemed to get this boat lay still at anchor. Longing for a quiet night I anchored off the stern and for once she would stay still. However, wavelets made an annoying slapping sound under the transom so stern anchoring was crossed off the trials list.
Anchoring from bow and stern kept her steady but if the wind shifts abeam there is a lot of strain on the anchors and the possibility of dragging them. Also it’s a lot more work to retrieve them later.
I tried to set both anchors off the bow, 180 degrees apart, in high winds, with the second anchor rowed out via the dinghy. The boat still danced about, occasionally sailing right over one or the other anchor rope on sudden gusts. Getting the anchors back on board later was no fun either.
In the next bay, which had a rocky bottom, I anchored to a fisherman’s (admiralty) anchor. There I experimented with bridles by tying a second rope with a rolling hitch to the anchor rode. This rope was led back to the cockpit winch and then another boat length of anchor rode let out. Now I could winch on the bridle and adjust it until the boat lay still at an angle to the wind, the angle being dependent upon the wind strength. This system works well as long as the wind does not gust suddenly form another direction which caused the boat to tack and sail over the bridle. That was no problem as I remembered to raise the CB and rudder, on the next sudden wind shift she sailed back to the original tack. There is an increased load on the anchor but in my case it had lodged in a crack and there was no chance of dragging. Raising it later was another story as I’d forgotten to rig a trip rope and float.
I used this system for a while but thought there must be a better way still. I found it out from the local sailors later on the freshwater part of the cruise. They just motor into the nearest windward reed bank (CB up!) until the boat penetrates the reeds to amidships. Then they take a length of 6mm rope, walk to the bow and grab a handful of reeds. These are tied with one rope end, its other end is attached to the bow cleat. That’s it, no anchor hassles at all! I spent many a peaceful night aboard, snug up a little creek from the lake, the wind whistling in the reeds and the boat lying perfectly still. You might need a bug screen but the places I stayed there were very few biting types. To leave all I needed to do is start the motor, go forward and retrieve the small rope, then back out of the reeds.
Of course, a suitable reed bank is not always near by and I kept on experimenting with the anchoring.
The problem is caused by the high windage forward of the centre of lateral resistance and the shallow draft of these boats. At anchor, the bow gets pushed around a little by a windshift and she is off, the high freeboard making a perfect sail. When the tightening anchor rope finally jerks her around the cycle is repeated on the other tack.
In case you are wondering why I worried so much about the boat sailing at anchor, I like to check for anchor dragging by lining up some prominent shore features. This is almost impossible to do while the boat keeps sailing about!
The final fix came to me by accident when I anchored in soft mud and let out a very long scope to hopefully prevent dragging. I noticed she did not sail so far about and set the double reefed mizzen. Now she lay almost still, it must have been the extra drag of the long anchor rope which stopped the boat sailing about. This happened in smooth water and a fresh breeze. I have not yet tried this in rough water, I’ll also try to lower a small sturdy bucket on the anchor rode to see if its drag improves things. So there is more left for experimenting on the next cruise.
Cruising comforts; There are quite a few items on my boat which made the cruise more enjoyable. The first coming to mind was the Engel car fridge, to reach inside and grab a cold beer, not having to worry about how long the ice will last, was very much appreciated. This gadget was fairly power hungry, I had to run my Honda 15/30Amp generator for about 3 hours in every 24 to keep the batteries topped up in the hot weather I encountered. Luckily this generator is fairly quiet in the 15 Amp setting. I also had a 20W solar panel as a backup but it would not provide near enough power to keep up with this fridge. Installing permanent fitted solar panels is just about impossible due the swept area of the booms so the panel was stowed away for sailing.
There is a CD player/radio in the cabin to listen to the weather reports or play some music. I also have a 27Meg marine radio but never had an occasion to use it. For cruising in company with other yachts it would have been very useful.
The fold away propane stove worked well once I figured out that there is a delay from the gas sniffing sensors before they let me turn on the gas. I managed to cook all my meals on it, the 4kg gas bottle was more than enough for the 10 weeks. Being able to put the stove and the slide out sink away freed a lot of room in the cabin. My boat has 2 built in water tanks of 50 litres each, this was plenty for one person for up to 2 weeks. I had a reserve of 4x5 litres stashed away in the bunk lockers as well.
While cruising I used a 10 litre plastic solar shower bag, using it in the cockpit well. I even got some privacy from the high cockpit coamings when other boats were nearby.
The small portapotti was adequate, it needed emptying about every 8-10 days with just myself using it. I used biodegradable chemicals for it and they let the contends smell a bit after a while when the valve is opened. No problems while it is kept tightly shut. A can of air freshener was useful to clear the cabin after use. A smaller holding tank is much lighter to carry up the companion way and there is less chance to drop it L.
I have a special canvas carry bag for this tank so its not so obvious when I carry it to the toilet block for emptying.
I appreciated the reading lights I’d fitted in the cabin, I read a lot of books on this cruise. With the boats 2 large (130Ah each) batteries I could afford to turn on the cabin lights, play some CD’s and keep the fridge running.
On the bunks the 75mm high density foam cushions were very comfortable to sleep on. These take up less space than the standard 100mm cushions when the bunk inserts had to be stowed during the day.
The lack of standing headroom in the cabin never bothered me, the only time I banged my head was when I went below with my wide brimmed hat still on.
Would I do this cruise again? You bet, I had a wonderful time and I could not think of a better way to get to know my boat. I gained a lot more confidence than I would have done by just sailing on weekends or short races around the buoys at my club. It helped a lot to have the boat rigged for single handed sailing but there were a few things I would like to add or change on the boat:
A different rudder I have already mentioned. A decent sun shade is a must have. I had some shade cloth made up with battens, to fix alongside each boom as the lazy jacks do not permit the rigging of conventional cockpit shades. This was unfortunately awkward to set up and so I hardly used them.
My plan now is to fit a tubular stainless frame across the boat, just ahead of the mizzen mast. This would look like a narrow ‘A’, viewed from the boat’s side. To this frame I could attach a cabin trunk shade which fits under the main boom, away from the lazy jacks. The boom would be raised and tied to the frame. It would also serve as a mast support for towing, provide secure handholds when stepping onto a jetty and for the boarding ladder when it is hooked over the lowest crossbar on this frame. The cockpit shades I already have would also be tied to this, making them much easier to rig.
On it too I could fit the solar panels, high up and out of the way, at least while at anchor.
I just hope that the rigged sunshades do not defeat my trials of keeping the boat still at anchor J.
An eutectic fridge is also on the list, there are some very good ones available, pre gassed and easy to install but also expensive. Not having to run the generator so often and perhaps the solar panels providing all the power while anchored might make this a worth wile investment. A built in fridge/freezer box would clear floor space too.
Well, that’s it, I’m really looking forward to my next long cruise.