Well, as some of you may know, I keep my M on the Tamar, and had decided to leave her on the mooring for a bit longer this year, in case I managed to get time for a few late season sails. I did in fact get out a couple of weeks ago, very little wind, but we did fly the Asymmetrical Spinnaker for the first time, which was exciting, though it was only blowing a gentle force 1-2, just right for a novice in fact.
I've just got home with her now, after loading this afternoon, and as I mentioned to an onlooker [there are always onlookers when you are launching or recovering aren't there, especially recovering!] I'll get her home, clean her up and bring her back down next spring to get all dirty and slimy again!
I leave the centre board and rudders down whilst on the mooring, but in spite of painting the rudders with anti-fouling, they are thick with barnacles again. Maybe I used the wrong colour, next year I should try black instead of white?
In a way it's nice to get her home, I've got a load of little jobs and mods to do, probably won't get half of them finished though.
What have other owners got up their sleeves to do this winter?
Paul
[Ex 'Crackerjack' - 26M]
Hi Paul
I was just having a quick look down the list to see if I've missed any discussions and saw your post asking what folk are doing over the Winter.
Given the deafening silence, it must presumably mean that they've all got such a shed load of stuff to do, they don't have time to talk about it.
After 5 years of gentle persuasion from the crew, I've now embarked on a galley mod - new work top, stainless steel sink, drawers underneath, etc
Already wishing I hadn't started - there are no straight edges anywhere!
Cheers
Mike
Hi Paul, my 26m fortunately sits in the drive over winter as it sits in poole harbour on a swinging mooring for the season most years it receives a mod which reduces my bug bears.
Heating,gps,and dsc radio,tv Ariel all help
However being on a swing mooring battery levels run low despite long engine runs currently looking into a Rutland wind generator know of anyone who has installed one on a mac?
A sea toilet would also be good but would need to fit a holding tank, anyone managed to squeeze one into the front locker ?
Good luck with any mods, is might be just me but any job on the boat takes me three times longer than i plan.
Regards Jonathan
Hi Jonathan
I have a Rutland wind generator on Hera.
You can look at output figures in their literature but the those figures do depend on the presence of wind!
I confess I don't really know how well it does as we always seem to be near shore power or doing some motoring so the batteries get well topped up.
Maybe look at solar panels as an alternative? They're certainly less noisy (the Rutland gives off quite a whine when there's a good blow).
Cheers Mike
Hi mike, I'm a solar pv installer and don't think there's enough space and output from panels installed on a mac, also i could see them getting damaged easily my opinion though. I presume your generator is mounted on the rear rails? Or is it a mac adaption? Is there enough head room to the blades when standing up on seats ?
I run a waeco fridge/freezer whilst on the boat via 200amp hour batteries Ive found that as the weeks go by the battery level lowers dispite long engine runs ive spoken to battery supplier and their convinced that with out a good charge from shore power or a Decent constant charge the batteries will not charge fully. The noise shouldn't be an issue as I could lock the rotor in the evening or during sail if it was too noisy however, reading through feedback on the 914i they have reduced noise and increased power output.
Regards Jonathan
It's mounted on a s steel pole which is screwed with a plate into the side of the hull and supported with a clamp round the aft quarter pulpit (Hera is a 26X). There's no additional bracing but it's never fallen off! It's above head height even when standing on the seat although I did catch my fingers in it last summer when I was standing on the gunnel, holding the pole as a grabrail and waving to a harbourmaster to get his attention!
I too have the waeco fridge and as I said above we do use shore power whenever possible, so I see the windgen very much as a backup.
Yes, I use a nylon tie to shut it up at night although if you are far away in the wilds, then that's quite a lot of lost amps! During the day when sailing the whirring noise is quite useful as it gives an extra auditory sense to slight changes in the wind.
In the end I guess it's all about compromise!
Cheers
Mike
Hi Mike, thanks for info, looks like Force 4 will receiving another visit ! I found this statement on a Rutland site ' My only concern is that if I die, my wife will sell all the toys for what I said I paid for them !'
Regards Jonathan