Category Archives: Modifications

An Inside Lock for the Companionway Hatch

18 Sunday Nov 2018

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The new hatch lock conceals the bulk of the brass barrel bolt and makes it stronger. It also can’t be reached from the bridge-deck. 

One of the things I have not liked about my boat is I have no way to lock the companionway from the inside.  It’s an odd thing when you think about it.  When I rebuilt the boat, though I made a lot of changes, I kept the basic design of the original companionway intact. This is an important capability when you are sleeping on the boat and you can’t lock the “front door” so to speak. You are therefore vulnerable. I heard about more than just a few boats getting boarded at night when I was sailing in the West Indies.

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Installing Off-Shore Stanchions

13 Tuesday Nov 2018

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Singlehanding home from Sint Maarten to N.C. in May 2016.  The lifelines felt too low and I wanted to replace them.

During the six year rebuild of the Far Reach I wanted to replace the original 24” tall lifeline stanchions with taller ones of about 30 inches.  But, at that time, taller stanchions were not enough of a priority to make it on to the budget. We made do for the past three years including 3,500nm of off-shore sailing.  

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A Few Small Projects: Bug screens, whisker pole mod, windlass rebuild, and a new sculling oar lock.

23 Tuesday Oct 2018

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We never had problems with bugs in the West Indies as we always anchored out and there was always a breeze.  Nonetheless, I wanted to have a full set of screens for the Far Reach.

With Hurricane Florence behind us, it was time to return to the preparation of the Far Reach for the voyage back to the BVI and the West Indies.  At the moment we are working on a few small but important projects. Described below are a few of them.

We completed building the drop-in companionway bug screens.  I built the teak frames last winter but got side tracked before installing the screens. I still need to sew up some screens for the foredeck and saloon deck hatches.  Gayle sewed a nice padded pouch to protect them when stored under a bunk.

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Hand Splice Standing Rigging—The Liverpool Splice

16 Monday Jul 2018

Posted by in Equipment, Maintenance, Modifications, Musings, Uncategorized, Upgrades

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All of the standing rigging on the Far Reach is spliced to include the 3/8” bob-stay and the 5/16” sprit-shroud stays.

Readers of our rebuild website may remember I hand-spliced the standing rigging for the new mast we built for the Far Reach. It was one of the many projects associated with the six year rebuild. I used a splice called the Liverpool Splice. I learned it by reading Brion Toss’ book The Rigger’s Apprentice.

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Upgrading Primary Winches—Phase II. And a new winch base design.

09 Wednesday May 2018

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Before: The primary winches were on a 2” riser pad and were, by design,  very tall winches.  They also suffered from aluminum/bronze corrosion—IMO a fundamentally bad design.

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After: The new primaries are a little shorter in height plus I removed the riser pad.  They are the same model as the smaller stays’l winches we installed last fall. Note the new winch base with bronze plate.

After completing a number of small projects this year, it was time to tackle the last big project for the foreseeable future—installing the new primary winches. The new winches are bronze Lewmar Ocean Series ST 46 two speed winches. The 46s replace the original 1982 era bronze two speed Lewmar 44s.  Though they performed satisfactorily, the 44s were a flawed design from the beginning, mixing aluminum with bronze. The aluminum jaws were ate up with galvanic corrosion.  For more information on the original installation click here.

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Stepping It Up

28 Saturday Apr 2018

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The removable dinghy step is about 24” long x 9” wide.  The sub frame is iroko and the treads are teak.

We have found getting from the dinghy up to the Far Reach is not always so easy. It’s a little over 40” from the waterline to the top of  the bulwarks.  It’s not just us.  I think many cruisers find climbing from the dinghy to the mothership a challenge, especially as we get older.  And, the traditional stern on the Far Reach means the best way to embark or debark is along-side vice over the stern.  Many modern sailboat designs include the now ubiquitous “sugar-scoop” transom, which greatly simplifies the task of getting from the dinghy to the sailboat.  The disadvantage of a sugar-transom is that it makes the boat less secure.   It’s easy for an  unwanted visitor to get aboard the boat by clandestinely swimming up to the stern and crawling up and over the sugar-scoop.  And sugar scoops, generally, detract from the aesthetics of the boat. But I digress.

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Building Dorades

07 Saturday Apr 2018

Posted by in Maintenance, Modifications, Repairs, Techniques, Tactics, Tips

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The dorade boxes were in bad shape.  Originally, I varnished them but finally painted them white after repeated mysterious varnish failures.

I have known for a long time that I needed to replace the dorade boxes on the Far Reach. During the six year long rebuild I was on a budget so I had to decide how to spend the time and money, where to save the time and money, and when to live to fight another day.   So, building new dorades was saved for another day…which, finally, arrived a few weeks ago

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Let There Be Light–Adding LED Lights.

08 Thursday Mar 2018

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The Alpenglow LED lights are a nice addition to the Far Reach .

From the beginning of our rebuild of the Far Reach we had three goals that guided our efforts: First, was to make her as simple as possible. Second, was to make her comfortable and enjoyable to sail and live aboard. Last, she had to be beautiful. I call our philosophy “elegant simplicity.”

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Removable Side-Mount Rotating Arm Engine Bracket

23 Saturday Dec 2017

Posted by in Equipment, Modifications, Planning, Repairs, Sails, Techniques, Tactics, Tips, Upgrades, Voyaging

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Here we are departing Hancock Marina on 29 Nov 2015 for the BVI.  There was not a breath of air.  We used the engine to get to the head of Adams Creek on the ICW that afternoon.  The next day we sailed all the way down the ICW, under two bridges, and out to Cape Lookout where we waited for a weather window to cross the Gulf Stream. A few days later a friend linked up with us in the Bight at Cape Lookout and we transferred the engine to his skiff.  We sailed to the BVI engine free.

While I would prefer to have the Far Reach engine free all the time it would require access to a mooring that we could sail on and off. There are very few moorings in NC and none where we are. She is berthed in a small marina with 360° of protection. So, we often carry a Honda 9.9hp four stroke outboard on a custom-made removable swing arm bracket attached to the port quarter. The outboard allows us to more conveniently move her in and out of her slip, make the tight turn onto the fairway, then exit the narrow 1/4 mile long channel out to the Neuse River.

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