10 Saturday Nov 2018
Posted in Modifications, Uncategorized, Upgrades
The caddy will hold three drinks, travel mugs, or water bottles
Just a little project to to address the need for a way to keep drinks secure in the cockpit when sailing. Some teak, 3/32 silicon bronze, and chrome tanned leather. All scraps or off cuts from other projects. Inspired by an old article written by Lin and Larry Pardey.
23 Tuesday Oct 2018
Posted in Equipment, Maintenance, Modifications, Repairs, Uncategorized, Upgrades
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.
16 Monday Jul 2018
Posted in Equipment, Maintenance, Modifications, Musings, Uncategorized, Upgrades
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.
09 Wednesday May 2018
Posted in Equipment, Modifications, Uncategorized, Upgrades
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.
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.
28 Saturday Apr 2018
Posted in Equipment, Modifications, Uncategorized, Upgrades
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.
07 Saturday Apr 2018
Posted in Maintenance, Modifications, Repairs, Techniques, Tactics, Tips
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
08 Thursday Mar 2018
Posted in Equipment, Modifications, Upgrades
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.”
23 Saturday Dec 2017
Posted in Equipment, Modifications, Planning, Repairs, Sails, Techniques, Tactics, Tips, Upgrades, Voyaging
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.
16 Saturday Dec 2017
Posted in Equipment, Modifications, Voyaging
Not only is an efficient heater a wonderful luxury, it greatly extends the sailing season.
It was about 40° F when I got to the boat the other day. Had a few small projects to accomplish and I needed to complete some reading for a college seminar I teach one night per week. When we rebuilt the Far Reach we installed a small Danish designed gravity drip heater called a Refleks M66MK. It is normally set up for diesel fuel but since we don’t have an inboard engine we jetted it for slightly more efficient kerosene. The combusted fuel is vented out of the boat via the flue and a Refleks smoke-head.
The fan on the heater top is called an Eco Fan. It runs through a process called the pelitier effect which is the result of the second law of thermodynamics—heat flows from an object at a higher tempature to a body at a cooler temperature. The fan sits on the cast iron heater top-plate. The fan base absorbs heat which in turn moves towards the cooling fans. In the process, the heat passes over a thermocouple. As as a result, a small amount of electricity powers a 12 volt fan located in the fan body, which drives the fan blade. The fan does a wounderful job of moving the warm air around the boat. It can also be repositioned to blow the heat in any direction desired.
When I arrived at the boat it was 42° F.
In no time the boat was toasty warm. The Refleks Heater Has settings from 1-8. We had it on level 1 or 2 … so it’s very efficient.
It took maybe 40 minutes to get the temp up to 72° F.
The boat is wonderfully comfortable and quiet. Like a well made tiny house but ready to go to sea and serve as our magic carpet to any place we may desire.
10 Sunday Dec 2017
Posted in Modifications, Sails, Techniques, Tactics, Tips, Upgrades
I replaced the heavy and clumsy brass piston hanks on the stays’l with traditional brass luff rings.
We use SS 7×7 5/16” wire rope for all the standing rigging on the Far Reach, except the forestay. For the forestay, we use synthetic 9mm Dynex Dux (heat treated dyneema). Recently, we modified the forestay to make it easy to detach it from the gammon iron. That modification allows us to open up the foretriangle making it easier to short tack as the forestay is no longer an obstruction to the jib. The modification, includes a partially covered dyneema that serves as a lanyard, and a few low-friction rings.
