Category Archives: Customizations

2006, Customizations, Mainsheet, Port Lights, Repair/Replace/Maintain

Improved Ties For Portlight Curtains

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Improved Ties For Portlight Curtains
Bob Bierly

August, 2006 Hull #: 255

Many of you have probably experienced the wearing out of those dainty little strips of velcro provided by Mother Catalina to hold the accordion / pleated curtains for the opening and fixed ports. Not only have mine died, but I never did like them anyway as two hands were generally insufficient to fold up the shade and pull down on two or more velcro tabs. [Note: your editor also finds them a bit of a pain: to reset any shade it’s difficult to retrieve the underneath tab- Warren]

So, here’s a simple, cheap and effective fix requiring little work, not much material and even less talent. For each port you need ten inches of flat elastic material about 1/2 inch wide. Cut the elastic into two 5- inch pieces. Form a loop by overlapping each 5 inch

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2006, Customizations, Mainsheet, Winter Cover

Winter Covers

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Winter Covers
Richard Herbst & Warren Elliott

August, 2006 Hull #: 93 & 44

I know August is a bit too warm to think about this subject, but think about my perspective. It’s now June and quite warm here in southern NY, and I’ve just returned from many months in the warm Bahamas and southeastern U.S., so I really don’t have winter even vaguely in mind. But, duty calls! And when you read this, cold weather won’t be far behind, at least in northern climes.

This article was submitted by Richard Herbst, a C380 captain from N.J., where winters are real. This is for those looking for inexpensive protection for that prized sailboat.

Why Cover Your Boat?

In many areas, winter weather causes water to cyclically freeze/ expand and melt/contract.. Over time, this can lift and destroy various parts, including tabbing that holds bulkheads to the hull. The rate of

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2005, Customizations, Mainsheet

Companionway Door Options – Mainsheet August 2005

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Companionway Door Options Author:Warren Elliott
8/1/2005 Hull #: 44

Mainsheet August 2005

Hi C380+ Captains, Admirals and Crews–

Here in the N.E,. thankfully, the new season is in full swing, with nice warm temps and some fair winds. Trust you’re all enjoying sailing. But, if anything is preventing your getting-out-there boat-wise, please contact me or sign into our Sailnet.com email discussion list where there’s a lot of captains ready to help.

This Mainsheet issue is devoted to four companionway treatments, most of which are “doors”. I must confess that I received much of the info a couple of years ago, so some of it is a bit dated, but still applicable. My apologies to the four captains, who may have expected to see their handiwork “somewhat” earlier. The first article is a fairly detailed one from Tom and Barbara Lincoln, who were sailing in the Bahamas. Lately, they are “sailing”

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2005, Boom, Customizations, Mainsheet, Repair/Replace/Maintain

Dutchman Boom Brake Installation and Use – Mainsheet May 2005

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Dutchman Boom Brake Installation and Use
Kevin Murray
Mainsheet Date: 5/1/2005
Hull #: 88

The Dutchman Boom Brake is designed to control the speed of the boom as it crosses the boat during jibing. This can be a dangerous situation in moderate or higher winds. It also makes a great preventer for use when running downwind. As shown in Figure 1, this brake consists of three sheaves mounted between two plates in a triangular configuration; a line wraps around these in a serpentine fashion. The two upper sheaves are fixed and do not rotate; the lower sheave either rotates or is fixed depending on the setting of the control knob on the front of the device.

When the line running through the brake is tensioned, it grips the line with greater tension yielding more grip. By adjusting the knob and/or tension, more or less braking friction is in winds below

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2005, Customizations, Mainsheet

Genny Furling Line Controller – Mainsheet February 2005

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Genny Furling Line Controller
Warren Elliott
Mainsheet Date: 2/1/2005
Hull #: 44

How to control my headsail’s furling line? This was one of my first challenges with our new C380. It was obvious that some sort of block and cleat arrangement was needed in that port cockpit area; but then a secondary question arose: how to accomplish this without drilling any holes in that beautiful fiberglass, and still keeping the furling line out from underfoot?

Without the ability to simply ask our great Sailnet email group [Sailnet didn’t exist and I didn’t even have a PC “back then”], I set about scrounging through my voluminous “junk box”. [Much to the Admiral’s chagrin, I save all sorts of “stuff”]. I decided to concentrate on attaching “something” to the genny foot block, as it seemed to be in a good location. After quite a few visualizing exercises, a plan developed: use a

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2005, Customizations, Electric Winch, Mainsheet, Reviews, Tools

Affordable Cordless Drill as Winch Driver – Mainsheet February 2005

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Affordable Cordless Drill as Winch Driver
Roger Cheney
2/1/2005
Hull #: 132 

Faithful readers of this column [others are to be pitied!] may recall an earlier brief article [May ’03] in which Wallace Shakun [Morning Star, C380 #12] proposed using a heavy-duty cordless drill to drive winches. He put the idea into practice using a straight-drive 1/2″ Bosch drill together with an adapter “bit”, which he developed, that mates a standard 1/2″ chuck with our winch drive socket.

The idea sounded good to me, except that I felt a right-angle drill would provide an easier way to resist the high torques developed [about 500 inch-pounds]. Wallace indicated that the straight-drive version worked well, but that he was also considering the right-angle approach.

Milwaukee now has a hefty right-angle drill, which develops a “bit” more torque, and which costs somewhat more [$300 vs $200]. Roger Cheney [C380 #132, “2nd Wind”] has

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2005, Customizations, Dinghy Davits, Mainsheet

Weaver Davits

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Weaver Davits
Rick Beauregard

November, 2005 Hull #: 160

What To Do With The Dink

After another great weekend of sailing, snorkeling, barbequing, and general partying at Emerald Bay at Catalina Island, getting ready to go home is a drag. We start the routine around 11:30, to wait for the predictable San Pedro Channel trade winds to fill in. First, we retrieve and put away the flopper stopper, then I stow the Honda generator, and the eight horse Yamaha, haul the kayaks aboard, and uncover the main. Last but not least is the dinghy.

I used to tow my 10 foot inflatable Quicksilver and take care of it when I got to home port. But I didn’t like the effect it had on my sailing performance. I hauled it aboard and laid it on the foredeck a few times, but up there it gets in the way and is a

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2004, Customizations, Sailing

Improving Genny Sheet Leads

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Improving Genny Sheet Leads
Warren Elliott
 11/27/2004
Hull #: 44

The standard headsail sheets each lead through a track-mounted block and a cheek block before being led to a primary winch. While this is no problem under some conditions, when the wind pipes up, cranking the sheet winch, especially with my 155% jib, gets really tough. The added friction from the “wrap around” cheek block surely adds significant stress to this old sailor. To improve the situation, some have upgraded to ball-bearing blocks. Another approach is to lead the sheet more directly to it’s winch, as shown in the accompanying photo, courtesy Commodore Earle Ellefsen.

Here, his boat’s port genny sheet lead is shown. From the jib, the lead traverses the normal, moveable track-mounted block [not shown], then through a second block as shown, directly to the winch. This bypasses the cheek block, providing a much straighter lead with correspondingly

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2004, Customizations, Port Lights

Hatches – Screen Hinges

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Hatches –  Screen Hinges
Warren Elliott
11/27/2004

Hull #: 44

We all want to make/keep all things simple, right? Well, definitely fitting this category are the relatively new screen hinges by Lewmar, manufacturer of our overhead hatches.

Admiral Jeanne and I always found it bothersome to remove, store and/or install the hatch screens. It was particularly irksome when a sudden rain shower required quick screen removal so that the hatch[es] could be closed. Also, when not in use they require storage space, which is particularly problematic for the very large forward unit.

The answer is to store the screens in-place while having a quick/easy opening and closing setup. Lewmar’s screen hinges fit the bill. The photo [see photo 1] shows our C380’s large hatch in the main cabin, with the screen open. [The view is towards the port quarter]. It’s held in place by a pair of the special hinges.

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2004, Customizations, Engine, Mainsheet, Repair/Replace/Maintain

Alternator/Regulator Mods

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Alternator/Regulator Mods
Jim Norman, Jos Sonneville
8/1/2004
Hull #:     33

 

We’ve had a lot of “traffic” on our Sailnet email discussion list on this topic. Modification of your engine’s alternator, to provide connection for a “smart” external regulator, can make the full alternator output available for your battery charging; otherwise, the typical alternator’s regulator will provide only about 1/2 of the available charging current.

The particular description here is applicable to the earlier C380’s that have the Westerbeke 42B engine, which includes a 72-amp alternator. The same concept will work for the Yanmar-equipped boats, although it’s smaller 55-amp alternator has less potential “reward”.

The alternator’s standard regulator is contained in a housing [aka: “doghouse”] attached to the back of the alternator. There are both “N” [negative] and “P” [positive] types, so named because of the electrical location of the regulator with respect to the alternator’s field winding. They require

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