The Blue View - Hauling out in Trinidad

We hauled out in Trinidad a few days ago. Nine of Cups always looks a little morose when she is on the hard. I don't think she likes sitting on her keel with seven or eight supports holding her upright. Nor does she like having her bottom exposed for any passerby to check out. I think it's sort of like having a physical done in the middle of a busy airport. Hopefully, she will forgive us when we clean and wax her topsides and treat her to fresh bottom paint and a new bootstripe.

We've hauled out in a lot of different ports around the world, but no matter how many times we do it, I dread the process. The wind always seems to pipe up – or die down - just as I'm trying to maneuver Cups into the narrow concrete pen or the wake from a passing tug generates a big surge at precisely the wrong moment, and poor Cups has a lot of dings and gashes in her teak as a result. That repaired section of the port side caprail? That's from an overzealous marinaro in Venezuela who was helping us into the pen with a dinghy and pushed us into the concrete wall. The big ding on the starboard rub rail? That's my fault when I misjudged the wind as I maneuvered into the pen in Papeete, Tahiti.

Being as prepared as possible helps. Here are the things we do ahead of time to prepare for the haul-out.

Haul-out method. First a caveat. While we have seen several different methods of getting a boat high and dry – everything from careening at high tide, to cranes, to wagons mounted on train tracks that are winched out of the water, we have only ever hauled Cups using a Travelift type of lift.

Reconnaissance. Every place we've been does things differently. Sometimes we are expected to tie up to the walls of the pen while the Travelift maneuvers into position, sometimes the operator 'catches' Cups with the straps as we maneuver into the pen – sometimes there are cleats, sometimes not – sometimes there are 10 men standing by to help fend off, sometimes there's no one – sometimes the operator expects us to have fenders deployed, in other places fenders are a problem. If possible, we visit the facility ahead of time and check with the operator or manager to get as many details as we can. Ideally, we watch another boat being hauled out.

Conditions. Check the wind and current – both on the approach to the pen, as well as in the pen itself. I have the most problem with a current or wind on the beam that is blocked by the pen itself. If I enter the pen too slowly and Cups' stern is still moving downwind or down current while the bow is in the pen, she gets skewed at an angle. If I enter too quickly, a miscalculation on my part will make any damage that much worse. Always a dilemma.

Lift Points. We always provide a diagram of the boat to the lift operator, so he knows what our keel and underwater profile look like. We have lift points marked on the topsides, but different operators using different sized Travelifts often choose to use different lift locations. It's usually not a problem, but if I'm uncomfortable with the operator's decision, I don't hesitate to discuss it.

Headsails. When we were first learning to sail, an instructor once told me that it was a lazy captain who didn't remove his headsails when hauling. Maybe so, and while we do remove our headsails, it isn't because I'm afraid that someone will think I'm a slacker – there are many other indications of my laziness that are all too apparent. Instead, there are a couple of other reasons why I remove the headsails. First, it gives me a chance to inspect the parts of the sail and rigging that aren't visible from the deck. I can check the shackle, eye splices and the section of the halyard that spends most of its life inside the mast. The second reason is that we sometimes have to remove the forestay and baby stay before the Travelift can pick us up (see the next section), and this can't be done on Cups with the headsails furled in place. It is much easier and much less frenetic to remove and stow the sails ahead of time than trying to get the job done in the haul-out pen with the operator and crew glaring at us.

Forestays. Nine of Cups is a 45' cutter, and requires a fairly big Travelift to lift us out of the water. It isn't her weight - she weighs around 20 tons and most Travelifts are big enough to lift this much. It's her size that is at issue. We've found that a Travelift with a capacity less than 50 tons will almost always be too small to lift Cups without first removing the forestay and quite possibly the baby stay as well. We first discovered this after owning Cups a couple of years. We tied up the haul-out facility a couple of hours while I rounded up the necessary tools, used an impact driver to remove a couple of seized screws and figured out how to remove the furler assembly. Quite embarrassing. Having learned that lesson, I now round up all the tools I might need and prepare the forestay for removal ahead of time. I slack off on the backstays, loosen the locknuts on the furler, and loosen or remove any furler parts I can. I also rig a spinnaker line forward to take the strain off the clevis pin holding the forestay so I can remove it without too much drama. I have a couple of old cockpit cushions I use to pad and protect the furler and some short lines to secure it. If I think the baby stay might also have to be removed, I prep it in the same manner.

N.B. Some folks can back into the haul-out pen, but this would require even more effort since we would have to remove both back stays and the wind generator.

Hardware. Anything that could conceivably get in the way of or get damaged by the Travelift is removed and re-positioned. For example, I relocate our dinghy engine so it sits inboard of the lifelines, and tie off the wind generator.

Lines. We always rig two long bow lines and two stern lines. Rather than using our heavy dock lines, we rig lighter weight lines that can be thrown further. They may not be needed, but it's always better to have them rigged and ready, just in case. We keep two other lines – one on each side around midship – flaked out and ready to use. Cups' keel has a sloped forefoot, and although very unlikely, it is possible that the forward lift strap could slide forward as she is being lifted. To eliminate this possibility, we tie a line between the two straps once they are in position.

Fenders. We usually have our fenders rigged and in place as we enter the pen, then pull them back aboard once we are secured. Some facilities discourage them as they may hang up on the straps as we maneuver into the pen. When in doubt, we rig them. We also have a big fat fender we keep at the ready on the foredeck.

Boat hook. We have two boat hooks that can be used for fending off, and keep one lying on the top of the coach roof on each side of the boat.

Disembarking. Occasionally, we are expected to stay aboard while the Travelift lifts us out of the water, but usually the boatyard requests we climb off the boat once the straps are in place and the boat is ready. Sometimes, in a smaller pen, the boat is pulled close enough to the side to disembark that way. Most often Cups is carefully moved forward until the anchor is a few inches from the end of the pen, and we are required to climb over the bow pulpit, and using the anchor as a step, clamber ashore . So far we've been able to accomplish this, if not gracefully, at least without falling into the drink.

Power wash. Once the boat is out of the water, we usually have a power wash done to remove all the sea critters before they dry out and harden. Sometimes we can rent the high pressure washer and do it ourselves, but more often, the boatyard provides the operator. One thing to be aware of is that the operator often shoots the stream of water into the thru-hulls to get all those barnacles out of the hoses and valves. If the thru-hull leads to a sink, the stream of water will shoot up the sink drain and deposit a combination of anti-fouling paint and sea crud on the header above it. We try to remember to close these thru-hulls before the haul-out.

This haul-out went quite well with no new damage or scrapes. The wind kicked up to about 20 knots as we were approaching the pen, but there were two dock hands there to catch our lines and the landing went remarkably well. I'm sure it was due to that tot of rum we gave Neptune on our arrival in Trinidad.

The Blue View - Frustrated Broncos Fan

Having grown up in Colorado, I have always been a Denver Broncos football fan. Marcie and I have lived in a few places other than Bronco Land in our pre-cruising lives, but I could never get excited about the local teams. I wasn't as fanatical as some Denver fans – but, it's always been the Broncos for me.

Following the Broncos, however, has been a real trial during the last 15 years. When internet is expensive, slow, or non-existent, or Nine of Cups is in the middle of the Indian Ocean on a long passage, or our clocks are upside down and the game doesn't start until 2 am local time, catching even the score of the latest game, let alone a few game highlights, is difficult. Luckily, our youngest son, Brad, is a more devoted fan than I am and can be depended upon to send me a synopsis of the game via email. Not quite like watching, but better than nothing. I confess that in some years, had it not been for Brad, I'd have totally forgotten it was even football season.

A couple of weeks ago, however, we found ourselves in Georgetown, Guyana, in an air-conditioned hotel room with free high speed internet on a Sunday during football season. Our time zone was not so different than Denver time, and the Broncos were playing – OMG - the Boston Patriots! Was this the beginning of a new harmonic convergence? A grand trine? How lucky could I be? Even if it didn't start until 9:30 pm local time, I was up for it.

The only way to 'watch' the game in most other countries is via the internet. Other than the Superbowl, I don't remember ever being in a place in which we could literally watch a Broncos game on TV. Many countries have sports bars with a multitude of TV screens scattered around showing all the favorite sporting events, but rarely does American football make the cut. If you're interested in the local soccer, rugby or cricket game, you're all set, but no NFL games. I guess that's only reasonable – how many people in Denver would stay up till the wee hours to watch the Collingwood Magpies play the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League?

Usually the internet has been too slow or we were paying by the byte, making it far too expensive to try to stream that much data. Instead, we tried to listen to the game on internet radio. In the past, we could listen to KOA radio in Denver and catch the live broadcast. Then, in the post season three years ago, I had rearranged my day, so that I could listen to a Broncos playoff game, Marcie had popped a big bowl of popcorn and I was all primed for the game when I discovered the NFL no longer allowed internet broadcasts of the playoff games. Last year, this extended to the regular season games, and I couldn't find a way to listen to any of the games.

Sure, I could buy an “NFL Season Pass” which would allow me to listen to the game broadcasts, but it is expensive, and we haven't been (and probably won't be) in many places this season that had reasonable internet. I certainly wasn't going to buy the package, so I could watch one game, even if it was the Broncos-Patriots game.

I did find a site that displayed the play-by-play action via a cryptic line of text. Every thirty seconds or so (longer if a timeout was called or a commercial ad was running), a message like “2-10-Den 38 (4:15) 23-R.Hillman left tackle to DEN 42 for 4 yards (97 – A.Branch)” would appear on the screen. It's hard to get excited 'watching' this way. No KOA radio team with color commentary and enthusiastic play-by-play action - no instant replays - no crowd noise... but it was a lot better than nothing.

For the first half, I followed the game while working on a few other things. During the third quarter, I time-shared between play updates and reading on my iPad. During the fourth quarter, and then overtime, I was pretty much glued to the game, waiting patiently for the next play update, cursing the longer delays while a commercial ran. Marcie had long since gone to sleep. It's really hard doing my cheering silently and my fist-pumps and touchdown dances without actually moving, but I managed without waking her. It was a great game, especially since Denver squeaked out the win.

So, soon we'll be in Trinidad. Internet is slow and expensive, and whoever the Broncos are playing, it probably won't be as exciting as the Patriots game. On the other hand, every game is important for the Broncos between now and the playoffs. Maybe I'll just watch a little of it...

The Blue View - Windlass Chain Counter

 

In the last two Blue Views, I talked about our experience with windlass controllers – what worked for us and what didn't and our own version of a handheld controller. In this Blue View, I want to show you how to make a digital chain counter.

The chain counter keeps track of the revolutions of the windlass gypsy, calculates exactly how much chain or rope is deployed, and displays the result in feet or meters on a small LED display. It uses very little power, drawing a few hundred milliamps when operating and only a few milliamps when it's not being used.

I know, I know – if you've never sailed, you probably couldn't care less. If you're an old salt, you're probably thinking “why don't you just mark the chain, ya idgit?”. Well, we do mark the chain, and use the marks as our backup system. We've actually used three different methods to accomplish the job - I talk about the different methods we've used in my book Nine of Cups Guide to Anchors and Anchoring.

I could argue that there are times when the marks are difficult to see, like when the chain is coated in mud or it's a dark and gloomy night - both of which are true. I could also argue that after we are hooked and I go forward to attach the snubber, it's nice to be able to double check, at a glance, that how much chain I think Marcie deployed is actually what's in the water. Probably the biggest reason I built my chain counter, if truth be told however, is that I'm a geek and just really enjoy these projects. Marcie is quite patient as I explain how much easier her job will be and that I'm doing this just for her – or that I can't imagine how we've managed to cruise all these years without whatever I'm planning to build.

The first issue to resolve is how to keep track of the windlass revolutions. If a magnet is passed in close proximity to a magnetic reed switch, the magnetic pull causes the switch contacts to close. By attaching the magnet to the bottom of the windlass gypsy, and attaching the reed switch to the deck or the base of the windlass just below the gypsy, each rotation of the gypsy will pass the magnet over the reed switch, closing its contacts for a few milliseconds.

On our old Maxwell windlass, I had to drill a small indentation in the gypsy bottom in which to mount the magnet. I used Sika bedding compound to hold it in place and seal it from the elements. On our newer Lofrans windlass, a magnet sized dimple just the right size for a magnet was already part of the design. When we replaced the windlass last year, the gypsy came with a magnet already bonded in place.

The reed switch is mounted either in the deck or in the base of the windlass. The maximum gap between the magnet and the reed switch should be about 0.25” (6mm). The Lofrans windlass has a pre-drilled hole in the base that is intended for a reed switch, so all that is necessary is to drill a hole in the deck to pass the wiring through. As with any hole in the deck, the core should be sealed with epoxy to prevent damage. Once the switch and wiring are in place, the entire hole can be sealed with silicone.

The block diagram shows the general design. The handheld enclosure has two pushbutton switches which, when pushed, connect 12 vdc to the 'Up' or the 'Down' terminals of the windlass motor controller. The reed switch contacts are connected to one of the microcontroller input pins. The microcontroller knows that each time the reed switch contacts close, the gypsy has made one revolution, and from this, can calculate how many feet or meters of rode have been deployed. Since the microcontroller cannot tell which way the gypsy is rotating, it also checks whether the 'Up' button is being pushed. If the gypsy is rotating and the 'Up' button is depressed, the chain is being retrieved. If the gypsy is rotating and the 'Up' button is not depressed, the chain must be going out.

The display is a three digit, 8 segment LED display. Since the LEDs draw a measurable amount of current, the display is turned off when the windlass has not been operated for about five minutes.

All in all, this was a pretty simple design, and we have been using it for about four years now. Generally, I am happy with it, but I plan to do a couple of things differently in the next version. First, the LED display in the current version is quite bright in low ambient light, but hard to read in bright sunlight. I will replace it with a backlit, daylight readable LCD display which should make it more visible in either the bright sun or at night. Also, with all the new technology now available, I plan to make the handheld module wireless and battery-powered, eliminating the cable. It should be pretty straightforward to incorporate matching 90mhz – 2.4 ghz radio transceivers in the handheld module and in the control module mounted in the forepeak locker.

For those of you who are interested in building your own windlass controller and chain counter, I am happy to provide the design details for the current version – just send us an email requesting them. Alternatively, if you aren't in a hurry, I plan to build the next version during the first few months of 2016, and should have all the design details available soon after. (I'd start working on it now, but I can't seem to find the right LCD display and RF Transceivers at the hardware store here in Bartica, Guyana – go figure.)