First day of the rebuild - 3.25 hrs

Yesterday was a sunny, blue sky day but a little cool to me but workable, high was 50F. I decided to do the hour drive over to see Phoenix and get a little work done. I had bought a used tiller at Bacon’s Sails, a marine consignment store, but it had too much upward curve for my taste. I did find the old broken tiller while cleaning up, so I have a template when I go back to Bacon’s. I’ll head over to Bacon’s Monday since they have a 10 day return policy. But now I have a much longer list of items to look for!

Next I decided to clean out some stuff that would be difficult to dispose of once the boat is back home. Since I have no plans to install an inboard motor this primarily meant getting the old wet exhaust pipe out and the prop and shaft. Due to a loop up high in the lazarette(this is the area behind the cockpit) I could not figure a way to get that blasted pipe out and I only had hand tools. Luckily I had a hacksaw among the tools but man was cutting through that pipe tedious and required several rests and two blades. I guess I was lucky it was early in the season so there didn’t appear to be any active wasp nests. All the wasp nests were on the underside of the lazarette right above my head when I cut the rubber exhaust connection to the through hull. 

Atomic 4 inboard gas engine wet exhaust cut by hand

The boat should sail better with the weight of the exhaust, prop and shaft removed. I’d guess about 50lb combined. Plus, removing the prop gets rid a tremendous drag source.

Junk removed today.

I wasn’t able to get the transmission shifter hardware out. The nuts spun underneath and the forward nuts are in fiberglass. The old gauges will be remove later. This cockpit is going to require quite a bit of work to make it blue water ready. A breaking wave pooping the cockpit would quickly end up in the bilge. All the details will be on my main website for those interested.

Saildrive, oxymoron defined!

Here are a few pictures of the Volvo SD30 saildrives installed in our first big catamaran. I read somewhere that a 1inch prop shaft on a fin keel sailboat generates as much drag as the entire hull. So really a saildrive should be call a sea anchor.

Man was I a newbie then. This was my first big boat so I was seduced by the vast interior and livability of the Catalac. Oh and it motored great with twin three blade 17inch michigan props churring the water, which was a damn good thing because that pig would not sail in less the 15kts of wind. Want a pig. Don’t be fooled my slick sales copy or a fast talking broker, run away from any boat with a saildrive unless you really want to motor while real sailboats glide past.

I was so sick of the poor performance of that Catalac after our first cruise that I had drawn up plans on how to rip out the twin diesels and saildrives and put twin outboards that retracted in a well. Then shutting the well doors. But in the end I’d fallen out of love with that motorboat and just wanted to sell the pig and get a real sailboat that we could also live aboard. 

Now Phoenix originally had a prop in a large aperture between the keel and rudder. Pretty standard stuff for this era and hull type.  Not a great design but no real issue on Phoenix becauseI’ll be pulling the prop and shaft then filling in the aperture. I’ll be using a small outboard that can full retract from the water. When I get to the actual build I’ll detail it on my main website.

Bridge deck clearance and some old boats.

I'm a little strange I guess, because I enjoy walking around boat yards when I have some spare time.  On this walkabout I had several questions pop to mind, like when do you know you've left the boat in the yard too long? One possible answer, when a 6 ft tree is growing in the cockpit. Actually it's not quite that bad, the tree has grown up between the two long sitting boats. So I guess the real answer is, when a chainsaw is needed to make access for a travel lift:)

Or how about, when is it time to call it a day and dumpster a sailboat. Another possible answer, when then mizzen mast AND the hull are broken in half.

First a definition, on catamarans the structure between the hulls is called the bridge deck. This structure can be as simple as a Hobie cat tramp to the massive apartments as found on many larger cats. For real performance its necessary to keep this area between the hulls clear of obstructions.

Knowing the above then I have to scratch my head and ask what were they thinking with the following designs. Here are a couple boats that the average person would call a catamaran. But these couple of boats certainly aren't going to live up to the sailing performance generally attributed to catamarans dragging those center pod through the water. These boats were probably initially designed to carry those pods above the water by a few inches, but in the real world as soon as the between hulls bow waves get started those pods are in the water. Added to this basic design problem is that the average owner then fills these boats with every shore side connivence. The result is that most of these boats end up sitting well below their lines. So the pods are always in the water as evidence by the bottom paint.

And these final catamarans are just as poorly designed with respect the the bridge deck. It looks like a nice 36 inches, but quickly drops to about 10 inches. I can only imagine the pounding in any kind of seaway.

Low bridge deck clearance is a pet peeve of mine. I learned the hard way. My first big cat, a Catalac 10M, had about 24 inches clearance back aft and would pound so hard water would spout up the cockpit drains. Then my next catamaran, a Heavenly Twins 26, had a center pod and had to be kept nearly stripped to keep the pod out of the water.

And don't think this ridiculousness is limited to just old cats, here is a relatively new boat, a 2009 I believe. Not only is bridge deck clearance vanishing, those steps on the side of either hull certainly don't help performance.  The outboard is a nice feature if it actually lifts well clear of the water when sailing. Speaking of drives, there is nothing quite as absurd as a "sailing" catamaran equipped with that travesty called a "sail drive"in each hull. I'll rant on those some other time:)

Another Trailer issue and Fix

SailTrailers had the tire carrier back and looking good. I think with that lower braces and the top hat there should be no future problems with the carrier.

After installing the carrier I decided to walk around and give the trailer a hard look over. I examine all the welds, check the wiring, and checked fasteners. The only obvious issues were that both rear tail lights the wires were crimped between the frame and the light housing. On removing the housings, sure enough, the brown wire on the left had the cover cut through showing the wire. And the other wires were worn so that I'm sure that they would have shorted to the frame in a few hundred miles.

I separated the wires and then used electrical tape to cover the damaged areas. Then I rerouted them so no more crimping. I didn't have time to actually check that they still work, but the wiring is simple enough to troubleshoot should I need to.

Trailer issues even before it hauls it's fist boat:(

This trailer from Sailtrailers of Columbus Ga seems well build but two real issues developed on the trip from Georgia to Maryland. First, they didn't provide a storage location for the 24ft "super extension". In Georgia we loaded the extension and used some tie down straps to hold in in place. In short order the straps were cut through by the sharp edges of the box aluminum tube. I ruined four straps before getting a system of carpet scraps, towel scraps, rope and remnants of straps that worked without to much additional damage.

I think the worst part was that the new paint was no longer new. I'll need to come up with a secure system before spring.

The next issue was unnoticed until I arrived in Maryland, the spare tire carrier had cracked badly. A few more bumps in the road and that spare would have been rolling down the interstate on it's own! Sailtrailers is making it right. They gave me a FedEx number and I shipped it back to them to re-engineer.

Trailer pickup

We picked up our new trailer for Phoenix a few days ago. So far we’re pretty happy about the purchase. Before leaving the builders shop I removed the 6 support pads and placed them in the camper. Next I strapped down the 24ft box aluminum extension. I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t a fixed location for the extension. As it was the sharp edges of the box section cut through four straps on the 700 mile drive back to Maryland. I’ll make a solid mount for the bar before we head for Maine. I’ll need to stop at a tractor supply shop to get some Kubota orange paint to touch up the damage done to the trailer cross members during this last trip.

Transporting Phoenix, step 1.....

Buy a 12,000Lb GVWR Tandem trailer from a reputable builder. I checked with four different builders, one in Maine, two in Maryland and one in Georgia.  

No response from the 2 Maryland builders. The Maine builder was something else. After several e-mails to the Maine builder trying to get a spec and not a generic picture of some trailer they built in the past. I finally sent the GA spec(minus price and builder name) to the Maine builder as an example of what I expect when spending 5 grand.  I got this message in reply:

"Nice picture of # 1 We offer our trailer over built, and custom to each boat.  To copy someone else's design will take much more time and something my fab guys wont do. What in our design is not as you want?  If the trailer shown is what you want why not order that one?
Michael Chasse'
20 Spinnaker Run                                    
Freeport Maine"

I don't what to deal with someone who won't/can't write a simple spec sheet so I gave up trying to buy local and keeping money in Maine and contracted with Sail Trailers of Georgia. Since we're wintering in Florida it is really no big deal logistically which builder I selected, and since Sail Trailers built a trailer for James Baldwin's Atom, I feel they are probably a safe choice.

Here is the spec and a picture of Triton Atom on a trailer built by Sail Trailers. Their contact info is 6920 Macon Road, Columbus, GA 31907 (706)888-6722 or e-mail to sailtrailers.com

Specification List for 12,000LB GVWR Tandem Trailer $5510

7” Structural Channel Main Beams

4” Structural Channel Cross Beams (Rudder Cross Beam to have Removeable Section)

7” Structural Channel Spine with 2” x 10” Wood on top

2” Structural Square Tube for Risers

6) Riser Pads w/1¼” Solid Threaded Rod for Adjustable Pads

1) Bow Riser with Adjustable ‘V’ Stop

2) Dexter 6000lb 4” Drop Axles (electric brakes on both axles)

3000lb 5Leaf eye- eye Springs

21,000lb GVWR Coupler for 2 5/16” Ball & class IV Safety Chains w/Hooks

16” LRE trailer tires with 865 lug Pattern  w/mounted Spare

Keel Guides

Reverse Dovetail

Swing up Wheel Jack or Drop Leg Jack

Standard Incandescent Light Pkg

24’ “Super Extension” w/mini axle

Standard Painted finish is Industrial Modified Alkyd Enamel

(In you choice of Color)

The differences from Atom's trailer are a reverse Dovetail and my color choice is a bright Orange for high visibility.

Here is a picture of the reverse Dovetail. 

I added this feature since our driveway has some steep departure angles. And this is a picture of the 24ft "Super Extension" w/Mini Axle. 

The next step is equipping our F250 to tow the approximately 10,000Lb combined trailer/boat weight. Fortunately our truck is equipped with a factory Class V hitch rated at 12,500Lb WD and 6,000Lb Carry. So a new Weight Distributing Hitch and electric brake controller and I'm good to go!