The Solar Boat

PEREGRINA is seriously into solar power.  Shown above are a Sharp 85 watt panel alligned with  angle of the sun and two 49 watt Siemens panels mounted on the rails each side of the boat.  Three other 24 watt panels are permanently mounted - that makes a total of 255 watts of potential solar power!

The Siemens panels are only 13 inches wide and are mounted to minimized interference with movement around the boat, and the are adjustable along their long axis.  No longer in production, these were found on Ebay at a good price.  The upper lifeline was removed between stanchion furthest aft and the the stern rail to be replaced by 1" thick water stainless tubing.  When folded doen the edge of the solar panel matches the line of the upper lifeline.

The big Sharp panel is new, and can be adjusted fore and aft, port and starboard for maximum efficiency, and is mounted on an L shaped frame of thick walled 1" stainless tube.

These 3 adjustable solar Panels are removable, and are connected to the Blue Sky solar regulator by waterproof connections made by the Duraline company.  The 85 watt panel is connected with 10 gauge cable and the to Seiemens by 12 gauge cable.  The larger gauge wire limits voltage drop and is important to an efficient system

A small 24 watt panel is mounted on the foredeck.  This panel is stainless steel backed, very rugged,  and can be walked on.

Following the success of this original installation two additional fiberglass backed 24 watt panels were added to the top of the dodger.  In someways this was a more complicated installation because of the Sunbrella fabric.I decided to reinforce the structure with additional 7/8 inch thick walled stainless tubing which also served as the mounting platform.  

The panels were secured with 1/4 tamperproof stainless machine screws through the grommets on the 4 corners of the panels using silicone washers for cushioning and to insure watertight installation.  It worked pretty well, but it took some thought and the right pieced to deal with the cables from the panels.

I found a through deck fitting witha gasket,  just the right size, in the  Westmarine catalog and found a spare small junction box that it could be mounted on, but that meant a hole on the fabric of the dodger.  Decided to use my handy butane soldering iron to cut the hole by melting the Sunbella - and it worked! 

The power generated by PEREGRINA's 255 watt solar array is handled by the Blue Sky Solar Boost 2000E regulator.   The solar panels produce power at up to 17 volts.  What the Solar Boost does is covert these higher volts in to usable amperes at 12 to 14 volts spending on the charging stage of the batteries.  In the picture above the solar panels out put is shown as 8.6 amps and the actual output to the batteries is 10 amps.  That  is a signifiant improvemnt that justifies the investment is this device.

The 255 watt solar array and the Solar Boost have produced more than 16 amps when optimally aligned in full sunlight - for extended periods of 4 hours.  Not bad at all....

The East Indiaman Friendship - launched 1797

A cold but beautiful New England early spring day was the reason for a wander up to Salem, Massachusetts and a visit to the FRIENDSHIP .....

The East Indiaman Friendship was launched in in Salem in 1797.  She made 15 voyages to Batavia, India, China, South America, the Caribbean, England, Germany, the Mediterranean, and Russia.  The Friendship was captured as a prize of war by the British in the War of 1812.

The replica of Friendship was built by the National Park Service, and we last saw her at the Boothbay Shipyard when cruising in Maine aboard PEREGRINA last year.  Shown below is the Friendship hauled out in Boothbay Harbor, Maine.

The Classic New York 32 - GAUCHO - Is For Sale!

GAUCHO Racing in Castine, Maine

Own and sail a classic New York 32 .......

GAUCHO is hull number 5 of the New York 32 fleet built by the famous Nevin's Yard and designed by Sparkman & Stephens in 1935 for the New York Yacht Club.  Twenty boats were built - of which 17 remain today.

Rebuilt and finished "bright" with varnish.

GAUCHO was originally named Esmeralda by her first owner John Kean Roosevelt, first cousin once removed of President Theodore Roosevelt and sixth cousin once removed of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.Gaucho combines the attributes of a true ocean racer with features that make her a great cruiser.

Hull 5

LOA - 45ft
DWL - 32ft
Beam - 10ft 7in
Draft -  6ft 6in
Sail Area - 990 sq ft 

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Please email for more information.  More pictures at The New York 32 - GAUCHO on the PEREGRINE SEA Website - 

A Sailor in the Rocky Mountains

I live aboard my 40 foot cutter, and by preference would be on the coast, an island or at sea.  I am not yet free and sometimes my work takes me to places I would otherwise not go.  The priority now should getting our sails back from the sail maker and getting PEREGRINA ready for some cruising and the important and lengthy haul out in July for rudder work and painting.

Well, the people who run things right now decided I should go to Denver for a week, and I decided I should at least get into the Rocky Mountains for a day.  Theses photographs are the result.  After working in Denver, I only had one early spring day for the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, but now I think I should go back .......

The full collection is at the Peregrine Sea Gallery  -  A DAY In The Rockies

A slide show of the A Day In The Rockies is is here.

Zen, Water, Rocks

This is a departure from the themes of the beauty of of boats, boat work, cruising, and things maritime.  There is no salt water, only water and rocks from the Pacific Northwest.

There is a story in rock that flows in water.

Zen

The full collection is at the Peregrine Sea Gallery  -  Zen, Water, Rocks

A slide show of the Zen, Water, Rocks Collection is is here.

Boatwork - Hatches, Ports and Gaskets

PEREGRINA was built in 1984 an came equipped with 14 opening ports and 8 hatches not counting the companionway - all Almag aluminum and lexan by Atkins & Hoyle.  The hatches were leaking be cause the "dogs" or latches weren't adjusted or more problematic  the gaskets needed replacing.  Both have been dealt with - I think.

Several opening ports were leaking because the knobs were cracked or stripped allowing the bass insert to pull away so the port could not be properly held against the gasket, or  the gasket needed replacing.  This too has be done - and I think the leaks have been dealt with.

The broken knobs were the most frustrating, not  to replace  or fix but to reasonably obtain.  Contacting Atkins & Hoyle I found that I couldn't buy just the knobs, bit had to get the whole assembly with was around $30 each- yikes - and I needed 10!!  I reluctantly order and when I received I found not exact replacement bur knobs and sprightly machined carriage bolts which were ugly, didn't match and dangerous because they would stand out so much from the cabin side.  I returned them and spent a long time searching on the internet but found the exact plastic knob with brass insert and ordered a bunch for something like $3.50 each.  I have replaced more than 10 of the knobs now and have a bunch of spares.

The difficult part of replacing gaskets is getting the old goop the held the round gasket material in place - out!  I used a scrapper, several small screwdriver and some spare flat  head machine bolts, and even course grit sandpaper to clean the channels of this stuff and it took along time.  I did order some gasketing from Atkins & Hoyle at least in part because I was unsure of the sizes, but when needed in the future I wile source else where because it was so expensive.  gaskets were installed using UV resistant Siliprene.

With the hatches and ports done, the winter shrink-wrap cover could come off which greatly improved the output from the solar panels.  All I need now is a good rainstorm to see if I took care of everything!! 

The Boom Gallows - Finally!

This post follows up on the 02/03/2010 post -  Boom gallows for PEREGRINA

A boom gallows is unusual on most cruising boats of modern design like PEREGRINA.    PEREGRINA is a center cockpit boat and we wanted a cover for the cockpit. There is no room nor a desire for more clutter in the form of a traditional bimini frame - so we have opted for a simple solution.  The boom gallows will for the after end of an awning that will attach to the dodger made for us by our friend Tonya, the Canvas Lady using the zipper she had already installed.

A lot of planning, measuring an remeasuring went into this.  There had to be clearance for the main winches, and the gallows had to be as far forward as possible so it would not interfere with the main sheet.  The angle of the stainless tubes and the smoothly rounded profile of the bronze castings all help with this problem.  The castings are from the Port Townsend Foundry, in Port Townsend, Washington and are the only bronze above the waterline on PEREGRINA

The thick-walled stainless 1 1/2 OD tube was obtained from Online Metals.  Smith's Machine Shop in South Boston cut the two tubes at 7 degree angles and the did a nice job sealing the tube ends and welding them to a 5 by 8 inch bases of 3/16 inch stainless steel.

The two based each mount with 6 - 2 inch 5/16 stainless steel bolts and cap nuts. With a 7 degree adjustment at the base the stainless legs angle inboard 8 degrees which exactly matches the angle in the cast bronze corner fittings.

Because of the intervening bulkhead there are two backing plates for each base rather than a single backing plate which would have been more ideal.

Matching the angle of  bronze fittings which made the 1 3/4 inch thick by 3 1/4 inch wide the teak cross piece a bit more straight forward to fabricate.    Not bad, but fitting the teak to the cast bronze corners was much more  than I expected - perhaps because my wood working skills were a bit rusty.

Probably worth the trouble, however....

There is a bit more to be done - fitting the awning from the dodger and working out the attachment to the boom gallows, and because of the attachment of the awning and the height and clearance restrictions of the center cockpit, a folding support block of teak notched to fit the boom's profile will be fitted to the boom gallows.  The winter cover will be of soon so pictures showing a better deck view will be posted.  Check back for an update!!

A Sad Day for the tugboat SAND MAN - Stealing History

During February I posted Percival's Warf and the Tug Boat Sand Man - A New England Connection after a visit to my old home town of Olympia Washington.

Yesterday, I received this message yesterday from Kyle Murphy, President of The SAND MAN Foundation:

I wonder if you might be able to help me out a bit. Recently our port and starboard running lights were stolen. I noticed in your SAND MAN album a couple of photos show the port light pretty good. Can you sent me a copy of these photos, or maybe just crop out the port light. We want to provide a copy to the local police, as well as let all of our friends and supports know the we are now in need of replacement lights.
 

It's really a shame the disregard for history some folks have. As far as we can tell, those lights were original to the vessel.

If you know of any brass lights that come close to matching these century old navigation lights or have a suggestion on locating them, please let me know.  


Here is a link to the the Tugboat SAND MAN'S website.

SAND MAN is a rebuilt and restored 1910 Tugboat, located at Percival's Landing in Olympia, Washington.