Serious daydreaming: winter boat house

Finding a winter store is such a hassle and having Daisy G. in a cold barn about 12 miles from home is not ideal. I have been doodling ideas for a perfect boathouse at home. We have the land, but it is a funny shape at the end of twisty narrow lanes. I have been experimenting with a remarkable free drawing program from Google called Sketchup. I hadn't been all that impressed when I tried it some months ago, but now I am really looking into it I am very impressed. It really came into its own when I discovered that you can download endless things other people have drawn. No one has done a BayCruiser (yet), but I found a Whitehall pulling boat and a trailer. With some judicious strecthing they are now the sizes of mine. I can pull them in and out, and test whether they fit in or not. This is the result of just a few hours practice. Fuly 3D, dimensioned and the roof cut away to show the interior. Need to check the detail sizes of the real boat and then see if I can fit it in my garden.

Winter jobs: chart store

Finally getting a few winter jobs done. Daisy G. is now being stored under an old straw barn roof on a farm "somewhere in Gloucestershire". Out of the rain and well ventilated.
One thing is finished at last. There was nowhere to keep charts close to hand and I had nowhere to keep my Portland Plotter or dividers (not that I use them, but I like to pretend). I have made a shallow box out of plywood with a timber edging on three sizes. This is glued to the inside of the main bulkhead. This gives a space which will take folded leisure charts or a book of tough charts just by the companion way. They can be reached there from the cockpit or from inside the cabin. The wooden slot on the front holds the plotter and dividers decoratively on view. The area above might be used for a clock or a picture. The wooden bracket above is where I store the GPS/compass panel which slots into the companionway under way.

My summer sailing area

My summer sailing area! This is Studland Bay, just outside Poole Harbour, where I like to coast along in the sunshine. Photo from the Daily Mail taken on November 15, 2009. Shows the wisdom of hauling out for the winter. I hope Old Harry and his wife are still standing when I get back next year.

Updates on winter work to Daisy G

Daisy G is now ashore for the winter, currently under a tarpaulin, but I hope to get her under a roof at some stage. I have recently been reading about dreadful after sales service from some yacht builders, so I thought I would give my own experiences.

Daisy G had very few problems, but the only one of significance was the rudder blade, which got steadily stiffer and stiffer in the rudderhead. I could only raise or lower the blade by getting into the dinghy and forcing it up or down from outside the boat. Not good, and when I told Matt newland at Swallowboats he immediately said "That's not right, we'll have her back and sort it out". The little video on the previous post was her going off to Cardigan behind Matt's car.

Two weeks later, Matt towed her back to Gloucestershire and handed her back to me. Brand new rudder blade installed. I had also said that the jib sheets chafed the edge of the cabin top. Now there is a hardwood edging with a brass rubbing strip behind the cleats. As you can imagine, I have the greatest respect for Swallow Boats.

The new rudder blade is interesting. if you compare the old and new in the pictures, you will see that the new blade is narrower and longer. The old blade stuck vertically down, which meant it got quite heavy on the helm in a blow. The new blade will stick down parallel with the transome, which means it will point forward slightly. This should make it much lighter, and is the form adopted for BayCruiser no2.

Now there is just the work that I want to carry out in the cabin to make it a bit more homey. I think Matt is worried that I am going to double her weight and then complain she is not as fast as she was. He probably has good grounds.

Daisy Grace out of the water for the winter

Daisy Grace is out of the water and is going back to Swallowboats to sort out various bits that arose in her first partial season afloat. After that she is going into a big shed near Sharpness, which is not far from my home. I have various plans for alterations and additions and no doubt I shall post them here. It is a good way to keep a record of what I have done to and with her. Relaunch should be in early April, back in Poole Harbour.
The first photo shows her just out of the water with Matt Newland (designer and builder) on the left. The other chap has just paid his own deposit for a BayCruiser, due to be delivered next April. He is going to be in Poole Harbour too, so we will have the core of a racing fleet.
The puddle underneath is the last of the ballast water, drained out before towing.



The second photo show the extent of fouling underneath after 3 months afloat. Matt thought it was a lot, but for Poole Harbour it is astoundingly good. Fouling here is about the worst in England because of the warm, slightly brackish water. A Hawk 20 hauled out last week could hardly go on its trailer because of the festoons of weed and barnacles. The only growth here is on exposed stainless steel. There is practically nothing on the CopperCoat. I am really very impressed.









To summarise the season overall then.

• Launched mid July and hauled out early October.
• Total distance covered 243 nautical miles (that is roughly the sailing distance from Poole to Rotterdam. I'll have to actually do it one year)
• Cruising range, Swanage in the south and Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight in the east, and all round Poole Harbour and Studland Bay
  
• 10 nights on board, three with my daughter, one with my wife and six on my own.
• Three nights in marinas (Poole Quay and Yarmouth), one night on a mooring and six nights at anchor in Poole Harbour.
  
• 12 sailing outings altogether, discounting launch and haul-out days, so an average of about 20nm per outing. Not bad considering it is a brand new boat and I live nearly 90 miles form Poole. I don't think most of the yachts moored in Poole go out that much. In fact I know they don't. Most seem never to go anywhere.
• Max sailing speed, 8.3kts, but typical high 6-7. Cruising speeds seem to be 4-5kts.
• Overall impression; I am absolutely delighted with her. She does what I wanted and more. I has forgotten how much I like the ketch/yawl rig. It gives such a balanced boat, with a great range of sail combinations. Very easy single handed sailing. I had been disappointed that the self tacking jib of other Swallowbaots was not feasible, but in practice I think a conventional jib gives more versatility. I like to be able to back the jib to get through a dodgy tack in light winds. I spend lots of time hove to, and that may be more difficult with a self tacker. The jib sheets fall straight to hand from the cabin roof, so are very easy to use. We are going to reconsider the jib furling over the winter to see if there is a better way of doing it.
• I love my boat!
  

No specific plans for next year, but we want to take Daisy G. motoring on the Thames at some stage, and I would like to extend my sea-range to Weymouth in the West and deeper into the Solent in the East. All depends on weather and time.