Sailing Gear – That Makes the Boat Go
The list below names just a few of the many components that play a part in the performance of a cruising sailboat. Each item on the list is deserving of careful analysis and forethought. We’ve already discussed some of the hull considerations. Now let’s look at some of these other components. A few today - then more in episodes to come.
Instead of presenting these topic alphabetically, let’s take up their discussion in a more logical fashion – moving from the hull to the spars, the standing rigging, the running rigging, and the human conveniences.
Here is the list.
Safety Philosophy
- Failures happen
- Triple redundancy minimum
- Strengths are never too much
- Include “primitive” back-ups
Spars Etc.
- Mast arrangements
- Sloop
- Cutter
- Ketch
- Yawl
- Gaff rigs and Sprits
- Staysail (traditional) Schooner
- 3-Masted Junk
- Modern (Unstayed) 3-Masted Schooner
- Step options
- Booms and Poles
- Safety stanchions, lifelines, and safety harness lines
- Centerboard and its controls
Sails & Sail-handling gear
- Mains
- Jibs
- Mizzens
- Spinnakers
- Spankers
- Storm sails
- Reefing
- Self-furlers
- Sail stowage
- Halyards and Halyard hardware
- Sheets & Sheet hardware
- Spar attachments
- Fairleads
- Winches
Steering
- Wheels and their locations
- Mechanisms
- Remote controls
- Bow Thrusters
- Rudder properties
- Self-steering options
- Autopilot options
- Helmsman seating
- Helmsman’s compasses
Anchors and Their Usage
- Rodes: Rope, Chain, or combo
- Danforth
- Kedge
- Bruce
- Sea anchors and Trailing Rodes
- Mountings and Winches
- Stowage and cleaning
- Techniques
“Tuning” and Balancing the Rig
- Recording sail and wind-speed tables
- Adjusting stays to control mast stresses
- Calibrate sail-shortening procedures
- Adapting to wind/wave combinations
Auxiliary Propulsion & Machinery
- Diesel only
- Tankage
- Power levels
- Propellers – solid, folding, or feathering
Electrical Systems
- DC
- AC
- Solar
- Generator
- Sealed components
Water De-salination and Tankage
Social Centers On board
- Cockpits fore / center / aft
- Foredeck seating
- Wheelhouse fore / aft
- Galley / Dinette combo / Saloon
- Navigation Station
- Amenities of each
Dockside Amenities
- Dock lines
- Fenders
- AC Electricity
- Wi-Fi or Internet Cable
- City water
- TV or Cable
- Refrigeration
- Air Conditioning
- Deliveries
- Hot Showers
- Sewage system (?)
Wow! I had no idea the list would turn out to be that big. Enough material for at least 11 articles. So let me know in the comments if you have preferences as to the prioritization of these topics or if you’d like me to address a topic that I’ve forgotten to list.
Safety Philosophy My safety philosophy begins with the simple notion that the ocean is a very hazardous environment, in which every component of one’s boat is constantly at risk. There is no such thing as a completely “safe” boat. Some are more safe; some are less so. Your life on the ocean depends on your understanding of the risks and your preparedness in anticipation of those risks. Based on this awareness, I’ve adopted the following principles in selecting boat features, materials, and construction methods.
- Failures happen
No matter what I do, the boat will experience failures. Components will break, rust, corrode, tear, collapse, buckle, fragment, explode, burn up, disintegrate, or be blown away. I need to be ready for these events and reduce their frequency by good decisions in design, materials, and construction methods.
- Triple redundancy minimum
Every critical piece of hardware is a potential failure site. So I want to carry at least 2 spares for each. For this reason it is useful to have parts that can be used for more than one purpose. For example, if I use a snap-shackle to attach a sheet to the corner of a sail, and I need to do this with 3 sails, that doesn’t mean I need 9 such snap shackles. If they were of ample strength to start with, I’d probably get by just fine with 4 or 5. Which brings us to the next point.
- Strengths are never too much
It is strikingly easy to under-estimate the forces that will come to bear on any given piece of equipment and to over-estimate the strength of the equipment on hand. Unless cost or weight limitations intervene, I’d suggest that every piece of equipment be at least twice as strong as you calculate you will need.
- Similarly, don’t glue parts together if you can screw them. Don’t screw parts together ff you can bolt them. Don’t bolt them if you can weld them. And when you have winches through-bolted to the deck, make sure the deck itself is well reinforced where the the winch is to be located.
- Include “primitive” back-ups
Say you’re using GPS as your primary means of navigation and you have a computer map display much like what you would use in your car. A second GPS receiver is a wise investment, in case the first one fails. But what if the whole GPS satellite system fails. OK. Carry a Radio Direction Finder (RD). It takes more work than the GPS navigator, but it’s more versatile, because it lets you triangulate your position from readings on commercial radio and TV stations, likely to still be operating if GPS fails.
Worse still, what if a solar flare knocks out all raidio transmissions and your radio receivers? Or maybe it knocks out your whole electrical system, and you’re out there mid-ocean with no electricity at all. Now what?
All is not lost if you have a good clock, a taffrail log that mechanically measures your speed through the water, and a decent compass to steer by. Now you can use “dead reckoning” calculations to determine your position. And if that fails, your sextant and Nautical Almanac can yield your position in still another way. Of course, to avail yourself of these options, you will have equipped yourself to use them and learned the basics of how they operate.
- Complexity
The reason for carrying such “primitive” backup tools is the fact that the more modern tools are more complex – and each and every complexity creates another failure possibility. Simpler systems are less prone to failure and the failures that do occur are easier to diagnose and repair.. So I strongly suggest that your boat be equipped with all the things you’d need if everything electrical on the boat were to fail – because it can happen. I know this because it happened to me and I survived the experience by being prepared.
That’s it for this time. Next episode I plan to take up the discussion of spars – primarily masts and booms and their related equipment.
Happy Sails,
Bob