Pain In The Ass?

[ontherocks83]

Originally Posted by SailingwithSoul

Seems to me the easiest solution to dealing with wet clothing is not wearing any to get wet. No Clothes = No Problems

Becareful. Someone is going to take your naked advice and combine it with the vaseline advice and next thing you know they are shooting overboard like a wet bar of soap.

[Snowpetrel]

Originally Posted by Delancey

The boat was a NA 40 designed by Bill Carter and built by Morgan in 1979 with a deep draft fin keel (7' 8") and a detached skeg-hung rudder.

It's a stiff boat which did a very fine job hove to in +65 knots under a blade jib and double reefed main that I also found to be a pleasure to drive in 5 meter seas.

Thanks, sounds like a good trial by fire, and an interesting boat, quite similar in many ways to my new Snow Petrel II. Good to hear it handled well in these conditions, My Petersen IOR sure is a pleasure to sail in everything Ive had it in so far, from 2 knots to 30 knots.

The main deficiency of the boat in my mind would be the lack of a bridge deck

Interesting, I actually prefer having no bridge deck these days. With a dodger it makes it harder to get in and out and puts you in a more vulnerable position for falls. Instead I normally lash in the lower dropboard in any weather.

On Snow petrel 1 I had a one piece aluminium door that was closed much of the time, ironically the only knockdown I had was when I was going below and the door was half open, so we got lots of water below. I was stuck with one foot inside, and the other outside with the door jambed against my legs and my head braced against the solid dodger roof while the water flowed below onto my bunk...

A bridgedeck would have stopped some of the water, but not much, and it would have made the very safe hard dodger unworkable. So I guess each to their own. I do think companionways need much more thought than most people (and builders) give them, and I hate removable dropboards with a passion, I much prefer some sort of door or sliding down dropboard system. Its got to be quick and easy to open and close in bad weather and easy to get in and out with full wet weather gear and gloves on.

[Delancey]

Hey congratulations on the new boat! Very sexy!

If you're not familiar a forum member Delmarrey has done a beautiful job cruisfying a Choate 40. I think he has a thread or two about his project if you search for it and I link below to his blog.

Also there was another guy down in Oz not too long ago, if I can find the thread I will post it.

I've attached a couple photos of sisterships to the boat I did my crossing on. Stiff boat that goes to weather nicely in heavy wind and also does well in light air. Like the Choate 40 it has coamings and a fairly deep cockpit. I understand you thoughts on no bridge deck as I am aware of having one every time I go below for the reasons you cite and also agree that a doors are nice.

One other thought about getting boarded is to watch out for your engine panel, we had problems with the ignition switch and an alarm shorted out. I'll be installing a large Beckson port over my panel when I repower this spring to keep the water out.

Good luck with your project. Nice lookin boat!

The Restoration & Upgrade of a Choate 40

[Delancey]

Here's the other guy who has also done a very impressive refit of an IOR boat, Weyalan.

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...-mad-2654.html