400: Love my Lagoon!

[tuskie]

Hi Scottster,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on upgrading equipment. I won't buy into the drogue "what ifs", except to say that Timbenner's strengthening should be done to all 6 cleats as well. They could all do with extra glass and backing plates. Quite easy for all except the mid ship cleats.

We are looking for a symmetrical spinnaker or Parasailor for DDW sailing as we have a gennaker already and believe these options may be better than a code O.

The No3 reefing lines could be useful but will be very long. I hope that they don't get tangled when fully raising and dropping the main.

I'd also suggest to buy the necessary tools and exorbinately priced Yanmar spare parts to be able to self repair the cone clutches on your SD50 saildrives. These can decide to slip at inconvenient times. Unless you wish to try to find mechanics who know how to do this job in foreign countries, it's best to do it yourself. Especially as you intend to set up a workshop in the port forward cabin.

I'm interested on your decision to take both SCUBA compressor and a hookah unit. That's a lot of gear. I'm a keen SCUBA and free diver, but despite having spent a fair bit of time on Hookah, I'm not a fan. Unless you like to battle the kraken of Hookah hoses and have someone happy to stand watch over your compressor unit at all times, I'd leave this bulky beast at home.

Like you, I'm also looking at replacing my gel house bank with lithium (LiFePO4) batteries. I'm about to try navigate the range of expert opinions regarding just how to do this. I'm keen to share advice regarding the compatibility of various components with these new batteries. My boat has 2 Cristec 40amp battery chargers, 80amp Hitachi alternators and gel start batteries. Thinking of 400AH of lithium to replace 540AH of gel.
Katsumi may have some knowledge and experience to share regarding a lithium upgrade on a L400?

Good luck Scottster, you've got a lot of work to do!

[timbenner]

I won't buy into the drogue "what ifs", except to say that Timbenner's strengthening should be done to all 6 cleats as well. They could all do with extra glass and backing plates. Quite easy for all except the mid ship cleats.

There was a guy selling carbon fiber backing plates for the cleats. He was on the yahoo lagoon owners site. They worked great I bedded mine in epoxy.

Regarding the Jordan series drogue. There are some good videos taken by the Coast Guard showing how it works in heavy seas. You might want to look at those.

[Scottster]

My reason for both suba and HOOKA are a personal one
I am unable to old my breath for very long, always been that way and I think it will be with be until i pass.
The HOOKA will allow me to perform quick hull chores.
I tried it and it works for me, the Scuba for obvious reasons.
As for the loads taken by the drogue if shared on my winches equally and they rip out I guess I'm going to die, I have 4 winches to take the load and would suspect they could take the loads better than a backed up dock cleat.


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[Scottster]

As for my electrical I will refer to Rotter and his 450 install, him being the electrical engineer and me being an industrial electrician I think the system will work out OK.
I will follow up with all the upgrades and will upgrade the existing work already done.
Please toss in your 2 cents it will help us all in the end, remember no question is a stupid one.
Looking forward to your comments.


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[Scottster]

For people without knowledge of production sailboats in general
The reference to backing of the dock cleats is one of great importance.
Our dock cleats are for the sole purpose of toeing the boat to the dock, if you choose to tow a boat of put out a drogue,anything with huge loads, the cleats need to be reinforced or they may be torn from the boat.
Just thought I would clear that up.
Mine tie the boat to the dock and sometimes become an attachment fro a Barber Haul.


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[tuskie]

Originally Posted by Scottster

Our dock cleats are for the sole purpose of toeing the boat to the dock

Yep. The standard cleat setup on Lagoons will be fine, except in exceptional cases. Then they may fail!

I have been told of damage occurring when tied up to docks where the dock bollards are much higher than the boat's cleats. The force applied by the mooring lines is nearly vertical and has resulted in cleats being torn out. I suspect that the forces may have been exacerbated by a falling tide, resulting in the boat being "hung up" by it's cleats. Not recommended!

My own cleats have been subjected to unforeseen loads at times . Recently, a large charter catamaran fouled my stern anchor warp in a fast tidal stream and effectively anchored himself backwards on one of his propellers from my stern cleat. The load was considerable, and even though no damage was sustained, I resolved to beef up those cleats.

Thanks Timbenner for the carbon fibre backing plate idea.

We keenly await details of your upgrades. Good luck.

[downunder]

Originally Posted by Whomda

Both Hookah and a SCUBA compressor?

Whomda. Have to agree why bother to have hooka if you have a scuba compressor and presumably several cylinders.

[Scottster]

For Down Wind Sailing I have more than enough in the inventory
1. 124 sq m Parasailor
2. 300 Sq m - .5 oz symmetrical, it's huge and flies great, way to big but in sub 10 knot conditions it shines. More than half wind speed.
3. 250 sq m 1.0 oz symmetrical
4. 1.75oz. Gennaker
5. Stock Lagoon Code "0" ( on order)

I have downwind covered


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[tuskie]

Originally Posted by Scottster

I have downwind covered

Understatement.

[arsenelupiga]

Originally Posted by Scottster

Still loving my 400S2
My Yanmar SD-50's not so much.
Both sail drives are dead.
You buy a great boat and have to back out of the marina because both sail drives are unable to go into forward.
Very disappointing.


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I wonder if this lagoon 50 had cone clutch:

"Regarding your statement about the Thai Lagoon 500 Nipper, we would like to supply you with the truth about this story: Nipper was abandoned by its inexperienced new Thai captain after catching the Dyneema dinghy painter in its propellor, tearing the engine off its bed, and creating a huge leak. This captain never closed the connecting valve between the engine bilge and the main bilge, and he never started the bilge pumps. He got scared, abandoned the vessel on a nearby sand bank, leaving all windows open. At the next tide, the waves flooded the grounded vessel and sank her with no one aboard."

we get (non-hate) mail | Sailing Anarchy

anyone ?

[Scottster]

Not sure what you mean about me commenting on Nipper
No comments were made by me
Cheers


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[arsenelupiga]

Originally Posted by Scottster

Not sure what you mean about me commenting on Nipper
No comments were made by me
Cheers


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i was just trying to find out whether this cat had cone clutch and whether sd 50 is worth extra effort (lapping) for extra safety.

[Hobie_ind]

Originally Posted by Scottster

The HOOKA will allow me to perform quick hull chores.
I tried it and it works for me, the Scuba for obvious reasons.

I agree that a HOOKA is handy for quick hull chores.

Rather than a full HOOKA compressor (I think that's what you mean?), I've just got a spare set of older regulators with a 50' hose between the 1st (attaches to the dive bottle) and secondary (mouthpiece reg) stages. Simply leave the bottle on deck and dive over with the secondary. Can clean the whole hull with it that way (monohull). As I've also got a dive compressor, it works well as I can quickly refill a bottle after.

Just an option that might help you save some space for beer or rum!

Regards,
Mark

[tuskie]

Originally Posted by arsenelupiga

i was just trying to find out whether this cat had cone clutch and whether sd 50 is worth extra effort (lapping) for extra safety.

Are you wondering whether having SD50 saildrives, as many L400s do, will be a safety feature if you get a dinghy painter wrapped around the prop?
If the Thai L500 had SD50 saildrives the cone clutch may have slipped before the saiłdrive leg was ripped out?

An interesting thought. Probably best to use a floating rope for a painter instead of a sinking rope such as Dyneema. I can't afford a Dyneema painter, nor can I afford to upgrade my saildrives to SD60s, so I'm extra safe! Can i tell everyone that I've got Yanmar SD50s for safety's sake? I like that. Cheers.

[Scottster]

Not to change up the topic to much but as of tomorrow I am no longer a house owner
I am a full time liveaboard.
This week it became very clear that I have made a good choice buying my Lagoon.
The boat is loaded with all my stuff and it did not sink.
I tried very hard to sink it but she refused to go down.
All kidding aside the 400s2 has swallowed up all my belongings and I do not notice any negative effect on the performance.
The large hulls not only give me lots of room they allow me to load up the boat.
Not having a land base is going to be different for sure.
The start of a new chapter in my life and let the games begin.



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