Essential gear for circumnavigation

[goboatingnow]

Wind vane is an expensive dinosaur , solar will provide power

Bring a spare linear arm

Bring power tools , lithium cordless ( sander , circular saw jigsaw )

Review all gear on board. Either be able to fix it , or live without it. Fixing it requires parts. Lots of parts.

A good boat helps but most boys these days have very similar gear on board.

[Yihang]

An emergency rudder and/or a way to rig a drogue to steer. If possible enclose the rudder in a water tight compartment. Heard way too many stories of rudder failures.

Have a boat yet? Some Cats have water tight compartments for engine and steering systems。

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

Wind vane is an expensive dinosaur , solar will provide power

Bring a spare linear arm

...

Dinosaur or not, it will sail the boat towards your destination faster than an autopilot, the extra linear arm ups the price and the extra panels and batteries to support the demand will also up the price.

Total cost probably won't be that different. And the dino is faster and more durable.

My support for the position that a windvane is faster than an autopilot:
https://www.sfbaysss.org/resource/do...irdEdition.pdf
Pg 73 (5-7)

[Yihang]

Originally Posted by Adelie

Dinosaur or not, it will sail the boat towards your destination faster than an autopilot, the extra linear arm ups the price and the extra panels and batteries to support the demand will also up the price.

Total cost probably won't be that different. And the dino is faster and more durable.

My support for the position that a windvane is faster than an autopilot:
https://www.sfbaysss.org/resource/do...irdEdition.pdf
Pg 73 (5-7)

Autopilots have come a long way since 2004 though. The new B&G and NKE stuff is a bit different to an old garmin from 15 years ago. They are much faster and you can steer to wind angles now. Mind you I haven't used the older stuff.

Ideally you would still have a windvane as backup, to save power or use as emergency rudder. Or if you don't like the noise.

But on a lot of multihull it's not practical to have a windvane. If you had a tiller steer Bestevaer or something then its a no brainer.

[Adelie]

Better software and faster response by the hardware will not lead to a significant improvement in autopilot speed made good compared to a windvane. The problem is that while the autopilot sails the shortest course it does not follow the wind shifts and boat speed sags a little. A windvane follows minor wind shifts and maintains boat speed at the cost of slightly increased distance. Empirical evidence shows that the windvane tends to be faster than a course following auto pilot and I don’t see any evidence that that changed with improved auto pilots.

Autopilots with a wind sensor will probably behave similarly to a windvane and have similar speed performance. But that is one more accessory to buy and maintain which increase the cost yet more.

[sailor4life7777]

Thanks for all the replies I really appreciate it!!

What do you guys think of a pressure canner/cooker? Seems like a good way to store food for long voyages without the need for refrigeration. Are there any downsides to it other than cost and weight? I know there is risk of botulism but it can be mitigated with careful preparation.

[barnakiel]

Yes. Most new APs can follow the apparent wind. The basic ones underperform and the better ones outperform a good windvane.


Also windvanes vary in how they perform. Known go-to brands are WindPilot, Monitor and Hydrovane (in no specific order) and then there are more good makes - some available only s/h (e.g. Aries, Navik) and some available new (e.g. Sindbad, CapeHorn)


b.

[Benz]

Originally Posted by sailor4life7777

Thanks for all the replies I really appreciate it!!

What do you guys think of a pressure canner/cooker? Seems like a good way to store food for long voyages without the need for refrigeration. Are there any downsides to it other than cost and weight? I know there is risk of botulism but it can be mitigated with careful preparation.

I wouldn't cruise without a pressure cooker. Didn't do any canning, but you can cook a meal then pressurize the leftovers and leave the lid on tight, then repeat day after day until it's gone. As long as you brought it up to pressure, two or three days later, as long as the pressure valve hisses when you nudge it, you know it was effectively canned. It's a great way to preserve food, especially with no refrig. I only wish they made smaller pressure cookers, like a 2-quart.

[Yihang]

Originally Posted by Adelie

Better software and faster response by the hardware will not lead to a significant improvement in autopilot speed made good compared to a windvane. The problem is that while the autopilot sails the shortest course it does not follow the wind shifts and boat speed sags a little. A windvane follows minor wind shifts and maintains boat speed at the cost of slightly increased distance. Empirical evidence shows that the windvane tends to be faster than a course following auto pilot and I don’t see any evidence that that changed with improved auto pilots.

Autopilots with a wind sensor will probably behave similarly to a windvane and have similar speed performance. But that is one more accessory to buy and maintain which increase the cost yet more.

Usually come with the package these days. There is even a windvane mode. 9-axis sensor that also measures heel, roll and pitch, reacts to gusts etc.

The tech is good . But yeh if you don't have power it's all useless. So windvane is a good back up. But I doubt there is any performance advantage to a windvane these days, just don't buy it.

[goboatingnow]

Cruising boats these days typically generate lots of power , so running a modern AP is no problem ,

Almost every boat has instrumented wind and depth , so sailing to apparent wind is no biggie ( but nobody uses it much on long passages )

A modern AP with a decent rate gyro is way better then a wind vane , I remember trying a wind vane in very trying down wind conditions with huge swells and very significant changes in Wind angle And direction between the top of the swells and the bottom, it did not cope at all, the AP coped fine

It’s a dinosaur from a different era ( and very unsuitable To sugar scoop sterns. )

The only place you see them these days is slowly rusting on some wreck in the back of the yard

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by wrwakefield

The following tomes by two different and extremely experienced and capable circumnavigators will authoritatively provide perspective and answer most- if not all- of your questions:

The Voyager's Handbook: The Essential Guide to Blue Water Cruising
by Beth A. Leonard

Steve and Linda Dashew's tomes [all generously provided for free]

Absorb the above and you will be better prepared than most.

Best wishes with your persuits.

Cheers! Bill

I have both , but both are rather dated at this stage , dashew is good but he’s sailed boats way out of most people league

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

Cruising boats these days typically generate lots of power , so running a modern AP is no problem ,

Almost every boat has instrumented wind and depth , so sailing to apparent wind is no biggie ( but nobody uses it much on long passages )

A modern AP with a decent rate gyro is way better then a wind vane , I remember trying a wind vane in very trying down wind conditions with huge swells and very significant changes in Wind angle And direction between the top of the swells and the bottom, it did not cope at all, the AP coped fine

It’s a dinosaur from a different era ( and very unsuitable To sugar scoop sterns. )

The only place you see them these days is slowly rusting on some wreck in the back of the yard

My impression is that people on a tight budget tend to go with windvanes and if the have an autopilot it is used only for steering while motoring, in very light winds sometimes and dead down wind sometimes, varies with boat, windvane and conditions. Often they will get an undersized unit and attach it to the self-steering gear in place of the air blade, thus the water oar provides the high power to the steering and the autopilot only need to provide relatively low power to steer the oar.

[goboatingnow]

I think for a modern circumnavigation ( which presumably isn’t a fast pitch around the world but a multi year cruise around typical sailing areas that happens to be a typical cruising route )

The actual boat is less important as long as you are comfortable and confident with it.

The big thing is repairs , everything breaks and unless you have a big cheque book ( and in some places that’s useless ) you’ll need to be able to fix things so that means tools. ( lots of tools )

Then spares lots of spares , having spares means everything you have a spare for will never break down , all the other stuff will

An emergency rudder ( not a tiller arm) , rig up a fitting and assembly to allow you to steer the boat if you Loose the main rudder

Decent fuel filtering , even a small fuel Polisher system is useful, bad diesel ruins your day.

Tankage for diesel , tankage for water

Good electrical generation, this isn’t the days of Chichester Clark, yes you need your nespresso machine.

Learn to fix everything on the boat Or find workarounds or do without.

Be able to get weather info at sea is useful , but often there is little you can do about it. , I used to crew for a delivery skipper who threw all weather Info overboard , the upside was I got stacks of heavy weather experience ( F11)

Fanciful stuff like drogues are largely useless unless you have Extensive experience of using them in the real conditions that they are needed in.

Active sailing in storms in modern boats is the way. ( hard on the crew )

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by Adelie

My impression is that people on a tight budget tend to go with windvanes and if the have an autopilot it is used only for steering while motoring, in very light winds sometimes and dead down wind sometimes, varies with boat, windvane and conditions. Often they will get an undersized unit and attach it to the self-steering gear in place of the air blade, thus the water oar provides the high power to the steering and the autopilot only need to provide relatively low power to steer the oar.

An wind wave is very expensive , awkward to fit on modern vessels and most capable vessels Will have an AP anyway , windvanes are more expensive then most APs.

Walk the cruising outposts these days and look for windvanes , tiny number

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by sailor4life7777

Thanks for all the replies I really appreciate it!!

What do you guys think of a pressure canner/cooker? Seems like a good way to store food for long voyages without the need for refrigeration. Are there any downsides to it other than cost and weight? I know there is risk of botulism but it can be mitigated with careful preparation.

I find them too big and heavy for small gimbled stoves and a beast to manage with one hand.

Don’t bother , if youre in the tropics , which most circumnavigations are , you’ll rarely eat that type of food and anyway good meat is hard to find in most hot countries in my experience