Outfitting My Cheoy Lee 25 for Passage to Tahiti

[CBResQ]

Also, since you are having the rigging checked anyway, make sure your furler is a reefing furler and not just a furler. Many small boat systems are set up to simply roll up the genoa and are not strong enough to handle a reefed sail. If your furler is not set up for reefing you should look into getting one that is, it will save you a ton of space not having to carry around 3 different sails.

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by BlueWaterSail

Would appreciate some suggestions regarding outfitting for the singlehanded voyage.

- Navigation, weather info, radar, internet/e-mail for my on board iMac
- Backup GPS when the power quits.
- Charging batteries en-route

Here is how I would approach the journey.

According to Google Earth it is about 2400 nm to Papeete. I don't know the currents there but for current and set I would add 20%. Call it 2900 nm. I reckon you could plan no better than 4 kts in your boat so call it 31 days. If it were me I would plan to provision +50% but maybe you are comfortable with 30%.

2 gallons of water per day X 40 days = 80 gallons = 640# of water. I reckon 2 pound of food per day = 100# of food. Add 200# of personal gear and call it 1000# of stuff to keep you alive.

Sail plan - In forty days the weather can do anything. I would not do this trip in your boat on a furler. I would change out to hanked on sails. I would plan to sail in anything from 0-30 kts and after that be looking to heave to or anchor, maybe motoring for steerage and holding on for the ride.

130% Genny
100% jib
storm headsail
Triple reef main
sea anchor and plenty of warp

Navigation
I don't do celestial but 40 days on the water is a good time to learn. I would pack 3 gps units. 1 primary wired to the house. 1 in a faraday cage and one in the life raft - all the same so they are interchangeable

3 gps - plenty of batteries
sextant, chronometer etc.

Communications
SSB with sail mail
vhf
EPIRB
Sat phone optional

Steering
2 Tiller pilots - ST2000 over the 1000 due to additonial torque
System to lash the tiller
Wind steering would be a bonus

Visibility
I would not want to get run over

radar reflector
nav lights + spares

Power
300ah of stored power
60amp alternator with plenty of spares
180-240w solar
wind gen would be extra nice to have

Engine
Plenty of spares including spare alternator
Enough fuel for 4-5 days of motoring

Safety
harness/pfd
safety lines run to the bow
2 man raft fully provisioned
med kit
High capacity bilge pump - electric
High capacity bilge pump - manual
Hull repair plan


There's probably a bunch of other stuff but this is a good start, I think.

[BlueWaterSail]

Originally Posted by Liberty28

If you haven't already done so, check out ...

The Seven Seas Cruising Association - Home

The SSCA is the best cruising group around (I'm a biased member).

Thank you, I'll look into it ..

I was fortunate, Splendor was well taken care of and wears her 43 years easily. She sailed from CA to HI four years ago. Now it is my turn to keep her in good shape for further travels.

BSW

[BlueWaterSail]

Originally Posted by Amgine

How do you know this? Stainless steel is very predictable up to its lifecycle, after which it will fail completely randomly but catastrophically. You cannot tell by looking if the wire itself is at the beginning, middle, or end of its lifecycle. My advice is to ask a rigger to survey your boat; you may be surprised at how inexpensive this is, yet how thoroughly they examine everything.

Thanks for the tip. I had her surveyed prior to purchase and now hired a rigger to check everything again for the planned trip.

The Marquesas - that's an idea. I still want to stop in Tahiti, but since I'll be in the area, as it were, should check it out.

BSW

[BlueWaterSail]

Originally Posted by sandy daugherty

Ready to hand:

A copper-screen wrapped waterproof ditch bag with solar charger for AA batteries, and a handheld GPSmap that uses them. A handheld VHF radio that uses them too, as well as a strobe. A hand-cranked multichannel AM/FM/etc radio with a flash light. First aid kit. hand operated water maker. EPIRB. Data chord between GPS and autopilot.

On the boat:
Tow-behind water maker. bladder tanks. SSB radio, pactor modem, weather fax software. Spare batteries for laptop, appropriate sized inverter. deployable rather than permanently mounted solar panels.

Complete set of spares and intimate familiarity with engine. Storm sail. Extensive paper chart collection in waterproof tube. Plastic sextant, book and tables. Study these and practice.

vacuum bag dry food, spare batteries, canned food, matches, socks, gloves, medicines, etc.

Heavy fishing gear.

Knowledgeable companion, preferably compact but strong enough to pull your butt back on board.

Check on many of these, and thanks for those it didn't, such as the hand operated water maker.

Lol, a compact companion - going to have to make do with a PFD and a harness, I wager.

BSW

[BlueWaterSail]

Originally Posted by Tellie

PS Although I don't care for them, there's a pretty nice towed watermaker on Ebay right now for $650 with no bids.

That's a very good idea, especially since they appear to be convertible to manual use as well.

Thanks.

BSW

[BlueWaterSail]

Originally Posted by CBResQ

Autotillers tend to use quite a bit of power and trust me you will use your self steering more than you think. My last leg from Detroit MI back to Cleveland OH left me singlehanding for about 14 hours in moderate 15 to 25 knot winds, with the 6 foot rollers and the gusty wind conditions my autotiller would have killed my house battery in about 9 hours.

Very good point - looks like my battery capacity will be on the low side to begin with, so this is a major pro for a wind vane system.

Thank you,
BSW

[BlueWaterSail]

Originally Posted by CBResQ

Also, since you are having the rigging checked anyway, make sure your furler is a reefing furler and not just a furler. Many small boat systems are set up to simply roll up the genoa and are not strong enough to handle a reefed sail. If your furler is not set up for reefing you should look into getting one that is, it will save you a ton of space not having to carry around 3 different sails.

I have a plain old furler on the jib. I was planning to just run a double-reefed mainsail if conditions warranted it, since the jib leads to excessive heeling in stronger winds.

BSW

[BlueWaterSail]

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

Here is how I would approach the journey ...

Thanks, Dan, appreciate your extensive list!

Currently I have a 10 gal tank for my 2 cyl Yanmar, I know this is not going to be enough, even if I save it all for the doldrums.

4-5 days supply would be a minimum, agreed.

There's a drop down outboard mount already on Splendor's stern, so should I plan to carry along one of those (+gas), or just increase the tankage on the diesel?

It looks like I'm set on installing a wind turbine to charge the battery banks, again to conserve fuel for when I will need it most.

BSW

[BlueWaterSail]

Just wondering how to handle the trash situation - biodegradable packaging would seem to be a must-have, or I'll be docking in Marquesas/Tahiti with an assortment of bulging 30 gal black trash bags hanging from the shrouds - any ideas on how to handle this?

Aloha,
BWS

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by BlueWaterSail

There's a drop down outboard mount already on Splendor's stern, so should I plan to carry along one of those (+gas), or just increase the tankage on the diesel?

I wouldn't carry a second engine and a second fuel type. I'd carry more diesel and more spares for your diesel engine.

I wouldn't want gasoline vapors on board.

You don't mention cooking source. We use a single burner propane that takes disposable bottles. I'd take thse and store them on deck as opposed to storing below.

In regards to trash I would send everything into the ocean except plastics.

[sandy daugherty]

Make a couple warmup trips around the Islands without touching land. If you are going to sleep in transit do so well clear of shipping lanes. A bigger boat could support a radar with a proximity alarm. There may be some kind of detector to alert you otherwise.

[JohnWms]

You'll be safest if you study the way the "old guys" did it 30 to 50 years ago. Be able to carry on without electricity. Be able to carry on without an engine. Buy big bags of rice and beans and generate very little trash.

This means sailing all the time with windvane steering. Plan on using oil lamps. The Pardey's use oil navigation lamps but you might want to think twice about that. Plan on simple meals. Plan on catching rain. Plan on using a sextant, if the GPS works, great. Don't plan on having a radio, if it works, great. Plan on reading a lot.

Try to imagine how you could happily and (somewhat) comfortably carry on if lots of things have broken and everything in the boat is soaking wet. Just don't have much stuff that can break.

With a really small boat it's hard to guarantee that any sort of modern or luxury items are going to be reliable. Get comfort from safety and self-reliance on very simple processes.

[Amgine]

Colregs calls for lights which may be seen at distances of 6 or fewer miles, depending on the size of the boat and the role of the light.

There are no rules that it must be electrical, or chemical, or anything about how the light is created, only about the distance at which it may be seen.

My oil anchor lamp is plainly visible at 8 miles; I know this because I've personally checked it. (The masthead electric lamp is currently shorted out and giving me fits.) I don't have oil navigation lights, but the rules only require nav lights be visible for 1 mile for a boat my size. A single LED is visible at that distance, so any of the oil nav lights I've seen would clearly and easily beat that requirement. A marina mate has oil nav lamps, and I've seen him come in at night, and I couldn't see a difference between his lights and other boats until he got in close.

I've often read disparaging remarks about oil nav lights, even statements they are not legal, but I wonder how many people who write such are even aware of the rules regarding lights? I expect oil lights would be more work, requiring daily maintenance to keep them from sooting up as well as refilling, wick trimming, etc. But I can't see they're any better or worse than any other light for their role - showing where you are and where you're going after sunset and before sunrise.

[BlueWaterSail]

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

I wouldn't carry a second engine and a second fuel type. I'd carry more diesel and more spares for your diesel engine.

I wouldn't want gasoline vapors on board.

You don't mention cooking source. We use a single burner propane that takes disposable bottles. I'd take thse and store them on deck as opposed to storing below.

In regards to trash I would send everything into the ocean except plastics.

That makes perfect sense.

I have a SeaCook propane burner, but I'm having a hard time finding a mounting place where it doesn't get in the way (my galley is all of two feet by 18", and that includes the sink). I was thinking of adapting a camping stove using propane or butane in some way, so that the stove can be mounted next to the sink.

Appreciate the info,

BWS