Finally - A Boat of My Own!

[SkiprJohn]

Originally Posted by BudgetBoater

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome. My 19 year old and I did a shakedown sail today. The boat only turns to starboard due to the growth on the rudder and hull. A few chicken tacks later we were back in the barn.

Boaty - that looks like a great trip. I imagine just about anything headed south is a great trip...

sailcruisr - thanks for the suggestion on Nigel Calder's book. I have it on my Amazon wishlist.

An open question about buying books. While I'd prefer to keep everything on my ipad for when we cruise, I don't think family will look at them unless there's a hard copy lying around. They simply won't know that it's available. I'm curious as to others' opinions about the utility/value of having the hard copy vs. the savings of not accumulating another item.

Thoughts?

I'm a dinosaur. If it isn't with me in hard copy I don't read it. Most of my books are second hand. I won't have internet service at sea. I don't have an IPad or a Kindle. I like to jot things down and highlight things as I read and mark pages that are worth reading again.

Just my opinion of course.

[Cuttyhunk]

I have had bad luck buying technical e-books. The pictures, schematics, etc. never seem to work well. They get referenced by page number and it's never the ebooks page number, or the sizing is messed up, etc. I've done this two or three times and each time had to buy the print version later.

[Coops]

Originally Posted by SkiprJohn

I'm a dinosaur.

You are not the last of them. Do you have charts to negotiate round the tar pits by any chance?

Coops.

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by BudgetBoater

An open question about buying books. While I'd prefer to keep everything on my ipad for when we cruise, I don't think family will look at them unless there's a hard copy lying around. They simply won't know that it's available. I'm curious as to others' opinions about the utility/value of having the hard copy vs. the savings of not accumulating another item.

Thoughts?

Welcome & congratulations.

Some books are good to have, like Charlie Wing's Electrcial Handbook. Calder's might to too much too soon for your boat, but great reading for planning ahead.

You could also do with some "highlight" topics like this one which include Electrical 101, right off the internet, no books required.

"101" Series - Quick Links to "Popular" Topics includes "Electrical 101"

[GrowleyMonster]

What a great first boat! Lots of c-27 owners out there to network with. Fairly stout and forgiving, sails easy, uncomplicated. Very similar to my Cal 2-27 except the Catalana doesn't have the little bridge deck and my vee berth is a teeny bit roomier. It's a boat that will teach you a lot about sailing.

One suggesrion... If this is not already the case, run all necessary lines aft so you never have to leave the cockpit. And you should have jack lines and a harness for whoever is on watch especially on a night passage. Even the Catalina 27 will play tricks on you on occasion and try to dump you in the water. When the watch must leave the cockpit even briefly, even in nice weather, he or she needs to call out someone else as a safety observer.

I decided long ago that a boat under 30 feet long doesn't have room for books except maybe the almanac and maybe sight reduction tables. When my boat is small enough to debate the wisdom of buying 10 pairs of socks when 6 might do, and toss out an equivalent number of worn ones to make room for the new, I think long and hard about bringing a book along.

[BudgetBoater]

GrowleyMonster - I was thinking of going without socks and maybe make room for one small manual at a time. It can all come back to the house when not needed for projects. You make a great point about running the lines aft. Someone did that once on this boat; a lot of the hardware is still in place. I'll put it on the "nice to do" project list after necessities such as electrical, sail repair (found a small hole yesterday), and cleaning/painting the hull so I can turn in both directions.

Stu - thanks for the links. The ones referencing MaineSail's explanation helped a lot. I'm overcomplicating things by trying to get my head around wiring, battery banks, and solar charging at the same time. Lots of bright shiny objects out there that can grab one's attention...

Cuttyhunk - I think you're spot on. I hate to mix grime and electronic devices and have been frustrated whenever I've had to look at technical information on a device. Flipping pages just isn't the same. I'll save the time and buy just one simple reference to get started.

I really appreciate the advice. Keep it coming! I'm off to buy a multimeter; something I should have bought years ago but been able to work around it until now.

[Rhapsody-NS27]

Originally Posted by BudgetBoater

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome. My 19 year old and I did a shakedown sail today. The boat only turns to starboard due to the growth on the rudder and hull. A few chicken tacks later we were back in the barn.

Boaty - that looks like a great trip. I imagine just about anything headed south is a great trip...

sailcruisr - thanks for the suggestion on Nigel Calder's book. I have it on my Amazon wishlist.

An open question about buying books. While I'd prefer to keep everything on my ipad for when we cruise, I don't think family will look at them unless there's a hard copy lying around. They simply won't know that it's available. I'm curious as to others' opinions about the utility/value of having the hard copy vs. the savings of not accumulating another item.

Thoughts?

My thoughts about boat books is if the book is a novel, then go with electronic and technical books are best with printed copies for marking references and switching between pages quickly.

[SkiprJohn]

Originally Posted by Coops

You are not the last of them. Do you have charts to negotiate round the tar pits by any chance?

Coops.

I've given away and sold a lot of them. I don't have any more of the South Pacific or of the Atlantic, Carib or Med.

What area are you looking for?

[goat]

Originally Posted by SkiprJohn

I've given away and sold a lot of them. I don't have any more of the South Pacific or of the Atlantic, Carib or Med.

What area are you looking for?

I believe I have a picture the area in of Coops question;


Happy to help,
goat

[SkiprJohn]

Originally Posted by goat

I believe I have a picture the area in of Coops question;


Happy to help,
goat

I think I do have a chart of that area. Pacific Coast just east of Catalina Island?

[BudgetBoater]

That picture has to be closer to New England - that water looks suspiciously close to what I wrung out of the cloths I used to wipe down my bilge!

I bought Casey's Sailboat Electrics Simplified for $6.84 today along with a multimeter. I figured out one battery was stored incorrectly, another was an automotive battery, but the third one (an AGM) looks great.

I'm now trying to figure out why I don't get a reading off of the depth sounder. The switch and fuse are fine. I need to read more to figure out how to find the corresponding wire near the switch panel that goes with the depth finder up forward. It could also be that the transducer is probably covered in 3+ years of growth...

[EllesBelles]

Originally Posted by BudgetBoater

...
An open question about buying books. While I'd prefer to keep everything on my ipad for when we cruise, I don't think family will look at them unless there's a hard copy lying around. They simply won't know that it's available. I'm curious as to others' opinions about the utility/value of having the hard copy vs. the savings of not accumulating another item.

Thoughts?

First, welcome to CF and happy sailing to you and your family.

Second, to your question about books, we love books, so we have a lot, and the weight of printed books can really add up, so we do try to keep to ebooks as much as we can (better for the forests and environment too, especially when we're recharging our iPad from solar).

Here's a link to our library - and we welcome your additions if any of your favorite books are not on our list: s/v Golden Glow: A Library for Every Sailing Vessel

[BudgetBoater]

EllesBelles - that's quite the extensive library. I bookmarked it for future reference. Thank you for sharing.