@adrian
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Hi Van,
I am thinking (since my current prop is in good condition) of deferring any change until next year or even later in favour of a windvane! I agree with your thoughts about the 1/2 knot saving being rather slight, and value your comments; I was also rather put off feathering props because of the recommendation that they should be serviced annually. The Axiom, in light of your experience, looks a good choice. And I meant prop walk, rather than wash!
Incidentally I intend to order a Hydrovane.
Adrian.
I have been reminded of the potential advantages of a feathering prop upon re-reading the Yachting Monthly article about feathering and folding props published a year or two ago. The potential advantages of a 1/2 knot increase in speed, reduced prop wash, and sparing of the cutlass bearing and gearbox suggest such an investment would be well worthwhile. Jeff looked into this and reported that the Norton Autoprop would offer no improvement in performance, by which I presume this means no increase in top speed? Their great claim is that you achieve a similar cruising speed for slower engine speed, and if this is achieved in addition to the above then the package looks very appealing. The article suggests to me that either the Autostream or the Max Prop might be marginally better choices, but I should be most grateful if anybody can offer thoughts based on personal experience. Here is a link to the article: http://www.flexofold.com/upload_dir/docs/Test_YachtingMonthly_low.pdf
Adrian.
The first photo shows the additional drains through the cockpit sole, two on each side which connect through a Y piece to piping that traverses the engine bay (as shown in second photo) and drains through a hull fitting the opposite side. As you can see, lots of piping everywhere and all of it vulnerable to fire!
The third photo shows the image of an original cockpit drain and its mirror image which reveals cracking of the glassfibre collar where it enters the copper piping, which in turn attaches to the original drainpipe which then passes to a Y fitting and then to an ipsilateral through hull fitting. I think this contributed a fairly constant trickle into the engine bay at times.
Regards, Adrian.
Roger, your solution seems elegant and I think one to emulate except that the mini-bulkhead attached to the bow stem seems insufficiently robust to withstand possible storm forces such as a large wave taking away the storm jib; I must emphasise that I am completely ignorant about such issues, but was cautioned by an Ocean Yachtmaster (all kneel) in Aberystwyth that a removable forestay should be attached to the strongest point of the bow, preferably with a solution involving bolts through the stem. I wonder how Trevor’s installation compares.
Can you advise in what conditions you have tested your installation? I wonder who could advise on how extensive the bonding between attachement point and hull need be: perhaps a marine architect?! I am sailing with one next year, and shall make enquiries.
Regards, Adrian.
Chihili Q’s weakest point was the bilge pump outflow pipe, up which seawater siphoned on port tack rather freely; since I installed a one way valve the issue seems closed.
Ludi, her PO, installed a second set of cockpit drains, unimpressed by the original drains capacity to empty her cockpit efficiently. I think this may have been a mistake; now I have four through hull fittings each of which connects to two drains either under the cockpit sole (the originals) or above (the newer intallations), and each tends to reflux back up their plastic pipes. My medium term intentions are to 1) put in one way valves to keep my feet dry 2) maybe decommission 50% of the current drains 3) replace plastic with ?copper or clad them in asbestos.
That “curtain of water” falling into the engine bay on opening the cockpit sole hatches maybe testifies to their water-tightness, since the water seems to have been held back until you lifted them! I have taken some pains to ensure Chihili Q’s under sole seals are effective, and we have had previous correspondence in this forum on how best to lock those hatches down to secure a good seal.
Regards, Adrian.
Many thanks Roger, my address is adrian-weston@tiscali.co.uk
Most interesting posts: if the removable forestay is primarily to take a storm jib, then I imagine its deck attachment is best set back somewhat from the standing forestay in order to produce a better slot with the main? Dynex sounds an interesting material, but on the FAQ sheet ( http://www.colligomarine.com/docs/misc/DynexDuxFAQ.pdf ) I read “The base fiber for Dynex Dux is Dyneema SK-75. It is widely known as the best synthetic fiber for UV resistance….. with the data we have today, we can easily predict a life of 5 years or more for UV exposure. This compares to an 8 year recommended replacement interval for steel. We also believe, as new data comes in, that the life expectancy will go up”. I’m not so sure that this makes this the ideal material for me quite yet, but nearly!
I should very much value photos Trevor and Race Passage of your installments; both your solutions sound much preferable to my boatyard’s suggestions.
Adrian.
Chihili Q came with quite a few sails some of which seemed a bit superfluous; I have a lightweight spinnaker, also a general purpose and a “star cut”; I have flown the first quite regularly and find it a heck of a lot easier with a snuffer. I have also purchased a snuffer for the crusing chute, the asymmetric, which I find glorious but as you say, only on a beamy tack. The mizzen staysail is very pretty especially with everything else up and adds aesthetically but probably not much speed!
Adrian.
I hope you’re still a happy man Trevor; your rather ingenious contrivances sound very good fun. I hope your endeavours in the New Year are straight forward and completely successful. My steering tackle was a Foreman installation and so being more recent than a Mathway, may have been marginally less difficult/seized to remove (especially since my bolts all sat upright). If anybody needs shafts (track-rods?) or universal joints I have some spares knocking around but these would only suit Foreman installations maybe.
I’ve recently left Chihili Q at Pwllheli for soggy/ saggy aft deck repairs. I am informed that most of the wires inside the main mast are falling to bits and the deck glands have been leaking profusely. Thank goodness I am sorting this out prior to retirement!
Cheers, Adrian.
Hi Peter,
Chihili II, now Chihili Q, did have her masts extended by the previous owner who wrote “The present owner consulted Naval Architects Laurent Giles Ltd and they agreed that the Nicholson 38 was underpowered for Solent sailing conditions. Laurent Giles were retained to design a new, modern sail plan which resulted in the mast being increased by approximately 9’ (about 2.7m) and the mizzen being increased by approximately 6’ (approx. 1.8m). The height of the main boom was dropped to clear the cockpit GRP canopy comfortably and the height of the mizzen boom was also dropped while still permitting reasonable access under this boom. Depending on sea conditions, ‘CHIHILI’ will maintain a full set of sails in a beat to about 18 knots of wind. Thereafter, the main can be reefed or furled allowing comfortable beating under just the genoa and mizzen to about 24 knots. The first reef has then to be taken in the genoa.
The new masts, booms and spinnaker pole were built by Kemp Masts (now Spencer Rigging) and fitted by them in 1990 together with all running and standing rigging. The main mast is fitted with a Kemp gas boom support and down haul”.
I have fitted a lazy jack/ stack-pack system which makes reefing the main far easier, and avoids flapping sail around the cockpit (bothersome if the roof is off).
I haven’t figured out the best configuration since she seems to sail pretty sweetly whatever the sail pattern.
Adrian.
Bearing Man finally came up trumps and produced another threaded brass cylinder for me so my original Hepworth motor is back in action. This drives a completely smooth shaft onto which the wiper grips and operates perfectly adequately without splines, so I wonder if a more ordinay wiper assembly would suffice for you? Not that I have one for you!
Chihili Q’s previous owner had the rudder rebuilt but I’m afraid I have no details; he said at some point there was a bit of play between stock and GRP blade. It seems sound now but hangs to starboard within the steady band (whose name I didn’t know previously!).
I seem to have resolved the back siphoning problem up the original through hull outlet with a Whale one way valve, but I quite like your system with twin pumps. Do these pumps (I have a Rule 3700 monster.. not sure how it was squeezed in there) benefit from being immersed or more by being kept dry I wonder?
I have cleaned all the gubbins out of my bilge, and what a lot of gunge there was in addition to the odd immaculate stainless washer, bolt, split pin etc etc, using a wet and dry vacuum cleaner, a Stihl; this provides rather a good way of cleaning out the drip tray under the engine also, and allows disposal in a more ecofriendly spot.
Where do you get the lovely pictures of Nic 38s displayed at the top of this discussion forum? Could all our boats appear randomly (provided pictures are provided however that is done?)
Adrian (Chihili Q).
Jeff, you don’t have your original windscreen wiper assembly still in your bin do you? I overlooked the fact that the threaded brass cylinder through which my wiper shaft projects has broken! I have asked “Bearing Man” whether they can put a sleeve of some sort around it, or replace the original but expect to be disappointed. May yet have to resort to Vetus.
Adrian.
Apologies, I thought there was more in my archive than the following on steering gear but with thanks to Ollie Holden, Dave and Shelby Milner, James Parnell and Peter Sturdgess I have found the following:
Hi Adrian, we sailed 40000 miles on Blue Spurr using an aries, it was definately the best equipment on board. Crossing the Pacific it steered us for 5 days and nights nonstop with the Spinakker up. The only problem we ever had was that the ropes to the steering drum wore out twice on our trip. If it is set up correctly the aries seems to be the best, we certainly wouldnt set sail on a long voyage again without one. Dave and Shelby Milner
Our Website :- http://www.daveandshelby.eclipse.co.uk/Hello all,
I feel I haven’t provided a particularly good advertisement for the Aries so far, so please bear with me…
I think the Aries is a good, strong system. However, on a centre-cockpit boat like the Nic, there are a great number of linkages and therefore potential points for both sloppiness and friction to creep in. It is essential therefore to do what you can to minimise these, as they can significantly limit the usefulness of any windvane steering.
We suffered from this on our recent transat, not helped by the light winds. To make things better, I have removed a lot of sloppiness from the system by taking the hinge coupling out and simply bolting the rudder directly onto the pendulum arm. I tried it on a recent sail between St Lucia and Martinique, and it worked fine on a close reach, even with (despite?) the mizzen up, possibly affecting the windflow. The Aries also steered “Nutmeg” and her family crew dead downwind for 450 miles in 20-25kts from Portugal to Madeira absolutely fine, so I would certainly not dismiss it.
If your steering has a lot of sloppiness/play in it, then it may be worth considering connecting up your windvane steering to the emergency tiller instead of the wheel. Just a thought.
I’m sailing back across the Atlantic in a month, and intend to use the Aries, so will let you know how it goes.
Cheers
Ollie Holden
“Nutmeg of Shoreham”
http://blog.mailasail.com/nutmegjames parnell wrote:
Our boat had a Hydrovane which the previous owner reported having lots of problems with, so he took it off and sold it separately!!
There has been some interesting articles in the press concerning taking off the wind vane and replacing it with a basic tiller pilot and hence getting the best of both worlds. Not sure if it works on all models.
Hope all is well with you all – James Rose and Rhiannon.
peter sturdgess wrote:
Hi to the Nic 38 group.
Alexina has served us very well for our cruise from UK waters to the Mediterranean. However, now we plan to go a bit further afield with a possible Atlantic crossing in 2010/11. We will set Alexina up with some new equipment and need to pick your collective brains.
Windvane steering
I have just been reading the blog of Ollie on Nutmeg of Shoreham (a jolly good read, well done Ollie) and was interested to read about their problems with their Aries windvane steering. Obviously, wind vane steering is essential for ocean crossings. I would welcome hearing about anyones experiences with windvane steering.
Best regards
Helen, Peter and Tiger
Alexina of ShorehamOn the subject of autopilots, and steering, I now have a spare electric Raymarine rotary drive/ sprocket and chain for connection to the shaft steering system, having changed mine to an Hydrive hydraulic. My autopilot (Raymarine ST7000) isolates the steering wheel by means of solenoid switches in its hydraulic lines and activates a small hydraulic pump which squirts oil down to the drive cylinder attached to the rudder shaft.
In the long term I look forward to installing a wind vane of some sort and there have been some interesting posts on this topic in the past. Have you access to them Marilyn, or do you want me to post/send them to you?
It would be good to be able to post pictures!
Adrian.
Hi Jeff, yesterday I took the barrel of the motor off after removing the two little nuts on the end where the power lead enters, and although smelly (as if overheated) I could find no burned bits; when I turned the shaft of the motor I was just able to turn the gears a little. After filling the gear box with WD40, then petrol, then hot water to dissolve any salt, and air blasting it clean I can now spin the motor freely (more so connected up to a drill) and I find connected to power it works! So I shall need to fashion a new gasket, and fill the unit with suitable oil or thin grease I suppose. Seem to have saved myself some ££’s on this rare occasion!
As regards the usefulness of a windscreen wiper, I have to agree a squeegee does a better job but in heavy rain or spray my wiper no doubt usefully improves forward visibility.
Adrian.
Many thanks Jeff. I shall be interested to see what lies beneath my own backing plates, but your report sounds most encouraging. A little tinkering first with my old motor should establish that it really is broken and not just seized with solidified grease. I was making some preliminary enquiries at http://www.b-hepworth.com (Hepworth Marine) where the 20nM motor with stabilizer arm looked quite suitable to drive an arm up to 24″ and I think I was quoted a total price of about £180 (but can’t find my scribbles). Your Vetus may be preferable adn I shall investigate further!
Regards, Adrian.1) Thanks; I shall get a close up photo of a cross section of the windscreen and take it along to some auto people in due course, but this is relatively low priority!
2) I have got the windscreen wiper motor and spindles off the windscreen and filled the two holes (which along with some of the surround are sandwiched between aluminium plates) as a temporary measure. When you advise caution, presumably the risk is a shattered windscreen?!
I have put valves between my hull fitting and pumps; I say pumps since the outflow pipe into the hull fitting has two pumps discharging into it through a 2-into-1 “Y” shaped connector. There is a manual Whale pump installed in the starboard cockpit locker (on the aft bulkhead) and a large electric Rule pump in the bottom of the bilge which is so big it is rather tricky to get out so I haven’t done so yet. I have installed two one way valves, one per pump outflow but from what you say I perhaps didn’t need to for the Whale. I have another manual pump in the starboard locker just aft of the after cabin companionway, which has a different pipe system and through hull fitting. With some excitment I have observed my bilge filling only very gradually, accounted for by normal Nic 38 leaks I think!
Adrian.
