How To

Hello friends. Don’t take the lack of recent updates to mean that I haven’t been making progress. Quite the contrary. I’ve installed new Sta-Set X halyards (waiting on a super-useful splicing wand from the inimical Brion Toss to arrive for eye splicing), sealed the cockpit lockers (well, at least sealed them much better than they were, watertight testing will come shortly), and installed a new carbon monoxide detector in the cabin. I’ve also begun the conversion of the V-berth into storage rather than bedding, and have set the wheels in motion for many other smaller projects that are nevertheless essential to complete.

But here’s a nifty little thing I just learned how to make: it’s called a soft shackle and it quite literally replaces any stainless shackle you might have onboard.



It’s super lightweight, very inexpensive (even factoring the time to make it), and very strong - in excess of the line strength of the Amsteel (Dyneema/Spectra line) its made from. In my case, that would mean a realistic breaking strength around 5000 lbs for this 3/16” line, or a SWL of ~1200 lbs all day long, no problem. I also have some 1/4” Amsteel that will increase that to well over 7000 lbs break for a SWL of ~1750 lbs. Seriously strong.

Following the excellent instructions at L-36.com, I was able to make the first shackle with about $2.50 worth of 3/16” Amsteel Blue (despite the color, this is Amsteel Blue line) in about an hour, including whipping the ends and vice-pulling the diamond knot to set it firmly. My second shackle came out in just over half that time, and whipping the ends was a good 10 minutes of that time. If I just did a “Butane Whip” and used heatshrink for backup I could probably pop a shackle out, fully set, in a little over 15 min each. At that rate, valuing my spare time at a modest $20 / hour, I’m in for about $7.50 a shackle on $2.50 worth of materials. How’s that for cheap?

Beyond that, these things can be made to nearly any dimensions I want. Need a bigger loop? Whip up a longer shackle. Need a thinner shackle to fit a smaller block? No problem. And another really nice thing about these is that they are dead easy to use: no marlinspike to unlock a galled threaded shackle necessary, no pins to lose, etc. Chafe is no big deal, especially if you ensure that all shackled edges are smooth, and if you’re worried about them flogging loose (which is very rare) you can always slap a loop of velcro around the closed shackle for insurance.

So go get yourself a couple feet of Amsteel Blue, pull up the simple instructions, and get to splicing! It’s rewarding, fun work that has a high-value payoff.

Here’s a short sequence that shows how they work (note: I’ve left the “tails” on these shackles, but you don’t need to - many people cut them very short after the diamond knot).

1. You take it out of your pocket or the drawer or wherever you’ve been keeping it. It looks more or less like the shackle on top:



2. You open the loop on the end by sliding the cover back while pulling on the eye or the small helper strap affixed thereto:



3. After slipping the shackle through the objects to be connected, slide the diamond knot (shown) through the loop:



4. And then milk the cover up to close the eye around the knot, forming the final shackle:



The shackle is now closed and any further tension on it will only help lock it more firmly.

A very neat trick for which most people will charge you in excess of $20. But you now know better and will not only save money but learn a skill and have some fun while making a handful!


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Installing a cockpit arch and pair of solar panels onto an Allied Princess 36’ Ketch - How I saved over $5,000 and had a great time doing it myself.

This is the fifth post in a 5 part series on how I literally saved somewhere between $5,000 and $9,000 installing a cockpit arch and a pair of solar panels onto Aletheia, my Allied Princess ketch rigged sailboat. I’ll be posting this series over the next few weeks, so keep checking in for updates. Here is the previous post.

The electrical connection to the panel really took a lot of thinking before acting, though. Particularly how I was going to get the four heavily-insulated 10-gauge cables through the deck and down below to the Blue Sky MPPT solar charge controller. I decided to take a break and knock out of a few of the pet peeves that I had with the current cockpit arrangement.

As I was cursing the P.O’s choice of sealant on a particularly troublesome and leaky deck fitting, I had a flash of brilliance (this happens roughly 1x10^-20 times a year) and decided to borrow PART of his idea - the part that didn’t involve silicone to seal anything, mind. I’ll give you the challenge and see what you come up with before I give you my version of the solution.

The challenge: To get 5 cables of approximately 4mm diameter each through the deck in a clean and orderly fashion, unbroken, but easily removed for maintenance or replacement as the case dictates. The method of traversing the deck itself must be watertight, inexpensive, and involve the least number and smallest size of holes in the deck to accommodate the cables. The cables are bare at one end, and so may be fed through the deck without the need to accommodate fittings as well, just the cable diameter. And while 4 of the cables are uniform in size, one of them is a flat 2-pair DC cable with a nearly oval cross section rather than round. Naturally, higher points are given for cleanliness of solution and least amount of redneck engineering (e.g. no utilizing deck vents or locker lids). Chafe must be eliminated at any possible points of contact. Got all that? Ready? Go!

<theme from Jeopardy plays>

Ding! Time’s up! What have you come up with? Sound off in the comments or drop me a note.

My solution was to drill a hole in the deck just large enough to fit a 1” threaded PVC pipe fitting, and to screw the two halves of the fitting together, sandwiching the deck in between. This left a nice 1” diameter, clean looking opening in the deck, sealed with 3M 4200. After slipping all of the cables through, I had enough space left to run 2-3 additional cables should I desire to do so. The opening is very small now, and when I wish to seal it further, a simple application of butyl rubber will keep the water out and allow me to remove the cables for maintenance in the future.



The cable routing was a problem that, after some pondering, worked itself out nicely. A single hole through the quarter-berth aft bulkhead lead the cable along the quarter-berth, forward to where I had mounted the Blue Sky. Another small hole below the controller lead to the battery compartment. Application of some clear water hose serves as chafe protection along the cable path, along with double layers of extra-thick heavy duty heatshrink and cable clamps. A 50A circuit breaker, easily accessible, provides protection for both the battery bank and serves as the controller’s power switch. The run to the battery compartment from there is less than 7 inches in length, within the ABYC standards, and well protected from chafe with heavy-wall water tubing. Forgive the excessive quantity of photos here, some of you asked for more detail on the cabling, so here it is:






Mounting the control module for the charge controller was very straightforward as well: I cut a new hole in my electronics panel, screwed the charge controller in place, and ran the digital cable to the SB3024. Another, twisted pair shielded cable ran from the shunt in the battery compartment (master negative cable) to the control module as well.



Overall, the circuit diagram is very simple:



And that pretty much concludes the solar installation. Thanks for reading through and I hope this was helpful information to anyone else trying to do it themselves.

Here is the finished electrical installation on the interior and control panel:


Interior

Control Panel

Installing a cockpit arch and pair of solar panels onto an Allied Princess 36’ Ketch - How I saved over $5,000 and had a great time doing it myself.

This is the third post in a 5 part series on how I literally saved somewhere between $5,000 and $9,000 installing a cockpit arch and a pair of solar panels onto Aletheia, my Allied Princess ketch rigged sailboat. I’ll be posting this series over the next few weeks, so keep checking in for updates. Here is the previous post.

The day dawned bright and hot. Sweating hot. “Its December, for crying out loud,” I remember thinking. And I had outside work to be done. My buddy helped me as we wrangled the huge, but lightweight, frame over the stern rail and into the cockpit. I have no idea what it looked like from the outside but with its four jagged, awkwardly protruding feet, getting the arch around the shrouds and underneath the mizzen boom probably looked like a fool’s errand.

But we were no fools and I’d anticipated this issue ahead of time. Though I was expecting the entire frame to be “walked” into place through a series of iterations, the slight imprecisions between theory and practical application made it more challenging than I’d estimated. After raising the mizzen boom so high that it more resembled a gaff than a boom (and drew more than a few comments from dock passers-by), we finally got the pattern right. A few tweaks on the mizzen shrouds and a couple scrapes on our shins later, we had wrestled the awkwardly shaped spaghetti of aluminum tubing into place. But something didn’t seem right - the legs were definitely not matching up to where I wanted them on the deck. Panic started rising and I feared the worst - a total redo.

[ Read on for more… click continue below! ]

Installing a cockpit arch and pair of solar panels onto an Allied Princess 36’ Ketch - How I saved over $5,000 and had a great time doing it myself.

This is the second post in a 5 part series on how I literally saved somewhere between $5,000 and $9,000 installing a cockpit arch and a pair of solar panels onto Aletheia, my Allied Princess ketch rigged sailboat. I’ll be posting this series over the next few weeks, so keep checking in for updates. Here is the previous post.

After receiving the materials, I pretty much just sat around for a while pondering the right approach to fabricating the arch. Battling “analysis paralysis”, I finally decided I’d had enough “thinking” and needed some “doing”. The first bit of doing involved bending two sections of pipe into the “bow” or “U” shape which forms the basis of the frame.

I took a test section of pipe to a local fabricator and asked if he could bend that to my specified radius. Now, I have to tell you a thing or two about this guy. He’s got a reputation for not caring about the “little folk” like myself who come in for random jobs. He’s got a fantastic machine shop, but his rates are pretty high ($100/hr) and he doesn’t commit to a time to complete a project (e.g. he’s been known to charge people for his lunch break, if you catch my drift). Also, he upcharged my friend on the spot after quoting him one price 5 minutes earlier and my friend agreeing to it. So he’s got a bit of a reputation. Nevertheless, he’s the only guy in town who can likely do a good job. So I went to him hopeful that with precise specifications in hand, more like a professional than a “little folk” he’d do it right and we’d be done with the least amount of pain.

Long story short, after taking the parts back to him after the first time wasn’t correct (and getting charged 100% extra for him redoing his own work) I was pretty much through with going to this guy, BUT the pipes were bent to the proper shape and ready for welding, so I was at least glad for that step to be over. However, it ruled him out for the welding process, and man, let me tell you, after what I went through to get this thing welded up, I am SO glad I didn’t use this guy. I was WAY underprepared for the welding…. Read on (click continue below) for the rest of today’s post.

Installing a cockpit arch and pair of solar panels onto an Allied Princess 36’ Ketch - How I saved over $5,000 and had a great time doing it myself.

This is the first in a 5 part series on how I literally saved somewhere between $5,000 and $9,000 installing a cockpit arch and a pair of solar panels onto Aletheia, my Allied Princess ketch rigged sailboat. I’ll be posting this series over the next few weeks, so keep checking in for updates.

Recently, I’ve purchased some new solar panels for my boat and needed to mount them. At the same time, I’d been thinking about an arch over the cockpit for a variety of reasons. So, in a rare fit of practicality, I set out to think about a design that would be a suitable mount for my solar panels as well. Go go gadget engineering genius.

As any sailor who has owned his boat for any length of time can tell you, everything on a boat is a study in compromise. So too, the art of mounting a solar panel and cockpit arch. In particular, designing a cockpit arch on a ketch rig can be quite challenging. Having the mizzen mast to deal with in the cockpit area can be an adventure in and of itself. Then you have to consider the mizzen sheet and its swing arc, the boom height and proper clearance, and a number of other variables such as headroom clearance, access to winches and other lines, etc. In addition, its essentially impossible to find a location for solar panels on a ketch that will not at some point in time be obscured by a sail or in a non-optimum position due to some point of sail. Any position that thoroughly satisfies these requirements will inevitably be in the way of crew movement or be exposed in a dangerous manner to the sea and wind. Thus, you have to compromise some aspects of each in order to arrive at a safe, structurally sound, and still useful design.

Basically that means anything you try to do on a boat won’t turn out at all like you originally intended it, but if you play your cards right you might get something you actually like out of the deal anyway. (See what I did just there?)

But take heart! It is entirely doable, even if you have to give up a few things to get something in return. All it takes is a little bit of conscious thought, and some good planning. Nothing a couple Benjamin Franklins can’t do, I thought. Boy was I naive.

I called up a few local shops and received quotes ranging from $6,000 to over $10,000. After a few positions of anger-calming yoga (ok, actually I just took a few breaths and a nice stiff shot of rum), I realized that I could do a perfectly adequate job for much, much less. And so I set to it. After all was said and done, I got a better, more structurally solid, and more corrosion resistant arch for about $4,500 LESS than the LOWEST quote I got (which was for a much cheaper and less useful arch) - in total I spent under $1,400 and that includes tools that I’ll use on many more jobs, a LOT of extra aluminum that I didn’t need, and all extra components, coatings, fittings, etc. necessary to finish the job. Read on (click continue below) for the story of how I did it.