Sailing inyourfootsteps.com

A simple solution for holding lazaret lids open
Lazaret lids are heavy and awkward to deal with when open. Typically you have to hold them open with one hand whilst rummaging around with the other for what you are looking for. With deep lockers this is particularly awkward. This is a far-from-ideal way to retrieve often awkward equipment and particularly so on a rolling boat where the sea going rule-of-thumb is one hand for the boat, one hand for your self. There are also times you may want to get into the locker to pack or retrieve deeply stored items or carry out some work. In these circumstances the lids have to be wedged securely open in a totally reliable fashion. As a proper seagoing lazaret lid self-fastens when it falls closed, there is the potential that you could be locked into your own locker.

Making sight tubes easier to read
It can be very difficult to read a sight tube. Mounted near to tanks they tend to be situated in awkward places that are as often as not subject to poor lighting. Often the readings have to be taken from transparent fluids.

Optimising VHF performance
The potential performance of a marine VHF radio is limited by the quality of the antenna and its installation. A badly designed antenna fitted with undersized cable and imperfect connections will make the performance of even the most exquisite and expensive radio unacceptable. It is important to select the right antenna and install it in such a way that it maximises the performance of the radio to which it is attached.

Optimising electronic automatic pilots on tiller steered boats
The most common tiller pilot on a smaller sailing boat is an electrically operated ram connected between the tiller and the side of the cockpit area. By changing the length of the ram, the autopilot changes the position of the tiller.

Tiller pilot installation typically involves a simple two step modification. First drill a hole in the cockpit combing and hammer in a brass pedestal socket for the tiller pilot base unit. Alternatively a cantilever socket can be used to mount against the cockpit side with wide vessels. Finally you then either drill a hole and hammer a pin into the top of the tiller itself or mount a bracket underneath for the pilot arm to gain purchase.
The problem with this set up is that over an extended period of use the pin in the tiller or bracket screws typically works itself lose. This causes the pilot arm to increasingly fall off and finally to become inoperable. The constant back and forth motion is simply too much for the timber grain to sustain, holes widen causing the pin or screws to rock back and fort and then the rate of wear increases exponentially. Although the cockpit fibreglass is less subject to this wear the pedestal socket will also fail just the same as the tiller in time.
In use the setup is less than convenient as the tiller is down and sweeping the cockpit under the instruction of the pilot.

Worse we used the tiller pilot most when running downwind - wind steering mechanical devices are less reliable in light downwind runs – and in this sailing condition we often had a roll. Too many times we were surprised by a roll, overbalanced and where normally we would just drop across to land on the opposite seat of the cockpit we instead fell upon the tiller with all our weight. This weight in turn transferred in a highly leveraged fashion into the controlling tiller pilot ram mechanism. Something that I am sure can only dramatically shorten the working life of our piece of equipment.

Improving a cruising vessels charging by optimising the regulator performance
The alternator produces electricity to recharge the battery. The regulator sits between the two systems deciding the power output from the alternator to optimize the battery charging. It refreshes the battery with a tapered charging process that is the default charging mechanism of a standard alternator. The taper causes the battery to charge rapidly at first and then slow down as it reaches full charge. This eliminates the risk of overcharging and battery damage. The standard system works well refreshing a single vehicle battery that it is designed for. However the default alternator taper is highly conservative, i.e. it drops down the charge output too quickly, in the context of refreshing a well used boat battery in a short amount of time. The performance shortcoming is dramatic when refreshing a bank of batteries. Although the default charge setting will charge a vessels batteries in time, the alternators taper drops the output so as to make it unnecessarily inefficient.

Better protection from the elements whilst tiller steering the vessel.
Manually steering a vessel via the tiller invariably positions the helmsman at the middle-to-back of the cockpit and allows the forward area of the cockpit to be worked by the winch handlers. The back of the cockpit however is highly exposed to the elements and when sailing shorthanded line control jammers and sheeting blocks are just out of reach for the helmsman. You can buy telescopic tiller extensions, but these are primarily designed to add side reach, or just slightly forward of athwart ship, for beamy boats and they do not allow the helmsman to come directly forward in the cockpit.

Optimising electronic automatic pilots on tiller steered boats
The most common tiller pilot on a smaller sailing boat is an electrically operated ram connected between the tiller and the side of the cockpit area. By changing the length of the ram, the autopilot changes the position of the tiller.

Tiller pilot installation typically involves a simple two step modification. First drill a hole in the cockpit combing and hammer in a brass pedestal socket for the tiller pilot base unit. Alternatively a cantilever socket can be used to mount against the cockpit side with wide vessels. Finally you then either drill a hole and hammer a pin into the top of the tiller itself or mount a bracket underneath for the pilot arm to gain purchase.

The problem with this set up is that over an extended period of use the pin in the tiller or bracket screws typically works itself lose. This causes the pilot arm to increasingly fall off and finally to become inoperable. The constant back and forth motion is simply too much for the timber grain to sustain, holes widen causing the pin or screws to rock back and fort and then the rate of wear increases exponentially. Although the cockpit fibreglass is less subject to this wear the pedestal socket will also fail just the same as the tiller in time.

In use the setup is less than convenient as the tiller is down and sweeping the cockpit under the instruction of the pilot.

Worse we used the tiller pilot most when running downwind - wind steering mechanical devices are less reliable in light downwind runs – and in this sailing condition we often had a roll. Too many times we were surprised by a roll, overbalanced and where normally we would just drop across to land on the opposite seat of the cockpit we instead fell upon the tiller with all our weight. This weight in turn transferred in a highly leveraged fashion into the controlling tiller pilot ram mechanism. Something that I am sure can only dramatically shorten the working life of our piece of equipment.

Optimising yachts with a bowsprits for marina berthing
Classic yachts with extended bowsprits look absolutely beautiful. The issue with the vessel is once they berth in a marina. As the marina has to provide a berth that caters for the vessels entire length, they also have to typically charge the cost of the larger berth the vessel occupies. This means boats with extended bowsprits are highly expensive vessel to berth in a marina. Although you may have a small or medium sized sailing vessel, in this particular instance your will receive the bill of a very large boat.

Keeping track of battery charge levels
Most boats have analogue voltmeters to indicate battery charge levels / state-of-charge. The needle readout on analogue voltmeters are scarcely readable at any distance and small shifts are imperceptible. Yet the battery state-of-charge can traverse from a 100% full charge to 0% complete discharge in less than the movement of a single volt on the meter.

Maximising solar panel performance
Solar panels perform well when they are free of shade, or even in partial shadow, and the sun is directly above. However on a sailing vessel this is far from always being the case. The typical flat arrangement is particularly poor in northern latitudes such as northern Europe. Here the morning and late evening sun is low and although it provides plenty of charging light, a panel that is laid flat will capture very little of this and perform poorly.