Offshore Passage Prep: Hydraulics

Steve D'Antonio (all)

The author made port in the Faroe Islands having avoided a potential hydraulic failure by replacing a broken raw-water pump on the passage from Scotland. Carrying the correct spare parts is essential when voyaging to such remote destinations.

Since my first bluewater passage aboard the 120′ (36.5m) steel schooner R/V Westward nearly 25 years ago as a student, I’ve developed a strong appreciation for what’s involved in maintaining a boat on any voyage where support and resources are limited. On that well-found boat, from Cape Cod to the Grenadines and the British Virgin Islands, we performed routine maintenance and numerous repairs. Westward was a relatively unsophisticated boat: saltwater showers, no air-conditioning, and lots of original equipment, including the pneumatic-start diesel, dating to her 1961 construction by Abeking and Rasmussen. Navigation was primarily by compass, paper charts, and sextant with LORAN when in range. But even those simple systems demanded regular attention and racks of spare parts to assure operation offshore.

Design Challenge II Winners

Professional BoatBuilder and WoodenBoat magazines’ second design challenge drew 58 excellent submissions from professional and amateur designers in 17 countries. Our panel of judges had the pleasure of studying all of them, and the unenviable task of choosing those that best fit the design brief of Design Challenge II: More Pleasure at 2 Gallons per Hour. Intended to inspire designs for cheaper, more fuel-efficient, and seaworthy vessels capable of carrying a family on overnight excursions, the parameters were as follows:

• Must be trailerable for affordable launching, over-the-road transportation, and storage.
• Max beam 8′ ; max length 40′
• Minimum length 24′, stem to transom
• Trailerable weight (with engine) should not exceed 3,500 pounds
• Must burn less than 2 gallons per hour (7.6 l/hr), maintaining a 10-knot cruising speed in a 2′ (0.6m) chop and 15-knot breeze while carrying 800 lbs/362 kg (family of four). Favorable consideration will be given for continued efficient fuel consumption and good seakeeping abilities at speeds in excess of 10 knots
• Must include at least spartan overnight accommodations (berths, head, galley) for two adults and two children
• Must be a new design
• Submissions should be the designer’s original, previously unpublished work, and include lines, profiles, sections, table of offsets, accurate weight study, cost calculations, and performance predictions.

Now we have the winners in all three categories: wood, metal, and composites. In-depth stories about the winning designs as well as a roundup of innovations, good ideas, and details from other submissions will appear in upcoming issues of Professional BoatBuilder and WoodenBoat magazines.

Design Challengers

Aaron Porter

Graham Byrnes (left) in Marissa and Russell Brown in the PT Skiff compare design and performance of their boats during a visit to Professional BoatBuilder’s waterfront last week.

This scorching first week of July, we at Professional BoatBuilder were lucky to have some business to attend to on the water. Two boats built to designs from our 2009 Design Challenge for efficient powerboats were at our waterfront. Graham Byrnes of B&B Yacht Designs had his wood-category winner Eco 18, Marissa, here while he teaches building and design at WoodenBoat School for a couple of weeks. Russell and Ashlyn Brown of PT Watercraft  trailered their 18′5″ (5.6m) kit-built PT Skiff from their home in Port Townsend, Washington. Eric Jolley of Bieker Boats, which designed the skiff for Russell Brown, entered it in our competition.

Graduates

Courtesy of The Landing School

First three LS-20s ready for launching.

Just a few years ago the most frequent complaint among boatbuilders was the scarcity of good experienced workers and reasonably skilled entry-level employees. Most builders would happily trade their current woes for that work-force problem. At the time, a number of education and training efforts were spurred on by the cry for new workers. When the economy went south, the schools that had ramped up to meet the demand didn’t shut their doors. Indeed, as almost anyone will tell you, a recession’s a poor time to look for a job and a fine time to be in school. Many of the better-known marine-sector institutions of higher learning have grown their programs and increased enrollment since 2008.