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Keeping a CS 20 in a slip for two months in Pacific Northwest


sanmi

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I'm getting our CS 20 Mark 2 ready to stay in a slip in April and May in Olympia, WA (training for a cruise up the inside passage of British Columbia next year). I’m a little nervous about putting the boat on a slip because the boat has always lived on the trailer in a garage or under a full boat cover.  

 

The first challenge is to put on bottom paint, since the boat has never had any. I’m thinking I’ll jack up the boat and take the trailer out from underneath in order to do the prep and painting, but I’m not sure how to draw the waterline. 

 

Since it rains constantly in Olympia in April, I’m planning to use our camping tent while the boat is in the slip.

 

Any recommendations for drawing the waterline without putting the boat in the water?

 

Any other advice for keeping a plywood boat in a slip?

 

Thanks,

 

Frank

San Jose, CA

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Waterlines have been a discussion several times on here.  You can search the forum for them.  One where Alan and Graham contributed their wisdom is:  https://messing-about.com/forums/topic/11736-how-best-to-apply-the-perfect-waterline/?do=findComment&comment=107290

 

In addition, if you are putting on bottom paint and will be cruising the boat, likely it'll be sitting around with a bit more payload aboard than normal, so I'd consider running the bottom paint an extra inch or so higher than DWL so it doesn't develop a line of grunge on the topside paint while sitting.  My big keelboat had that stain line just at the boot stripe, so I had it raised up when the yard repainted it.

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Thanks! I should have checked the old messages first. I think the thread you linked has everything I need except the actual dimensions for where the waterline location on the bow and stern (since my boat is the only one that was ever built and there were never any plans, I may have to do some guessing).

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13 hours ago, BradW said:

In addition, if you are putting on bottom paint and will be cruising the boat, likely it'll be sitting around with a bit more payload aboard than normal, so I'd consider running the bottom paint an extra inch or so higher than DWL so it doesn't develop a line of grunge on the topside paint while sitting.  My big keelboat had that stain line just at the boot stripe, so I had it raised up when the yard repainted it.

Great advice!  Way too many boats at moorings or slips have slime lines at the water line because they didn't do this.  Even if not loaded, the growth extends above the actual water line due to waves keeping it wet.  It does not look ugly to see a little bottom paint. A slime line is always ugly.

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Another thought is that the camping tent will present quite a bit more wind resistance than the bare boat, so I'd try to make sure its well tied down and if any parts tend to flap, try to remedy that before leaving it.  To save both the tent and avoid boat damage while tied up.  One good thunderstorm w/ wind could do damage you might not anticipate.  And if the sails are staying on the spars, plenty of sail ties and/or covers so they don't get away.  I've seen too many roller furled headsails that the owners didn't properly secure get the wind into the furl and then undo it and blow it to shreds.  Last, if you have a battery w/ charging capability, I'd put a small auto bilge pump in it to avoid collecting rain that makes it past the tent.

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Good point about the windage, maybe I'll make a streamlined mooring cover instead. I used to have something like that when I kept my Drascombe longboat in a slip in Sparrows Point, Baltimore. Unlike my CS20, the Drascombe was fiberglass so I didn't worry too much about leaving it in the rain. But my CS20 does have a self-bailing cockpit which will make it easier. Also, the house we are staying at will be a five minute walk to the slip and we plan to get a lot of early morning and evening short outings as part of our training.

 

I'm glad you mentioned a bilge pump, because I'm adding a complete electrical system with a 100Ah lithium battery, 50W solar panel, Nav Lights and Chart Plotter with sonar for a depth finder. A portable electric bilge pump would also make it easier to empty the ballast tanks.

 

(I don't want to start a battery technology rant, but after years of lead-acid batteries I am sold on lithium batteries. Initial cost is high, but I plan to keep it for a long time and in the end it will be cheaper - it is amazingly lightweight, lasts for 2000 cycles, is usable for all 100Ah, has a cold weather cutoff and even has bluetooth.)

 

Our 2023 goal is to be able to cruise the remote parts of British Columbia where we may be away from resupply for up to two weeks. We will also bring a lightweight packraft for a dinghy since we like to explore on shore but, with 10' to 15' tides, you have to be careful how you get to shore. Also planning to ditch our gas outboard motor and mostly row with periodic assist from a torqeedo outboard. 

 

 

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On 1/29/2022 at 4:49 PM, BradW said:

n addition, if you are putting on bottom paint and will be cruising the boat, likely it'll be sitting around with a bit more payload aboard than normal, so I'd consider running the bottom paint an extra inch or so higher than DWL so it doesn't develop a line of grunge on the topside paint while sitting.  My big keelboat had that stain line just at the boot stripe, so I had it raised up when the yard repainted it.

Another option, depending on your personal level of finickyness, is to raise the bottom paint level as noted and then paint a boot stripe above it, using bottom paint for the boot stripe.  That way you have protection well up the boat, plus a boot stripe, to boot, ha.  Of course you also have to mask about 3 times, or have a really steady hand.  Up to you whether it's worth all that.  I just run the bottom paint on my big boat up higher. 

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@sanmi— I’d like to hear more about your experience with Lithium Ion batteries.  We have a travel trailer.  We’ve used flooded batteries.  We’re currently using AGM’s but I’m disappointed in their poor capabilities.  These batteries should be named “knee-deep-cycle” batteries!  To change over to LI, I’d also need to replace my internal charging unit, too, right?

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I'm sold on Lithium but not an expert. Here's what I've learned:

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Frank,

 

As much as I like electric propulsion I think that you may be optimistic with your system. While it is true that you can extract 100 amps out of that battery. If you love it like need to and you want to enjoy all of those charge cycles you need to set that controller to no more than 90% and down to 25%. Most people I know set their controller even more conservatively. That is still a lot better than old battery technology.

 

I have almost the same system on Carlita. I have a 50w Renogy panel going to a Victron 7515 controller and a 100 amp hour lithium battery.

 

My system was just adequate on my last cruise without electric propulsion. In fairness I have the panel in a very inefficient place. I can't find a better place that will not be in the way and be secure when all hell breaks loose.

 

I see that flexible panels are getting better and with the promise of longer life. I was considering putting a 100w flexible panel on Southern Skimmer. I was thinking or mounting it on a well epoxied panel of 6mm okume ply with 6mm ply ribs for cooling so that I can lash it down the center of the cabin as it's home position. When it is in the shade I can move it to the sunny side. The problem with doing that on Carlita is that the panel is built like a tank and it is comforting to leave it bolted down. As I write this I suppose I could rework the frame making it well padded with 4 good eyes for lashing it in place.

 

I have only been to Port Townsend twice but from my limited observations it is not as sunny as it is here plus you have a lot of light air and big tides. What you have is certainly enough to get you back in before dark in a calm on a day sail but for a serious trip it would be nice to rev up your system.

 

We installed lots of Victron stuff on the big power cat that we built and it worked and still is working flawlessly.

 

 

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Graham,


If I follow your 90% / 25% rule of thumb, then it leaves me 90 - 25 = 65 amp-hours of usable energy. I'll factor that in to my plans, 


My 100Ah system is intended just for the Chartplotter/sonar, anchor light, and charging portable electronics.  Here are my calculations:

Load per day

  • .7A * 8 hr = 5.6AH  - Echomap 74sv w/ dual beam transducer (spec for .8A with side beam transducer)
  • .2A * 10 hr = 2 AH - Anchor Light 
  • 1.5 + 1 + .3 + .3 = 3.1 AH - Charging two phones and watches
  • Total: 5.6 + 2 + 3.1 = 10 AH per day

Solar Charge per day

  • Assume most days will be cloudy = .3 of rated power
  • 10 hours sunlight per day in the summer in the high latitudes
  • 50 W * 10H / 12V * .10 = 12 AH 

So if my estimates are correct, I should be able to power my electronics just from the panel and still have some left over for maybe adding a powerful VHF. But with 65AH usable energy, that is still 6.5 days with zero solar charging and more like 12 days if we are staying at anchor (which would be likely if there was no sun for a week!). If we only get 5AH from the panel, that still gives us 13 days of power and, if we need to, we can save power by turning off the sonar, switching off the chart plotter for extended periods, only charging one phone, etc. Also, given the constraints of wind and tide (see below), I doubt that we will be navigating for 8 hours per day.

I haven't found a great place to put the solar charger so I made an extra large circuit panel and added some ventilation. Any other ideas?
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As far as propulsion goes, our main propulsion will be oar and sail. The tides in British Columbia are 10 to 15 feet with 3 to 6 kt currents. There are long periods without a lot of wind, and the wind doesn't always coincide with a favorable tide, so our itinerary needs to be very flexible. We will have to plan our day by the tide tables and the summer wind patterns (which are fairly consistent). For example, on windless days we will be happy rowing for 4 hours with the tide to make it 10 or 15 miles to our next anchorage. Depending on our start date, and direction of travel it may involve getting underway anywhere from 5am to 3pm.  On windy days, our boat can take us much farther.

A friend of ours did 400 miles in six weeks in the inside passage without a motor (https://smallboatsmonthly.com/article/southing/). He traveled with the tide and had no fixed schedule, and that is our plan too. His boat is lighter and smaller than ours which lets him row against the wind and tide in places where we can't, so we think we need something to help us into and out of marinas where the wind or tide won't be in our favor. But I am pretty sure we can be safe and happy while hardly using the outboard. On a five day cruise last year in the Columbia River, we used the motor for a total of about 1.5 hours. We would love to get rid of the smelly gas, oil and noise. Plus - it has reverse speed!



 

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Also, I haven't decided whether to go with a masthead light or deck mounted lights. If I choose a masthead light, I'll either need to dismantle it every time I put the boat back in the driveway or get a new boat cover because our custom cover fits snugIy over the masthead. There are port and starboard nav lights on the cabin, but I am concerned a transom light may be too low and will get obscured by waves. I'm also concerned about night vision. We won't plan to be sailing at night but it might happen. There will probably times when we have to start rowing before dawn . Any opinions?

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3 hours ago, Captain Tim said:

An all around LED white could be used while anchored or steaming.

 

A steaming light is white, but should only shine for a radius of 225° centered forward. A 360° white light located any where can be used for an anchor light. I would hang one from my boom over the cockpit when anchoring in my Renegade. An anchor light is to keep people from hitting you at night, and something down low can do this better in a crowded harbor, and works well in more isolated areas as well.

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I prefer the tricolor with anchor light at the top of the main mast. Here is the connector that I am using with the female part mounted on the forward bulkhead under the deck to starboard of the mast. https://sea-dog.com/groups/737-polarized-electrical-outlet  I currently do not have the masthead light and do as Dave says. It sure would be nice to just flick a switch sometimes. I once had a coaster captain tell me that he first thought that my masthead light was a star. It was 50' above the water.

 

I will be interested in how the power works out. I have fantasies of running the electric motor at an idle speed so that you cannot hear it but it will just have enough power to unstick the boat so that what little wind that is available will keep her moving. I think that you might be able to cover a lot of miles without using too many amps.

 

When I left visiting Ken on Salt Pond Island on a Friday morning I needed to get to Friday Harbor before the US Customs shut down for the weekend. The wind eventually arrived and I just got the rig trimmed when it died. This was repeated over and over. I had another reason to hustle, the good weather was leaving us in a day or so. I just made it in time to clear Customs. I heard a couple of locals across the dock while looking at the sky say ("this is the end of summer"). I motored and sailed through the night back to Port Townsend, hauled and packed the boat and hauled butt to the southeast. As the snow chased me up the Rockies I nervously eyed those snow chain pullouts and wondered what I would do if I had to stop. When I left home in a heat wave, cold weather clothing was the last thing on my mind. 

 

 

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1 hour ago, Hirilonde said:

A steaming light is white, but should only shine for a radius of 225° centered forward. A 360° white light located any where can be used for an anchor light. I would hang one from my boom over the cockpit when anchoring in my Renegade. An anchor light is to keep people from hitting you at night, and something down low can do this better in a crowded harbor, and works well in more isolated areas as well.

Totally agree a steaming light shows 225 degrees and a stern light fills in the other 135 degrees. A vessel under 40' can use an all around white light in place of a steaming light and a stern light.

I also agree with hanging an anchor light lower than the mast head on a large sail boat. I did not think the CS 20 masts were too tall for a mast head anchor light. I've had people tell me that my "anchor light" hanging from my boom was illegal because the mast blocked the light from bring 360 degrees.

I told them no one was looking for my anchor light 55' feet in the sky. 

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