Good video for anyone looking for a Sea Pearl 21
Saturday, December 30, 2017
Friday, December 29, 2017
Setting Up A Sea Pearl for Camping
Great article originally posted on seapearlboats.org and recovered using archive.org
How to go Cruising in Comfort in a Small Boat
By Ron Hoddinott for Small Craft Advisory
The purpose of this article is to explain as clearly as possible, how to take a small open boat, or mini-cruiser, and go cruising for a week or more, and be comfortable and happy for the entire trip. In order to successfully do this, you must be well organized, well prepared, and be willing to adapt to your new environment during the duration of the trip. The benefits of doing so far outweigh the tradeoffs that you must make in the process. The shorelines, sunsets, secret coves, communion with wildlife, sense of self-discovery and inner-peace are all benefits of taking the road less traveled in a small boat with shallow draft into the wilderness.
But how is it possible to safely and comfortably do, in such a small shallow craft, what many feel requires a larger and more substantial vessel? Following in the wakes of Shane St. Claire, who circumnavigated the eastern United States in six months in a SeaPearl 21, and Frank and Margaret Dye who taught everyone that the size of the craft is not a complete measure of its seaworthiness, I discovered, by occasionally dispensing with “accepted wisdom”, how this is possible and even fun.
To begin with, I believe that in most, but certainly not every small boat, the potential for a shoal water cruiser exists. Beyond the necessity for seaworthiness and shallow draft, the essentials are:
Nothing can make a sailor more likely to cut his cruise short and go home than a lack of comfortable sleeping accommodations. Waking up with a backache and sore shoulders is a difficult way to start a cruise. A dry comfortable bunk with good ventilation and enough length and breath to stretch out and roll over is a first essential for a cruising boat.
For boats that lack traditional bunks down below, the ability to lie down full length depends in part on the shape of the bottom of the inside of the hull, or floor of the boat. Boats such as the Flying Scott, while great sailing boats, make sleeping aboard difficult, since there is no flat floor to lie down on. The floor features the same shapely curves as the hull. This does not make the Flying Scott unusable as an open boat cruiser, but the owners would have to make some arrangement of folding boards to create a flat spot to sleep on, perhaps between the seats. A small tent could then be erected on this folding platform.
A boat with a flat floor or hull shape makes it easy to create a sleeping area with little additional creativity. The Nimble Bay Hen, for example, has a flat floor with a folding sleeping mat as a popular option. The Dovekie has a completely flat floor (and hull), which is quite large enough to two large people to unfold self inflating air mattresses or other form of pad. The Wayfarer dinghy also features flat floorboards. The early SeaPearls had no water ballast tanks, and many of those boats are still around. With no ballast tanks the boat had a larger interior, but the floor was not completely flat except in the center of the floor. Two people could sleep below comfortably, as there was a lot more shoulder room under the side decks. With the introduction of ballast tanks, the SeaPearl has become a better cruiser for one, but two can still sleep aboard in a pinch. The ballast tanks are on both sides of the center cockpit, and there is a space between them covered with teak and holly sole boards. This design provides a perfectly flat area from side to side, and had the added advantages of creating a perfect storage area under the sole boards, and getting you above any water that may find itself below. Having a place to lie down isn’t the same as having a sleeping system that is both comfortable and easy to stow. Easy to stow can take several approaches. The first approach is the obvious: that your sleeping gear folds, rolls, or stuffs easily into dry bags that can then be stowed below. The other approach is that the sleeping gear, or part of it, can serve other uses aboard your vessel. For example, after a few years of cruising with the backpacker’s self-inflating air mattress, I got tired of tediously rolling it up and stuffing it laboriously back into it’s stuff sack each morning. I was worn out when that struggle was finished, and I had no place to lie down for a rest! A Sierra Club guide who also sails a SeaPearl, gave me a Sport-a-Seat to try, and I soon realized that it could serve as both very comfortable seat, and when folded flat, a great sleeping pad. All I had to add was a seat cushion down by my feet. The Sport-a-Seat is not inexpensive, but I can attest that it is rugged. It features Sunbrella material in several colors, and an internal ratchet hinge that allows you to set the angle of the back at any angle from 90 to 180 degrees. Sport-a-Seats are available at Boat US and West Marine for about 100 dollars. Now when I awake, I first lift the seat into an upright position, and then, comfortably seated below, I can leisurely stuff my synthetic fiber sleeping bag, into its stuff sack and then into a number 20 Seal Line dry bag.
Another innovation that I have employed is a device called the Pac-Mate, although similar devices are now marketed under different names including Coleman. Pac-Mate is a flat plastic envelope that has a zip lock seal on the opening, and one-way valves for air to escape on the opposite end. I personally have a hard time falling asleep without a real pillow. The tiny “camp pillows” that backpackers use just do not work for me. So, into the large size Pac-Mate, went my favorite pillow. It’s amazing what a small compact package a pillow becomes when all the air is squeezed out of it. It’s now a compact package that is also protected from spray or rain. It can then be rolled up and secured with a strap or line before being stowed below.
Most of us enjoy sleeping aboard when the weather requires a sleeping bag to stay cool. It’s always easier to stay warm than cool off when the weather is too hot to sleep comfortably. When selecting a sleeping bag, don’t just go to your local department store and select the cheapest bag available. There are different styles of bags, and different materials. The less expensive ones are really for the car/tent campers, or teenage sleepovers. They won’t hold up under tough use, and their worst characteristic is that they are too bulky for use on most small sailboats.
You never want to try to sleep in a wet sleeping bag. That fact prompted me to find a sleeping bag that would fit into the largest dry bag that could be stowed easily aboard Whisper. This turned out to be a number 20 see-through Seal Line bag. These are tough and absolutely water tight bags when closed properly. I found my sleeping bag in a sporting goods store that specializes in backpacking. It has a quality stuff sack (Don’t roll it up! just stuff it!) and slips easily into the dry bag. While there, I realized the amazing amount of cross over in the equipment needed for backpacking and camp cruising. We can use a lot of the same equipment. We just don’t have to carry it all on our back!
Once you have the sleeping gear worked out, and lacking a permanent cabin overhead, you have to have some kind of convertible cabin or tent that will keep the rain and spray out of your boat. There are all kinds of possible ways to accomplish this goal. The best option is probably to go ahead and have a marine sewing company create a dodger type of cabin which can be used while sailing, or when anchored.
Consider tying it in with a bimini top. Don’t forget that it should have screens and perhaps even plastic windows to let in some light. If this expense is beyond your means, look into finding a quality tent that will cover your sleeping area aboard. I recommend a tent with aluminum poles. These tents are usually 3 or 4 season rated, and will stand up to a greater amount of wind. Some boaters will set up a series of connected boards between the seats to create a flat area for the tent, while others boats will use the tent with the bottom cut out and utilize the floor of the cockpit to set up camp.Another possibility is a simple boom tent. You can prop up the boom with a topping lift, or better yet a boom crutch or gallows. This can be a simple pup tent stretched over the boom, or it could be an elaborate tent with poles to create a true cabin aboard. A line running completely around the boat under the gunnel can be used to secure the tent. The tent could have Velcro tabs sewn around its perimeter to loop around the line and adjust for tension. If at all possible, use quality marine materials, like Sunbrella, which is a synthetic material that breathes and can be made watertight with occasion treatments of Camp Dry or some similar preparation. Plastic tarp like materials are inexpensive, but have several negatives to consider. They are noisy, and they don’t breathe. Under a tent made of plastic, you would have enough condensation in the morning to experience the unique “interior rain” phenomenon.
Don’t forget, if you can’t use it when sailing, you still have to keep your gear dry underway, somehow. A tonneau cover may suffice, depending on your cockpit shape.The SeaPearl has an optional folding cabin with screens and plastic windows. This Sunbrella cabin offers sitting headroom below, is well made, and snaps into place quickly with very little work. I can sail with it up, or down, depending on the weather, or expectation of taking water aboard. It is dry below in a downpour. The forward cockpit area of the SeaPearl, under the folding cabin is 7 feet long, and the floor is perfectly flat, with three long teak and holly sole boards bridging the space between the built in water ballast tanks on either side. On either side of this cockpit are teak railings, which can hold things from rolling around. There is storage under the bridgedeck and under the forward deck as well. Although two can sleep aboard the SeaPearl 21, it doesn’t leave room for much moving about, and some stowed items would have to be moved out into the cockpit. Not a good idea in inclement weather or when marauding raccoons could find a way aboard. On the other hand, if one had to sleep two aboard, a boom tent for the mizzen boom, can be made, with screens for ventilation, and boards can be set up between the cockpit seats. Long time SeaPearl sailor Dick Shepard made such a “back porch” arrangement for his SeaPearl, and claims it works quite well.
Other SeaPearlers have adapted aluminum framed tents to the open forward cockpit of the SeaPearl with varied results. Most of these arrangements do not allow the sailor to use the shelter while under way, but in some cases offer a larger space below when anchored. It is a trade off, but I think the space below with the standard cabin is adequate, and the benefit of using it under way is priceless. You cannot always be certain that you won’t get a shower while on a passage to the next island, and although a tonneau cover for this area is available, once it is fastened down, you cannot as easily reach in or duck below to grab a sandwich, your binoculars, or jacket.
The above discussion might beg the question, “Why not just camp ashore?” This is indeed occasionally an option, however it needs to be recognized that in today’s world, fewer and fewer places that otherwise offer great sailing have a shore line where you can just pull up and camp. Even in the public areas, there are most often defined campsites, which may or may not be available, and may or may not be right along the shore. With proper planning and permits, and the correct selection of cruising destination the camp ashore method is possible. But you will not always be able to find public campsites where you want to cruise, which offers you two choices, camp illegally or camp on your boat. I prefer to stay aboard whenever possible. I’m completely self contained, and do not have to unload and re-load camping gear to “make camp.” My camp is made when I cast off from the dock.
Food Storage and Preparation
For a cruise of any duration, it is of course necessary to bring enough food to sustain yourself and your crew, and have a means to prepare the food and clean up afterwards. Your basic food preparation needs can be met with a simple one burner stove, a one quart pot, a small tea pot to heat and pour water safely, a small frying pan, and a small assortment of implements, such as a plastic spatula, large spoon, and one knife, fork and spoon for each person aboard. In addition, I carry a medium sized plastic washtub which doubles as dish washing sink and personal wash basin.To find a place for food storage, I took measurements of the depth and width of the space in the bilge, under the three sole boards in the forward cockpit, and went looking for well made watertight storage boxes that would just fit in the space provided. With tape measure in hand I haunted the department stores until I located just the right Rubbermaid product. It would hold a dozen or more small canned food products, had a snap on watertight lid, and would snap into the space below the floor. I purchased three of them. More about what goes into them below. In addition to these storage boxes, I carry a small ice chest for perishable foods that just fits up under the forward deck. In Florida, ice lasts between one and three days, depending on the weather, but to help it last longer, freeze a water storage bottle a day ahead of the trip, and place this in the ice chest. As it melts it makes a great source of cold water for drinking.
To find a location for storage of food aboard your boat, look at any built in lockers first. Heavy items should be placed as low in the bilge as possible. This becomes additional ballast, an added benefit for a light vessel. Even if you have lockers to store your food, I recommend putting your food into rugged plastic boxes that can take a beating, and protect their contents. Cans carelessly thrown into the bilge can come up battered and without labels, leaving you to wonder if you’re opening beans or peaches, and disappointed fifty percent of the time. Old time ocean sailors resorted to removing these labels, and writing the names of the contents on the cans with permanent markers. You shouldn’t have to go to that extreme. Don’t forget water. You will need between one quart and one-half gallon of water per person per day, depending on what other liquids you are drinking. Water storage is also quite heavy, so should be stowed down low in the boat. Even if your boat has a built in water tank, consider bringing some sturdy water containers of equal volume. Don’t buy the one gallon jugs available in grocery stores, as they are quite fragile and will leak all over your sleeping gear, ruining your trip. Years ago I was able to obtain 1 liter plastic bottles from a hospital supply that used them for saline solution drips. They are very rugged and rectangular to help in storage. If you can’t find these, then consider purchasing the secure and well made Nalgene bottles. Short of that just bring a lot of the 12 ounce water bottles that can be purchased everywhere. A 2.5 gallon plastic water storage barrel with gravity fed spigot is also carried aboard Whisper when cruising for more than a few days.
The subject of stove fuel comes up quite often among cruising folk. It is well known that a non-pressurized alcohol stove is probably the safest, but it is also one of the slowest fuels to heat water, and can be messy to pour and store aboard. Propane, although a hot fuel, is bulky compared with other fuels, and is somewhat dangerous as the fumes are heavier than air, and can gather in the bilge. Kerosene or white gas are, in my opinion too dangerous to use aboard a boat, and pouring the liquid from container to stove can be problematic on board. This is an area where the backpacker’s concern for light weight are of no help to us. Backpacker’s stoves that use various fuels or multi-fuels, are very light and fold up into small packages. But they do not have substantial enough bases to support a pot sufficiently should you want to cook aboard while anchored in choppy water, or while being rocked by powerboat wakes. If you are only cooking ashore, as backpackers do, then these stoves are ideal, and are small enough that they could be carried as a backup stove.
The solution that I discovered almost by accident six years ago is the flat butane stove that uses paint can sized fuel canisters. These stoves have a wide base that supports a pan quite well, and is low to the deck. They also have an ignitor built right into the fuel control knob, so you don’t have to fiddle or depend on matches or lighters of any kind. The cans are small enough to store almost anywhere, and luckily are catching on well enough to be found in a variety of stores, from boating shops to hardware stores. The butane fuel is quite hot and easily modulated by the stove’s burner control. Unless the fuel canister is almost empty, even a low flame can be kept burning evenly. A can of butane will burn last between one and two hours of cooking depending on the outside temperature and how high you set the burner. For me this works out to roughly one canister for every three days of cruising. If you’re cooking for more that one person, or cooking elaborate meals, you may have to use more. These ubiquitous butane stoves cost between 20 and 40 dollars, and some even come with a carrying case. The stove that is marketed in marine stores under the Kenyon name has a brass or burner, and is on the higher side of the price range, but otherwise seems to be about the same.
When cooking, the stove should be located in a secure place that is somewhat out of the wind, but not in a location where there is no ventilation! On the SeaPearl, the best place for the stove seems to be on the bridge deck, just aft of the cabin. I can sit in the aft cockpit, or below on my Sport-a-Seat, with everything that I need at hand, and put the water on the stove in the teapot, while preparing the meal. If it is just too windy or cold for the stove to operate efficiently outside, I set the stove in the bilge with the aft sole board removed, and cook below. I always keep air flowing through the cabin during this process. In addition to the boat stove, I also carry a small folding grill for shore side preparation of such delicacies as hot dogs, and hamburgers over an open fire. One quick lesson from Ida Little’s book “Beachcruising and Coastal Camping”: Let the fire burn down to hot coals before cooking. You want to cook your food, not setit on fire. One more item related to stoves and grills. Whenever a stove goes aboard my boat, a fire extinguisher follows. Nothing can ruin your day more than setting your floating home on fire.
As I mentioned, I keep my dried and canned food and food preparation gear in Rubbermaid plastic boxes with tight waterproof lids under the sole boards. For trips of a week or more, I use three of these boxes, but for a weekend trip, two boxes are sufficient. Although there are many ways to organize what goes into these boxes, I have worked out a system that works for me. I use the guiding principle “keep like things together”, and always put them back where they go when finished. Sticking to this rule in all your storage needs aboard will keep you from frantically searching around for that second flashlight in the dark, when your primary flashlight goes dead. So into one box goes every utensil that I may need when cooking, including a very small bottle of cooking oil, spatula, can opener, small Tupperware container of instant coffee, spices, toothpicks, large spoon, knives, teaspoon, forks, butane fire starter, matches, hot pad, dishwashing rag, and dish towel. Since I sometimes like to brew up some tea or instant coffee even when not cooking a meal, I put those items in this primary storage box as well. For those who prefer to brew real coffee, Hugh Horton uses the french coffee press which makes one large mug of coffee right in it’s own drinking container. These are available at Northwest - REI and other sporting stores.Into the second box goes the tinned meats, fruits, and vegetables. Chicken, turkey, cheese, smoked whitefish, smoked oysters, instant oatmeal, corned beef hash, or whatever you can find at your local grocery are stables of these kinds of expeditions. How do you make these cans of food into a meal? Creativity is an essential element. Here’s an example from Hugh Horton, "Meade’s lunch---the appetizer recipe of smoked whitefish and sharp cheddar on Wasa, and sliced apples. I make coffee. Meade offers a bottle of Australian merlot with his appetizers and dinner, which is my duty. I mix either two cans of turkey, chicken or tuna, with two cans of green chilies and one chick peas, and an elective of either corn, black-eyed peas, ramen noodles, and/or spiced rice. Hot pepper or “Lite” soy sauce. Canned pears or peaches, light too."
These canned and dried foods store easily, last virtually forever, and actually taste quite good. Occasionally a shore side meal, or a meal prepared at home and sealed in a boiling bag will relieve the boredom of opening cans for each meal. If ice is brought along in a cooler, the first few days can feature fresh food. Hard boiled eggs prepared ahead of time also are always on Whisper when we are cruising. Sliced up hard boiled eggs on top of a sizzling pan of corned beef hash, makes a warm and filling breakfast with some Wasa bread and coffee. When it comes to canned meats, I prefer canned turkey and chicken, but canned salmon, and fish such as sardines also make quick snacks or even meals. If you like spicy foods, try sardines in salsa, or Louisiana hot sauce. Placed on a cracker or flat Wasa bread, with a hunk of sharp cheddar, and eaten with slices of apple or canned peaches, this makes an excellent lunch or snack. If you are not familiar with Wasa bread, it is mainly what we use aboard as a substitute for a loaf of bread. No matter where I stored a sliced loaf of bread aboard, it always seemed to come out mashed, so I just looked about for a substitute. Wasa bread is of scandinavian origin, and is cross between a thick cracker and toast. It comes in a wide variety of grains, including my favorite, light rye. If bread is an absolute must for you, look for a plastic tube with rubber removable ends. I was given a tee shirt in one at a benefit concert, and recognized right away that it would have some use aboard. I soon discovered that a small narrow unsliced loaf of french or sourdough bread can be squeezed into this watertight and crush proof case for use aboard.My third storage box is reserved for backup tins, packages of dried foods, such as pasta meals, and cans of beans and soup. Since most of my cruising is now limited to three or four days, this box rarely gets opened. To make it easy to go cruising on a moment’s notice, I keep these boxes on a shelf in my garage, ready to be loaded aboard. It makes sense to keep your storage shelves ashore organized as well. This method is not the only food storage organizational method that will work, by any means. One of my favorite cruising SeaPearl buddies, Steve Morrill, has a totally different method that works well for him. Steve was a Sierra Club guide for the Everglades, and had “graduated” to a larger boat, while I was scaling down to a smaller boat. Our approaches to packing couldn’t have been more different. After a long day weaving our way through the Wilderness Waterway in the Everglades National Park, we anchored in Lostman’s River to make a dash for Florida Bay on an outgoing tide in the morning. We were rafted together to chat and prepare our dinner before dusk and the inevitable attack of the killer mosquitoes. As I looked over into Steve’s boat, I didn’t see anything in the forward cockpit! His storage methods left me baffled. We had planned for a week in the Everglades. Where was his camping equipment? His food? Where was everything stored? Then I noticed a large black storage box at the front of the forward cockpit. Everything he needed was inside, except his food. Steve lifted up a sole board and pulled out a box marked Monday. Steve had prepared each of his meals for every day of the trip, labeled with a marker inside a small box that was labeled with the day of the week. If it was Monday dinner, then it was tuna surprise! Most of his meals were already prepared at home, and it was only a matter of tossing them in some boiling water, to heat them up. Little effort and almost no mess. I have since adopted his method of preparing some of my meals ahead of time, and freezing them in sealed freezer bags. It won’t work for everything, but it makes cleanup a lot easier.
One quick word about freeze dried meals that are sold to back packers. They were invented to save weight. This is usually not a problem aboard a small cruiser. You have to carry extra water for each freeze dried meal that you prepare, and the ones that I’ve sampled do not come close to the canned foods that we carry aboard our beach cruisers. I usually carry one aboard for an emergency, but would not recommend it as a regular method of dining aboard.
With so many items going aboard, and being removed after the cruise, how is it possible to not forget important or essential gear? The simple answer for me is a checklist. When making final preparations for a multi-day cruise, I print out my cruising checklist and check off each item as it goes into the boat. I started using a checklist after discovering on one cruise that I had plenty of food for the weekend trip, but the stove was still on its shelf at home. You will have to create a checklist that meets your needs, and add or delete items to the list as time goes by and you add or delete essential items to your cruising gear and food selections. I subdivided my checklist into these sections: Food, Navigation Gear, Safety, and Clothing.
Safety
Since I cruise solo almost exclusively, I take safety seriously, and I encourage all small boat sailors to do the same. When sailing, I wear either a lightweight inflatable vest, or at least a belt pack inflatable PFD. On passages across open water I also carry and occasionally wear a safety harness left over from my passage making days aboard my Catalina 27. A study through bolted D-shaped eyebolt is its attachment point in the cockpit. There are other dangers aboard a small boat used for cruising that must be prepared for and guarded against. Besides the danger of seeing your boat sailing away from you after you have fallen overboard, perhaps the greatest danger aboard is fire. You should always have one, or perhaps two quality marine fire extinguishers with you at all times when cruising. You could experience a fire from two main sources: your cooking stove, and your gasoline powered engine. A leak in the fuel source from either can mean disaster if not discovered before you light the stove. Your nose is the best detector for fuel leaks.
Beyond fire and falling overboard, there are additional dangers from which you must protect yourself. The best way to protect yourself from these dangers is to make a pact with yourself to not take unnecessary chances, and stick to it.While cruising the North Channel solo, for example, I climbed up a steep rocky hillside to get a better vantage point for a snap shot of Whisper at anchor in the cove below. There was no trail, it was hand over foot climbing, and the rocky cliff was covered with fallen pine needles, causing me to slip and almost fall 40 feet down the slope. I quickly reminded myself that I was alone, and that there was no one around to help me if I fell. I took a quick snap shot and very gently eased myself back down the slippery rocks. Lesson learned, and somewhat shaken, I took better care of myself the rest of the trip.
Not taking unnecessary chances implies that you are informed enough to know when things could get dangerous. Weather is obviously a potential danger. Strong winds, storms, and lightning can get you killed, or at least very wet. Invest in a quality VHF radio to receive the marine weather forecast as well as transmit and receive messages from other vessels and destinations. It’s much better to lay over a day in a dry, safe location than to try to muscle it out just to stick to a schedule or get back on time. Keep your schedules flexible. Try to plan your trips around the prevailing winds in the area you’re cruising, and allow at least one extra day of “layover” for the unexpected. Another strategy is to have located alternative destinations along the way that can be used as pull out, or lay over spots. A cruise that doesn’t follow your initial plans isn’t a complete loss! That little village at the end of “Deep Water Cove” may just be the most delightful place you’ve ever visited. As Hugh Horton says, become a “voyage person”, not a “destination person.”
If the unexpected happens and you are caught out in a squall in open water, you should know how to prevent a capsize of your open boat. Can you put your boat into a protective “hove to” position? Can you quickly reef your sails? Do you have, and know how to use, a drogue? You should also know if your boat can be righted and bailed out should it be capsized. Can it be self-rescued without outside assistance? Do you have enough floatation aboard to keep the hull above water high enough to bail her out? Do you have a marine radio, or other means of calling or signaling for help if needed? The answers to these and other questions related to seamanship could fill several volumes, and are beyond the scope of this article, except to say that in preparing for any voyage in a small boat, seamanship, foresight, planning, and practice are your best safety tool.
Comfort
If you want to cruise, but cannot do so comfortably, then you won’t cruise often or far. You will have to decide what it is that makes you comfortable. For some it may mean simply having a bimini top over their head on a sunny day. A comfortable cockpit with room for your feet, and a cushion for your bottom is essential for many, but there are other essential elements of comfort that cannot be ignored when going for more than a day sail.
Staying dry is one essential element. If you get drenched, you will be uncomfortable quickly on the warmest day, and in cool, windy weather you could suffer from hypothermia. This means that you should invest in a quality rain suit for each sailor aboard, and put it on before that rain squall hits. Although you probably don’t need the same foul weather gear that an ocean going crew need, you do need a marine quality foul weather suite from a reputable manufacturer. Leave the Disney ponchos home, please. Having other appropriate outer wear for cool or hot days means planning ahead, and in this case the camping and backpacking stores are your best bet. The clothes they sell are expensive but well made, and the synthetic fibers are well suited to both the cool and warm marine environment. How many clothes to pack depends on the weather and the planned length of the cruise. In hot weather you’ll change your t-shirts much more frequently than your shorts or swim suit. You won’t change your clothes every day, but you should at least have one change of clothes in case your primary set get wet or damaged. If you plan on eating out along the way, you may pack one presentable outfit, and roll it up before it goes into the dry bag to prevent wrinkles. Shoes are another item of personal preference, but for southern beaches I recommend rubber sandals with good straps, such as Tevas or Reefs, and athletic shoes for hiking or walking ashore.
Everyone has certain comfort levels regarding personal hygiene. I like to feel clean when cruising, so that means keeping the cabin free of sand, for example. A washtub and towel in the cockpit to wash my sandy feet before slipping below was the answer to that problem. I also enjoy a shave in the morning and an occasional sponge bath. A few cups of hot fresh water left over from the teakettle and some liquid soap in a plastic washtub are all that is required. My Braun 4000 battery operated shaver can be heard buzzing away almost every morning after I’ve savored my morning coffee. Three AA batteries will last a month of shaving. When a shampoo is needed, I rig a “Solar Shower” overhead and let the self-draining cockpit become my shampoo headquarters.In addition to being clean, it is necessary to be able to comfortably and discretely take care of other bodily functions. For this purpose I have stowed a port-a-potty under the bridge deck of Whisper. With the camper top up, and the potty slid forward into the cabin, it is possible to take care of your important business in complete privacy. A watertight container of biodegradable toilet paper is always at hand.
What else is needed for personal comfort? How about a good book? A good argument can be made about a book being a safety item. With a good book aboard, you are more likely to wait for a break in the weather instead of making a rushed decision to go on with the trip regardless of a dangerous condition.
I like to have an AM/FM radio aboard for entertainment and information as well. I started out with a Sony Sports radio about the size of a breadbox. The size was difficult to justify aboard Whisper, so I purchased an inexpensive solar/wind-up/battery operated radio that was also smaller. However, the lack of quality made it almost useless for tuning in distant stations. I recently downsized further to a tiny Sony Walkman with a small set of speakers that stow almost anywhere. I can hang the speakers in the frame of Whisper’s cabin for true stereo effect, and I don’t have to wear uncomfortable earphones. Many nights I have fallen asleep to the sounds of NPR under the stars. This small radio is powered by a single AAA battery, so it’s easy to carry spares.
I obviously enjoy writing about my adventures, so the tools for writing in a log, or journal are always stored aboard before I cast off. In the evenings, when anchored in a quiet cove, a battery powered light brightly illuminates the small cozy cabin of Whisper, and I am quietly adding my thoughts for the day to my cruising log.
Conclusions
I’m occasionally asked if I miss the larger, deep draft sailboat. The answer is always no. That type of craft now seems to me like a helpless one legged seabird soaring above the surface of the sea, never able to safely land or seek shelter. Being able to seek solitude among the mangroves, or dry out at low tide in shallow flats watching the fiddler crabs emerge from their burrows, while I relax in the cockpit enjoying my morning coffee, is all I ask of a sailing experience. Within a half hour from home, I can be lost in a mangrove maze, or traversing a sea grass prairie barely covered by a smooth expanse of aquamarine water. In a few days of driving, I can explore vast expanses of fresh water in he Great Lakes, or visit the historic coves and islands of the Chesapeake or the New England coast.
Seamanship, creative preparation, creativity, and flexibility, are all essential elements of the successful small boat cruise. Don’t leave home without them.
References:
1. Frank and Margaret Dye, Open-Boat Cruising (Coastal and Inland Waters), David & Charles; North Pomfret Vermont; 1982
2. Ida Little and Michael Walsh; Beachcruising and Coastal Cruising; Wescott Cove Publishing Company; Stamford Ct.;1992.
How to go Cruising in Comfort in a Small Boat
By Ron Hoddinott for Small Craft Advisory
The purpose of this article is to explain as clearly as possible, how to take a small open boat, or mini-cruiser, and go cruising for a week or more, and be comfortable and happy for the entire trip. In order to successfully do this, you must be well organized, well prepared, and be willing to adapt to your new environment during the duration of the trip. The benefits of doing so far outweigh the tradeoffs that you must make in the process. The shorelines, sunsets, secret coves, communion with wildlife, sense of self-discovery and inner-peace are all benefits of taking the road less traveled in a small boat with shallow draft into the wilderness.
But how is it possible to safely and comfortably do, in such a small shallow craft, what many feel requires a larger and more substantial vessel? Following in the wakes of Shane St. Claire, who circumnavigated the eastern United States in six months in a SeaPearl 21, and Frank and Margaret Dye who taught everyone that the size of the craft is not a complete measure of its seaworthiness, I discovered, by occasionally dispensing with “accepted wisdom”, how this is possible and even fun.
To begin with, I believe that in most, but certainly not every small boat, the potential for a shoal water cruiser exists. Beyond the necessity for seaworthiness and shallow draft, the essentials are:
- A dry place to lie down full length and turn over during the night.
- A portable head or port-a-potty, as it has come to be called.
- Enough storage room for food, water and clothing for the duration of the intended voyage.
- A place to cook food and clean up after a meal.
- A place to relax and read or listen to music or the sounds of nature in both the sitting and reclining posture.
- Shelter
Nothing can make a sailor more likely to cut his cruise short and go home than a lack of comfortable sleeping accommodations. Waking up with a backache and sore shoulders is a difficult way to start a cruise. A dry comfortable bunk with good ventilation and enough length and breath to stretch out and roll over is a first essential for a cruising boat.
For boats that lack traditional bunks down below, the ability to lie down full length depends in part on the shape of the bottom of the inside of the hull, or floor of the boat. Boats such as the Flying Scott, while great sailing boats, make sleeping aboard difficult, since there is no flat floor to lie down on. The floor features the same shapely curves as the hull. This does not make the Flying Scott unusable as an open boat cruiser, but the owners would have to make some arrangement of folding boards to create a flat spot to sleep on, perhaps between the seats. A small tent could then be erected on this folding platform.
A boat with a flat floor or hull shape makes it easy to create a sleeping area with little additional creativity. The Nimble Bay Hen, for example, has a flat floor with a folding sleeping mat as a popular option. The Dovekie has a completely flat floor (and hull), which is quite large enough to two large people to unfold self inflating air mattresses or other form of pad. The Wayfarer dinghy also features flat floorboards. The early SeaPearls had no water ballast tanks, and many of those boats are still around. With no ballast tanks the boat had a larger interior, but the floor was not completely flat except in the center of the floor. Two people could sleep below comfortably, as there was a lot more shoulder room under the side decks. With the introduction of ballast tanks, the SeaPearl has become a better cruiser for one, but two can still sleep aboard in a pinch. The ballast tanks are on both sides of the center cockpit, and there is a space between them covered with teak and holly sole boards. This design provides a perfectly flat area from side to side, and had the added advantages of creating a perfect storage area under the sole boards, and getting you above any water that may find itself below. Having a place to lie down isn’t the same as having a sleeping system that is both comfortable and easy to stow. Easy to stow can take several approaches. The first approach is the obvious: that your sleeping gear folds, rolls, or stuffs easily into dry bags that can then be stowed below. The other approach is that the sleeping gear, or part of it, can serve other uses aboard your vessel. For example, after a few years of cruising with the backpacker’s self-inflating air mattress, I got tired of tediously rolling it up and stuffing it laboriously back into it’s stuff sack each morning. I was worn out when that struggle was finished, and I had no place to lie down for a rest! A Sierra Club guide who also sails a SeaPearl, gave me a Sport-a-Seat to try, and I soon realized that it could serve as both very comfortable seat, and when folded flat, a great sleeping pad. All I had to add was a seat cushion down by my feet. The Sport-a-Seat is not inexpensive, but I can attest that it is rugged. It features Sunbrella material in several colors, and an internal ratchet hinge that allows you to set the angle of the back at any angle from 90 to 180 degrees. Sport-a-Seats are available at Boat US and West Marine for about 100 dollars. Now when I awake, I first lift the seat into an upright position, and then, comfortably seated below, I can leisurely stuff my synthetic fiber sleeping bag, into its stuff sack and then into a number 20 Seal Line dry bag.
Another innovation that I have employed is a device called the Pac-Mate, although similar devices are now marketed under different names including Coleman. Pac-Mate is a flat plastic envelope that has a zip lock seal on the opening, and one-way valves for air to escape on the opposite end. I personally have a hard time falling asleep without a real pillow. The tiny “camp pillows” that backpackers use just do not work for me. So, into the large size Pac-Mate, went my favorite pillow. It’s amazing what a small compact package a pillow becomes when all the air is squeezed out of it. It’s now a compact package that is also protected from spray or rain. It can then be rolled up and secured with a strap or line before being stowed below.
Most of us enjoy sleeping aboard when the weather requires a sleeping bag to stay cool. It’s always easier to stay warm than cool off when the weather is too hot to sleep comfortably. When selecting a sleeping bag, don’t just go to your local department store and select the cheapest bag available. There are different styles of bags, and different materials. The less expensive ones are really for the car/tent campers, or teenage sleepovers. They won’t hold up under tough use, and their worst characteristic is that they are too bulky for use on most small sailboats.
You never want to try to sleep in a wet sleeping bag. That fact prompted me to find a sleeping bag that would fit into the largest dry bag that could be stowed easily aboard Whisper. This turned out to be a number 20 see-through Seal Line bag. These are tough and absolutely water tight bags when closed properly. I found my sleeping bag in a sporting goods store that specializes in backpacking. It has a quality stuff sack (Don’t roll it up! just stuff it!) and slips easily into the dry bag. While there, I realized the amazing amount of cross over in the equipment needed for backpacking and camp cruising. We can use a lot of the same equipment. We just don’t have to carry it all on our back!
Once you have the sleeping gear worked out, and lacking a permanent cabin overhead, you have to have some kind of convertible cabin or tent that will keep the rain and spray out of your boat. There are all kinds of possible ways to accomplish this goal. The best option is probably to go ahead and have a marine sewing company create a dodger type of cabin which can be used while sailing, or when anchored.
Consider tying it in with a bimini top. Don’t forget that it should have screens and perhaps even plastic windows to let in some light. If this expense is beyond your means, look into finding a quality tent that will cover your sleeping area aboard. I recommend a tent with aluminum poles. These tents are usually 3 or 4 season rated, and will stand up to a greater amount of wind. Some boaters will set up a series of connected boards between the seats to create a flat area for the tent, while others boats will use the tent with the bottom cut out and utilize the floor of the cockpit to set up camp.Another possibility is a simple boom tent. You can prop up the boom with a topping lift, or better yet a boom crutch or gallows. This can be a simple pup tent stretched over the boom, or it could be an elaborate tent with poles to create a true cabin aboard. A line running completely around the boat under the gunnel can be used to secure the tent. The tent could have Velcro tabs sewn around its perimeter to loop around the line and adjust for tension. If at all possible, use quality marine materials, like Sunbrella, which is a synthetic material that breathes and can be made watertight with occasion treatments of Camp Dry or some similar preparation. Plastic tarp like materials are inexpensive, but have several negatives to consider. They are noisy, and they don’t breathe. Under a tent made of plastic, you would have enough condensation in the morning to experience the unique “interior rain” phenomenon.
Don’t forget, if you can’t use it when sailing, you still have to keep your gear dry underway, somehow. A tonneau cover may suffice, depending on your cockpit shape.The SeaPearl has an optional folding cabin with screens and plastic windows. This Sunbrella cabin offers sitting headroom below, is well made, and snaps into place quickly with very little work. I can sail with it up, or down, depending on the weather, or expectation of taking water aboard. It is dry below in a downpour. The forward cockpit area of the SeaPearl, under the folding cabin is 7 feet long, and the floor is perfectly flat, with three long teak and holly sole boards bridging the space between the built in water ballast tanks on either side. On either side of this cockpit are teak railings, which can hold things from rolling around. There is storage under the bridgedeck and under the forward deck as well. Although two can sleep aboard the SeaPearl 21, it doesn’t leave room for much moving about, and some stowed items would have to be moved out into the cockpit. Not a good idea in inclement weather or when marauding raccoons could find a way aboard. On the other hand, if one had to sleep two aboard, a boom tent for the mizzen boom, can be made, with screens for ventilation, and boards can be set up between the cockpit seats. Long time SeaPearl sailor Dick Shepard made such a “back porch” arrangement for his SeaPearl, and claims it works quite well.
Other SeaPearlers have adapted aluminum framed tents to the open forward cockpit of the SeaPearl with varied results. Most of these arrangements do not allow the sailor to use the shelter while under way, but in some cases offer a larger space below when anchored. It is a trade off, but I think the space below with the standard cabin is adequate, and the benefit of using it under way is priceless. You cannot always be certain that you won’t get a shower while on a passage to the next island, and although a tonneau cover for this area is available, once it is fastened down, you cannot as easily reach in or duck below to grab a sandwich, your binoculars, or jacket.
The above discussion might beg the question, “Why not just camp ashore?” This is indeed occasionally an option, however it needs to be recognized that in today’s world, fewer and fewer places that otherwise offer great sailing have a shore line where you can just pull up and camp. Even in the public areas, there are most often defined campsites, which may or may not be available, and may or may not be right along the shore. With proper planning and permits, and the correct selection of cruising destination the camp ashore method is possible. But you will not always be able to find public campsites where you want to cruise, which offers you two choices, camp illegally or camp on your boat. I prefer to stay aboard whenever possible. I’m completely self contained, and do not have to unload and re-load camping gear to “make camp.” My camp is made when I cast off from the dock.
Food Storage and Preparation
For a cruise of any duration, it is of course necessary to bring enough food to sustain yourself and your crew, and have a means to prepare the food and clean up afterwards. Your basic food preparation needs can be met with a simple one burner stove, a one quart pot, a small tea pot to heat and pour water safely, a small frying pan, and a small assortment of implements, such as a plastic spatula, large spoon, and one knife, fork and spoon for each person aboard. In addition, I carry a medium sized plastic washtub which doubles as dish washing sink and personal wash basin.To find a place for food storage, I took measurements of the depth and width of the space in the bilge, under the three sole boards in the forward cockpit, and went looking for well made watertight storage boxes that would just fit in the space provided. With tape measure in hand I haunted the department stores until I located just the right Rubbermaid product. It would hold a dozen or more small canned food products, had a snap on watertight lid, and would snap into the space below the floor. I purchased three of them. More about what goes into them below. In addition to these storage boxes, I carry a small ice chest for perishable foods that just fits up under the forward deck. In Florida, ice lasts between one and three days, depending on the weather, but to help it last longer, freeze a water storage bottle a day ahead of the trip, and place this in the ice chest. As it melts it makes a great source of cold water for drinking.
To find a location for storage of food aboard your boat, look at any built in lockers first. Heavy items should be placed as low in the bilge as possible. This becomes additional ballast, an added benefit for a light vessel. Even if you have lockers to store your food, I recommend putting your food into rugged plastic boxes that can take a beating, and protect their contents. Cans carelessly thrown into the bilge can come up battered and without labels, leaving you to wonder if you’re opening beans or peaches, and disappointed fifty percent of the time. Old time ocean sailors resorted to removing these labels, and writing the names of the contents on the cans with permanent markers. You shouldn’t have to go to that extreme. Don’t forget water. You will need between one quart and one-half gallon of water per person per day, depending on what other liquids you are drinking. Water storage is also quite heavy, so should be stowed down low in the boat. Even if your boat has a built in water tank, consider bringing some sturdy water containers of equal volume. Don’t buy the one gallon jugs available in grocery stores, as they are quite fragile and will leak all over your sleeping gear, ruining your trip. Years ago I was able to obtain 1 liter plastic bottles from a hospital supply that used them for saline solution drips. They are very rugged and rectangular to help in storage. If you can’t find these, then consider purchasing the secure and well made Nalgene bottles. Short of that just bring a lot of the 12 ounce water bottles that can be purchased everywhere. A 2.5 gallon plastic water storage barrel with gravity fed spigot is also carried aboard Whisper when cruising for more than a few days.
The subject of stove fuel comes up quite often among cruising folk. It is well known that a non-pressurized alcohol stove is probably the safest, but it is also one of the slowest fuels to heat water, and can be messy to pour and store aboard. Propane, although a hot fuel, is bulky compared with other fuels, and is somewhat dangerous as the fumes are heavier than air, and can gather in the bilge. Kerosene or white gas are, in my opinion too dangerous to use aboard a boat, and pouring the liquid from container to stove can be problematic on board. This is an area where the backpacker’s concern for light weight are of no help to us. Backpacker’s stoves that use various fuels or multi-fuels, are very light and fold up into small packages. But they do not have substantial enough bases to support a pot sufficiently should you want to cook aboard while anchored in choppy water, or while being rocked by powerboat wakes. If you are only cooking ashore, as backpackers do, then these stoves are ideal, and are small enough that they could be carried as a backup stove.
The solution that I discovered almost by accident six years ago is the flat butane stove that uses paint can sized fuel canisters. These stoves have a wide base that supports a pan quite well, and is low to the deck. They also have an ignitor built right into the fuel control knob, so you don’t have to fiddle or depend on matches or lighters of any kind. The cans are small enough to store almost anywhere, and luckily are catching on well enough to be found in a variety of stores, from boating shops to hardware stores. The butane fuel is quite hot and easily modulated by the stove’s burner control. Unless the fuel canister is almost empty, even a low flame can be kept burning evenly. A can of butane will burn last between one and two hours of cooking depending on the outside temperature and how high you set the burner. For me this works out to roughly one canister for every three days of cruising. If you’re cooking for more that one person, or cooking elaborate meals, you may have to use more. These ubiquitous butane stoves cost between 20 and 40 dollars, and some even come with a carrying case. The stove that is marketed in marine stores under the Kenyon name has a brass or burner, and is on the higher side of the price range, but otherwise seems to be about the same.
When cooking, the stove should be located in a secure place that is somewhat out of the wind, but not in a location where there is no ventilation! On the SeaPearl, the best place for the stove seems to be on the bridge deck, just aft of the cabin. I can sit in the aft cockpit, or below on my Sport-a-Seat, with everything that I need at hand, and put the water on the stove in the teapot, while preparing the meal. If it is just too windy or cold for the stove to operate efficiently outside, I set the stove in the bilge with the aft sole board removed, and cook below. I always keep air flowing through the cabin during this process. In addition to the boat stove, I also carry a small folding grill for shore side preparation of such delicacies as hot dogs, and hamburgers over an open fire. One quick lesson from Ida Little’s book “Beachcruising and Coastal Camping”: Let the fire burn down to hot coals before cooking. You want to cook your food, not setit on fire. One more item related to stoves and grills. Whenever a stove goes aboard my boat, a fire extinguisher follows. Nothing can ruin your day more than setting your floating home on fire.
As I mentioned, I keep my dried and canned food and food preparation gear in Rubbermaid plastic boxes with tight waterproof lids under the sole boards. For trips of a week or more, I use three of these boxes, but for a weekend trip, two boxes are sufficient. Although there are many ways to organize what goes into these boxes, I have worked out a system that works for me. I use the guiding principle “keep like things together”, and always put them back where they go when finished. Sticking to this rule in all your storage needs aboard will keep you from frantically searching around for that second flashlight in the dark, when your primary flashlight goes dead. So into one box goes every utensil that I may need when cooking, including a very small bottle of cooking oil, spatula, can opener, small Tupperware container of instant coffee, spices, toothpicks, large spoon, knives, teaspoon, forks, butane fire starter, matches, hot pad, dishwashing rag, and dish towel. Since I sometimes like to brew up some tea or instant coffee even when not cooking a meal, I put those items in this primary storage box as well. For those who prefer to brew real coffee, Hugh Horton uses the french coffee press which makes one large mug of coffee right in it’s own drinking container. These are available at Northwest - REI and other sporting stores.Into the second box goes the tinned meats, fruits, and vegetables. Chicken, turkey, cheese, smoked whitefish, smoked oysters, instant oatmeal, corned beef hash, or whatever you can find at your local grocery are stables of these kinds of expeditions. How do you make these cans of food into a meal? Creativity is an essential element. Here’s an example from Hugh Horton, "Meade’s lunch---the appetizer recipe of smoked whitefish and sharp cheddar on Wasa, and sliced apples. I make coffee. Meade offers a bottle of Australian merlot with his appetizers and dinner, which is my duty. I mix either two cans of turkey, chicken or tuna, with two cans of green chilies and one chick peas, and an elective of either corn, black-eyed peas, ramen noodles, and/or spiced rice. Hot pepper or “Lite” soy sauce. Canned pears or peaches, light too."
These canned and dried foods store easily, last virtually forever, and actually taste quite good. Occasionally a shore side meal, or a meal prepared at home and sealed in a boiling bag will relieve the boredom of opening cans for each meal. If ice is brought along in a cooler, the first few days can feature fresh food. Hard boiled eggs prepared ahead of time also are always on Whisper when we are cruising. Sliced up hard boiled eggs on top of a sizzling pan of corned beef hash, makes a warm and filling breakfast with some Wasa bread and coffee. When it comes to canned meats, I prefer canned turkey and chicken, but canned salmon, and fish such as sardines also make quick snacks or even meals. If you like spicy foods, try sardines in salsa, or Louisiana hot sauce. Placed on a cracker or flat Wasa bread, with a hunk of sharp cheddar, and eaten with slices of apple or canned peaches, this makes an excellent lunch or snack. If you are not familiar with Wasa bread, it is mainly what we use aboard as a substitute for a loaf of bread. No matter where I stored a sliced loaf of bread aboard, it always seemed to come out mashed, so I just looked about for a substitute. Wasa bread is of scandinavian origin, and is cross between a thick cracker and toast. It comes in a wide variety of grains, including my favorite, light rye. If bread is an absolute must for you, look for a plastic tube with rubber removable ends. I was given a tee shirt in one at a benefit concert, and recognized right away that it would have some use aboard. I soon discovered that a small narrow unsliced loaf of french or sourdough bread can be squeezed into this watertight and crush proof case for use aboard.My third storage box is reserved for backup tins, packages of dried foods, such as pasta meals, and cans of beans and soup. Since most of my cruising is now limited to three or four days, this box rarely gets opened. To make it easy to go cruising on a moment’s notice, I keep these boxes on a shelf in my garage, ready to be loaded aboard. It makes sense to keep your storage shelves ashore organized as well. This method is not the only food storage organizational method that will work, by any means. One of my favorite cruising SeaPearl buddies, Steve Morrill, has a totally different method that works well for him. Steve was a Sierra Club guide for the Everglades, and had “graduated” to a larger boat, while I was scaling down to a smaller boat. Our approaches to packing couldn’t have been more different. After a long day weaving our way through the Wilderness Waterway in the Everglades National Park, we anchored in Lostman’s River to make a dash for Florida Bay on an outgoing tide in the morning. We were rafted together to chat and prepare our dinner before dusk and the inevitable attack of the killer mosquitoes. As I looked over into Steve’s boat, I didn’t see anything in the forward cockpit! His storage methods left me baffled. We had planned for a week in the Everglades. Where was his camping equipment? His food? Where was everything stored? Then I noticed a large black storage box at the front of the forward cockpit. Everything he needed was inside, except his food. Steve lifted up a sole board and pulled out a box marked Monday. Steve had prepared each of his meals for every day of the trip, labeled with a marker inside a small box that was labeled with the day of the week. If it was Monday dinner, then it was tuna surprise! Most of his meals were already prepared at home, and it was only a matter of tossing them in some boiling water, to heat them up. Little effort and almost no mess. I have since adopted his method of preparing some of my meals ahead of time, and freezing them in sealed freezer bags. It won’t work for everything, but it makes cleanup a lot easier.
One quick word about freeze dried meals that are sold to back packers. They were invented to save weight. This is usually not a problem aboard a small cruiser. You have to carry extra water for each freeze dried meal that you prepare, and the ones that I’ve sampled do not come close to the canned foods that we carry aboard our beach cruisers. I usually carry one aboard for an emergency, but would not recommend it as a regular method of dining aboard.
With so many items going aboard, and being removed after the cruise, how is it possible to not forget important or essential gear? The simple answer for me is a checklist. When making final preparations for a multi-day cruise, I print out my cruising checklist and check off each item as it goes into the boat. I started using a checklist after discovering on one cruise that I had plenty of food for the weekend trip, but the stove was still on its shelf at home. You will have to create a checklist that meets your needs, and add or delete items to the list as time goes by and you add or delete essential items to your cruising gear and food selections. I subdivided my checklist into these sections: Food, Navigation Gear, Safety, and Clothing.
Safety
Since I cruise solo almost exclusively, I take safety seriously, and I encourage all small boat sailors to do the same. When sailing, I wear either a lightweight inflatable vest, or at least a belt pack inflatable PFD. On passages across open water I also carry and occasionally wear a safety harness left over from my passage making days aboard my Catalina 27. A study through bolted D-shaped eyebolt is its attachment point in the cockpit. There are other dangers aboard a small boat used for cruising that must be prepared for and guarded against. Besides the danger of seeing your boat sailing away from you after you have fallen overboard, perhaps the greatest danger aboard is fire. You should always have one, or perhaps two quality marine fire extinguishers with you at all times when cruising. You could experience a fire from two main sources: your cooking stove, and your gasoline powered engine. A leak in the fuel source from either can mean disaster if not discovered before you light the stove. Your nose is the best detector for fuel leaks.
Beyond fire and falling overboard, there are additional dangers from which you must protect yourself. The best way to protect yourself from these dangers is to make a pact with yourself to not take unnecessary chances, and stick to it.While cruising the North Channel solo, for example, I climbed up a steep rocky hillside to get a better vantage point for a snap shot of Whisper at anchor in the cove below. There was no trail, it was hand over foot climbing, and the rocky cliff was covered with fallen pine needles, causing me to slip and almost fall 40 feet down the slope. I quickly reminded myself that I was alone, and that there was no one around to help me if I fell. I took a quick snap shot and very gently eased myself back down the slippery rocks. Lesson learned, and somewhat shaken, I took better care of myself the rest of the trip.
Not taking unnecessary chances implies that you are informed enough to know when things could get dangerous. Weather is obviously a potential danger. Strong winds, storms, and lightning can get you killed, or at least very wet. Invest in a quality VHF radio to receive the marine weather forecast as well as transmit and receive messages from other vessels and destinations. It’s much better to lay over a day in a dry, safe location than to try to muscle it out just to stick to a schedule or get back on time. Keep your schedules flexible. Try to plan your trips around the prevailing winds in the area you’re cruising, and allow at least one extra day of “layover” for the unexpected. Another strategy is to have located alternative destinations along the way that can be used as pull out, or lay over spots. A cruise that doesn’t follow your initial plans isn’t a complete loss! That little village at the end of “Deep Water Cove” may just be the most delightful place you’ve ever visited. As Hugh Horton says, become a “voyage person”, not a “destination person.”
If the unexpected happens and you are caught out in a squall in open water, you should know how to prevent a capsize of your open boat. Can you put your boat into a protective “hove to” position? Can you quickly reef your sails? Do you have, and know how to use, a drogue? You should also know if your boat can be righted and bailed out should it be capsized. Can it be self-rescued without outside assistance? Do you have enough floatation aboard to keep the hull above water high enough to bail her out? Do you have a marine radio, or other means of calling or signaling for help if needed? The answers to these and other questions related to seamanship could fill several volumes, and are beyond the scope of this article, except to say that in preparing for any voyage in a small boat, seamanship, foresight, planning, and practice are your best safety tool.
Comfort
If you want to cruise, but cannot do so comfortably, then you won’t cruise often or far. You will have to decide what it is that makes you comfortable. For some it may mean simply having a bimini top over their head on a sunny day. A comfortable cockpit with room for your feet, and a cushion for your bottom is essential for many, but there are other essential elements of comfort that cannot be ignored when going for more than a day sail.
Staying dry is one essential element. If you get drenched, you will be uncomfortable quickly on the warmest day, and in cool, windy weather you could suffer from hypothermia. This means that you should invest in a quality rain suit for each sailor aboard, and put it on before that rain squall hits. Although you probably don’t need the same foul weather gear that an ocean going crew need, you do need a marine quality foul weather suite from a reputable manufacturer. Leave the Disney ponchos home, please. Having other appropriate outer wear for cool or hot days means planning ahead, and in this case the camping and backpacking stores are your best bet. The clothes they sell are expensive but well made, and the synthetic fibers are well suited to both the cool and warm marine environment. How many clothes to pack depends on the weather and the planned length of the cruise. In hot weather you’ll change your t-shirts much more frequently than your shorts or swim suit. You won’t change your clothes every day, but you should at least have one change of clothes in case your primary set get wet or damaged. If you plan on eating out along the way, you may pack one presentable outfit, and roll it up before it goes into the dry bag to prevent wrinkles. Shoes are another item of personal preference, but for southern beaches I recommend rubber sandals with good straps, such as Tevas or Reefs, and athletic shoes for hiking or walking ashore.
Everyone has certain comfort levels regarding personal hygiene. I like to feel clean when cruising, so that means keeping the cabin free of sand, for example. A washtub and towel in the cockpit to wash my sandy feet before slipping below was the answer to that problem. I also enjoy a shave in the morning and an occasional sponge bath. A few cups of hot fresh water left over from the teakettle and some liquid soap in a plastic washtub are all that is required. My Braun 4000 battery operated shaver can be heard buzzing away almost every morning after I’ve savored my morning coffee. Three AA batteries will last a month of shaving. When a shampoo is needed, I rig a “Solar Shower” overhead and let the self-draining cockpit become my shampoo headquarters.In addition to being clean, it is necessary to be able to comfortably and discretely take care of other bodily functions. For this purpose I have stowed a port-a-potty under the bridge deck of Whisper. With the camper top up, and the potty slid forward into the cabin, it is possible to take care of your important business in complete privacy. A watertight container of biodegradable toilet paper is always at hand.
What else is needed for personal comfort? How about a good book? A good argument can be made about a book being a safety item. With a good book aboard, you are more likely to wait for a break in the weather instead of making a rushed decision to go on with the trip regardless of a dangerous condition.
I like to have an AM/FM radio aboard for entertainment and information as well. I started out with a Sony Sports radio about the size of a breadbox. The size was difficult to justify aboard Whisper, so I purchased an inexpensive solar/wind-up/battery operated radio that was also smaller. However, the lack of quality made it almost useless for tuning in distant stations. I recently downsized further to a tiny Sony Walkman with a small set of speakers that stow almost anywhere. I can hang the speakers in the frame of Whisper’s cabin for true stereo effect, and I don’t have to wear uncomfortable earphones. Many nights I have fallen asleep to the sounds of NPR under the stars. This small radio is powered by a single AAA battery, so it’s easy to carry spares.
I obviously enjoy writing about my adventures, so the tools for writing in a log, or journal are always stored aboard before I cast off. In the evenings, when anchored in a quiet cove, a battery powered light brightly illuminates the small cozy cabin of Whisper, and I am quietly adding my thoughts for the day to my cruising log.
Conclusions
I’m occasionally asked if I miss the larger, deep draft sailboat. The answer is always no. That type of craft now seems to me like a helpless one legged seabird soaring above the surface of the sea, never able to safely land or seek shelter. Being able to seek solitude among the mangroves, or dry out at low tide in shallow flats watching the fiddler crabs emerge from their burrows, while I relax in the cockpit enjoying my morning coffee, is all I ask of a sailing experience. Within a half hour from home, I can be lost in a mangrove maze, or traversing a sea grass prairie barely covered by a smooth expanse of aquamarine water. In a few days of driving, I can explore vast expanses of fresh water in he Great Lakes, or visit the historic coves and islands of the Chesapeake or the New England coast.
Seamanship, creative preparation, creativity, and flexibility, are all essential elements of the successful small boat cruise. Don’t leave home without them.
References:
1. Frank and Margaret Dye, Open-Boat Cruising (Coastal and Inland Waters), David & Charles; North Pomfret Vermont; 1982
2. Ida Little and Michael Walsh; Beachcruising and Coastal Cruising; Wescott Cove Publishing Company; Stamford Ct.;1992.
Saturday, December 16, 2017
New Sea Pearl 21
Back in 2010 I bought my first Sea Pearl 21. It was actually the first sailboat I owned. All of my sailing prior to that was as crew. I had a great time with my first Sea Pearl but I was still on a journey to figure out what worked for me and my budget. I bought a few other boats but in the end there were too many great qualities about the Sea Pearl and I picked up this one.
So what are those qualities that brought me back to a Sea Pearl 21?
So what are those qualities that brought me back to a Sea Pearl 21?
- Sails well solo
- Very easy to set up and take down
- Quick reefing
- Easily trailered
- Can be stored at the house
- Sails well in Florida's shallow waters and right up to beaches
- An open interior set up for camping
- Relatively inexpesinve
- Great looking boat
Friday, December 15, 2017
New Blog
I have a lot of content hosted on different sites. Facebook,
Photobucket, etc. Photobucket business model changed and may signal the
end of their hosting. Facebook is almost impossible to organize content
or search for something. So for those reasons I have decided to move
everything into one blog. Microtom is the forum handle I have used on multiple sites for a long time hence the name Journal of Microtom. The content from My Sea Pearl 21 has been loaded. I will add more over time.
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Posts (Atom)
Weekend Expeditions: Connections Across Maine
More of why we paddle. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWFSZR4uZ0w
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Great article originally posted on seapearlboats.org and recovered using archive.org How to go Cruising in Comfort in a Small Boat By Ron... -
So I want to start by apologizing for not posting during the race. Class 3 (Sailing Canoes & Kayaks) was a lot more work than previous y... -
This one is an active member on the Sea Pearl Yahoo group. I can not read the name on this one.