Something to expand your skill set...

 

an affordable composting toilet installation...

Just another reason you need to be subscribed to Atom Voyager. 

regarding two tool rolls...

So, Sailrite has a great instructional video on making a tool roll that really impressed me. It also rocked my thoughts on my ongoing effort to better get control of tool stowage aboard "So It Goes". 

You might want to check it out...

It's really a killer tool roll for sure.

Of course, being both lazy and cheap I explored affordable ready made alternatives and found that there were a couple of reasonable facsimiles available between $10 and $15 and Walmart had this one...

It's a real killer of a tool roll as well. The one I bought was well made with excellent materials. So good in fact that I may buy a few more which will go a long way to better organize my tools.

While I really like the Sailrite kit it's just a bit too expensive when compared with what the Walmart tool roll is going for.

That said, I just may use their basic construction guide to make a more specialized tool roll for my rigging kit which seems to defy any sort of organization I've attempted to wrangle the rigging gear into a civilized form.

Some low-budget DIY wonderfullness...

A boat-worthy project worth checking out.

In case you can't find an affordable Origo stove...

You know this stove...

 

Since Origo has quit marketing the Origo marine stoves the prices for old stock and used stoves have become extremely pricey. Which, considering how simple the stoves actually are, is something of a conundrum.

Here's a pretty nifty DIY alternative that's affordable...

Of course, the stove in question is not gimballed but sorting out a gimbal is fairly simple and easily dealt with.

in search of a simple rig...

Sailboat rigs are a problematic conundrum where VolksCruisers are concerned. For starters, most rigs on classic plastic boats have rigs that have evolved from designs for racing. They’re over-complicated, prone to failure, and expensive, which is not the sort of rig you want when voyaging on a budget.

Adapting rigs to be simpler, more affordable, and less expensive is no simple task, which may cause an extended stay in a room with padded walls. While it can be done, the easier route is where you build a new rig.

While there are many varied rigs to consider, I’ll just mention four.

The various permutations of the lug rig are a good place to start. In particular, I’ll opine that the balanced lug rig is a great voyaging rig. It’s as simple as you can get and uses hardly any hardware. On our Bolger Jessie Cooper, it only needed two lines (halyard and sheet), required no winches and only one block. The sail was powerful, easily pushing Loose Moose above hull speed. Better yet, the entire rig was repairable with materials available anywhere.

Then there’s the junk rig, which is really just a balanced lug with a lot of battens and cordage added to the equation. It’s not as powerful as the balanced lug, but it’s easier to reef, which is the principal attraction for most of the junk aficionados I know.

The gaff rig is more complicated than the various lug rigs, but it’s a simple and powerful low stress rig based on old-tech that has a lot of advantages.

Last, I’ll throw the Simplicity rig into the hat. It’s simple, powerful, and even looks like what people actually expect a modern sailboat rig to look like. It’s what we have on “So It Goes” and it makes sense in the world of evolved rig designs of the simple sort..

 

The big issue with simple voyaging rigs is that they seldom exist on boats that are for sale. If you want one, you’ll have to build it yourself.

Of course, if you’re like me and cheap, you’ll find the idea of either hassling with the sale of the existing rig or throwing the rig away to be counter-productive to your mental health. Which is why, for me at least, the perfect boat to buy is one unencumbered by rig and rigging.

The thing is, any of the aforementioned rigs are easy to build, won’t cost a lot of money compared to “modern” mast/sails, and they are easier to maintain in the long haul. They’re also less prone to failure, which makes all the difference in the world.

DIY and VolksCruising...

A couple of decades or so back while living in in St Thomas there was a really nice couple who'd bought a famous (it had featured in a movie with Bing Crosby) albeit semi-derelict Alden schooner sight unseen.

At the time I was working at a local marine consignment store and the couple came in often looking to buy needful items for their boat and pumping us for advice.

You know what they say about free advice.

The couple while knowing zilch about boats and on a shoestring budget still managed to do a lot of work on the boat and seemed to be on a roll when they made the mistake about bringing in a local rigger to help them with their rig.

A couple of weeks after they showed up with a shopping list provided by the rigger that, to me at least, was some kind of interesting. The first thing that caught my attention was that there were a lot of things that just did not belong on an old wooden schooner. So I asked  which boat the shopping list was for.

They answered that the rigger had laid out a whole new rig as he had access to one of the old America's Cup boats and could reuse some of their old rod rigging...

Now, St Thomas is a pretty small place and the rigger in question was somewhat infamous for doing bad jobs. He seldom actually did any real rigging work leaving that to his crew who were more or less clueless and paid sub-minimum wages. The clients, of course, paid $75 bucks an hour for each of those sub-minimum wage minions. So hardly surprising that a lot of projects turned into clusterfucks.

I pointed this out to the couple and recommended that they hit the local book store and buy The Riggers Apprentice by Brion Toss and that the book would answer all of their questions in getting their rig fixed right. Soon after they were DIYing the rig with a bit of help from Brion on the phone when needful.

Not too long after the boat was doing the daysail charter ting and earning money.

I mention this story because the marine trades in general are not your friend. Some are simply inept while others are, at best, just black hearted villains who will steal you blind. Whichever sort you're dealing with be assured that the only thing most care about is what's in your wallet.

Worse yet is the fact that far too often marine tradesmen work in concert with each other. For instance that nice helpful surveyor tells you your rig is shot and sends you to a rigger to sort out your problems. Sadly, far too often that surveyor didn't really find anything wrong and is going to receive a kickback or part of the damage that the rigger will inflict on your budget.

I'll point out that in this sort of scenario the too often used adage "You get what you pay for!" is true but in a very negative way.

So, the whole VolksCruiser vibe is really just about accessible knowledge and accumulating the needed skill-set to keep your boat running. Well that and avoiding dastardly assholes.

Larry and Lin Pardey pretty much coined the perfect VolksCruiser mantra when they said something along the lines of...

"If you can't fix it, it doesn't belong on your boat!"

Why I'm building the B&B self-steering design...

The idea of self-steering is, for all practical purposes, a pretty simple concept and most all self-steering systems reflect that. Or at least the good ones do.

The problem with the idea of home building a self-steering gear, for most people at least, is that they tend to have a certain amount of mechanical parts which tend to be just a little bit fiddly to construct and sourcing various fiddly parts is more than just a little problematic.

Some time ago, I designed a self-steering gear that, with the exception of the auxiliary rudder and trim tab, consisted of off-the-shelf items made by a single company which made sourcing the "fiddly" bits simple, cheap, and required zero machining or welding. The downside of the design was that as soon as I started to sell plans for the self-steering the company that made the fiddly bits was absorbed by another company who's first decision was to discontinue sales of the parts in my design. Bummer.

Since then, I've pretty much advised folks interested in building their own self-steering gear to do what I do and just build a clone of the Auto-Helm gear as it is dead simple, has a minimum of "fiddly" bits, fairly cheap to build and works very well on just about any boat.

A little over a year ago one of my favorite sources of dinghy plans, B&B, mentioned that they were currently working on a DIY self-steering gear and, looking at the available information at the time, I said to myself that it's pretty much a clone of the Auto-Helm but noticed one big difference...

The B&B rudder was not mounted to the transom but to a "rudder post" that allowed the rudder to kick up in the event of hitting something. Better yet, the rudder post also lets you raise the rudder out of the water if you needed to motor in reverse (an issue for auxiliary rudder systems) or just stow the self-steering gear upside down above the transom when not needed. A small but truly brilliant improvement.

Now, I'll admit, my first thought was to simply build my normal Auto-Helm clone and just purloin the rudder post idea but, since the plans were only $50 bucks and in my view the rudder post idea was easily worth more than that, I decided to just buy the plans.

Now that I've actually received the plans I'm glad I did because they are excellent as well as incredibly detailed and pretty much tyro proof. Obviously B&B has sold tons of dinghy plans and in the process they've learned  how to design plans that are easy to build. The plans are actually more than enough to build the gear but they also include a "Builders Guide" which goes that little bit further to answer any possible questions one might have in the how or why things go together.

At the moment they have three sizes of Windvane self-steering gears, the Rover, Nomad, and Wayfarer which are size appropriate to fit most any boat you might have. In our case we're going with the Wayfarer...

So, that's the self-steering I'm about to start building and hope to get into it in the next week or so, "H" season willing. There are three potential storms heading our way as I write this.

Almost time to get to doing...

A quick update on the self-steering project. I now have all the various bits on island with the excepting of the needful wood which is just a dinghy row away.

So, hopefully, in the next few days I'll be getting the wood for the project along with a few sheets of plywood for a new dinghy build and be able to sort out the actual cost.

More about the actual self-steering design tomorrow...

The upside of DIY...

The other day a reader dropped me a line where the subject of DIY came up and he pointed out that, unlike me, he could afford to hire folks to do work for him and if you had to DIY you might want to consider something other than yachting as a lifestyle decision...

Not the first time I've heard that opinion and, I expect, most folks of the VolkCruiserish ilk will hear it as well.

What the reader in question doesn't quite get is that the advantages of doing work on your boat and its systems yourself has a great number of advantages which improve the sailing and cruising experience and the fact that it also allows you to save money in the process is just an added perk which is no bad thing.

Sadly, too many of the marine trades are not just over-priced but also woefully short on the needed skills that they charge you for. I've seen too many projects and repairs done by various contractors that not only did not fix the needful repairs but wound up creating more damage and problems that would be left for someone else to fix.  

An advantages of doing your own work is that you actually know how things are put together on your boat and that gives you the skill set to fix it when or if it needs to be sorted out. Sure there's a learning curve but it's a fairly easy one as almost all boat related work is just minimum wage level stuff mixed with common sense.

No rocket science involved.

Being able to handle maintenance and repairs is both empowering and adds greatly to the overall safety of the boat and its crew. Which, from where I sit, are the two most important reasons to get your DIY groove on.

Lastly, doing work that fixes things is mostly enjoyable and satisfying. Of course, not everyone enjoys all boat work and I'll be the first to admit I really do not like working on internal combustion engines as it's a UGH job as far as I'm concerned, Still, in spite of the UGH nature of working on engines, I find it especially satisfying when I'm able to fix one.

I'll also add that saving money is a game I really enjoy and the perks of doing my own work adds up to a considerable chunk of change in the process which makes DIY that much more enjoyable. Then again, some folks don't mind paying $4.99 for a  twenty-five cent machine screw and take pride in throwing around how much they paid for stuff as a badge of honor. Not sure where you stand on such things but the whole Boat Buck mentality seems somewhat questionable at best.

Oh yeah, on the whole yacht thing... I don't own a yacht, don't want to own a yacht, and cringe whenever I hear a boat described as a yacht or a person sailing it a yachtsman. So I'm not exactly the sort of person who would ever consider yachting as a lifestyle.

On that big hole in the water you throw money into...

OK, I get it. "Everyone" says that if you buy a fixer-upper sailboat with the goal of turning it into a cruising boat it will all end in tears. Some will tell you that you'll wind up with nothing but an expensive disaster that you'll have to pay someone to dispose of it in some landfill.

I could go on but I expect you've already heard it all before and it's boring...

What I will do is point out that the disaster or failure scenarios of this sort have a lot to do with people who have made stupid mistakes in choosing their projects, have little in the way of an intelligent plan for the needful work involved in the enterprise, and a poor skill set where boat building and repair are concerned. Which is another way of saying that if the boat refit project failed it's because the person doing it screwed up big time.

Every once in awhile I'll point out what I think is a possible project boat like the Ericson 26 so we'll use that as our crash test dummy. Which brings us to the question of whether or not an Ericson 26 is a good choice as a cruising boat for you?

So, you'll need to put away the rose colored glasses to do some research and a bit of math. Seriously if you don't properly research the project and work out the costs you're in clusterfuck territory. For starters you really need to research the market for the Ericson 26. 

• What does an Ericson 26 in great shape cost?
• What does an OK Ericson 26 cost?
• Does the Ericson 26 have an inbuilt issues which will need to be repaired and cost you money (FYI ALL production boats have some issue(s) or other that will need attention so find out what it is)?
• Can you afford an Ericson 26?

With me so far? Most boat projects fail simply because someone did not ask and get real answers to those four simple questions. Let's say you've answered the previous questions, got your answers and think it's time to move to the next level which requires a few more questions.

• Is the Ericson 26 a boat that I'll be able to cruise comfortably on without major changes?
• Do I have access to an affordable location in close proximity to work on the boat?
• Am I willing to put some effort into learning the needful skills to refit the boat?

Some of you may have noticed that none of these questions involve the actual fixer upper in question. My advice is to always do your homework before not after viewing a possible project as the more you know about the boat the better your advantage you'll have when you actually look at it. 

In fact I'd recommend, before you go boat project shopping, that you build a dinghy as a proof of concept that your abilities are up to the task. My advice for most folks is to build the Bolger Nymph from Dynamite Payson's "Build the New Instant Boats" As it's a great dinghy, does not take a lot of outlay in materials, and pretty much shows you if you have the needful skills and mindset or not to take on a much bigger project like the Ericson. No pressure but if it takes you more than 24-hours of labor to build a Nymph rowing version you might want to forget the idea of anything larger than a dinghy refit projects.

Just saying.

We'll get into how we handle looking at a fixer-upper in the next bit...

Some junk rig evolution of note...

The current JRA Newsletter (#85) has a very interesting article on building a junk sail by Paul McKay that has me thinking long and hard in terms of rigs for VolkCruisers.

 

For me, the concept of a VolksCruiser is really all about simplicity in all of its various forms. Lug rigs in general are simple to use, simple to rig, have simple hardware requirements, and only require a minimal sail inventory. Even better is that lug rigs can be doused or reefed easily and, being so simple, there is bugger all to go wrong. 

Throw in the fact that all of that simplicity makes lug rigs very inexpensive and DIY friendly and you've got a pretty compelling reason in favor of a lug rig.

Now, in general, I've favored balanced and dipping lug sails over junk rigs mostly because they're simpler (all those battens, lots of line, and various blocks/euphroes) and develop more power than junk rigs. However the evolution of junk rigs into cambered sails of late has made the modern junk rig more powerful than its flat panel counterpart and while still less powerful than a balanced or dipping lug the difference is less of a factor now.

So, here's the thing about the Origami Rig article in the JRA Newsletter that has me all excited...

The biggest problem people have in terms of sewing and building a sail is the simple fact that sewing up a 300-400 square foot sail of any kind is no simple task as you need lots of room and the logistics of sewing something that big is at best really really problematic to the max.

Which is why coming across an article on a different way to build a cambered split junk rig sail with a method that makes it both simple and can be used in a small space makes me sit up and pay attention. Not only would a sail made this way be easier to build but it would also be easier to maintain and repair.

Color me very impressed and thinking about designing a more hybrid junk rig that would incorporate my current staysail and jib for a junk cutter of sorts.

Anyway, it's an article you really should read and a great reason to join the JRA so you can get your hands on it.

a cheap dinghy that works...

The other day I happened on a conversation between a couple of folks on the subject of dinghies and what they should cost. Which, apparently, was a chunk more than I'd paid for our CAL-34.

The number of $7K for a minimum RIB and a means of propelling it is just too rich for my blood and to be truthful I'm more of a $300 dinghy sort of guy. Seriously, two or three sheets of plywood, a gallon or so of epoxy/polyester resin, a couple of 2X4s, and a couple of days (spelled d-a-y-s not weeks, months or years) is really all you need.

That said, not everyone feels they can build a dinghy so what's a poor boy going to do? Is it possible to buy a workable dinghy for cheap?

How about the BIC 213?

Back when we lived in France these little dinghies seemed to be in every anchorage or towed behind a rather large number of cruising boats. I even saw the great Eric Taberly rowing out to his Pen Duick in one. They had a lot going for them, they were small, light, rowed reasonably well, were unsinkable, tough, and they were cheap.

Seriously, what's not to like?

The good news is that BIC is still building these dinghies and the current cost of one in tRumpistan is just shy of the $500 mark.

Personally I'd still opt for a DIY plywood dinghy but if you're a tyro or just don't have the needful time to build, you might want to check the BIC out. I'm sure you can figure out better ways to spend the $6500 savings...

Hazy details...

A very long time ago PBO had a short article on building a hatch for a sailboat based on the Maurice Griffiths double coaming design. It was good albeit sparse on details but included all of the information one actually needed to build the hatch. I cut this picture out of the magazine and added it to my files...

The next month in the letters section of PBO I was surprised that there was a negative review of the article as being worthless since it did not include dimensions and a few other details that were, apparently, outside the ability of the reviewer to figure out.

Over the years I've come across a surprising number of folks building and repairing boats that seem to exhibit a pronounced lack of , for want of a better word, imagination. Then again, some might just call it laziness.

For me the above drawing of the hatch construction is really all one needs. It shows how it goes together and I don't have any issues with the fact that it does not tell me what glue to use, the type of hinges needed, or the thickness and type of wood used.

The fact of the matter is most details for the hatch are going to depend on the size of your boat, the size of the hatch, and what sort of materials you have available. Telling you that the hatch should be built of 7/8" stock is just going to cause you all sorts of problems if you don't have 7/8" stock available and, I suspect, that your local lumber yard will only have 3/4" stock anyway.

Of course, you could do what a guy I know did and order some teak from a shop a couple of thousand miles away, have it milled to a precise dimension of your choosing, and then shipped at ludicrous expense to where you are which will result in very nice but way-too-expensive hatches for the likes of us of a VolksCruiserish nature.

Sure details count but you really only need two things for a successful boat project and that's the general concept of how it goes together and, most importantly, the fact that the concept of the project actually works.

In the case of the Griffiths hatch it goes together like the drawing and thousands of hatches to this general design have been built and they work...

All you need to know.

Doing the VolksCruiser two-step...

I'm currently in the midst of a variety of projects which, if I were not a cheapseats VolksCruiserish sort of fellow, would cost an arm and a leg to sort out...

One project is pretty simple: replacing the hand rails on the coach roof to make space for our new nesting dinghy. The old ones are somewhat past their sell-by date. Off-the-shelf teak replacements would cost on the order of $50 a pop and of somewhat diminished scantlings that hardly inspire confidence, had me looking at stainless steel hand rails which were silly expensive.

Going to the local lumber yard I bought enough clear pressure-treated yellow pine 1" x 3" stock to build new hand rails for $10 and change. Add in some epoxy (maybe $5 worth at the price/volume level I'm in) and a couple of hours or so of sweat equity and I've got a new set of robust hand rails that will do the job far better than anything available retail for around $7.50 a pop.

So yeah, hand rails are just one item on the list of boat things one tends to throw money at but it is a pretty good example of the process of not spending more than needful on boat stuff otherwise known as the VolksCruiser two-step. Let's go back and look at the details...

First, we do a Need/Want. Do I really need to replace the hand rails?

Yes, they were always too light duty for the job and years of being in the tropics have taken their toll. They were teak which is a not very good wood for hand rails as it is neither as rot resistant as believed to be nor very strong.

Second, we do some research to see what's available as a replacement and costs only to find what's available is either too expensive, too light duty, or both for the intended purpose (namely keeping aboard the boat when all hell breaks loose). So, going the DIY route is actually the only thing that makes sense.

Building hand rails is as simple a project as you can find. My method of choice is to laminate two pieces of pre-cut one by stock together, clean up and round over the resulting hand rails with a router, and then lay on three coats of epoxy to prepare them for painting. Dead simple and fast.

Now I'm sure I'll get some questions about the pressure treated pine (often referred to as "Miami Teak") so to answer those questions I'll just say pressure-treated pine is much more resistant to rot than teak in general. It's stronger and coated with epoxy, it is even more rot resistant and strong. On the fact that we're painting the hand rails, it's because the paint will protect the epoxy coating from UV and exterior varnishing is more something you'd find on a "Y-A-C-H-T" and is the antithesis to the VolksCruiserish thought process.

Yeah, right... rules.

Rule #1: Don't replace it if you don't need to.

Rule #2: Don't replace it if you can fix it.

Rule #3: If you have to fix something or replace it, DIY it whenever possible but do your research first so you know what you're doing.

Rule #4: Keep in mind that a lot of common knowledge (teak being a good example) is just plain wrong. Do your own due diligence and be wary of your sources.

Yep, simplistic as all get out but, if you mostly follow those suggestions, you'll save a very large chunk of money and improve your boat in the process. More importantly it gets you out of the "Just throw money at it" mindset.

The fact of the matter is that the process is not so much to save money as it is about doing the right thing for your boat. Providing we've done our research correctly, we're actually saving a lot of money as a bonus.

What everyone seems to do...

Have you noticed how many YouTube channels there are about people downsizing, buying a boat, fixing it up, and sailing off into the paradise of Patreon fueled bliss?

If not, you really should check them out because they are very educational for the most part.

One of the things you'll notice is there seem to be certain rites of passage that everyone goes through and rules of sorts that, like it or not, apply to the whole "Buying a boat, fixing it up, and sailing off into the sunset" gig...

Rule #1

Whatever boat you buy or how much you spend will require lots of work and money to fix up.

Rule #2

Everyone underestimates the amount of work and money needed.

Rule #3

Nothing involved in the process is rocket science and can be accomplished by just about anyone.

Rule #4

Everyone makes mistakes (though some make more than others).

Rule #5

Most people on boat projects don't do enough research/homework of the right sort.

 

Sure, I know, rules are never concrete things in this life but they do exist even if it's just to give us a hint of what may lie in store for us. Forewarned is forearmed so to speak. 

That said, rules often send the wrong message as the big picture does not always reflect a specific projects specific details. Especially if you're embarking on a VolksCruiserish project.

Yeah, VolksCruiserish rules are going to be a little bit different.

More about that on Sunday.

 

Not for everyone...

In the last couple of weeks I've noticed a lot of hurricane related boats and gear coming on to the market down here and like Rod Stewart reminded us way back when...

every picture tells a story.

In the case of the Westsail pictured it's beat up, forlorn, and a whole lot of work to make it right but there's life in the old girl yet. That said, it is not the sort of project that is suitable for most folk and for most folk it would be the project from hell.

Of course, most folks don't read VolksCruiser or, for that matter, have a clue.

As for my take on such a project it's doable for a lot less time and money than you might expect. Though, admittedly, just the sort of enterprise that would test one's mettle, sanity, and perseverance.

Like I said, not for everyone...

But, just maybe, a good discussion point.

DIY AIS receiver...

Here's a simple cheapseats AIS receiver over at Hisse et Oh you may want to check out.

Now, don't you wish you'd paid more attention in French class during high school? Not to worry, Google translate is there for you if you need help...

Just a whole lot of DIY wonderfulness...

Sailrite is a great resource for anyone sailing and cruising but, for those of us on a budget, an indispensable tool in our VolksCruiser Fǔ arsenal.

Some basic economics...

So, about that Westsail 32 project question...

1. Buy the $50K boat and sail off into the sunset.
2. Buy the $30K boat do the needful TLC and sail off into the sunset.
3. Buy the $30K boat do a major refit to the tune of a few years and $66K and sail off into the sunset.
4. Buy a cheap fixer-upper W32, fix what's needful and sail off into the sunset for around $25K.
5. Look at boats that are cheaper with the same qualities of the W32 and sail off into the sunset with a lot more cash in your cruising kitty.

From where I sit the obvious answers are 1, 4, and 5. The first option for those with money buying a ready to go boat makes sense. Options 4 & 5 (as well as 2) makes sense for those with more time than money. Me being cheap and one who enjoys working on boats you already know I'd be all over the cheapest seats option.

That said, what about the third option? What the hell kind of sense does that make?

Well, none actually...

The thing is, I read a lot of blogs of people fixing up sailboats to go cruising because I like to see how others tackle problems and I learn quite a bit as a result because education is a continuing process (or should be). In doing so I've encountered an alarming trend of boat projects as a consumerists wet dream with the out of control Westsail third option project is just such a beast.

All boat projects are going to cost money and, more than likely, a bit more than we would prefer... It's a given. On the other hand, if you're going to build a shrine to the consumerist faith it's a whole different ball game.

Boats are a commodity and while the prices of used/new boats fluctuate, most boats actually do have a perceived value. Using the Westsail 32 as an example, my maximum valuation of a well equipped W32 in near perfect/pristine condition is somewhere close to $50K. With that number in mind we can do some simple math and figure out what we should be spending on our boat project...

Let's say you're thinking of buying a W32 for $30K just how much money should you budget for the refit? Since a boat that doesn't need work and is as near perfect as a boat can be costs $50K it's a pretty easy equation...

50 - 30 = 20

So that's a maximum budget of $20K wasn't that simple? Truth of the matter is, done right, you should actually be able to do it for a lot less.

While we're doing math, let's look at how that third option W32 looks...

50 - (30 + 66) = -46

Sure looks like someone spent $46K too much somewhere. Sadly this is such a common thing in most folks fixing up a boat experience, it's become very close to the norm.

Next up we'll be talking about how to tell the difference between needful, less than needful, and just plain stupid expenditures where rehabbing a boat is concerned...