Chasing Elegua

[Elegua]

How is the spouse's mindset & experience been - having fun on the boat?

When Beth went home, I tended to do short tricky singlehanded day sails (so fun but not too tiring) always to fully protected anchorages - when solo I did not want to have to worry at night when the 2am squalls came thru. I saved all the good 'see places and do stuff ashore' for when beth was on board.

More fun than before. “Boat life” is still hard but Guadeloupe is more interesting than Antigua. We met some YouTubers we like and she gave them a very detailed survey of Antigua and where to go to save money. We rented a car this week with some boat buddies and are going inland.

To @accnick ’s point I’m a 100hr wonder at this point when it comes to single handing - just confident to get myself into trouble. I also feel safer offshore where there is less to hit. Most of the anchorages here are just ok, not super secure. I wanted to do some of the less comfortable trips while the spousal unit was away.

 

[Bryanjb]

Portsmouth will have two cruiser appreciation weeks. The first is February 9-16 for the salty dawg cruisers but anyone is welcome, the second is March 19-27. They'll have cook outs and reduced price tours. The PAYS guys are great! Not sure if it's in your schedule but it's a fun spot, the island is beautiful and not touristy. Fun to visit the weekend markets for fresh foods and the pineapple is fantastic.

 

[Elegua]

Dominica is on the menu.

BTW when driving anywhere in Guadeloupe always have your eye out for roadside stands with a hand ice cream maker. They are selling the most amazing coconut sorbet.

 

[Elegua]

Worth the bash upwind. 5-6’ of clear water. National Park moorings. Ilet au Fijou.

Strange, no one else is here….is something wrong?

 

[monkphunk]

Beautiful!

Strange, no one else is here….is something wrong

Every time I think that, a couple of boats come in and anchor uncomfortably close. The herd mentality is strong!

 

[accnick]

Beautiful!

Every time I think that, a couple of boats come in and anchor uncomfortably close. The herd mentality is strong!

It's pretty shallow. A lot of people aren't comfortable anchoring with only a foot or two under the keel.

 

[monkphunk]

Don't mean to give false impressions - we are not there. We are in the Bahamas right now, also anchored with about a foot under the keel.

@Elegua, what do you draw? Board up it's 4'9" for us, in theory, but I round up to 5'

 

[Elegua]

We draw 4.5, rounded to 5’. I say 5’ depth but with the offset it’s closer to 7. Can’t say I’m completely comfortable, but spending a night with no human noises is a real pleasure. I can only hear the crickets and the surf. I think it’s been since Maine since I had that. Half way here I almost gave up- reenforced trades, big waves, sketchy entrance - I thought it’s be a bouncy anchorage.

Oh, I cleaned the bottom this am - the sulfur hot spring was making some weird stuff grow and the water was 83F - and accidentally left the suction cup on the bottom. I saw it half way here, I hope it’s still there. I’ll check in the am. Adjustable genoa cars have paid for themselves already. Huge improvement in reefed sailshape. Still not great, but much better. Garhauer makes a great product. It’s rare when the marine trades make me happy.

Somehow a 4” section of my rope rode un-laid. I guess I have to cut it off an replace it.

 

[Jud - s/v Sputnik]

Adjustable genoa cars have paid for themselves already. Huge improvement in reefed sailshape. Still not great, but much better. Garhauer makes a great product. It’s rare when the marine trades make me happy.

Have you got one of these Garhauer adjustable Genoa car systems below? Any recommendation/thoughts? I don’t have a way to adjust mine for reefed sail shape. I should look into these!

Easy to set up? (I was trying to follow/understand your earlier posts about your adjustable Genoa cars and bungee, but didn’t quite get what you were describing then.)

E-Z Glide Adjustable Genoa Car System | Garhauer

www.garhauermarine.com

 

[toddster]

Oh, I cleaned the bottom this am - the sulfur hot spring was making some weird stuff grow and the water was 83F - and accidentally left the suction cup on the bottom. I saw it half way here, I hope it’s still there. I’ll check in the am.

Man, that’s exactly why I wanted to keep a microscope or two and a few small instruments. I’d drop anchor and be all over that for a couple of weeks.

 

[Elegua]

@Jud - s/v Sputnik I’m up because a squall went through and I needed to close some of the hatches. Garhauer doesn’t make the most elegant gear, but if you size it for the t-track correctly, it works fine. Very easy to set up- just put it on the track where you want and move the other gear. It moves with sheet pressure in the aft direction, so if your winches are higher than the genoa car, like mine are, sometimes you might need to ease and haul in the genoa sheet to move the car aft (per Longy) in the aft-most settings. It’s not race gear. The bungee is just for when there is no or little load. Well, that’s my understanding. The ability to move the genoa car forward when reefing the genoa made the reefed shape a bit less like an elephant slept in it.

 

[accnick]

@Jud - s/v Sputnik I’m up because a squall went through and I needed to close some of the hatches. Garhauer doesn’t make the most elegant gear, but if you size it for the t-track correctly, it works fine. Very easy to set up- just put it on the track where you want and move the other gear. It moves with sheet pressure in the aft direction, so if your winches are higher than the genoa car, like mine are, sometimes you might need to ease and haul in the genoa sheet to move the car aft (per Longy) in the aft-most settings. It’s not race gear. The bungee is just for when there is no or little load. Well, that’s my understanding. The ability to move the genoa car forward when reefing the genoa made the reefed shape a bit less like an elephant slept in it.

If you have a conventional roller reefing genoa, with a moderately low clew, you really need easily-adjustable lead cars if you care at all about sail shape and upwind performance. Even cruisers need that capability.

Garhauer hardware is not particularly elegant or lightweight, but it is rugged, well-made, and generally reasonably priced.

 

[Elegua]

I can’t argue with their prices or service. The only negative is they use some Ronstan parts which seems to be Australian for rusty.

So my anchor rode un-laid at about 140’ - 40’ in to the rope. Spare ride is set up like this. Doesn’t go through the windlass, but the backsplice didn’t either. But it’s SS and also would need some locktight. Seems a shame to cut it and splice it again, but if that’s what needs to be done….

 

[Jud - s/v Sputnik]

@Jud - s/v Sputnik I’m up because a squall went through and I needed to close some of the hatches. Garhauer doesn’t make the most elegant gear, but if you size it for the t-track correctly, it works fine. Very easy to set up- just put it on the track where you want and move the other gear. It moves with sheet pressure in the aft direction, so if your winches are higher than the genoa car, like mine are, sometimes you might need to ease and haul in the genoa sheet to move the car aft (per Longy) in the aft-most settings. It’s not race gear. The bungee is just for when there is no or little load. Well, that’s my understanding. The ability to move the genoa car forward when reefing the genoa made the reefed shape a bit less like an elephant slept in it.

If you have a conventional roller reefing genoa, with a moderately low clew, you really need easily-adjustable lead cars if you care at all about sail shape and upwind performance. Even cruisers need that capability.

Garhauer hardware is not particularly elegant or lightweight, but it is rugged, well-made, and generally reasonably priced.

Yeah, I would absolutely like my Genoa to sheet as well as possible especially since it is a heavy cruising boat - want to maximize what I can get out of it (having been in a heavy-ish wind beat last summer and needing to sail as well as possible b/c of crappy shape furled Genoa, lee shore, etc). And my Genoa is brand new, so I might as well optimize it. I only installed roller furling on the boat three years ago, so still learning about it.

I’ve got no problem whatsoever with Garhauer - sounds like you guys are apologizing for it . For most of our needs, frankly, it’s good enough. It’s heavy, but rugged and affordable so, I’ve used it on my re-rig. Good enough.

Anyway - thanks for the details on the adjustable cars. I hadn’t realized that they actually release and move aft with sheet pressure . Any idea which of the systems you have (in this Garhauer link)? (Just curious how you choose a system - maybe just by boat/line size? )https://www.garhauermarine.com/prod...rdware/e-z-glide-adjustable-genoa-car-system/

Setting up Garhauer blocks when building my new boom two years ago:

 

[Elegua]

I have the biggest system because of the track thickness. Don’t forget the cleats which are separate.

 

[Jud - s/v Sputnik]

I have the biggest system because of the track thickness. Don’t forget the cleats which are separate.

Thanks. Good to know.

But what do you mean about “cleats”? (I’ll also dig back further up thread to check the pics you posted there when discussing the bungee, etc. This is all new stuff to me! )

EDIT: I think you’re referring to the cam cleat in the pic below (from your earlier post)? When I first saw the word “cleat” in your post above, I thought you were referring to a standard cleat (horn cleat), and I was a bit confused. Still not clear how these adjustable cars work - looks like they require a separate line apart from the Genoa sheet? (I.e., there’s one line in the car, and a different [smaller?] one in the cam cleat.) Anyway, I’ll poke around further on the web and call Garhauer on Monday. They were helpful with various thing, when I spoke to them earlier when building my boom/mainsheet/etc.

 

[longy]

E-Z Glide Adjustable Genoa Car E-Z G-2 | Garhauer

1-1/4" T-track standard duty

www.garhauermarine.com

Each side has 3 pieces of hardware: genoa block on car with sliders, forward sheave block with 2 sheaves, aft car with cam cleat

This allows you to have a 4:1 puller tackle (blue fleck line) to adjust car, cam cleat to hold the tackle mounted to track aft of car.
Cam cleat can be mounted anywhere it's convenient to reach with a fair lead to forward car

 

[Elegua]

Just when you think the anchorage is safe, the Norks show up!

 

[Jud - s/v Sputnik]

E-Z Glide Adjustable Genoa Car E-Z G-2 | Garhauer

1-1/4" T-track standard duty

www.garhauermarine.com

Each side has 3 pieces of hardware: genoa block on car with sliders, forward sheave block with 2 sheaves, aft car with cam cleat

This allows you to have a 4:1 puller tackle (blue fleck line) to adjust car, cam cleat to hold the tackle mounted to track aft of car.
Cam cleat can be mounted anywhere it's convenient to reach with a fair lead to forward car

Thanks for this, Longy. It’s not something I know much about or have put much thought into, what with trying to finish up a couple of more basic, bigger projects first- but in reading back through this most excellent thread, I noticed that adding adjustable sheet leads was on Elegua’s to-do list post several pages back from just after he got in to Antigua (a post about lessons learned (vents leaked, etc), things to change/upgrade, etc., upon reflection after that passage.

The light went off in my head —of after a big passage he thinks those are key items he’s going to focus on, then maybe it’s a good list to learn from for a neophyte like me for a future offshore passage! (But, re: that list, seriously, I don’t have space for 400w of solar…but, hmmm, maybe I do if I have an additional few light, flexible panels to stick out when possible, etc. I think that’s how he’s done it). So I started poking around about adjustable sheet leads and came across this good article on retrofitting them using LFR’s. I don’t know if this type of set up is too fiddly or reasonable or whatever for my boat, but it might be fun to play around with just for now to get a feel for how they work since, sadly, there is no danger of us taking off an offshore passage to warmer climes in the imminent future, so I have time…

 

[longy]

A floating ring system will achieve the same result - but be aware that anytime the sheet is loose, that ring WILL be flogging about
These systems mostly used with an 'inhauler' and/or an 'outhauler' to pull the lead inboard/outboard. And in most pictures of these systems in use you will see some stout bungee holding the ring up
And there is a fair bit of friction with those rings, they are mostly used with bare spectra lines