Offshore in a 24'

[mitiempo]

Garffin
Are you 4'8'' tall?
You're right about floorboards. All small boats and many larger ones have seat lockers with loose tops. The best idea is to put hinges and positive catches on all lockers - just buy ss piano hinge and cut to size. Imagine your boat upside down and what can fly around, hurting both itself and you. Bungee cord will not work if there are heavy items in the locker. Tapered plugs are good but also make sure the seacock is durable - no gate valves and if it looks flimsy and you can't afford to change it make sure nothing heavy enough to break it is nearby if loose in a seaway.

[zz4gta]

Twilight Zone's trip to Hawaii

A 25 footer that made the trip. Lots of mods detailed in the text. Set up for racing, but a lot should still apply.

[Garffin]

Mitiempo! I am when I do this [IMG][/IMG]

[tager]

It may be offshore in a 26 now!

Keet

[mitiempo]

tager
I looked at your blog, but there's not much about your boat. How's it coming along?

[imagine2frolic]

If you do go with a cockpit locker? I would move it forward to the companionway. It may make it more uncomfortable getting up, and down. It will keep water that enters the cockpit from entering the boat..........i2f

[sailingdog]

Rather than a sea anchor, I'd suggest a Jordan Series Drogue. You can read about the JSD on my blog.

I would recommend build a proper bridgedeck at the front of the cockpit on your boat if it doesn't have one. I did this on my boat, and you can read about it here.

You should have some sort of retaining collar on the rudder stock to prevent it from lifting out of the bushing.

You should make heavy acrylic storm covers for the ports on your boat and carry a couple of pieces of 3/8" or 1/2" plywood large enough to cover a port in the case one breaks.

A decent set of tools, including what you need to maintain your rigging, engine, plumbing and electrical systems as well as emergency tools, like a small axe, a set of bolt or rigging cutters, a small (3-5 lb.) sledge with drift punch for punching out clevis pins, etc.

Making the forward bulkhead of your boat a water-tight bulkhead in case of collision is probably a good idea. I haven't done this, but my boat has multiple hulls and each is separated into multiple water-tight compartments—and it doesn't have a heavy keel to pull it under.

Making sure that all the stowage compartments, especially ones that contain heavy items like the anchor, batteries, etc. can be dogged shut is a good idea. IIRC, Ken Barnes aborted his circumnavigation in good part due to the 14 batteries he had aboard not being properly secured, and in a knockdown, they bounced around the cabin and broke a hatch and a few other things.

As John Vigor would say—THINK INVERTED... what would happen if the boat was upside down and where would things end up.

Having properly sized wooden bungs (softwood, with a hole drilled through the fat end, with a lanyard through the hole and stored in a sealed plastic bag) next to each through-hull is a good idea. Having a collision mat and some thin plywood and underwater setting repair epoxy are also a good idea.

Jacklines, harness and tether, as well as some decent hardpoints in the cockpit, on the foredeck and at the mast, for you to clip into are a good idea. When singlehanding—you have to stay on the boat.

A good ditch bag with emergency water, a solar still, e-rations, a handheld VHF with extra batteries, signaling flares, mirror, etc., is a good idea.

Adding a proper first aid kit, with strong pain medication, silver-based burn creme, and other advanced medical gear and learning how to use it all is a very good idea.


I hope this helps.

[tager]

Originally Posted by sailingdog

Rather than a sea anchor, I'd suggest a Jordan Series Drogue. You can read about the JSD on my blog. I have never used a JSD but I think they make sense. Essentially they are similar to trailing warps, which may be near as effective.



I would recommend build a proper bridgedeck at the front of the cockpit on your boat if it doesn't have one. I did this on my boat, and you can read about it here.

The Haida 26 does indeed have a proper bridgedeck, and I will only sail offshore with the boards bolted in.

You should have some sort of retaining collar on the rudder stock to prevent it from lifting out of the bushing.


This was a problem on my Islander Bahama 24, which has a bronze shoe on the trailing edge of the keel, which the rudder shaft hung in. I am not sure if somebody fiddled with the rudder design, but it was possible to lift the tiller and have the rudder shaft come out of the shoe. The Haida has an outboard rudder, pintles and gudgeons.

You should make heavy acrylic storm covers for the ports on your boat and carry a couple of pieces of 3/8" or 1/2" plywood large enough to cover a port in the case one breaks.

This is a good call, and I have all of these materials aboard. I do not have storm shutters, but I will probably make them before tackling the Pacific.

A decent set of tools, including what you need to maintain your rigging, engine, plumbing and electrical systems as well as emergency tools, like a small axe, a set of bolt or rigging cutters, a small (3-5 lb.) sledge with drift punch for punching out clevis pins, etc.

All of these are aboard. A decent set of tools has always been a priority for me, I do all of my own work.

Making the forward bulkhead of your boat a water-tight bulkhead in case of collision is probably a good idea. I haven't done this, but my boat has multiple hulls and each is separated into multiple water-tight compartments—and it doesn't have a heavy keel to pull it under.

The bulkheads in the Haida 26 are bolted onto the tabs. This is a peculiar arrangement that makes it easy to replace them, and they almost never rot. However, I am not sure how to acheive a watertight seal on the tabs. Perhaps a gasket along the tab, followed by bolting on the bulkhead? It may be easier to put watertight lockers in the salon and v-berth, and put a watertight bulkhead under the bridgedeck.

Making sure that all the stowage compartments, especially ones that contain heavy items like the anchor, batteries, etc. can be dogged shut is a good idea. IIRC, Ken Barnes aborted his circumnavigation in good part due to the 14 batteries he had aboard not being properly secured, and in a knockdown, they bounced around the cabin and broke a hatch and a few other things.

As John Vigor would say—THINK INVERTED... what would happen if the boat was upside down and where would things end up.

Indeed many things need to be strapped, bolted, dogged, and lashed in place.

Having properly sized wooden bungs (softwood, with a hole drilled through the fat end, with a lanyard through the hole and stored in a sealed plastic bag) next to each through-hull is a good idea. Having a collision mat and some thin plywood and underwater setting repair epoxy are also a good idea.

I have all of these except the mat and veneer.

Jacklines, harness and tether, as well as some decent hardpoints in the cockpit, on the foredeck and at the mast, for you to clip into are a good idea. When singlehanding—you have to stay on the boat.
I do not have any of these, but they are definitely necessary before heading out far from land!
A good ditch bag with emergency water, a solar still, e-rations, a handheld VHF with extra batteries, signaling flares, mirror, etc., is a good idea.

Adding a proper first aid kit, with strong pain medication, silver-based burn creme, and other advanced medical gear and learning how to use it all is a very good idea.


I hope this helps.

That was a very helpful list and I will work on getting those before the time comes to sail to Mexico! I am not sure what to do about a liferaft, I like the portland pudgy. I may make one of my dinghies unsinkable, add a ditch bag, epirb, canopy, drogue, and maybe even sail rig, so that in case KEET goes bubble bubble I will have somewhere to go. I still can't figure out why an inflatable liferaft is preferred over an unsinkable dinghy. If similarly equipped, the dink seems to win on most counts.

[mitiempo]

The biggest problem with liferafts is they aren't mobile - you sit and wait. The Pardeys make a good case for an unsinkable sailing dinghy and show how they did it. Not sure which book it is in.

[tommays]

If the liferaft is needed on a nice day because a whale hit you than most anything would be fine (it did just happen) and they sank FAST

BUT if you need it becasue the Sea did in the boat than you need the things and offshore liferaft has