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Preparations for the LongPac

I wore my old...almost ten year old WM auto inflate about a year and a half ago while sailing the skerry. The boat went over while I was hoisting the main and the inflatable...inflated. Boy, did it keep my head up. That thing FLOATED...

but it was ~impossible~ to get over the side of the tiny little bulwarks of the skerry and back into the boat.

I think inflatable lifejackets are great if you're sailing in a crew with 4+ people and you are depending on them to get you back on the boat. I'm entirely not convinced that they are so great if you're on your own, but I would sure like to see more head support than most of the foam lifejackets provide.
 
A charter company I worked for required all their captains/crew to check their PFDs (if they were the inflatable kind) before each voyage. Seems like a good thing for everyone. I was sailing with a friend the other day and asked her about her PFD. She looked and her cartridge gauge was also in the red. There are "replace by" dates on these cartridges. When they expire, that's a good time to jump in and see what happens. It is eye-opening (or grin-inducing, depending on how tight those crotch straps are). Which reminds me, I've offered to be BAMA's MOB dummy....errr, MOB victim.....errr, let's just say, their real person in the water for BAMA folks to practice their drills on. I have it in my calendar, but don't remember the date. It might be fun to get out on a boat and watch the chaos ensue. Errr....maybe not.

Anyway, check your tethers, too. You all know that manufacturers recommend 5-year replacement intervals, right? Have you read the literature on your tether. What does it say? How "weathered" is yours? Does the stitching all look good? You know how many people just "trust" their life saving equipment and have never actually inspected it?
 
I have WM offshore inflatable and a Spinlock deckvest.
Both get serviced annually along with my tether.
The Deckvest has better crotch straps. Less binding.

I used the WM vest during my SAS pool session.
Yes , the pressure around my neck was surprising. Also, those few seconds it takes to inflate are really long!
Swimming backstroke worked best, and boarding a raft proved difficult at best.
It helped immensely to use the manual inflation tube to let a bit of pressure out of the bladder allowing better movement of my head and arms.

I trust my equipment because I service it!
 
about that bilge pump

Tom Patterson offered advice at a distance, he won't let me try that old trick again. Reminded me to follow the wires. What did they look like when I cut them? Maybe something was stuck inside which would cause the fuse to blow. So I did. Took it apart,

IMG-5743.JPG

checked the little plastic impeller, cleaned it up and re-wired it. Blew another fuse.

Cooper, the whaler boss at RYC, bumped up against my stern in a RIB with a HUGE engine. He needs an adult along in order to take it out of the harbor. Did I want to come out for a ride? Hmmmm. Boat ride or bilge filth? Jumped on the boat, raced around Potrero Reach, over by KKMI, saw the Sugar Shack, went real fast, returned real fast.

Reconsidered the issues before me, drove to West Marine and bought a new automatic bilge pump for $85. I don't remember my previous bilge pump costing that much in .... let's see, 2013.

Brought it back to Dura Mater, wired it up and whoopeee!

IMG-5744.JPG

Twas the fresh air and a ride with a fifteen year old that offered me the ability to think clearly.
 
Philpott said:
Tom Patterson offered advice at a distance, he won't let me try that old trick again. Reminded me to follow the wires. What did they look like when I cut them? Maybe something was stuck inside which would cause the fuse to blow. So I did. Took it apart,

View attachment 4478

checked the little plastic impeller, cleaned it up and re-wired it. Blew another fuse.

Cooper, the whaler boss at RYC, bumped up against my stern in a RIB with a HUGE engine. He needs an adult along in order to take it out of the harbor. Did I want to come out for a ride? Hmmmm. Boat ride or bilge filth? Jumped on the boat, raced around Potrero Reach, over by KKMI, saw the Sugar Shack, went real fast, returned real fast.

Reconsidered the issues before me, drove to West Marine and bought a new automatic bilge pump for $85. I don't remember my previous bilge pump costing that much in .... let's see, 2013.

Brought it back to Dura Mater, wired it up and whoopeee!

View attachment 4479

Twas the fresh air and a ride with a fifteen year old that offered me the ability to think clearly.
Click to expand...
What was the amp rating of the fuse that kept blowing?
 
Probably a bad motor especially at that age. Those things just don't last long. I think I'm on my second in 6 years. You got your money's worth....about $12 per year amortized, right?
 
Coffee anyone?

Gamayun said:
Probably a bad motor especially at that age. Those things just don't last long. I think I'm on my second in 6 years. You got your money's worth....about $12 per year amortized, right?
Click to expand...

This thread has been great, as I've been following along getting all kinds of great info from all y'all! This seems to be in-lieu of the seminar we never had :(. Question:

What do folks do for cooking or making coffee on board? Being a newbie, I'm very reticent to use the propane stove with an open flame.. have been looking at options for a simple rice cooker or hot plate to boil water for coffee and noodles, etc.. Any experience with such things that might plug into the 12V system with impacting the capacity too brutally? I've wired a 1000 amp inverter directly to the batter, and have the usual 12V lighter plug on the panel.. Have installed 2 group 27 91 amp Northstar batteries.. Also saw a slick Coleman 1 burner butane camping single stovetop thingy which looks pretty safe... uses small butane cartridges for fuel.. found a mini rice cooker (400 amps) on amazon that might be ok? .. Advice??
Michael
Mulan
Bene 10R
 
Hi Michael,

An energy audit is needed to understand how much energy you plan to use and how much storage and recharging there is available to meet the demand. The insights are revealing.

I have no experience with electric based cooking. However, I have used the camping (one use) propane cylinders. My big caution with that type of unit is they have no shutoff valve. I had problems with marine environment adversely impacting shutoff valve so the valve leaked when disconnected from burner.

My preference would be to have independent systems so there is no concern that cooking will impact the ability to navigate, operate running lights, autopilot, etc that would get you sailing safely.

Ants
 
I've been happy with my jetboil.
Used it to Kauai and back.
Added the gimbal and the cup locks in place.
The medium sized canister lasted the trip and then some.

IMG_2026.jpg
 
BobJ said:
The LongPac SER doesn't allow this but SSS/OYRA (NCORC) does: You can have a non-inflatable if it has 22# of buoyancy. I have a separate harness so I'm thinking about testing it with one of these:

https://www.coleman.com/deluxe-merchant-mate-ii-life-vest/I600-IND.html

After SAS training and things I've read, I don't trust the inflatables to (1) always inflate or (2) enable me to maneuver in the water to reach my etriers and re-board. I also like having a bit of padding when it's rough. Maybe one of these with a light windbreaker wouldn't be too uncomfortable.
Click to expand...

Those are exactly the same two Type 1 life jackets I carry on Beetle, they are specifically for abandoning ship into the life raft; nothing to go wrong with them, nothing to inflate, you can puncture them and they still float. They are also good for going aloft offshore when you're slamming into the mast as the boat rolls - the padding around the chest is excellent. Not inexpensive and being bulky they are difficult to stow in a convenient-to-access place, but very good.

On my singlehanded stuff I don't wear a life jacket but always have my harness and tether and clip in to the jack lines. As Jim Kellam (Haulback) said, "The only reason to wear a life jacket is to have something to strap the pistol to."

- rob
 
Michael, if all you're eating is a boiled egg or oatmeal for breakfast and instant meals for dinner, Jetboil is the way to go. If you have an ice box and good friends, pre-made stews can be eaten cold anytime, breakfast, lunch and dinner. Tell them, though, that fish stew will get tossed overboard pretty quickly.... especially after dealing with those rough first days ;)
 
Gamayun said:
Michael, if all you're eating is a boiled egg or oatmeal for breakfast and instant meals for dinner, Jetboil is the way to go. If you have an ice box and good friends, pre-made stews can be eaten cold anytime, breakfast, lunch and dinner. Tell them, though, that fish stew will get tossed overboard pretty quickly.... especially after dealing with those rough first days ;)
Click to expand...

Ah, Michael, the devil is in the details. Notice that Gamayun qualifies her advice with the caveat "... if you have an ice box and good friends..." One is able to purchase an ice box at the local chandlery. The good friends part is something much harder to gain. Over time I am confident that my fellow singlehanders may learn to accept others into their hearts, if not onto their boats. And now maybe even you.
 
Mountain House freeze-dried dinners. I live on 'em when Joan and I are backpacking and George has a backlog of 'em. He's got some sort of gimballed like a sea-swing. The bimballed JetBoil would be The Ticket for solo, though.

Though on the LongPac I'm more likely to eat-and-go than anything else. Thus...a couple of sandwiches in the cooler, some fruit and a handful of power bars or clones of power bars.

And coffee. MUST have coffee.
 
On Windy.com there are three types of forecasting. It has been suggested that NAM, ECMWF and GFS are sometimes more accurate according to the area. Which of these three seems best for LongPac territory? Or is that oversimplification?
 
During the tracker session at the skippers meeting last night I realized I needed to make an adjustment to my "preset" messages.
Namely add the [email protected] address to my list of recipients.
On the Garmin page under the "messages" tab there are three "preset messages"
I use the edit button to change the text of the message and add email addresses.
Click done.
Sync the device to my computer to update the device.
Now tracking should receive my SOL message.
 
Philpott said:
On Windy.com there are three types of forecasting. It has been suggested that NAM, ECMWF and GFS are sometimes more accurate according to the area. Which of these three seems best for LongPac territory? Or is that oversimplification?
Click to expand...


I like simple.
Master weather router I am not!
When there are multiple sources I like to compare them and find the ones that agree.
I interpret that as more stable/reliable.
 
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