She's Built!

Our boat went in the water this week in Sweden for systems testing etc. The picture above was of her in the factory. All in all a very exciting week with Jake turning 4. Rae Ann has been very busy getting various elements crossed off the list, coast guard registration, ships station license (MMSI) and insurance quotes. Time now begins to move a little faster than normal as we can say 6 months until we are aboard and so many things to sort out before then....

Visiting our New Boat

If anyone thinks we sped through the last outfitting post - you are right, first it is not fun to think about those ugly situations. However in reality we really wanted to tell you about our visit to the Hallberg Rassy yard in Ellos.

We took along weekend August 24-27 and flew to Gothenburg Sweden, where via rental car we travelled to Ellos. This coincided with the annual open house/boat show for Hallberg Rassy. Several different boat manufactures were on display as well as equipment manufacturers. It also gave us a chance to spend more time on a finished sister ship to the HR40, which only fueled our dreams further. Jake requested that we get bunk beds, which unfortunately are only available on the 48 or larger - so we satisfied ourselves practicing in them on the boat show boat.

We also got to tour the factory during the show and then again on Monday privately where we saw our boat under construction.

Outfitting Part 6 - Safety

Our last outfitting segment at least until we finalize any changes when we are actually on the boat. Some of the items mentioned below are redundant to early posts, but in a sense, ensuring the safety of an ocean going craft is based upon many systems working together.

In essence there are two groupings of safety equipment - dedicated special use and that equipment which helps ensure safe operation of the boat in all conditions. First the dedicated equipment:

Equipment List:
Life raft Avon modula valise Super, 4 person. IOF/ORC, Valise
Lee clothes - for starboard setee and aft cabin berths (3 pcs)
Fitting for lifebelts in cockpit (2)
Flares kit (USCG - 3 orange cans/3 red parachutes/handheld)
Medical kit
Lifesling
Horse Shoe throwable
Life Jackets/Tethers & Harnesses/Strobes
Extra Life Jackets
EPIRB
Jordon Series Drouge or Gailrider
Rapid Ditch Bag
Jack lines
Emergency water maker

Basically the equipment above breaks down into two categories 1) staying safe on the boat and 2) abandon ship emergency. Life jackets, jack lines, drogue, lee clothes, medical kit all fit in the first category making the boat safer while under way. In the second category, life raft, EPIRB, ditch bag, emergency water maker, allow for an ultimate survival situation where the boat must be abandoned. Most importantly the EPIRB - new 406 with GPS - allows for rapid and accurate location and identification. But lets be clear we never intend on using any of this stuff.

More important in vessel safety is staying out of trouble - this is where some of the previous communication, electronic and sailing equipment comes into play. VHF and SSB ensure ongoing communication support with a dedicated weather receiver to help avoid, route through bad weather. Radar and AIS will help with collision avoidance, either ships or land. Our sail inventory together with a strong sailing vessel will allow us to make progress in all but the worst conditions should we find ourselves in them.

Outfittng Part 5 - Making Her Go

In this next part about outfitting we look at the sail inventory we have initially decided to carry. From our previous experience we believe; 1) you encounter light airs (less than 10 knots) a majority of the time 2) the ease of handling the sails translates into more sailing 3) when bad weather strikes the inventory and boat must be forgiving 4) having the right sails for the current weather conditions is valuable.

In particular, on our HR 34 getting light air downwind performance to an acceptable level was difficult without a dedicated light air sail, which we did not have. Deep broad reaching though, a large genoa with a pole worked well as did two head sails. Upwind we were generally without concern - mostly too much canvas. The fully batten main with two reef points worked well as this could be done from the cockpit. Our heavy weather canvas was never really acceptable on the HR 34 - we had an ATN gail sail which was to be pulled over your furled jib - just too much friction and as well work to be done right at the stem.

Turning to the HR 40, there are some significant differences. First this is a much heavier boat and less performance oriented that the HR 34. HR has worked very hard with Selden masts to ensure a trouble free in-mast furling system as well developing a fully battened (vertical) main sail that keeps performance and shape acceptable.

So with reluctance the first change was to go with the in-mast furling, which we kept at the mast, so one will have to work outside the cockpit to furl. The safety issue this presents is offset by being closer to the area of effort to track what is happening with the sail.

The next item was to order a cruising spinnaker and equipment which has its own furling drum for easy of handling and flys from a temporary bow sprit. These sails are now easily handled and compared with setting up a wing and wing arrangement should not be any more trouble than we managed in the past as a family crew.

We also elected to improve the storm sail management, getting a dedicated removable cutter stay with storm jib and running backstays. We will be able to set this up independent of the other head sails, working much farther aft on deck. Much more reliable and safer than our solution on the HR 34.

Equipment List
Selden jib furling system, including furling jib
Selden Furlin, in mast furling, manual direct drive
Furling mainsail, EMS vertical battens, GS-cloth
Backstay Tensioner
Furling Genoa, trioptimal, laminated cloth, E-foam
Furling cruising spinnaker, incl. equipment and remov.
Extra Bow Roller
Whisker pole against mast including topping lift
Working jib
Cutterstay incl. halyard, sheets, runners, extra cars -
Storm jib/Cutterstay, hooks, Dacron 13.6 sqm
Second jib Halyard
Spinnaker halyard

Overall, we have found that the HR's make great sailing boats, with the right sail combination can sail in a very wide wind range at any angle. Making for safer and more comfortable passages of any duration.

Outfitting Part 4 - Electrical System

So now that we have all of the major boat systems - we need to power them - which means generating and storing electricity. Lets start with estimates of what we will use:

Usage At Sea
Refrigeration 48
Lights 18
Navigation 6
Radar 24
Autopilot 48
water pumps 4.5
Communications 15
Fans 24
Other 15
Water maker 26
Total 254 Ah

The biggest variable at sea is wind and sea state, if elevated or foggy for example both autopilot demands and radar demands could easily double.

At Anchor
Refrigeration 48
Lights 18
Navigation 0
Radar 0
Autopilot 0
water pumps 4.5
Communications 15
Fans 24
Other 15
Water maker 26
Total 176 Ah

At anchor our usage decreases because we will not be using the radar and the autopilot.

For the rest of the analysis we will use the At Sea usage as this represents the largest requirement. Next we need to size the battery bank, rule of thumb is that only 40% of your battery bank is usable, because you cannot discharge regularly below 50% of the bank without damage and charging the last 10% is very inefficient. Assuming allowance for 1 day of use the minimum capacity of the bank is 635Ah (254 / 40%).

Our house battery bank is 705 Ah thus sized with a small safety margin.

Next we need to look at how we will generate electricity noting that there are three options; 1) from the main engine 2) from a dedicated generator 3) from renewable sources (wind, water, solar).

We have decided not to put on a dedicated generator because of expense and ongoing maintenance, additionally our estimated load requirements are a little light to make efficient use of a generator.

On our main engine we will install a high put alternator, generating 120 Ah, assuming 2 hours of operation a day (1 in the morning and 1 in the evening) this will provide 240 Ah.

We will also install alternative charging, most likely a water/wind generator that you tow while at sea and use as a wind generator at anchor. Estimated output in water mode is 144 Ah and in wind is 96 Ah.

In total our At Sea generating capacity is thus 384 Ah with 2 hours of engine and towing the water/wind generator. While at At Anchor we will have 336 Ah. This can be adjusted based upon needs with the default to charge as much from our alternative sources as possible.

If we left the boat for a period of time the 96 Ah from the wind generator should be sufficient to support minimum systems (refrigeration, anchor light and fans).

Further we expect to balance the load by running the water maker and engine at the same time to manage that peak draw.

So in total our system will be well balanced - if we assume that we are off by 25% on our actual usage then we see that we would really need 320 Ah At Sea and batter bank of 800 Ah. This is probably more realistic thus minimizing the impact of the water maker will be critical.

Finally, to keep all this system working we will need to monitor and maintain the batteries. We will use a Mastervolt combination inverter/charger with a MICC for battery monitoring and have installed the Tudor Battery filling system to keep water levels at optimum level in the batteries.

Equipment List
62 amp start battery 245 amp house battery
Shore connection, 117V, islolator, breaker, land cable, 4 outlets
Marinco-inlet for 110 V
Additional Batteries, Flat Plate, 12V 235 Ah -order 2 additional for a total of 705Ah
Tudor BFS water filling system for batteries, 12v/225/210ah
12V/120 Amp Alternator and emergency start (Yanmar)
Lopolight LED Tricolor light and Anchor Light
Combi Mastervolt 12/2000-100A (120V), MICC remote
Red night light over galley and navigation table
Extra 110 V outlet: galley
Hella Turbo Fans (8)
DuoGen
Electric Gas Switch

The only thing that will not be installed at the Yard is the DuoGen, which do to ease in installation and rapidly improving technologies we will wait to install ourselves in 2008. At the moment though this seems to be the best wind/water generator on the market.

Outfitting - Part 3 Mechanical Systems

As with all boats our mechanical systems are dominated by the auxiliary diesel engine. In our case we will have a 4 cylinder Yanmar. We will not have a generator on our boat, instead we will have other electricity generating alternatives, which we will discuss in a future post.

With the mechanical systems we have focused on ease of maintenance, which is made much easier with the large engine room on the HR:

Equipment List
Yanmar, 4JH4E, 4 cylinders, 2.2 liters, 54HP
122 US gallons Fuel Tank
Air heater Webasto Airtop 3500 Diesel, four outlets
Refrigiration Unit, Isotherm SP-System, watercooled w/ electic compressor
Sailing Propeller, Gori, 3-bladed, 2 geared
Centaflex coupling
Zinkanode for extended protection of propeller
El. Oil Change Pump
El. Bilge Pump
Double Fuel Filters with switch
Several spares

Outfitting - Part 2 - Water Management

Not the most inspiring of topics but in reality, after a seaworthy boat, the most important safety factor on any boat. Minimum survival level consumption of water is estimated at 1 gallon/day/person so for our family of 4 that is 4 gallons per day, add in a safety factor of 25% and 30 days water usage at minimum levels is 150 gallons. This is actually less than actually used during the average day on shore!

Our HR 40 comes equipped with 122 gallons of water tankage in two tanks. We have also ordered a spectra water maker (14 gallons/hour) and will carry additional water in jerry jugs totaling approx 30 gallons.

Equipment List
Pressure water system with pressure equalizer tank
Insulated water heater
Electric Shower waste pump
Stainless steel holding tank, including deck outlet
Deck Wash Pump - sea water
Shower at Bathing Platform
Watermaker - Spectra Newport 400 12V
Spare kit for Watermaker - Spectra Newport 400
Pressure water pump, as extra spare, not mounted
Spare Kit for manual PAR Toilet
Charcoal water filter
Manual Bilge pump
Electric bilge pump
Foot pump for fresh water - galley

The HR 40 comes with one heads compartment, complete with separate shower stall. A pressure water system serves both hot and cold water, the hot water heater working off both 110v and circulated engine cooling water. We have also installed two deck water outlets, one for rinsing off on the back of the boat and a second high pressure for deck/anchor wash downs mounted in the bow locker.

Outfitting the Boat - Part 1 Electronics

This is the first post describing how we have decided to outfit our HR. In all we will cover; Sails, Electrical System, Electronics, Plumbing, Mechanical, Safety and significant other. In Part 1 we will discuss the choices of Electronics.

Raymarine 60+ Speed, Depth, Wind
Autopilot Raymarine ST7002G+ Type II
Raymarine Smart Controller remote and repeater
Additional raymarine ST60 + Graphic at nav station
Radar/plotter/GPS Raymarine E120 multifunction display,excl attena
Raymarine 4kw Radar radom- & GPS - antenna
AIS-CTRX class B Transponder
Stereo/CD Pioneer (AM/FM) USA with remote, 6 inch speakers
Stereo Loudspeakers in Cockpit
SSB Icom ICM802, AT 140, and 2 grounding plates, USA Only
VHF Icom M502, DSC with commandmic HM-127B, USA Only
Weatherfax/Navtex unit Furuno Fax-30 for NAVnet/PC, exkl.ant
Pactor II USB modem with Pactor 3 license USB cable to chart table


We built our choices on the very positive expereince we had with Raymarine and Icom equipment on our previous boat, where we never had a failure. With expanded horizons however comes expanded requirements, particularly in communications as well as safety.

We elected to install a SSB, which continues to be the most common choice for long distance marine communications, and once installed is essentially free to use excepting small email service support fees. The downside is that SSB can be difficult to install (grounding, attena etc.) and operate in certain conditions and limits shore side communications to email at a slow rate (2800 baud). The increasing popular addition of a satellite phone is still quite expensive particularly for ongoing operations ($2/minute) and not much faster than SSB for email. Satellite phones are also easy to self install. Conclusion: have the yard install the SSB during construction and leave the satellite phone off.

In the area of safety we looked at two areas - visibility and weather. For visibility it is a two fold issue - seeing and being seen. Too see we have elected a powerful radar unit which interfaced with chartering software will provide a good overview of the surrounding area even in poor visibility (fog, night). However, the most interesting development has been the advent of AIS, which all large ships now must carry and is available to pleasure craft as well. AIS allows for the transmission on VHF channels all the details of a vessel, including direction, speed, type, cargo etc. Thus interfaced to a radar, we will be able to not only "see" a vessel but have information from AIS to identify whether there is a risk of collision much quicker as well as sort targets which may be stationary, such as fishing vessels. We have selected a transponder so we will send our information as well as receive others.

Weather forecasting and information availability has improved substantially over the past many years. It is the single most important safety and comfort factor for a mariner. We will have four ways of accessing weather information 1) SSB/VHF radio broadcasts 2) emailed GRIB weather files 3) contact with dedicated weather routing via email 4) NATEX weather forecast broadcasts. NAVTEX receivers use dedicated stations worldwide that send weather forecasts (usually 72 hours). Using a dedicated receiver the times and frequencies pre-programmed the weather data is received without user interface.

Other electronics include an autopilot, depth sounder, knot log, wind strength and direction indicator and GPS. As we have always navigated using paper charts and dead reckoning, we will continue to do this as our primary form of navigation using GPS, Radar and Electronic charts as our back-up.

The Old Boat - Update

Closing was Friday April 20th. With very fond memories we hand Solace to another family and now look forward to being the proud owners of only one sailboat.

Visit to the Yard

On Thursday and Friday, April 12th and 13th, Dave visited the Hallberg Rassy yard in Ellos, Sweden. Ellos is on the west coast of Sweden, a very picturesque coast line, very rocky and many islands. The weather was absolutely perfect. On Friday morning I met with Rolland, the sales manager for Hallberg Rassy. We had met Rolland in 2001 when we visited the open house that year. Rolland helped us with our 34 and now is helping us with the equipment, layout decisions on the 40. First though we spoke about cruising grounds, where Rolland noted that the best he has ever been too, and the one he must get back to, is the inside passage to Alaska. So there you have it, better to stay close to home after all!

For the main event, it is true that we had not actually looked at "our" boat live, at least in terms of layout. Overall, I left with 1) more options, so more money spent 2) very positive feeling that we made a great decision 3) confidence that we have found the right mix of size and manageability for our family. I looked at 4 different 40's all in different stages of production from bare hull to floating in the water. Storage area was good, especially under the bunks, the salon felt roomy and comfortable with the arm chairs and the cockpit secure.

A fun experience.

Why we chose a Hallberg Rassy

The story starts many years ago at the Seattle boat show in 1996/1997, when browsing all of the boats we stepped on a HR 42, complete with arm chairs in the salon, it was exquisite. Later that year I read the "Log of the Mahina" about John Neal's first blue water cruise. The combination of these two items had us very convinced what our eventual cruising boat would be.

When we were living in Brazil, after a couple of chartering vacations and much research on alternative boat types (Pacific Seacraft, Swan, Morris, Island Packet, Beneteau) we decided on ordering a new HR 34, of which we took delivery of in Singapore in 2001. In summary, the reputation of HR is exceptional and we felt that the cost/value equation as compared to the other boats we considered highly favored the HR.

For a little over five years, we sailed our HR 34, Solace, as much as possible, nearly every weekend in Singapore (not much of a winter) and throughout each summer while we lived in Connecticut. During this period of time which include a little racing, some coastal cruising, a couple of very serious blows (50+ knot Sumatra in Singapore) two babies (Jake and Isabelle), Solace taught us to sail, forgave all mistakes (too much sail for the conditions, going aground) and never suffered a major or minor break down. As we sailed with other boaters, we began to deeply appreciate the fineness of the HR both for the sailing as well as the execution of systems which were reliable and free of anything other than routine maintenance.

So there was no question for us what boat make was going to take us cruising. We looked at a couple of used HR's but ultimately decided to order again from the yard. In terms of size we believe the 40 is a good compromise on storage/tankage and size (not so large as to need electric winches or be overly intimidating in a tight marina). I will go into the outfitting plan for our HR 40 in a later post, ordering new gave us the peace of mind that our requirements will be executed flawlessly by HR. All in all we expect that the HR 40 will make a good home, a strong and reliable sailing vessel and a great place to raise our family.

The Old Boat

Of the many things we need to do to prepare for the next chapter of our life, one of the priorities was to sell our current boat, Solace, and HR 34. On Wednesday April 4, 2007, we received a firm offer, subject to standard survey and closing. This made our day as we can begin, (fingers deeply crossed) to think we will not be the proud owners of two boats for much longer.

The Decision

We have been planning to go cruising for many years now, but the decision to go, the commitment if you will, is still an earth moving day. For most, including us, it is marked the day you buy the boat you intend to go on. At this point you have committed your heart, mind and finances to the endeavor. On March 8, 2007 we ordered our boat, a Hallberg Rassy 40. This boat will be a new build to be delivered in December 2007. We will have the boat delivered to us on the east coast of the U.S. (Essex CT) and begin our cruising from there in the Spring of 2008. Please see the Hallberg Rassy link posted on this site for more information on the boat.

Welcome

Welcome to our cruising adventure. We intend on sharing as much about our planning, preperation and actual adventure as possible. We hope you enjoy. The picture of above is sistership of the Hallberg Rassy 40.