[Public-List] Looking for ideas to organize cockpit lockers

[Bill Wallace]

A mainster is a nylon mainsail, ala an article in Good Old Boat magazine.  It is set flying (eg not attached to the mainsail track) in place of the mainsail during very light winds.  It doesn't slat even in the lightest winds, but is only good to 10-15 knots maximum wind speed.   Because it is nylon, you just stuff it into a bag and it doesn't take much space, so I don't mind carrying an extra sail.

If we you want to sew your own, I find that I can easily buy ripstop nylon at fabric factory stores (Lens Mill Waterloo, Ontario and nearby) and if I'm not fussy about the colour, then buying the entire remaining roll gets me a cost of about $6/meter (yard).  Downloading one of the sail designing programs allows you to quickly design the sail and print out single-sheet outlines for each panel.  Those get transferred to the fabric and the edges cut with a hot knife (I use a propane soldering iron from Lowes - $20 - that way I don't worry about the cord moving the fabric - but do it outside in a light wind that moves away from you).

Cost for me is about $200 for either the drifter or the mainsail.
100 in fabric
50 in high-tech rope for the luff/foot
25 in thread/needles
25 for a few rings and nylon webbing for attaching the corners

sailrite sells a kit for about 450 I think the quote was, and for a first sail, I would recommend going that way.  This will be my third sail, so I'm keen to try designing it as well, and for the cost/effort, I don't mind ruining a sail if it doesn't work out the way I want.  

I plan on setting the drifter attached either just inboard of the forestay or just outboard for long runs  attaching it to the end of the anchor roller gives it another 30-40 cm further out and that should help the boat balance.

If I like my sail, I will upload the sailcad files to the alberg30 site for both the drifter and the mainster (and eventually for the try/storm sails), but that won't be till next June at the earliest as I do my sewing and any woodworking over the winter and try to sail/install over the summer.

Bill.


________________________________
From: "crufone at comcast.net" <crufone at comcast.net>
To: Bill Wallace <wayfarer3134 at yahoo.com>; Alberg 30 Public List -- open to all <public-list at lists.alberg30.org>
Sent: Saturday, June 25, 2011 9:18:52 AM
Subject: Re: [Public-List] Looking for ideas to organize cockpit lockers


Bill,
What is a 'mainster' in your proposed sail inventory?
Michael


________________________________
 
From: "Bill Wallace" <wayfarer3134 at yahoo.com>
To: "alberg 30" <public-list at lists.alberg30.org>
Sent: Monday, June 20, 2011 1:09:11 PM
Subject: [Public-List] Looking for ideas to organize cockpit lockers

Does anyone have pictures and/or ideas to share on how to organize your cockpit lockers for cruising?  Don Casey's books suggest adding dividers, which I am definitely considering as there is lots of space near the hull that is unused or almost unused, and I have things like oil, anti-freeze, paint etc which need storage and to not fall over.  However, I need to keep things dry, so I was going to add a solar extraction fan to the rear compartment, and have 2 intake vents with hose running to roughly where the engine is (but a bit before it, so any incoming water gets excluded.  That will force air through the 2 side lockers to keep things drier/smelling nice.

I currently sail with just the 2 sails, but I plan on adding 5 more (spare main, drifter, mainster, strom jib/trysail) so that might fill up most/all of one side as long as I can keep it dry.  That still leaves spare line, 120v power (I have 100' extension cord that I use if I have to plug something in, but normally I don't plugin to shore power), water hose, bosun's chair, life jackets - and what else, I'm not sure, I have it on my task list to clean them up.

I'm thinking of using lidded buckets for line, electrical, hose (the ones from pool chemicals are easy to get and are water tight - after washing they are fine to use - particularly the non-chlorine ones like alkalinity adjuster, which is more or less baking soda).  The square ones are particularly nice for packing in/preventing tangles.

I'm willing/capable of making custom-fit wooden boxes to fit snug against the side - there is a bunch of stuff almost never accessed that could go near the bottom.

Thanks,
Bill
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