Return From First Superior trip of the year

[Larry DeMers]

Hi everyone,

Warren asked me for a writeup about our first three week sail on Superior, and so here it is. I will try to keep it short -heh.

This year, I am lucky to be getting a 6 week paid sabbatical from work, which we divided up into two 3 week sails. The first period was intended to install and test a mess of upgrades to our 1983 Cape Dory 30 DeLaMer, as well as work on a video project that we have been doing for a few years now. The second period is the reason for the upgrades all occuring now, rather than over the next year or so. We will be sailing from Superior's south shore to her NE shoreline where there is a unique place in all the world called Isle Royale. This island is located around 35 miles off the Canadian shoreline, opposite Thunder Bay, Ontario. It is approximatelyl 50 miles long and 12 miles wide, and consists of hundreds of bays, fjords, bays within bays and holes in the wall where one can anchor or tie up to a rustic 100 year old dock and walk back into time as it was when neolithic man first mined copper from their mines here (this copper was subsequently found in Europe, which does not fit any timeline for trading or communications with Europe by the way).
This islands jewels are guarded well, as the bays are very difficult to get into. They are guarded with rock uprisings in fairly deep waters, as well as rock reefs all over the place, making eyeball navigating with a person at the bow a must. No travel after 4pm, as the sun angle is wrong and you will miss a turn etc.

So the first three weeks:

Superior was still in her winter/spring changeover when we started this vacation. We had two full gale warnings in the islands during the first two weeks..50-60 kts of wind and 10-15 ft. seas. Temps were 40-45 deg.F for a hi and the lows were subfreezing yet. Luckily, the upgrades we had to do were going to be done during this time, so we day sailed when we needed a fix of quiet motion, and then constructed and destructed the boat while the bad weather was present. After the first week, all of the dock required work with table saw, router and heavy 120vac were done, so we left the dock and headed for Oak Islands NE anchorage, known as Hole-In-The-Wall (Waves have created a balanced rock with the center 6 ft. missing..you can walk through it). Here I finished the construction of a simple 12x24x5 inch freezer box that simply works great! It is made from cheap 3/8 in thick acrylic plastic sheet that I glued together with filled acrylic cement (Which I found to work wonders gluing our plastic screens together after they delaminate!). Contact me for details and particulars if interested..

One of the purposes of the first trip was to add raw material to our video project. This project is a video guide to the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore Wilderness. We have 22 uninhabited islands scattered over 800 Sq. miles, with 7 lighthouses and tons of history. So, over the past 2-3 years, we have been shooting interviews with NPS rangers, Coast Guard folk, Lighthouse personel etc. as well as each anchorage and dock or trail facility on each island. It's gotten to be a huge project. Now we have the possible cooperaion of a famous author in the area, who has written the definitive cruising guide for Lake Superior. It hinges on her obtaining permission from her publishers. If this works, her guide and this video will be marketed as companion pieces, self promoting each other.

We anchored out 12 times, video'd 10 islands, and waited out 5 thunderstorms. We sailed mainly in 15-25 kt/3-5 ft seas (the period is only 2-3 sec. however, so there is a lot of motion).

Here is a report on some of the upgrades and how they worked:

UK Loose-Footed Main with three reef points;
We installed the third reef line, boom mounted turning block and cleat, but never saw conditions that would fairly test this reef out. We did test out the variable outhaul of the main, which flattens the main out or will allow any level of fullness you desire with one hand on a rope control at the boom end. Comparatively speaking, we now take the first true reef at 22 kts rather than the former 18 kts. This is due to the draft being back where it should be..ie. in behind the mast. As well, the flatter we make the main, the less power it provides, so the balance of power can be shifted to the head sail, staysail combo where it belongs, and this lessens heeling somewhat, but gives an increase in speed and pointing ability in big winds. Works great, is fun to experiement with, and I consider it my secret weapon when racing other boats on a similar course to us.

6V Golf Cart Batteries;
This bank will provide 6-8 days power for the refrigeration before requiring recharge. However, there will always be some charging going on when the engine is running. These cells are located under the v-berth and are in a plywood/epoxy battery box, located between the holding tank and the bulkhead just astern of that. The area is a molded in area just for this application it seems..very strong, and with the addition of the battery box, impervious to knockdown and also Coast Guard compliant. The wire run back to my Charge Combiner in the port lazarette is about 25 ft. of 1 AWG marine wire (expensive!$!$), sized to handle a 50 amp charge rate, rather than the 5 amp discharge rate. This is so that we can recharge the 225 Ah bank (110 Ah useable) from the new Balmar 80amp alternator in around 2 hours every 8-10 days or so. This is not too onerous for engine run times, and in fact we found that ordinary boat movement of entering and departing anchorages, as well as light wind motoring will cover our anticipated Ah useage.
I have a group 27 deep cycle bank for ordinary house loads and instruments, as well as a truck style starting battery (non-deep discharge). All three banks are tied into a Heart Battey Combiner for 3 banks. This is the **Coolest** device we added. It completely removes guesswork and operator input from which battery is being charged and which is done etc. I highly recommend it.

New WAAS GPS (Raynav 300), new placement of the speed sensor in the keel root and Seatalk and NMEA network installation and troubleshooting:

This was the biggest job next to the reefer. There seems to be a lot of wiring going to the binnacle, under the cockpit floor. But now, we have dead accurate position reports..to within 2 meters by spec, and 1 meter by experience. This s beyond what is normally needed, but what IS needed is the improved speed calculation and accuracy, lack of variation in the speed readout and all of the repeater functions that the Raynav 300 provides for other networked equipments. On the binnacle now, I also show SOG, COG, and depth from the Tri-Data, as well as an interactive cursor with the radar such that I can place a cursor on a waypoint on the GPS, and see the cursor on that same feature shown on the radar display..for identification of where you are. This GPS has LARGE, easily read characters, with about 20 characters allowed per waypoint name making a good descrption easy to do. It has a feel to it of solidity, and robustness, backed up by it's performance. I particularly like to use the Bearing Deviation Indicator. This is a "radar" like display that shows the waypoint, the calculated track to it, as well as the COG. As they diverge, the two radials representing the two courses become further apart. A lot of info is gained from this display alone..one of about 8 used for navigation and boatkeeping. I highly recommend this GPS.

The most fun of course was the sailing itself as well as life aboard for this period of time in one chunk. I really got hte feel for "Island Time"..sleep til 9am..stay up till 12-1am. Party hardy for a few days, then rest for a week..(I'm not as young as my head says..) ;^).

The greatest pleasure of all however, was taking a 3 hour sail on a real honest to god 3 masted schooner. This is a 80 year old wood schooner that the owners of our marina arrived in from Germany, and lived here on Superior with their two kids in the boat for 2 years while they built a little cabin ashore. The boat is devoid of any winches other than block and tackles made from wood. Lines are oiled hemp fiber, spars are 14 in. round trees -literally finished smooth as aluminum. She flies 8 sails total, including the top galant and fisherman, but this day was their inaugural sail after 3 years out of the water, and one week of soaking up water. Talk about a stable boat. I placed the worm gear driven wheel at dead center, then the owner and son (Al and Wokie) wore the boat to her new course by barging the mizzen mast windward. Once there the 22 ft. long bowsprit was lined up on a white birch tree on the shore, 3 miles distant, and it never left that tree for 30 minutes. This boat will do 12 kts or so with all flying, is gaff rigged and draws around 8 ft. of water for it's 70,000 lb displacement. What was remarkable was watching (and videoing) Wokie and Al land this behemoth between two 40 ft. power boats in our marina. With 3 ft total spare room betweent he sterns of two boats, they "walked" this baby into that space by backing and filling, slowly walking into a parallel docking, never touching any boat or the wall.
IT was truly an inspiration for us, as we learn more about backing our CD30 against prop walk and winds.

Better stop now while there is still memory left on Walt's server!

Cheers!!

Larry DeMers
s/v DeLaMer
Cape Dory 30 ~~~Still have the Sea Legs when at my computer..~~



demers@sgi.com

[Ken Coit]

Larry,

Great to have you back, if only temporarily. Thanks for the inspiring narrative. Parfait is coming along, but we aren't ready for any 3-week cruises yet.

Ken

Hi everyone,

Warren asked me for a writeup about our first three week sail on Superior, and so here it is. I will try to keep it short -heh.

This year, I am lucky to be getting a 6 week paid sabbatical from work, which we divided up into two 3 week sails. The first period was intended to install and test a mess of upgrades to our 1983 Cape Dory 30 DeLaMer, as well as work on a video project that we have been doing for a few years now. The second period is the reason for the upgrades all occuring now, rather than over the next year or so. We will be sailing from Superior's south shore to her NE shoreline where there is a unique place in all the world called Isle Royale. This island is located around 35 miles off the Canadian shoreline, opposite Thunder Bay, Ontario. It is approximatelyl 50 miles long and 12 miles wide, and consists of hundreds of bays, fjords, bays within bays and holes in the wall where one can anchor or tie up to a rustic 100 year old dock and walk back into time as it was when neolithic man first mined copper from their mines here (this copper was subsequently found in Europe, which does not fit any timeline for trading or communications with Europe by the way).
This islands jewels are guarded well, as the bays are very difficult to get into. They are guarded with rock uprisings in fairly deep waters, as well as rock reefs all over the place, making eyeball navigating with a person at the bow a must. No travel after 4pm, as the sun angle is wrong and you will miss a turn etc.

So the first three weeks:

Superior was still in her winter/spring changeover when we started this vacation. We had two full gale warnings in the islands during the first two weeks..50-60 kts of wind and 10-15 ft. seas. Temps were 40-45 deg.F for a hi and the lows were subfreezing yet. Luckily, the upgrades we had to do were going to be done during this time, so we day sailed when we needed a fix of quiet motion, and then constructed and destructed the boat while the bad weather was present. After the first week, all of the dock required work with table saw, router and heavy 120vac were done, so we left the dock and headed for Oak Islands NE anchorage, known as Hole-In-The-Wall (Waves have created a balanced rock with the center 6 ft. missing..you can walk through it). Here I finished the construction of a simple 12x24x5 inch freezer box that simply works great! It is made from cheap 3/8 in thick acrylic plastic sheet that I glued together with filled acrylic cement (Which I found to work wonders gluing our plastic screens together after they delaminate!). Contact me for details and particulars if interested..

One of the purposes of the first trip was to add raw material to our video project. This project is a video guide to the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore Wilderness. We have 22 uninhabited islands scattered over 800 Sq. miles, with 7 lighthouses and tons of history. So, over the past 2-3 years, we have been shooting interviews with NPS rangers, Coast Guard folk, Lighthouse personel etc. as well as each anchorage and dock or trail facility on each island. It's gotten to be a huge project. Now we have the possible cooperaion of a famous author in the area, who has written the definitive cruising guide for Lake Superior. It hinges on her obtaining permission from her publishers. If this works, her guide and this video will be marketed as companion pieces, self promoting each other.

We anchored out 12 times, video'd 10 islands, and waited out 5 thunderstorms. We sailed mainly in 15-25 kt/3-5 ft seas (the period is only 2-3 sec. however, so there is a lot of motion).

Here is a report on some of the upgrades and how they worked:

UK Loose-Footed Main with three reef points;
We installed the third reef line, boom mounted turning block and cleat, but never saw conditions that would fairly test this reef out. We did test out the variable outhaul of the main, which flattens the main out or will allow any level of fullness you desire with one hand on a rope control at the boom end. Comparatively speaking, we now take the first true reef at 22 kts rather than the former 18 kts. This is due to the draft being back where it should be..ie. in behind the mast. As well, the flatter we make the main, the less power it provides, so the balance of power can be shifted to the head sail, staysail combo where it belongs, and this lessens heeling somewhat, but gives an increase in speed and pointing ability in big winds. Works great, is fun to experiement with, and I consider it my secret weapon when racing other boats on a similar course to us.

6V Golf Cart Batteries;
This bank will provide 6-8 days power for the refrigeration before requiring recharge. However, there will always be some charging going on when the engine is running. These cells are located under the v-berth and are in a plywood/epoxy battery box, located between the holding tank and the bulkhead just astern of that. The area is a molded in area just for this application it seems..very strong, and with the addition of the battery box, impervious to knockdown and also Coast Guard compliant. The wire run back to my Charge Combiner in the port lazarette is about 25 ft. of 1 AWG marine wire (expensive!$!$), sized to handle a 50 amp charge rate, rather than the 5 amp discharge rate. This is so that we can recharge the 225 Ah bank (110 Ah useable) from the new Balmar 80amp alternator in around 2 hours every 8-10 days or so. This is not too onerous for engine run times, and in fact we found that ordinary boat movement of entering and departing anchorages, as well as light wind motoring will cover our anticipated Ah useage.
I have a group 27 deep cycle bank for ordinary house loads and instruments, as well as a truck style starting battery (non-deep discharge). All three banks are tied into a Heart Battey Combiner for 3 banks. This is the **Coolest** device we added. It completely removes guesswork and operator input from which battery is being charged and which is done etc. I highly recommend it.

New WAAS GPS (Raynav 300), new placement of the speed sensor in the keel root and Seatalk and NMEA network installation and troubleshooting:

This was the biggest job next to the reefer. There seems to be a lot of wiring going to the binnacle, under the cockpit floor. But now, we have dead accurate position reports..to within 2 meters by spec, and 1 meter by experience. This s beyond what is normally needed, but what IS needed is the improved speed calculation and accuracy, lack of variation in the speed readout and all of the repeater functions that the Raynav 300 provides for other networked equipments. On the binnacle now, I also show SOG, COG, and depth from the Tri-Data, as well as an interactive cursor with the radar such that I can place a cursor on a waypoint on the GPS, and see the cursor on that same feature shown on the radar display..for identification of where you are. This GPS has LARGE, easily read characters, with about 20 characters allowed per waypoint name making a good descrption easy to do. It has a feel to it of solidity, and robustness, backed up by it's performance. I particularly like to use the Bearing Deviation Indicator. This is a "radar" like display that shows the waypoint, the calculated track to it, as well as the COG. As they diverge, the two radials representing the two courses become further apart. A lot of info is gained from this display alone..one of about 8 used for navigation and boatkeeping. I highly recommend this GPS.

The most fun of course was the sailing itself as well as life aboard for this period of time in one chunk. I really got hte feel for "Island Time"..sleep til 9am..stay up till 12-1am. Party hardy for a few days, then rest for a week..(I'm not as young as my head says..) ;^).

The greatest pleasure of all however, was taking a 3 hour sail on a real honest to god 3 masted schooner. This is a 80 year old wood schooner that the owners of our marina arrived in from Germany, and lived here on Superior with their two kids in the boat for 2 years while they built a little cabin ashore. The boat is devoid of any winches other than block and tackles made from wood. Lines are oiled hemp fiber, spars are 14 in. round trees -literally finished smooth as aluminum. She flies 8 sails total, including the top galant and fisherman, but this day was their inaugural sail after 3 years out of the water, and one week of soaking up water. Talk about a stable boat. I placed the worm gear driven wheel at dead center, then the owner and son (Al and Wokie) wore the boat to her new course by barging the mizzen mast windward. Once there the 22 ft. long bowsprit was lined up on a white birch tree on the shore, 3 miles distant, and it never left that tree for 30 minutes. This boat will do 12 kts or so with all flying, is gaff rigged and draws around 8 ft. of water for it's 70,000 lb displacement. What was remarkable was watching (and videoing) Wokie and Al land this behemoth between two 40 ft. power boats in our marina. With 3 ft total spare room betweent he sterns of two boats, they "walked" this baby into that space by backing and filling, slowly walking into a parallel docking, never touching any boat or the wall.
IT was truly an inspiration for us, as we learn more about backing our CD30 against prop walk and winds.

Better stop now while there is still memory left on Walt's server!

Cheers!!

Larry DeMers
s/v DeLaMer
Cape Dory 30 ~~~Still have the Sea Legs when at my computer..~~

parfait@nc.rr.com

[Larry DeMers]

Ken,

If you can arrange it, do it. Your perspective will really change, and you know what? I seem to be moving more slowly, am less up tight now, and feel better mentally. It is a really good way to give your head a break. I like the way sailing minimizes sensory inputs to that of the immediate environment around you. I can handle that regardless of what comes up, [he says confidently..all the while a lightning bolt is waiting for him...] it's lifes turns and twists that get real old eventually. An extended break will allow your head to just forget for a while. nice..

Larry

Larry,

Great to have you back, if only temporarily. Thanks for the inspiring narrative. Parfait is coming along, but we aren't ready for any 3-week cruises yet.

Ken

Hi everyone,

Warren asked me for a writeup about our first three week sail on Superior, and so here it is. I will try to keep it short -heh.

This year, I am lucky to be getting a 6 week paid sabbatical from work, which we divided up into two 3 week sails. The first period was intended to install and test a mess of upgrades to our 1983 Cape Dory 30 DeLaMer, as well as work on a video project that we have been doing for a few years now. The second period is the reason for the upgrades all occuring now, rather than over the next year or so. We will be sailing from Superior's south shore to her NE shoreline where there is a unique place in all the world called Isle Royale. This island is located around 35 miles off the Canadian shoreline, opposite Thunder Bay, Ontario. It is approximatelyl 50 miles long and 12 miles wide, and consists of hundreds of bays, fjords, bays within bays and holes in the wall where one can anchor or tie up to a rustic 100 year old dock and walk back into time as it was when neolithic man first mined copper from their mines here (this copper was subsequently found in Europe, which does not fit any timeline for trading or communications with Europe by the way).
This islands jewels are guarded well, as the bays are very difficult to get into. They are guarded with rock uprisings in fairly deep waters, as well as rock reefs all over the place, making eyeball navigating with a person at the bow a must. No travel after 4pm, as the sun angle is wrong and you will miss a turn etc.

So the first three weeks:

Superior was still in her winter/spring changeover when we started this vacation. We had two full gale warnings in the islands during the first two weeks..50-60 kts of wind and 10-15 ft. seas. Temps were 40-45 deg.F for a hi and the lows were subfreezing yet. Luckily, the upgrades we had to do were going to be done during this time, so we day sailed when we needed a fix of quiet motion, and then constructed and destructed the boat while the bad weather was present. After the first week, all of the dock required work with table saw, router and heavy 120vac were done, so we left the dock and headed for Oak Islands NE anchorage, known as Hole-In-The-Wall (Waves have created a balanced rock with the center 6 ft. missing..you can walk through it). Here I finished the construction of a simple 12x24x5 inch freezer box that simply works great! It is made from cheap 3/8 in thick acrylic plastic sheet that I glued together with filled acrylic cement (Which I found to work wonders gluing our plastic screens together after they delaminate!). Contact me for details and particulars if interested..

One of the purposes of the first trip was to add raw material to our video project. This project is a video guide to the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore Wilderness. We have 22 uninhabited islands scattered over 800 Sq. miles, with 7 lighthouses and tons of history. So, over the past 2-3 years, we have been shooting interviews with NPS rangers, Coast Guard folk, Lighthouse personel etc. as well as each anchorage and dock or trail facility on each island. It's gotten to be a huge project. Now we have the possible cooperaion of a famous author in the area, who has written the definitive cruising guide for Lake Superior. It hinges on her obtaining permission from her publishers. If this works, her guide and this video will be marketed as companion pieces, self promoting each other.

We anchored out 12 times, video'd 10 islands, and waited out 5 thunderstorms. We sailed mainly in 15-25 kt/3-5 ft seas (the period is only 2-3 sec. however, so there is a lot of motion).

Here is a report on some of the upgrades and how they worked:

UK Loose-Footed Main with three reef points;
We installed the third reef line, boom mounted turning block and cleat, but never saw conditions that would fairly test this reef out. We did test out the variable outhaul of the main, which flattens the main out or will allow any level of fullness you desire with one hand on a rope control at the boom end. Comparatively speaking, we now take the first true reef at 22 kts rather than the former 18 kts. This is due to the draft being back where it should be..ie. in behind the mast. As well, the flatter we make the main, the less power it provides, so the balance of power can be shifted to the head sail, staysail combo where it belongs, and this lessens heeling somewhat, but gives an increase in speed and pointing ability in big winds. Works great, is fun to experiement with, and I consider it my secret weapon when racing other boats on a similar course to us.

6V Golf Cart Batteries;
This bank will provide 6-8 days power for the refrigeration before requiring recharge. However, there will always be some charging going on when the engine is running. These cells are located under the v-berth and are in a plywood/epoxy battery box, located between the holding tank and the bulkhead just astern of that. The area is a molded in area just for this application it seems..very strong, and with the addition of the battery box, impervious to knockdown and also Coast Guard compliant. The wire run back to my Charge Combiner in the port lazarette is about 25 ft. of 1 AWG marine wire (expensive!$!$), sized to handle a 50 amp charge rate, rather than the 5 amp discharge rate. This is so that we can recharge the 225 Ah bank (110 Ah useable) from the new Balmar 80amp alternator in around 2 hours every 8-10 days or so. This is not too onerous for engine run times, and in fact we found that ordinary boat movement of entering and departing anchorages, as well as light wind motoring will cover our anticipated Ah useage.
I have a group 27 deep cycle bank for ordinary house loads and instruments, as well as a truck style starting battery (non-deep discharge). All three banks are tied into a Heart Battey Combiner for 3 banks. This is the **Coolest** device we added. It completely removes guesswork and operator input from which battery is being charged and which is done etc. I highly recommend it.

New WAAS GPS (Raynav 300), new placement of the speed sensor in the keel root and Seatalk and NMEA network installation and troubleshooting:

This was the biggest job next to the reefer. There seems to be a lot of wiring going to the binnacle, under the cockpit floor. But now, we have dead accurate position reports..to within 2 meters by spec, and 1 meter by experience. This s beyond what is normally needed, but what IS needed is the improved speed calculation and accuracy, lack of variation in the speed readout and all of the repeater functions that the Raynav 300 provides for other networked equipments. On the binnacle now, I also show SOG, COG, and depth from the Tri-Data, as well as an interactive cursor with the radar such that I can place a cursor on a waypoint on the GPS, and see the cursor on that same feature shown on the radar display..for identification of where you are. This GPS has LARGE, easily read characters, with about 20 characters allowed per waypoint name making a good descrption easy to do. It has a feel to it of solidity, and robustness, backed up by it's performance. I particularly like to use the Bearing Deviation Indicator. This is a "radar" like display that shows the waypoint, the calculated track to it, as well as the COG. As they diverge, the two radials representing the two courses become further apart. A lot of info is gained from this display alone..one of about 8 used for navigation and boatkeeping. I highly recommend this GPS.

The most fun of course was the sailing itself as well as life aboard for this period of time in one chunk. I really got hte feel for "Island Time"..sleep til 9am..stay up till 12-1am. Party hardy for a few days, then rest for a week..(I'm not as young as my head says..) ;^).

The greatest pleasure of all however, was taking a 3 hour sail on a real honest to god 3 masted schooner. This is a 80 year old wood schooner that the owners of our marina arrived in from Germany, and lived here on Superior with their two kids in the boat for 2 years while they built a little cabin ashore. The boat is devoid of any winches other than block and tackles made from wood. Lines are oiled hemp fiber, spars are 14 in. round trees -literally finished smooth as aluminum. She flies 8 sails total, including the top galant and fisherman, but this day was their inaugural sail after 3 years out of the water, and one week of soaking up water. Talk about a stable boat. I placed the worm gear driven wheel at dead center, then the owner and son (Al and Wokie) wore the boat to her new course by barging the mizzen mast windward. Once there the 22 ft. long bowsprit was lined up on a white birch tree on the shore, 3 miles distant, and it never left that tree for 30 minutes. This boat will do 12 kts or so with all flying, is gaff rigged and draws around 8 ft. of water for it's 70,000 lb displacement. What was remarkable was watching (and videoing) Wokie and Al land this behemoth between two 40 ft. power boats in our marina. With 3 ft total spare room betweent he sterns of two boats, they "walked" this baby into that space by backing and filling, slowly walking into a parallel docking, never touching any boat or the wall.
IT was truly an inspiration for us, as we learn more about backing our CD30 against prop walk and winds.

Better stop now while there is still memory left on Walt's server!

Cheers!!

Larry DeMers
s/v DeLaMer
Cape Dory 30 ~~~Still have the Sea Legs when at my computer..~~

demers@sgi.com

[Michael Heintz]

Larry,

Your cruise sounded great. I think you are taking advantage of what you have and going for it!!!!

I am getting ready to take off for a month long cruise. Starting with the Norteast Fleet's Rendezvous, which is shaping up nicely. We will have a mini floatlilla, with boats from NJ, & CT, going up to Shelter Island, form there to Napatrre Ri and finally to Block Island.

After that My wife and I will cruise to Cape Cod and the Islands, for a few weeks. Looking forward to it !!!!!

Got the Isotherm installed, working great after haveing to repalce the wire from control panel to compressor. Amazing how fast you can get a hard job done.... the second time ... Have not insulated yet....waiting to hear from you on your experience... I have however used some thermal "blankets" which I used to use with block ice.... and they have worked great!!!!!! Bottom of box 30 degrees top of box about 40.
anyway good cruising !!!

Michael Heintz
s/v Macht Nichts
CD 30 MK II 004



Mzenith@aol.com

[Larry DeMers]

Hi Mike,

Hey..enjoy the time off! I swear this is the way to go. I just told my boss that i was working 3 1/2 days per week for the rest of the summer. Life is not a rehearsal you know..

On the reefer, I love it! I used Dow Corning Polyurethane spray foam, after doing considerable research on the topic, talking with the spray foam institute, and 5 companies about how waterproof their polyurethane really is. It is as good as any spray foam gets.
What I did was this..and this was the practical answer..not the pretty answer...but boy does it work!
I fussed with trying to determine just where I could drill holes to apply the foam. I found several places in the engine compartment, as well as in the drawer assembly but that left 1/2 of the box uninsulated. So I took a short cut and drilled 12 1-1/4in. holes through the ice boxes bottom from the inside(save the holes cut out for use later), into the surrounding dead space surrounding the box. I found that I had 3-4 inches of insulation already in place and then another fiberglass layer. Apparently the ice box is an insulated tub that was just dropped into place. Least amount of insulation is at the top of course.
I added nearly a foot of insulation under the box, and 4-6 inches worth on the 4 sides, decreasing as I went higher. As I worked my way out of the drilled hole, I backfilled that hole with foam also, right up to about 1/2 in. from the top. Then after it cured, I epoxied the hole sides and foam, iserted the cutout hole saved earlier. This was allowed to dry, then I overcoated the holes with white gelcoat to pretty it up and keep it watertight. This took all of two hours to do once committed to the course.

Also, I HIGHLY recommend building a simple freezer to surround the holding plate. I built ours from 3/8in. acrylic plastic sheet (cheap and strong). I built a three sided box (cold air plenum) surrounding the holding plate, and then a 12 x 24 x 5 inch box on the ice boxes bottom. A hole in the bottom plastic box was allowed that perfectly matches the cold air plenum, and all pieces were welded together with a thickened plastic glue available from the acrylic supplier. (Also repairs our screens when they delaminate, I found). It's very strong once cured and allowed to sit for 24 hrs.
This whole assemble then had a trap door cut into it's top, and this is the access point. Make the door by first designing it's shape on a piece of good scrap plastic. Cut it out and shape it, then trace the shape onto the freezers top surface. Now drill two or more pilot holes in the freezers top surface and cut the pattern for the door out of the top surface..carefully. Use a fine file for minor tweaks of the fit. Weld flat plastic stock to the complete underside of this opening, to hold the door when it is inserted and control thermal losses. Mount a nice handle to the top of the door and you are done. This took 4 hours to complete, and 24 hours of drying time before use.

In this freezer, we started with 2 pints of ice cream, 4 porterhouse steaks, 2 chicken breast packages, hot dogs, salami, BBQ Ribs and two zip locks full of ice cubes..about a quarts worth total. In other words, supplies for a week, except that we also made stuff or skipped dinner if busy etc., some of the food stayed there for 3 weeks. There was still room left. I bought an indoor /outdoor thermometer and put the remote sensor in the freezer, and left the main part on the shelf. We range from 17-18 deg. thru about 25 in the freezer, and 39 thru 48 in the reefer part, on the back of the shelf. Ah used are averaging out to be in the 18-20aH range for the first three weeks. We also are using a folded beach blanket over the doors to increase thermal resistance to the air. Insulating the doors will be the next little project, along with improving the gasket material around the doors, and gasketing the inside of the two doors where they are hinged, so that the losses by the hinge are cut back.
I may even bring an infrared camera up to the boat, and look at it from a heat gained point of view, to see where some additional help could be provided.

This system is just about perfect for our 6 cu.ft. boxes. They are about as efficient as a reefer system is likely to get and they make no noise at all.


Hope this helps!!


Cheers!

Larry DeMers
s/v DeLaMer
Cape Dory 30

Larry,

Your cruise sounded great. I think you are taking advantage of what you have and going for it!!!!

I am getting ready to take off for a month long cruise. Starting with the Norteast Fleet's Rendezvous, which is shaping up nicely. We will have a mini floatlilla, with boats from NJ, & CT, going up to Shelter Island, form there to Napatrre Ri and finally to Block Island.

After that My wife and I will cruise to Cape Cod and the Islands, for a few weeks. Looking forward to it !!!!!

Got the Isotherm installed, working great after haveing to repalce the wire from control panel to compressor. Amazing how fast you can get a hard job done.... the second time ... Have not insulated yet....waiting to hear from you on your experience... I have however used some thermal "blankets" which I used to use with block ice.... and they have worked great!!!!!! Bottom of box 30 degrees top of box about 40.
anyway good cruising !!!

Michael Heintz
s/v Macht Nichts
CD 30 MK II 004

demers@sgi.com

[Ken Coit]

Larry,

Was it really warm enough to need refrigeration at all?

Ken

Hi Mike,

Hey..enjoy the time off! I swear this is the way to go. I just told my boss that i was working 3 1/2 days per week for the rest of the summer. Life is not a rehearsal you know..

On the reefer, I love it! I used Dow Corning Polyurethane spray foam, after doing considerable research on the topic, talking with the spray foam institute, and 5 companies about how waterproof their polyurethane really is. It is as good as any spray foam gets.
What I did was this..and this was the practical answer..not the pretty answer...but boy does it work!
I fussed with trying to determine just where I could drill holes to apply the foam. I found several places in the engine compartment, as well as in the drawer assembly but that left 1/2 of the box uninsulated. So I took a short cut and drilled 12 1-1/4in. holes through the ice boxes bottom from the inside(save the holes cut out for use later), into the surrounding dead space surrounding the box. I found that I had 3-4 inches of insulation already in place and then another fiberglass layer. Apparently the ice box is an insulated tub that was just dropped into place. Least amount of insulation is at the top of course.
I added nearly a foot of insulation under the box, and 4-6 inches worth on the 4 sides, decreasing as I went higher. As I worked my way out of the drilled hole, I backfilled that hole with foam also, right up to about 1/2 in. from the top. Then after it cured, I epoxied the hole sides and foam, iserted the cutout hole saved earlier. This was allowed to dry, then I overcoated the holes with white gelcoat to pretty it up and keep it watertight. This took all of two hours to do once committed to the course.

Also, I HIGHLY recommend building a simple freezer to surround the holding plate. I built ours from 3/8in. acrylic plastic sheet (cheap and strong). I built a three sided box (cold air plenum) surrounding the holding plate, and then a 12 x 24 x 5 inch box on the ice boxes bottom. A hole in the bottom plastic box was allowed that perfectly matches the cold air plenum, and all pieces were welded together with a thickened plastic glue available from the acrylic supplier. (Also repairs our screens when they delaminate, I found). It's very strong once cured and allowed to sit for 24 hrs.
This whole assemble then had a trap door cut into it's top, and this is the access point. Make the door by first designing it's shape on a piece of good scrap plastic. Cut it out and shape it, then trace the shape onto the freezers top surface. Now drill two or more pilot holes in the freezers top surface and cut the pattern for the door out of the top surface..carefully. Use a fine file for minor tweaks of the fit. Weld flat plastic stock to the complete underside of this opening, to hold the door when it is inserted and control thermal losses. Mount a nice handle to the top of the door and you are done. This took 4 hours to complete, and 24 hours of drying time before use.

In this freezer, we started with 2 pints of ice cream, 4 porterhouse steaks, 2 chicken breast packages, hot dogs, salami, BBQ Ribs and two zip locks full of ice cubes..about a quarts worth total. In other words, supplies for a week, except that we also made stuff or skipped dinner if busy etc., some of the food stayed there for 3 weeks. There was still room left. I bought an indoor /outdoor thermometer and put the remote sensor in the freezer, and left the main part on the shelf. We range from 17-18 deg. thru about 25 in the freezer, and 39 thru 48 in the reefer part, on the back of the shelf. Ah used are averaging out to be in the 18-20aH range for the first three weeks. We also are using a folded beach blanket over the doors to increase thermal resistance to the air. Insulating the doors will be the next little project, along with improving the gasket material around the doors, and gasketing the inside of the two doors where they are hinged, so that the losses by the hinge are cut back.
I may even bring an infrared camera up to the boat, and look at it from a heat gained point of view, to see where some additional help could be provided.

This system is just about perfect for our 6 cu.ft. boxes. They are about as efficient as a reefer system is likely to get and they make no noise at all.


Hope this helps!!


Cheers!

Larry DeMers
s/v DeLaMer
Cape Dory 30

Larry,

Your cruise sounded great. I think you are taking advantage of what you have and going for it!!!!

I am getting ready to take off for a month long cruise. Starting with the Norteast Fleet's Rendezvous, which is shaping up nicely. We will have a mini floatlilla, with boats from NJ, & CT, going up to Shelter Island, form there to Napatrre Ri and finally to Block Island.

After that My wife and I will cruise to Cape Cod and the Islands, for a few weeks. Looking forward to it !!!!!

Got the Isotherm installed, working great after haveing to repalce the wire from control panel to compressor. Amazing how fast you can get a hard job done.... the second time ... Have not insulated yet....waiting to hear from you on your experience... I have however used some thermal "blankets" which I used to use with block ice.... and they have worked great!!!!!! Bottom of box 30 degrees top of box about 40.
anyway good cruising !!!

Michael Heintz
s/v Macht Nichts
CD 30 MK II 004

parfait@nc.rr.com

[Larry DeMers]

Ken,

We were out for 3 weeks..50 deg. water outside will cool the beer fine, but it sure won't preserve food for that length of time. This was a shakedown cruise for a 3 week wilderness trek we are taking in a few weeks, and the reefer had to work for the plans we have. No ice and supplies will be available (except for what we carry or make)for the first 2 weeks. Also, the freedom from carrying blocks of ice and bags of cubes is awfully nice.
We did have some days of 80-85 deg. out, with the sun taking the boats surface to near 100 deg. (according to the stupid little thermometer we have that reads the boats temp more than the air temp).
But the temps were mainly in the 70 range during the day and 35-45 at night.

Larry

Larry,

Was it really warm enough to need refrigeration at all?

Ken

Hi Mike,

Hey..enjoy the time off! I swear this is the way to go. I just told my boss that i was working 3 1/2 days per week for the rest of the summer. Life is not a rehearsal you know..

On the reefer, I love it! I used Dow Corning Polyurethane spray foam, after doing considerable research on the topic, talking with the spray foam institute, and 5 companies about how waterproof their polyurethane really is. It is as good as any spray foam gets.
What I did was this..and this was the practical answer..not the pretty answer...but boy does it work!
I fussed with trying to determine just where I could drill holes to apply the foam. I found several places in the engine compartment, as well as in the drawer assembly but that left 1/2 of the box uninsulated. So I took a short cut and drilled 12 1-1/4in. holes through the ice boxes bottom from the inside(save the holes cut out for use later), into the surrounding dead space surrounding the box. I found that I had 3-4 inches of insulation already in place and then another fiberglass layer. Apparently the ice box is an insulated tub that was just dropped into place. Least amount of insulation is at the top of course.
I added nearly a foot of insulation under the box, and 4-6 inches worth on the 4 sides, decreasing as I went higher. As I worked my way out of the drilled hole, I backfilled that hole with foam also, right up to about 1/2 in. from the top. Then after it cured, I epoxied the hole sides and foam, iserted the cutout hole saved earlier. This was allowed to dry, then I overcoated the holes with white gelcoat to pretty it up and keep it watertight. This took all of two hours to do once committed to the course.

Also, I HIGHLY recommend building a simple freezer to surround the holding plate. I built ours from 3/8in. acrylic plastic sheet (cheap and strong). I built a three sided box (cold air plenum) surrounding the holding plate, and then a 12 x 24 x 5 inch box on the ice boxes bottom. A hole in the bottom plastic box was allowed that perfectly matches the cold air plenum, and all pieces were welded together with a thickened plastic glue available from the acrylic supplier. (Also repairs our screens when they delaminate, I found). It's very strong once cured and allowed to sit for 24 hrs.
This whole assemble then had a trap door cut into it's top, and this is the access point. Make the door by first designing it's shape on a piece of good scrap plastic. Cut it out and shape it, then trace the shape onto the freezers top surface. Now drill two or more pilot holes in the freezers top surface and cut the pattern for the door out of the top surface..carefully. Use a fine file for minor tweaks of the fit. Weld flat plastic stock to the complete underside of this opening, to hold the door when it is inserted and control thermal losses. Mount a nice handle to the top of the door and you are done. This took 4 hours to complete, and 24 hours of drying time before use.

In this freezer, we started with 2 pints of ice cream, 4 porterhouse steaks, 2 chicken breast packages, hot dogs, salami, BBQ Ribs and two zip locks full of ice cubes..about a quarts worth total. In other words, supplies for a week, except that we also made stuff or skipped dinner if busy etc., some of the food stayed there for 3 weeks. There was still room left. I bought an indoor /outdoor thermometer and put the remote sensor in the freezer, and left the main part on the shelf. We range from 17-18 deg. thru about 25 in the freezer, and 39 thru 48 in the reefer part, on the back of the shelf. Ah used are averaging out to be in the 18-20aH range for the first three weeks. We also are using a folded beach blanket over the doors to increase thermal resistance to the air. Insulating the doors will be the next little project, along with improving the gasket material around the doors, and gasketing the inside of the two doors where they are hinged, so that the losses by the hinge are cut back.
I may even bring an infrared camera up to the boat, and look at it from a heat gained point of view, to see where some additional help could be provided.

This system is just about perfect for our 6 cu.ft. boxes. They are about as efficient as a reefer system is likely to get and they make no noise at all.


Hope this helps!!


Cheers!

Larry DeMers
s/v DeLaMer
Cape Dory 30

Larry,

Your cruise sounded great. I think you are taking advantage of what you have and going for it!!!!

I am getting ready to take off for a month long cruise. Starting with the Norteast Fleet's Rendezvous, which is shaping up nicely. We will have a mini floatlilla, with boats from NJ, & CT, going up to Shelter Island, form there to Napatrre Ri and finally to Block Island.

After that My wife and I will cruise to Cape Cod and the Islands, for a few weeks. Looking forward to it !!!!!

Got the Isotherm installed, working great after haveing to repalce the wire from control panel to compressor. Amazing how fast you can get a hard job done.... the second time ... Have not insulated yet....waiting to hear from you on your experience... I have however used some thermal "blankets" which I used to use with block ice.... and they have worked great!!!!!! Bottom of box 30 degrees top of box about 40.
anyway good cruising !!!

Michael Heintz
s/v Macht Nichts
CD 30 MK II 004

demers@sgi.com

[Ken Coit]

Larry,

Thanks for your serious answer to my somewhat tongue-in-cheek question. I know that MSP had some record temps while you were out there. We have nothing more than the ice box on Parfait, so I am carefully watching your progress in this area as well.

Ken

Ken,

We were out for 3 weeks..50 deg. water outside will cool the beer fine, but it sure won't preserve food for that length of time. This was a shakedown cruise for a 3 week wilderness trek we are taking in a few weeks, and the reefer had to work for the plans we have. No ice and supplies will be available (except for what we carry or make)for the first 2 weeks. Also, the freedom from carrying blocks of ice and bags of cubes is awfully nice.
We did have some days of 80-85 deg. out, with the sun taking the boats surface to near 100 deg. (according to the stupid little thermometer we have that reads the boats temp more than the air temp).
But the temps were mainly in the 70 range during the day and 35-45 at night.

Larry

Larry,

Was it really warm enough to need refrigeration at all?

Ken

Hi Mike,

Hey..enjoy the time off! I swear this is the way to go. I just told my boss that i was working 3 1/2 days per week for the rest of the summer. Life is not a rehearsal you know..

On the reefer, I love it! I used Dow Corning Polyurethane spray foam, after doing considerable research on the topic, talking with the spray foam institute, and 5 companies about how waterproof their polyurethane really is. It is as good as any spray foam gets.
What I did was this..and this was the practical answer..not the pretty answer...but boy does it work!
I fussed with trying to determine just where I could drill holes to apply the foam. I found several places in the engine compartment, as well as in the drawer assembly but that left 1/2 of the box uninsulated. So I took a short cut and drilled 12 1-1/4in. holes through the ice boxes bottom from the inside(save the holes cut out for use later), into the surrounding dead space surrounding the box. I found that I had 3-4 inches of insulation already in place and then another fiberglass layer. Apparently the ice box is an insulated tub that was just dropped into place. Least amount of insulation is at the top of course.
I added nearly a foot of insulation under the box, and 4-6 inches worth on the 4 sides, decreasing as I went higher. As I worked my way out of the drilled hole, I backfilled that hole with foam also, right up to about 1/2 in. from the top. Then after it cured, I epoxied the hole sides and foam, iserted the cutout hole saved earlier. This was allowed to dry, then I overcoated the holes with white gelcoat to pretty it up and keep it watertight. This took all of two hours to do once committed to the course.

Also, I HIGHLY recommend building a simple freezer to surround the holding plate. I built ours from 3/8in. acrylic plastic sheet (cheap and strong). I built a three sided box (cold air plenum) surrounding the holding plate, and then a 12 x 24 x 5 inch box on the ice boxes bottom. A hole in the bottom plastic box was allowed that perfectly matches the cold air plenum, and all pieces were welded together with a thickened plastic glue available from the acrylic supplier. (Also repairs our screens when they delaminate, I found). It's very strong once cured and allowed to sit for 24 hrs.
This whole assemble then had a trap door cut into it's top, and this is the access point. Make the door by first designing it's shape on a piece of good scrap plastic. Cut it out and shape it, then trace the shape onto the freezers top surface. Now drill two or more pilot holes in the freezers top surface and cut the pattern for the door out of the top surface..carefully. Use a fine file for minor tweaks of the fit. Weld flat plastic stock to the complete underside of this opening, to hold the door when it is inserted and control thermal losses. Mount a nice handle to the top of the door and you are done. This took 4 hours to complete, and 24 hours of drying time before use.

In this freezer, we started with 2 pints of ice cream, 4 porterhouse steaks, 2 chicken breast packages, hot dogs, salami, BBQ Ribs and two zip locks full of ice cubes..about a quarts worth total. In other words, supplies for a week, except that we also made stuff or skipped dinner if busy etc., some of the food stayed there for 3 weeks. There was still room left. I bought an indoor /outdoor thermometer and put the remote sensor in the freezer, and left the main part on the shelf. We range from 17-18 deg. thru about 25 in the freezer, and 39 thru 48 in the reefer part, on the back of the shelf. Ah used are averaging out to be in the 18-20aH range for the first three weeks. We also are using a folded beach blanket over the doors to increase thermal resistance to the air. Insulating the doors will be the next little project, along with improving the gasket material around the doors, and gasketing the inside of the two doors where they are hinged, so that the losses by the hinge are cut back.
I may even bring an infrared camera up to the boat, and look at it from a heat gained point of view, to see where some additional help could be provided.

This system is just about perfect for our 6 cu.ft. boxes. They are about as efficient as a reefer system is likely to get and they make no noise at all.


Hope this helps!!


Cheers!

Larry DeMers
s/v DeLaMer
Cape Dory 30

parfait@nc.rr.com

[Larry DeMers]

Sorry Ken, I left my humor onboard DLM I guess. I came back to my company's stock hitting $0.60/share today, and depressed friends everywhere in the campus. We're in deep yogurt here, with no alternatives but to move to another state (Minn.). The rumor mill is saying that they will sell off sections of the company that are sellable and then go Chapter 11.
So, I gotta stay off the computer when I'm in a lousy mood... My apologies to you and Dave Stump for getting a bit humorless when it was not warranted.

Cheers!

Larry

Larry,

Thanks for your serious answer to my somewhat tongue-in-cheek question. I know that MSP had some record temps while you were out there. We have nothing more than the ice box on Parfait, so I am carefully watching your progress in this area as well.

Ken

Ken,

We were out for 3 weeks..50 deg. water outside will cool the beer fine, but it sure won't preserve food for that length of time. This was a shakedown cruise for a 3 week wilderness trek we are taking in a few weeks, and the reefer had to work for the plans we have. No ice and supplies will be available (except for what we carry or make)for the first 2 weeks. Also, the freedom from carrying blocks of ice and bags of cubes is awfully nice.
We did have some days of 80-85 deg. out, with the sun taking the boats surface to near 100 deg. (according to the stupid little thermometer we have that reads the boats temp more than the air temp).
But the temps were mainly in the 70 range during the day and 35-45 at night.

Larry

Larry,

Was it really warm enough to need refrigeration at all?

Ken

demers@sgi.com

[Ken Coit]

Larry,

I am sorry to hear about your woes at SGI, but, seriously, I did appreciate your serious reply. We have a lot of telecomm. biz around here that has dried up over the past year; it is no fun and you can go ahead and be grumpy if you want. However, it was not showing; I thought you were just being a diligent member of the board.

Got to run to the American Dance Festival, maybe we can talk more about where to go if MN is not to your liking.

Take care in the meantime,

Ken

Sorry Ken, I left my humor onboard DLM I guess. I came back to my company's stock hitting $0.60/share today, and depressed friends everywhere in the campus. We're in deep yogurt here, with no alternatives but to move to another state (Minn.). The rumor mill is saying that they will sell off sections of the company that are sellable and then go Chapter 11.
So, I gotta stay off the computer when I'm in a lousy mood... My apologies to you and Dave Stump for getting a bit humorless when it was not warranted.

Cheers!

Larry

Larry,

Thanks for your serious answer to my somewhat tongue-in-cheek question. I know that MSP had some record temps while you were out there. We have nothing more than the ice box on Parfait, so I am carefully watching your progress in this area as well.

Ken

Ken,

We were out for 3 weeks..50 deg. water outside will cool the beer fine, but it sure won't preserve food for that length of time. This was a shakedown cruise for a 3 week wilderness trek we are taking in a few weeks, and the reefer had to work for the plans we have. No ice and supplies will be available (except for what we carry or make)for the first 2 weeks. Also, the freedom from carrying blocks of ice and bags of cubes is awfully nice.
We did have some days of 80-85 deg. out, with the sun taking the boats surface to near 100 deg. (according to the stupid little thermometer we have that reads the boats temp more than the air temp).
But the temps were mainly in the 70 range during the day and 35-45 at night.

Larry

parfait@nc.rr.com