FeNIX Update

[fenixrises]

Hi all,

I just changed the registrar for my website. The Fenix site was down for a while. It is now up and running again. Almost 1,400 visits to the pages, I'm amazed.

On Sunday March 19th I took Fenix out for a short cruise. Board member George Shaunfield flew into JAX to join Fenix for the trip. There was no destination for the cruise. The purpose being a shakedown at sea to check out the boat systems, sails and especially the self- steering.

We set out Sunday afternoon and cleared the St Johns river entrance by about 5:30 pm. The wind was NW and a bit cool. It carried us offshore and into the night under full main and yankee. The weather forecast was for a rising SW wind throughout the day on Monday.

By Monday morning the SW wind was becoming pretty strong and soon had us down to just the yankee. Eventually we were going too far north and conditions were getting a bit boisterous. We eventually set the staysail and hove-to. The SW wind turned into a gale and blew up to 35 knots with an occasional 10 foot sea.

Fenix rode out the gale comfortably, keeping George and I safe. An occasional wave top found its way aboard with a splash of not too cool salt water. There we sat for the next 24 hours, just bobbing along, drifting slowly off SSE. As the gale passed the wind clocked through the west and settled again to the NW.

By late Tuesday afternoon we were still under just the staysail, sailing along through the night. By Wednesday conditions were moderating and we able to set the full main and genoa. With an occasional reef in the main this combination carried us along to the south until Thursday morning.

By now we were well offshore and sailing comfortably in a dying breeze. As the morning progressed the wind went NE and we set the full main and poled genoa in order to head back towards the land.

By around noon the wind was just about gone and we were reduced to bearly making steerage way. That did not last long and I decided this would be a good time to try out the assymetric spinakker. Slowly the wind shifted back through the north and held light so the Fenix got a good trial run under just the spinakker.

As the wind continued to build we fairly romped along. I found that setting the spinakker tack outside the bow pulpit worked well and eliminated chafing the sail.

During this period I intently watched the self-steering and how it controlled the boat. I came to the conclusion the it was oversteering, so slight modifications to the design would need to be made.

I used John Letcher's book on self-steering to design the system. The trim tab worked very well, needing to turn only a few degrees to correct the boat's course. The force required to turn the trim tab tiller could be measured in ounces since it was nearly perfectly balanced.

The wind vane easily generated sufficient power to turn the trim tab but was turning it too far. This caused the oversteering problem. The way the system was set up I could not reduce this effect without modifing the windvane linkage and that I could not do at sea.

I also discovered that the counterbalance weight was too heavy and in a seaway would sometimes cause wild gyrations from the windvane on the trimtab. Now that I am home with the windvane in hand I have already made the needed changes but another test is in order.

During the almost calm period Thursday morning I hooked up the auto pilot to the trimtab to test it out under power. This worked very well indeed, requiring only the smallest amount of movement to steer a good course. This set up is very advantageous for a boat with limited power as the autopilot uses very little electricity for these small movements. And the load required on the trim tab tiller is also minimal.

For anyone who wants self-steering gear but balks at spending $3,000 - $4,000 for one of those SS store bought beauties I highly recommend building one for yourself. With only a modicum of mechanical ability and a few $100 you can have reliable, robust and accurate self-steering, albeit perhaps not beautiful.

The weather forecast for Thursday said building winds from the NW. I did not want to be driven too far south and have to beat back to the river entrance against these conditions so we started heading home. During this time the wind increased enough so we changed back to the full main and genoa.

Slack low tide was at about midnight. Throughout the day the winds continued to build and we were able to make good speed on our course. The changing wind direction to the NW brought with it cloud cover and a light drizzle off and on after nightfall. With no moon this reduced visibilty and made it hard to pick out the lights marking the river's entrance.

We finally made it by about 1am Friday morning. Coming up from the south I entered the breakwater a bit too far on the south side. With the strong NW wind blowing us toward the south rock jetty of the river's entrance we had a few tense moments manuvering for position. We gybed and I started the motor to get us on the north side of the entrance.

From then on into the river it was pretty easy going. But by now the strong NW wind was getting very cold. The temp was in the low 40's and George and I shivered as we powered along into the wind, hiding behind the dodger as best we could.

We were both pretty pooped. By sunrise we still had a way to go so we dropped the anchor, which at first refused to hold in the soft silty bottom of the river bed. Finally we got it to hold against river current and the outgoing tide and plopped into our bunks for some well earned rest.

Five hours later we were up again and underway headed back to the slip.

The short trip was a success. I got to try out many of the, new to me, sails including the brand new main. I found out what had to be done with the running rigging leads and such. Also found out that the many previous leaks in the hull to deck joint and portlights were now history.

The self-steering gear needed minor modifications. The stuffing box leaked a bit too much. But all in all Fenix performed quite well. The newly installed bulwarks are great as are the higher coamings. The new rudder, which I designed, built and installed, steers the boat with ease and is strong enough not break under gale conditions.

Modifying the rig to two headsails provided flexibility in the rig and very good balance at the helm, even though I moved the headstay one foot farther forward. During the end of the gale when sailing under staysail alone I noticed a bit of mast pump from the staysail stay. I am going to add two padeyes and have the ability to use the intermediates as running backstays. This way I can set the backstays as standing intermediates under normal sailing conditions and for storm conditions easily convert to runners for better mast support.

In the near future I wll continue to prepare for a departure in May for points south and west.

Happy sails to you,
Fred

P.S. George took numerous digital photos during the trip. When he sends them to me I will post a few.

[tartansailor]

Enjoyed the narrative, and think I'll get a copy of Letcher.
Dick

[Didereaux]

Dick,
If you can find a copy of Belchers book as well; it combined with Letcher's is pretty much encyclopedic as concerns windvanes. Do not waste the money on the recent Morris book, it is only a series of promo articles from present day mfrs.

Fenix, GREAT useable narrative...can't find your homepage anymore though, could you post the new link?

[fenixrises]

Hi Didereaux,

The link should still be the same:

http://members.cox.net/fenixrises/Fenix/index.htm

or

http://www.sbastro.com/FeNIX/mainFrameSet.htm

Take care,
Fred

[Didereaux]

Thanks Fred.
Hope George told you the story of when he and I first flew my assym. We spent the whole way switching our opinions on whether or not we had it backwards! LOL But it was pulling so nice we didn't want to screw it up.

Had a ball that day, and yep, it was bassackwards alright!
heheh

[fenixrises]

Hi Didereaux,

When I first set up the spin George and I talked about your excursion. He was wondering how I knew for sure the sail was set right. hehe!

On my sail the corners are clearly marked so it is easy to get them right. Generally most head sails have a longer luff than leach so that is also a easy check. Asym spins often have a radially cut clue and a straight cut tack as well.

Since this was the first time flying the sail I wasn't sure how it would all work out. Initially I set the sail with the dousing sock installed but that didn't work very well because the sock bundle wasn't far enough above the head of the sail to let the sail unfurl completely.

So then I lowered the sail and removed the sock. I bought this sail on e-bay so it wasn't made specifically for the boat. The sock was from the original symetrical spin that came with the boat and I think it had shorter luffs than the asym sail. This asym spin is probably a bit long in the luff for the boat but it still set and worked very well.

After rehoisting sans the sock it worked but the tack was rubbing heavily on the bow pulpit. The head of the sail was only about two feet down from the mast head with the luff taught. I had George ease the sheet a bunch and then undid the tackle I used to attach the tack. Then I reattached it outside the bow pulpit. This worked and eliminated the chaft entirely.

I do not think I can use the sock because there is not enough length left on the halyard above the head of the sail for the sock to fit above the sail. Since this sail is definitly for use in winds 12 knots or less I do not need the sock to douse the sail.

One easy way to douse a sail like this is to release the tack first after easing the sheet a bit. Then the sail can be pulled down into the cockpit, using the sheet. Often when doing this the sail is in the wind shadow of the main so that helps ease the operation. But this method usually requires two people unless the halyard is lead to the cockpit.

May you have many more spinakker adventures

Fred

[Cathy Monaghan]

Hi George,

When will we get to see some photos of your new self steering gear? I roamed around your web site but couldn't find any. (Nice boat by the way.)

Cathy
CD32 Realization, #3
Rahway, NJ
Raritan Bay

[fenixrises]

Hi Cathy,

Here's a couple of pics.

The trim tab for the self steering installed. The upper bracket attaches to the rudder post. The tab shaft is a 1" diameter SS solid shaft. The upper and lower support brackets are 1" X 1" X 1/8" SS angle.



The main tiller and trim tab tiller:



I'm going to the boat tomorrow to test out the redone windvane.
I'll get acouple of pics of it installed and post them later.

Take care,
Fred

[Tod Mills]

pictures of the vane (details, man, details) and the rest of your boat for that matter.

Thanks!

[fenixrises]

Hi Tod,

Earlier in this thread I posted two links to my site.
There is also a link posted in my profile.

Happy sails to you,
Fred

[fenixrises]

Hi all,

I posted a new page on my site about the windvane.

http://www.sbastro.com/FeNIX/Projects/WindVane.htm

It shows some pics of the installation. This system will not work on a standard Cape Dory because it would be impractical to effectively attach the trim tab to the main rudder.

However the method and materials I used to create the windvane could readily be used to control a trim tab on an auxilliary rudder. This is the system I built and used on my last boat for well over 10,000 miles without fault, breakage or problem.

According to John Letcher an axuilliary rudder need only be about half the area of the main rudder to adequately steer the boat.

In the case of a CD 28-30 that's about 2 to 2&1/2 square feet of area, say about 10" X 30". The trim tab would be attached directly to the trailing edge of the aux rudder, full length and about 1 & 3/4" wide. It could be made from three layers of 1/2" ply then glassed over and faired.

This would require a set of faily heavy dingy type pintels and gudgeons bolted through the transom to hold the aux rudder.

Another alternative is to make a horizontal axis, servo tab system.
Excellent design information and detailed drawings are available here:
http://www.mindspring.com/~waltmur/Self-Steering/

Except for a bit of SS either system can be made from hardware store items by anyone on a limited budget. Each has proven to be a very good system in practice.

Happy sail to you,
Fred

[Tod Mills]

nm

[Russell]

Congrats, your CD certainly wins the price for the most unique out there!

I am curious about your rudder though, origonally did not you plan for a larger skeg then what you ended up with? From what I can tell it looks like the skeg you do have offers no extra support, it is not attached there in any way, is it? So would this make the rudder more of a spade type?

I would love to hear you elaborate more on the rudder design you ended up with and you reasons and thoughts on it. Since you did not reduce keel length the only benifit I see is the ability for trim tab self steering, was this your primary goal rather then performance?

[fenixrises]

Hi Russell,

To quote myself from the website:

While many older boats and boat designs show a rudder attached to the trailing edge of the keel, this location is not ideal. For wooden boats it was often the most practical placement for ease of construction and strength. These limitations are not inherent in fiberglass boats.
Bill Lapworth shocked the sailing world by removing the rudder from the keel, locating it farther aft and making it free standing. Provided that adequate strength is maintained this becomes an ideal alternative rudder placement. As an added benefit the rudder area can also be decreased. This combination increases the boat's tracking ability as well.
The aft location increases steering force and the verticle or near verticle rudder post eliminates a lot of what feels like weather helm. When the boat is heeled this effect is very noticable because the rudder's force is now directed more to turning the boat rather than trying to lift the stern and depress the bow.
Partially balancing the rudder area forward of the turning axis also serves to make the helm lighter.
Placing the prop in a somewhat clearer water stream helps to increase its efficiency.
Another benefit of this arrangment is the relocation of the rudder post and tiller. I will make the rudder post long enough to place the tiller fitting at deck level. This will help free cockpit and cockpit floor space. It will also move the tiller a bit farther aft in the cockpit.

If I built it as I originally drew it, the skeg would have been a little bit deeper at the aft end and the rudder would have been a bit deeper as well. The design and size of both the rudder and skeg were determined by eye and experience. As I built the rudder I realized it did not need to be as deep, so I shortened it and the skeg as well.

The skeg does not directly support the rudder blade, in that sense the rudder is similar to a spade rudder. But the skeg does direct the water flow and gave me a way to fair in the area of the hull where the top of the original rudder fit against the hull.

Happy sails to you,
Fred

[George Shaunfield]

Yes, Fred, it was a good trip. I learned a number of things and got some more offshore experience. Fortunately, I had written down in my log a few of the waypoints you had set with the GPS. I used those to reasonable recreate the track of our 5-day sail in the Atlantic. As best I can determine we travelled 450 nm. A chart excerpt can be found here.

<a href="https://mv3.accountron.com/cdsoa/06Atla ... .png"><img width="540" src="https://mv3.accountron.com/cdsoa/06Atla ... k.png"></a>

Fred wrote a concise account of the trip. Hopefully, this weekend I will have time to write one from my observations. I plan to make the subject "FeNIX Rises To The Challenge".

George

The size of the image above has been restricted to a width of 540 pixels by the webmaster. Just click on the image for an enlargement.

Cathy
CDSOA Webmaster