New Gludy Video

G

Gludy

Well-Known Member
Joined
19 Aug 2001
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Location
Brecon, Wales
www.sailingvideos4us.com
I have made a new video about my progress on the boat front with my new sailing cat. Whilst I fully appreciate that this is not a MoBo and I have followed in the steps of TCM, I still thought that some may like to see the latest situation.

It requires broadband and is 45 minutes long, so make a cup of tea before you click to see it! /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

If anyone cannot manage the broadband, let me know - I will produce a lower bandwidth version as an option.


Click here
 
Hi Paul. So now you've got your very own forum too, setup Oct 3rd. Best of luck with it. I see your using vBulletin too instead of the awful BB software the still use here. Forum admin too! Have fun.
 
Yes - I used the Cruising Forum and found their censorship beyond believe - you could not breath on there - so I left and formed my own multihull cruising forum which now exceeds the multihull posts on the CF multihull forum.

One of the reasons I admire the YBW forums is the editorial stance taken is very fair and open but many forums are not like that.

Anyway hoped you enjoyed the new video - the entire venture is being documented on video at each stage.
 
V interesting and nicely put together video. Is there an owners cabin that I missed on the video? Impressive vessel and best of luck with the remainder of the project. Wish you many happy years cruising.
 
The entire Starboard hull is the owners cabin but on the boat we filmed it was just the same as the port hull so all we did was show you the plans of the owners hull and went over it with an arrow.
 
Ok that makes sense. The matched doubles in the other boat you filmed looked awfully pokey and cramped for size. Typical multihull coffins with wall right up against both sides of the double berth. Assume yours will be a walk around full island berth.
 
Hi Paul, geeze, 425 Mb!
I'm currently onboard with just mobile connection, that's going to be a good test for the hsdpa dongle...
Do you have also the Med in your plans btw?
 
No - no island berth, we have modified the coffin. Its a compromise. /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif
This was a compromise but I do have a large Video Studio on board.

Stage 1 of the plan is to spend June to November in Africa learning and being taught the boat as well as sorting out any problems.

Stage 2 - leave from Cape Town to St Helena.
Then up via those islands off Brazil

Stage 3 - Onto the Caribbean

Spend the winter in the Caribbean

Then we can choose to go west through Panama or head north and do the Atlantic Circuit coming back over to the Med for May. The latter is the most likely. So yes - we will at some point make it to the Med - I just have to check that the beam will fit past the Straits of Gib /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

The whole point is to be free to choose to go where we want within the confines of nature.

Its pointless coming from Cape Town for a European winter so the first dice are already cast up until May 2010.

The entire adventure is being filmed at every point.
 
All right, so the hsdpa thingie does what it says on the box: I've been able to download the full video and just finished to look at it. Impressive video and impressive boat, I really wish you years of pleasant experiences with her.
There are so many things that I either loved or hated, that it would take hours to describe them all, whilst I'm actually going to sleep 'cause there's an early wake up call waiting for me tomorrow...
I'll just mention one thing for the moment, 'cause it really didn't stack up from my viewpoint.
The builder explained at the beginning that each hull has two bulkheads, creating three separate watertight compartments (if I understood that properly...?). But I didn't see any watertight door internally.
So, are the watertight compartments just in the bottom parts of the hulls?... /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 
Basically, if you hole the boat right throughout the hull it simply settles down more in the water nd you can still sail allbeit slower and lower.

The water level will come to about floor level at the worst.

What did you not like about the boat - that is of interest to me.
 
Well Paul, most of the things I didn't like were actually minor details, and my viewpoint is probably biased by an almost exclusively MoBo experience. But since you ask, here it goes:

Firstly, the concept of a bulkhead "up to above the waterline", as Duncan says at 10:42, imho is not good enough. And that was the reason for my previous comment. Proper bulkheads has to go up to the deck level, obviously requiring watertight doors inside. You don't want to have water flowing from one compartment to another due to some rolling and pitching, just because the bulkheads are not fully watertight. Obviously, there's a price to be paid for that, both in terms of additional cost and weight. But that's not something where I'd easily accept to compromise.

Another point which I really don't like is the choice of trusting the rudder to take the weight on his axle when drying out. That's probably fine when drying out in a dead calm area, where the boat doesn't move at all while she reaches the bottom. But in anything else than a dead flat surface, the rudder could repeatedly hammer the bottom, thus taking much higher forces than just its "normal" share of the boat weight. An additional keel plus skeg would have been much better in that respect, though possibly at the expense of sheer performance.

Other than that, there are mostly minor details:
The handles on the locker covers visible at 15:20, and also the way hinges are fixed (not sure, but they seem riveted, and with no counterplate): you'd expect these things on a cheap US built 20' bow rider...
The external hatch at 16:45 to access the engine room doesn't seem watertight.
The electrical panel at 21:33 seems hinged at the bottom, which is smart for easy and quick access, but it also seems screwed on top at the two corners - which would loose at least the "quick" part of the equation.
My wife wouldn't be as delighted as Lesley with the galley, for two reasons: lack of drawers above the working area, and too tight space between the two sides of it (even more relevant if the rounded part will be further extended).
At 26:30 there is a lamp which I don't like, both in terms of style (personal taste) and placement: it'll hardly illuminate the inside of the wardrobe, if it's meant to (or is there also some internal light?).
As Duncan himself shows at 28:46... /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif, there's room for improvement in door handles!
Re.the master cabin, well, I understand that the coffin layout is inevitable (sort of) in a sailing cat, but I'd really struggle to not think about alternatives like this one...
Judging by the drawing of your layout at 32:00, and considering that you'll have a table above the engine, I'd expect the floor level of your studio to be below waterline? But then again, I already mentioned my concerns about watertight compartments.
Last but not least, with a boat like that and the type of cruises she's meant to afford, a diving compressor is a must imho. I'd rather scrap the washing machine if I had to choose!

I hope that all the above will not come through as overcritical: as I said in my previous post, there are also many things I liked. In fact, I'd love to go for a serious cruise with her, after all! But hey, you asked for what I didn't like, didn't you?!... /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
First of all many thanks for taking the trouble to respond and a number of points are being acted upon.

Basically a sailing cat has two stable positions - as is on the top of the water or upside down on the top of the water - which is why the underside is painted orange in the centre.
A monohull sailing boat has two stable positions - on top as is or on the bottom, its the same for a MoBo.

Thew chances of flipping a cat are remote - it takes about 5 times the force to tip a cat of rolling a sailing monohull through 360 deg

If you hole a modern catamaran hull along its length the boat just settles deeper in the water, it does not sink.

I think its for these reasons that the bulkheads are not taken up all the way as is the case with a boat with its second stable position on the bottom /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

I will look into the rudder taking the ground again.

There are no rivets on the locker covers but some lack a counter plate and that will be put right.

Correct about watertight hatch - I had already asked for this to be made watertight after speaking to an owner. I have contacted many owners for their views.

I think I would prefer to lose the quick part of the electrical panel in exchange for securenon-rattle screws rather than a catch - but I will think about it.

As regards the galley - we like the tight space in case of rough seas and there is a whole pantry area down in the hull. Lesley is checking it all over in detail and we are having a cardboard mockup made so we can walk around the mock up and change things.

There are internal lights in the wardrobes = we have not got as far as electrical spec/lamp specs as yet. These are all bespoke options.

Door handles - we were already onto that, we find that size too fiddly and will have another type.

As regards the master bedroom - its a compromise. Some cats have a master cabin as in your layout but the bed cuts the cabin into two sections. Its something I tried very hard to avoid but had to concede. There is no sailing cat that can be managed by two people and still have some performance that offers what you like. The power cats you quote are much higher and bigger.

Waterline of the studio floor is above waterline.

There is a diving compressor and full night vision systems and many. many other goodies not mentioned including a bow thruster that pops out and back when its job is done.

The next film being shot is next month. It will be a series right up to launch.

Nope - it does not come through as overcritical - it is what I want and the time and thought spent is much appreciated.I can only gain by these points and its one of the main reasons for publishing the videos..... so thank you again.
 
I take your point re. foam filled, light displacement, unsinkable cats, which can float even when turtled and with holed hulls. They make a lot of sense in many respects.
But let's consider for a moment the worst case scenario, with that orange part of the boat pointing to the sky.
Something which obviously will never happen to yourself, mind, just a case study!!! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
In those conditions, unless the whole boat (or at least part of it) is completely watertight (hatches, portholes, doors etc. - even the engines vents!!), the crew would be forced to get out of the boat while waiting for SAR arrival, because even if still afloat, the boat would quickly get full of water.
And even assuming that the EPIRB turns on automatically on the spot, the wait could be very long, depending on where the boat was sailing. Not to mention that, in any sort of sea which managed to turtle a wide big cat, remaining attached to the wreck is probably impossible. A lot of luck would be necessary also to launch the liferaft, regardless of how conveniently it's located.
Now, I can imagine that the modifications required to make a big sailing cat fully watertight even when turtled are very relevant. Just as an example, I guess it would be extremely difficult to have a watertight version of that very nice and wide cockpit door, so a much uglier solution would be necessary.
But it seems to me that the capability to stay afloat when capsized would be almost useless, unless combined with a fully watertight design.
Or am I missing something?
 
[ QUOTE ]
n those conditions, unless the whole boat (or at least part of it) is completely watertight (hatches, portholes, doors etc. - even the engines vents!!), the crew would be forced to get out of the boat while waiting for SAR arrival, because even if still afloat, the boat would quickly get full of water.

[/ QUOTE ]

We already looked into this.
First of all it is very, very difficult to flip a cruising cat and such an incident on a modern cruising cat is so rare I have not tracked down a single case.

Secondly even upside down the boat floats and you can live in the hulls with enough saloon space to travel between the hulls. Yourpremise is too MoBoey and not enough raggie - its wrong. /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

You stay in the boat with a cat - it is the main life boat no matter which way up it is.
We have upside down bits and pieces already installed to survive upside down - we we would be the right way up - the boat would be upside down.

[ QUOTE ]
And even assuming that the EPIRB turns on automatically on the spot, the wait could be very long, depending on where the boat was sailing. Not to mention that, in any sort of sea which managed to turtle a wide big cat, remaining attached to the wreck is probably impossible. A lot of luck would be necessary also to launch the liferaft, regardless of how conveniently it's located.

[/ QUOTE ]
This does not apply - I would rather be in a properly designed cruising cat of the bottom of the hull is ripped out than any other boat.

In the case of the sinking MoBo of course - your events could happen.

[ QUOTE ]
Or am I missing something?

[/ QUOTE ] ....... Yes you are.
You a re failing to understand the design concepts of the modern cruising sailing cat. /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
even upside down the boat floats and you can live in the hulls with enough saloon space to travel between the hulls.

[/ QUOTE ]My premise is quite possibly wrong, but I completely fail to understand this bit.
When capsized, the saloon becomes the lower part of the boat.
You'll have a hard time to explain me how it won't be flooded, unless it's fully watertight.
 
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