Gone Transatlantic

Cruising plans, discussions, etc.
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Capitan Sardina
Posts: 41
Joined: Mon Dec 15, 2008 9:14 pm

Gone Transatlantic

Post by Capitan Sardina »

Atlantic Crossing

I am happy to report that our favourite boats are quite capable blue water cruisers. We have just completed a West to East Atlantic crossing in our F-40 “Nani”. We left Branford CT June 19 to arrive in Horta, Azores on July 5 and Brighton, UK by July 23. The boat behaved beautifully handling a variety of conditions with ease. Here are some observations:


• We had a crew of 3 taking 3 hr. watches. This arrangement worked very well providing a rotating schedule with relatively short watches
• We took a conservative route and only experienced a couple of squalls and 5 days of 25 kts contrary winds in a wind against current situation just on the edge of the continental shelf.
• The boat is remarkably dry . We had no spray or water coming aft. Crew commented of being continually doused in more benign conditions on charter boats. No slamming off waves either.
• The boat will self steer to weather for days on end.
• The AIS and radar proved invaluable specially in the crowed channel waters.
• We had a Sat. phone and a Delorme communicator, both proved to be very valuable assets. We also had an SSB Nasa receiver coupled with the boat’s pc to download meteo fax and it was useless.
• We installed a towed water generator. This worked very well as long as we could maintain a boat speed over 5-6 kts. Below that the output drops and the device’s drag becomes more evident. The towgen could handle our below decks autopilot or the freezer/fridge but not both. We ended up hand steering a lot (for the sake of cold beer!)
• I kept the centreboard locked in the up position, to avoid the possibility of any malfunction or problems with pin pennant etc. The boat did well even when beating to weather against 25 kts and wind against current waves. I wonder if the board is really needed or worth the trouble/maintenance etc.
• We were all amazed at the storage capacity of the F-40. We grossly overbought supplies had an abundance of tools and spares and still had some empty spaces!
• I installed a new Beta 37 engine prior to the trip. I thought if may be marginal, but it pushes the boat the same or better than the old Perkins while sipping fuel. Having taken a conservative route we motored for days on end on both legs of the trip.

Now Nani sits contendely in her new home in the UK ready for new adventures. Not bad for a 33 yr old boat!

Cheers,
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Paul Langevin
Posts: 34
Joined: Fri Jan 20, 2012 5:06 pm

Re: Gone Transatlantic

Post by Paul Langevin »

Congratulations on your crossing. great to hear stories that don't include horror shows. Preparation and conservatism clearly served you well. Enjoy your sailing on the otherside! Paul
Paul Langevin S/V StarStruck, Freeedon 40/40

bad
Posts: 184
Joined: Sat Jul 09, 2011 11:14 am

Re: Gone Transatlantic

Post by bad »

Great that you had such a good trip, and nice drawing for the wall! I would like some more running feedback on the Beta engine. We have and 18hp Sabb on our F40cc, and the engine is now super reliable - hate to malign the previous PO, but it was in a sorry state when we got the boat. My observation is though that 18 horses seem a little little. :)

One question I have is what size/pitch prop do you run with your Beta and is it different from the Perkins.

Your comment regarding the centerboard - I've been having the impression that the boat maneuvers under engine better with the board partially down. As to sailing - I think one F40 in Australia lost their board and sailed many years without.

Erik

suberix
Posts: 10
Joined: Tue Jun 04, 2013 6:03 pm

Re: Gone Transatlantic

Post by suberix »

Congratulations, that's great!

Please post pictures!

Capitan Sardina
Posts: 41
Joined: Mon Dec 15, 2008 9:14 pm

Re: Gone Transatlantic

Post by Capitan Sardina »

Thanks for the comments everyone,

We were able to pick our departure weather window and then we were lucky with the rest of the trip. Partly, the price of the more benign conditions was that we ended up motoring a lot. We carried 16 gals in jerry cans in addition to the 107 gals of the main tank and ended up using most the, in both legs of the trip (over 300 engine hours).


Erik, I find the Beta 37 is a great replacement for the Perkins 50 for auxiliary power. For motorsailer performance, however, you probably better off with the 42. The 37 is about 100lbs lighter than the Perkins with a much smaller footprint. Now I can reach everywhere inside the engine room with ease. We call our engine “The Red Dwarf”.

The thing is incredibly quiet and just sips fuel. As far as performance, it has a bit less initial grunt in acceleration than the Perkins, but it will push the boat along at the same speed (6.5-7) without overheating (as the Perkins used to). On long range cruise, when the wind dies it will push the boat along at 5 kts (between 1500 and 1700 rpm) while just sipping fuel. We used extensively on the crossing getting about 0.5 gal hr. (on econ cruise mode mostly).

I kept the original Hurth-ZF tranny and changed the pitch from 19X13 to 19x11 to accommodate the new engine. After testing I probably would go to 19x10. I have a 3 blade feathering FeatherStream.


Some miscelaneous trip details:

We had a brand new engine and carried a ton of spares: one spare sail, stay sail, spare halyards, pluming, enough bolts shackles etc to open a store, misc wood (biggest piece 4X4 plywood), plastic and metal, tubing, plumbing fittings, spare house water pump (we got to use it when the old one died!) etc. even a spare ZF transmission! Several tools, including rivet guns, drills, several saws, manual and electric, vice, torch, electric soldering kit, etc, etc.

In addition to the water pump failure, the main top sail slides chafed through (we repaired them mid ocean), had to rebuild the head and replaced holding tank macerator (puajgg!). We found the mizzen sail track kept pulling the lower rivets out. This could have been a serious problem and was due to the improper cut on the reef point on the new mizzen sail purchased for this trip (a shakedown cruise may have revealed this, but we did not have the time!!)

For safety we rigged jack lines and clipped on whenever leaving the cockpit. I made plywood shutters for all the windows in one side, carried parachute anchor, dozens of soft wood plugs, life raft and a large up to date first aid kit. Luckily all of this unused.

We hoisted a radar reflector, and in addition to the water tow generator carried a 70W solar panel (ineffective, got too much shade), a honda generator (plus gas) and a spare battery charger.

We found the space between the mizzen mast and the deck “breakwater” ideal to lash the gas and diesel jugs (lashed around the mast). The dingy was tied down on deck (deflated).

The main thing I missed is a mechanical autopilot, but did not have the budget fit one compatible with the hydraulic steering system on time for the trip.

My wife has kept a blog of our move including the trip.
There are more pictures and some comment about the trip in the entries from June July at:
http://gritstocrumpets.blogspot.co.uk/2 ... tures.html

Cheers,

Alex
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