J/30 Class Association Forums J/30 Forum The Boat, Sails and Equipment Ananda's Refit

I've accomplished a few more things in the last few days:

• Rigged the new traveler system.
• Replaced the old mainsheet blocks with the new ones and reeved them.
• Installed the bobstay U-bolt on the bow, a short distance above the waterline.
• Cut my final section of heater ducting to length and installed the louvered vent.
• Re-ran the radar cable under the starboard quarterberth instead of over it, and connected it to power.
• Installed a high speed "Raynet" switch under the starboard quarterberth, into which the chartplotter and radar now plug.
• Loaded new firmware on my chartplotter and used it to update the software on every device on board.
• Took all my lines off the boom (stored for KiwiGrip) and ran them on the deck again.
• Re-mounted VHF remote mic port in the cockpit (moved to make room for the nav switch panel).
• Sheet bag mounted under the traveler to hold the mainsheet & traveler control lines.
• Ran power from the autopilot computer to the plug for the tiller drive and tested the system steered correctly.
• Programmed the VHF with my MMSI number and connected it to my instrument network. This allows it to get GPS position from the receiver outside, enabling a DISTRESS button call to the Coast Guard via DSC/Rescue21 as well as easy readout of coordinates if needed.

New sheet bag in the cockpit:


GPS showing on the VHF:

Picture from the folks over at Gianola Canvas - one side of the main settee from my new interior cushions:



Can't wait to get the boat cleaned up enough inside to justify putting these in.

I've commissioned Pineapple Sails of Alameda, CA to build me a new asymmetrical spinnaker. We're going with AIRX 700, an epoxy-impregnated nylon fabric which they describe as light enough to fly in less than 10 knots but strong enough to flog in 25. It will set and douse from a spinnaker sock.

Based on a bowsprit length of 2'1" past the stem, I estimate the new sail will come in around 850 square feet.

I can't wait to try it!

I passed a major milestone yesterday. With the addition of two padeyes for jib sheeting blocks, Ananda is fully rigged for sailing once again.



Also accomplished was the permanent installation of the radar cable with a Scanstrut deck seal:



I also rigged the bobstay, although I don't really like the sheeting arrangement:



This does work, but the fact that the distance from the top block to the bow changes as the line is tensioned caused some unexpected problems. It means for any given length of bobstay, there are two stable positions for the sprit, deflected above or below the horizontal position. The fact that I don't have a block on the bow yet just complicates this problem.

I think I need to reverse the blocks, and have the turning block on the sprit and the becket block on the waterline fitting. Then the bobstay can follow the bow up and turn on the pulpit or something - I haven't quite figured that part out yet. I'll have to play around with it.

I couldn't resist testing out my old spinnaker, even though the wind was on the beam, shifty and gusty, and dusk was falling:





I spent the rest of the time in the cabin, working on routing electrical lines through the tight spaces around my new panel. I'm making progress on getting it all cleaned up.

Why mount the radar dome on an independent spar instead of the mast? Just the weight up high changing the center of gravity?

Exactly - the J/30 is a fairly light boat to begin with, and on top of that San Francisco gets pretty breezy and I'm usually shorthanded with not a lot of weight on the rail. I thought it would be prudent to minimize weight aloft - every pound counts and 25 lbs of radar counts a lot. The pole is only 8' off the deck.

The pole at the stern will have other uses as well. I plan on adding a floodlight to light the cockpit at night, and possibly a davit for general use. I might even move the stern light onto it for better visibility.

I mounted a floodlight on the radar mast for my J/109. It's a fairly bright LED model that draws almost no current. I usually leave it on when we are at the dock or on the mooring while cruising as it makes it easy to find the boat in a mooring field. The "cocktail light" is bright enough to perform an appendectomy on someone in the cockpit.

Rather than moving the stern light to the radar mast for visibility, you are better off putting a tri-color LED at the top of the mast. You get better all round visibility from others. I have the deck lights and tri-color on a DPDT switch. You aren't supposed to have both illuminated at the same time. In shore, the deck level lights are better for visibility. Off shore the masthead is better.

Attached is a picture of the radar mast on my J/109. It is easily removable for racing. This was taken last summer during an off-shore doublehanded race. You can see it holds everything including the loudhailer speaker (for the fog horn), the radar reflector, the deck light and the class flag. I snapped this picture of my crew member Eric on the New England Solo-Twin regatta.



ps - nice looking asym there. Where did it come from?

My trip up the mast proved less than fruitful. My intention was to replace my steaming/foredeck light with a new one, but the wires inside the mast were too secure. I couldn't pull the wire out enough to splice on the new light. I need to regroup and figure that one out.

The view from the top was pretty great though:





The AIS transceiver install was more successful, and I managed to take a screenshot of the MarineTraffic app AIS view on my phone:

Alex,

When I had to change the steaming light bulb on Rhapsody, I found the socket was toast so bought a new one. Then went back up and found the wire was all brittle. I ended up running new marine grade tinned wire to the base of the mast and installed a small circular connector that fits into a hole in the mast when it is pulled.

They had this "thing" back then to run the coax for the VHF and the 12v wires into a foam sleeve and tape the hell out of the ends, and every so many feet. Said foam was to keep the wires from slapping against the inside of the mast while at anchor and crew trying to sleep.

So if the coax is original ... probably you should pull the whole harness and do both at the same time. Coax is not so great after 20 years or so at VHF.

The resistance you may be getting is that wire being held up by the coax to the antenna. Of course if you don't have an antenna at the top of the mast ... another story.