If you have a ketch with a triatic stay rig that connects the 2 mastheads, Get rid of it if at all possible with extra main/side stays for both masts. I don't think the Hans Christian ketches have the tristay cable.
Several ears back we were in Mexico, when a friend brought my attention to a bag of coconuts floating in the water. He says doyou notice anything about them, I said they look rotten, he says no there are no barnicles, some had been in the bag for three years. I then started adding one cup of coconut oil to one gallon of cheap bottom paint and no barnicles.
Thanks, we’ve actually heard people say they think they would get bored cruising on a boat, we’ve always found the opposite and there are never enough hours in the day!
@@svfairisle scuba diving! For me, any place I would sail to should have some opportunity for scuba. Nature walks of all sorts. Get field guides of local flora and fauna. I would be in total heaven! Then history and culture of the people! Local cuisine! Wow! Who could be bored? Those that would be bored are too citified and wouldn't suit cruising.
In complete awe of you and Judy, Steve. Your technical knowledge, application and the sheer beauty of Fair Isle take my breath away every time. The quality and professionalism of your productions humble me, as, as a subscriber I get it all for free. The demasting story was fascinating. The fourth demasting that I have learnt about. Fascinating to learn how Captain Ken and his wife did what they had to do to get her back to the hard. Ken, like you, another master of the technical. So much appreciated. Thank you. ⛵️
Thanks Hugh, and we appreciate your continued comments, they’re always very motivational and kind, and along with subscribing it’s the thing that helps keep the channel from getting buried in the bottomless pit of TH-cam. There are over 2000 sailing channels out there now and sadly no matter how much effort is put in to making each episode without subscribers and comments those episodes are very unlikely to be seen
I watched your vlog this morning. I was especially glad to see that you had a great interview with Ken P. His is in good spirits and working hard to get Aquarius put back in the water and sailing once again. He was understandably reluctant to discuss the reasons why the mast came down. Based on his comments I suspect that I know what might have been a factor. That said I won’t say any more. I look forward to more vlogs about your trips and Ken’s. I was in St Lucia last week and I saw at least one sister ship of Aquarius. Some of the ARC boats were in Marigot Bay at the marina for 2-3 days. Fun to see them all. Safe Sailing!!
So much going on. Always amazes me how much maintenance is necessary although you're, I think, a 'Do it before it needs doing' couple which is very sensible. Videos are alway great with so much interest and informaion. Love 'em. P.
The process of fossilising a tree. A senior geologist who I worked for told me that a wooden fence post on a family farm had to be replaced, and when the old one was removed from the ground the part which had been buried was now fossilised, where silica had replaced the wood.
Thank you. The thing about Tree trunks, the wood; it can mineralize quite quickly in the right conditions. Way quicker than a million years. Finding fossilized tree trunks is not an immediate indication that they are extremely old. And I'm not talking about wood or other things just encased in flowstone either! THOSE are absolutely NOT fossils and can be encased quite quickly if the water is heavily mineralized.
I had a dismasting last year on a Kaufman 47. I published it on my small non-monetized channel. It was a plain and simple chain plate fracture. Unlike Aquarius, it happened fast snapping dead center and slammed into the water during sporty sailing conditions. It was remarkable to see what the inside of the chain plate looked like compared to the outside!
@@svfairisle Yes! It was John Kretchmer’s boat , Quetzal. He managed to get it fixed, cross the Atlantic, around Cape Horn and complete the Drake passage all within a year of the dismasting.
That would be scary two masts coming down knowing a long way to go. Glad they made it save. Thanks for pointing out will pop across the pond it is still a very dangerous thing to do.
Hey Paul, good to hear from you. Yes thankfully the yard has an ice machine so just used the freezer as an ice box. All good now we’re back in the water thanks to you. Our freezers not quite cold enough to keep ice cream now we’re in tropical waters though. When we come back through Lagos I’ll seek your advice on fitting a bigger plate.
Funny you should mention PYI. I just purchased a new Max Prop Easy and am about to install it on my Beneteau 42s7. The guy at PYI you should talk with is Jerome. He works in the shop and is the "go to expert" for everything to do with Max Prop. I had actually made contact with PYI at last year's Annapolis boat show and it was there I was told to contact Jerome. I arranged to return my old Max Prop for refurbishment and upon receipt and evaluation, Jerome called and gave me the bad news. The blades were just worn out. So I bit the financial bullet and purchased the new Max Prop Easy. Just today the machine shop finished my new propeller shaft (made using Aquamet 22); I plan to install it tomorrow.
Thanks, yes I’ve found everyone at PYI to be super helpful and they do have the best stuff, I only went to their stand at Annapolis to buy some grease for the Max Prop and ended up getting their Fendertex fenders, their hose clamp ( they make the best 316L hose clamps) and deciding to go to them for my Max Prop refurb. I’ll try and do some filming with them about the Max Prop, more people should know about this prop.
Hi Steve, looks like you are both keeping well. You mentioned in this video a system to automatically detect the current 110v or 230v and change 110v to 230v. You also said it alters the frequency from 60hs to 50hz. Can I ask what it is you use for this?
It’s a Mastervolt system installed on the boat from new along with a big isolation transformer. Not sure it changes the frequency though just the voltage
@svfairisle OK I see, yes probably just the voltage as the frequency of the phase is more complicated to change. We have the Victron isolation transformer that does the voltage but not the phase.
Sounds great! We are coming but not until next year. Judys father lives in Hillsborough so we will spend some time around the area if we can get the relevant visas
This is what he sent me: We recommend using a high-pressure water gun to flush the inside and outside of the filter to flush away the dirt attached to the filter. We believe that the service life of the metal filter element will be more than 2 years. But to be honest, you know us, we just completed this product last year, and maybe we need a little longer to verify its maximum service life.
3:26 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geology_of_Trinidad_and_Tobago mentions that many of the islands' rocks are metamorphosed. Metamorphism occurs when rocks are hundreds of degrees hotter (up to their first melting point at about 800 Degrees C) and subjected to low tens of kilobars pressure (at about 40 KM deep). Under those pressures and temperatures, a commonly found metamorphic mineral is mica. Micas are thin leaf-looking minerals that form "books" and rocks that contain micas will develop a foliated texture. That texture can look like a petrified tree trunk, but the rock has actually been exposed to far more severe PT conditions. Two common foliated rocks are called phyllite (mentioned in above Wikipedia) and schist. A gneiss is another common metamorphic rock. A gneiss contains less mica and thicker bands of other minerals (such as quartz).
Hi,when I was at sea as a fisherman in trawlers on our way home we towed the coconut mats behind us to clean them,I wonder if it work with your ropes…just a thought. Thanks for another informative and interesting video,cheers…Roly🇬🇧.
Hello Steve: Many thanks for the time and effort you put in this quality video. As always ... entertaining and insightful. That's the good news. The bad news: eliciting questions/clarifications !! If you have few minutes would appreciate a clarification on the quality CMP double-braid docking line you're loving. Does it FLOAT? A useful characteristic when back-down for Med mooring (and occasionally missing the helpers on the dock).
I might be wrong but I don’t think anyone does double braid floating lines. We used to get floating line for the dinghy painter but it was always 3 core and wasn’t actually very nice, gets stiff and didn’t do too well in the sun, and as with all 3 core hockles badly.
I am intrigued re the ss filters for the watermaker. How have you liked them? Expensive vs the regular ones? And are they specific to the Spectra watermaker or generic? We have a Rainman
It's early day, we do our videos in real time so I've only just fitted them. They are a generic filter so good for any watermaker, the only reason manufacturers say you need specific filters is you don';t want to be using cheaper paper filters that might start to break up and ruin your membrane. Obviously no chance of that with a SS filter. So as long as the SS filters are filtering to the specified size (which I assume they are) then you have a perfect filter that can be used until it starts to clog, then power wash. I will obviously let our viewers know how it goes over time,
Amel changed their manual after a dissmasting in 2003 it seems to say you should not have only one foresail out on the pole, you should have two. That's bonkers though as unless you're dead down wind you will only want one and backwinding a sail will put all the load on one side anyway. So if they think there's a problem with a possible weak point where the poles attach to the mast then they really should be doing something about it.
@@svfairisle I wonder if some sleave could be installed around the area where the pole attaches to the mast to distribute the load better. But then the first section of the pole would have to be shortened
@@chrismulvey49 It looks to me that the area where the pole sockets are is already weakened by the flared opening for the in mast furling motor. Not sure what could be done to existing masts, but it does seem like Amel should be beefing up that bottom section
While I can appreciate your new Sirocco fan ( I have one as well), I am wondering how you threaded the wire run through the overhead. I am facing a similar problem on Intuition and a hack would come in handy for my haul out next week. Thanks.
I have a cable puller wire, search on Amazon, they have various names ‘fish tape’ ‘cable runner’ etc stiff but flexible with a rounded end you can usually fiddle it through most places
What can prop speed be made out of to justify that price? Maybe it’s just me but if I owned or managed that company I wouldn’t be able to charge that price without explanation on the can I would be to embarrassed not to. Even if the explanation is a low volume product it is still a reason.
I completely agree. I’m afraid the answer is almost certainly that there are such a high proportion of very rich boat owners around who will not even take notice of the price and just go for the product they have heard of that it works as a business model. I really can’t remember what I paid for it years ago, I’m sure it wasn’t the stupid price it is now but I probably fell into thinking I was paying a bit more for a quality product and as I was earning decent money at the time didn’t worry too much. I remember being disappointed with the result though. If you’re going to charge premium prices you need give a premium product, if you’re going to charge what they charge now it needs to last forever!
There are plenty of keel stepped yachts that lose their rigs. You do stand a better chance of having something left to jury rig to though, but you also stand a bigger chance of suffering massive damage to the coach roof in a knock down.
If you have a ketch with a triatic stay rig that connects the 2 mastheads, Get rid of it if at all possible with extra main/side stays for both masts. I don't think the Hans Christian ketches have the tristay cable.
Dang it! :D Thanks for the mention :) Awesome video as always guys :)
It's amazing how good that boat looked after a quick clean up. No termite or water damage either.
Well, there’s still the hull Mats. You only have to buy a few masts
Wondered if your time line coincided with Aquarius in the yard, great interview good to see Ken keeping his sense of humour.
What insurance company do you use? Welcome to the OCC!
Yes they are still there, feel really sorry for them, what a shit show it's been with that boat!
Kudos to Captain Ken!!
cclap that
Several ears back we were in Mexico, when a friend brought my attention to a bag of coconuts floating in the water. He says doyou notice anything about them, I said they look rotten, he says no there are no barnicles, some had been in the bag for three years. I then started adding one cup of coconut oil to one gallon of cheap bottom paint and no barnicles.
I like that idea!
This is often such a great channel. I watched the episode when Judy received her doctorate? All while sailing and producing this content, incredible.
Thanks, we’ve actually heard people say they think they would get bored cruising on a boat, we’ve always found the opposite and there are never enough hours in the day!
@@svfairisle scuba diving!
For me, any place I would sail to should have some opportunity for scuba. Nature walks of all sorts. Get field guides of local flora and fauna. I would be in total heaven! Then history and culture of the people! Local cuisine! Wow! Who could be bored? Those that would be bored are too citified and wouldn't suit cruising.
Great interview with Cape.Ken. Been following their saga for a while as well. Did anyone notice the plastic bottles on the trail too???🙁
In complete awe of you and Judy, Steve. Your technical knowledge, application and the sheer beauty of Fair Isle take my breath away every time. The quality and professionalism of your productions humble me, as, as a subscriber I get it all for free.
The demasting story was fascinating. The fourth demasting that I have learnt about. Fascinating to learn how Captain Ken and his wife did what they had to do to get her back to the hard. Ken, like you, another master of the technical.
So much appreciated. Thank you. ⛵️
Thanks Hugh, and we appreciate your continued comments, they’re always very motivational and kind, and along with subscribing it’s the thing that helps keep the channel from getting buried in the bottomless pit of TH-cam. There are over 2000 sailing channels out there now and sadly no matter how much effort is put in to making each episode without subscribers and comments those episodes are very unlikely to be seen
Fantastic episode, per usual.
I watched your vlog this morning. I was especially glad to see that you had a great interview with Ken P. His is in good spirits and working hard to get Aquarius put back in the water and sailing once again. He was understandably reluctant to discuss the reasons why the mast came down. Based on his comments I suspect that I know what might have been a factor. That said I won’t say any more. I look forward to more vlogs about your trips and Ken’s. I was in St Lucia last week and I saw at least one sister ship of Aquarius. Some of the ARC boats were in Marigot Bay at the marina for 2-3 days. Fun to see them all. Safe Sailing!!
Watch u guys from day one ,even discussen paper Charts with u,but now respect and jalous of u 2 great series a master mariner seen every 112 episode
I may have mentioned this before: A friend of mine paints her Max Prop with several coats of egg white. It works well apparently...Bill
So much going on. Always amazes me how much maintenance is necessary although you're, I think, a 'Do it before it needs doing' couple which is very sensible. Videos are alway great with so much interest and informaion. Love 'em. P.
Yes and for every job that we show I can assure you there are a dozen boring ones that we don't!
Always good professional content here. Thanks
Omg Captain Ken, my two favorite sailing channels together. Hope sailing Aquarius getting back to normal. Tyvm n great video
Thank you for sharing Steve 😊
The process of fossilising a tree. A senior geologist who I worked for told me that a wooden fence post on a family farm had to be replaced, and when the old one was removed from the ground the part which had been buried was now fossilised, where silica had replaced the wood.
We use Super Lube on our prop, shaft, log, and seacocks. Works better for us, 6 months in and out in the tropics, than anything else we've tried.
Steve love the video. You have been busy. Thanks for wearing the t-shirt. Judy will be happy about the lines.😊
Thank you. The thing about Tree trunks, the wood; it can mineralize quite quickly in the right conditions. Way quicker than a million years. Finding fossilized tree trunks is not an immediate indication that they are extremely old. And I'm not talking about wood or other things just encased in flowstone either! THOSE are absolutely NOT fossils and can be encased quite quickly if the water is heavily mineralized.
Great interview with Ken, fantastic and very professional
Take care M
On my prop, I've been using CopperEase - a grease loaded with copper used for car caliper brake lubrication - works well in the UK
I had a dismasting last year on a Kaufman 47. I published it on my small non-monetized channel. It was a plain and simple chain plate fracture. Unlike Aquarius, it happened fast snapping dead center and slammed into the water during sporty sailing conditions. It was remarkable to see what the inside of the chain plate looked like compared to the outside!
Yes a chainplate letting go under load must be quite spectacular! Hope you got it all fixed.
@@svfairisle Yes! It was John Kretchmer’s boat , Quetzal. He managed to get it fixed, cross the Atlantic, around Cape Horn and complete the Drake passage all within a year of the dismasting.
That would be scary two masts coming down knowing a long way to go. Glad they made it save. Thanks for pointing out will pop across the pond it is still a very dangerous thing to do.
Fantastic video as usual. Super quality and extremely interesting topics and visits👍. Thank-you both!
Thanks. Really interesting!
Great vid! So glad I stumbled a crossed your channel. Beautifully edited, narrated and always informative. 👍
Awesome job Steve
Hi Steve, glad to hear alls well. but temperature of the freezer more related to insulation
than plate size. keep going . great videos
Okay thanks, I’ll look into finding a way to get a look at what’s around it. Any advice on what materials to use once I do get access?
@@svfairisle closed cell poleurathane foam or THINSULATE sheets
Great video as always! Thank you
hi steve i trust you turned off the fridges whilst on the hard ,. cheers .paul
Hey Paul, good to hear from you. Yes thankfully the yard has an ice machine so just used the freezer as an ice box. All good now we’re back in the water thanks to you. Our freezers not quite cold enough to keep ice cream now we’re in tropical waters though. When we come back through Lagos I’ll seek your advice on fitting a bigger plate.
Funny you should mention PYI. I just purchased a new Max Prop Easy and am about to install it on my Beneteau 42s7. The guy at PYI you should talk with is Jerome. He works in the shop and is the "go to expert" for everything to do with Max Prop. I had actually made contact with PYI at last year's Annapolis boat show and it was there I was told to contact Jerome. I arranged to return my old Max Prop for refurbishment and upon receipt and evaluation, Jerome called and gave me the bad news. The blades were just worn out. So I bit the financial bullet and purchased the new Max Prop Easy. Just today the machine shop finished my new propeller shaft (made using Aquamet 22); I plan to install it tomorrow.
Thanks, yes I’ve found everyone at PYI to be super helpful and they do have the best stuff, I only went to their stand at Annapolis to buy some grease for the Max Prop and ended up getting their Fendertex fenders, their hose clamp ( they make the best 316L hose clamps) and deciding to go to them for my Max Prop refurb. I’ll try and do some filming with them about the Max Prop, more people should know about this prop.
Hi Steve, looks like you are both keeping well.
You mentioned in this video a system to automatically detect the current 110v or 230v and change 110v to 230v. You also said it alters the frequency from 60hs to 50hz.
Can I ask what it is you use for this?
It’s a Mastervolt system installed on the boat from new along with a big isolation transformer. Not sure it changes the frequency though just the voltage
@svfairisle OK I see, yes probably just the voltage as the frequency of the phase is more complicated to change. We have the Victron isolation transformer that does the voltage but not the phase.
Hope you are coming up to NJ. We would love to have you at the RYC. And Sarah would love to show you around The State Theater.
Sounds great! We are coming but not until next year. Judys father lives in Hillsborough so we will spend some time around the area if we can get the relevant visas
Great video as always 👍👍
How did the chat with the stainless filter manufacturer go about the cleaning process? Any idea of the lifespan of the filters?
This is what he sent me: We recommend using a high-pressure water gun to flush the inside and outside of the filter to flush away the dirt attached to the filter. We believe that the service life of the metal filter element will be more than 2 years. But to be honest, you know us, we just completed this product last year, and maybe we need a little longer to verify its maximum service life.
@svfairisle interesting. I don’t have a pressure washer on my boat. I guess you could make one from the high pressure pump on your watermaker?
Great video - first one I have watched. What insurance company do you use and why? I'm looking forward to catching up and following your journey!
We’ve just changed from Pantanius to Velos because they were half the price and weren’t insisting on another out of water survey
@@svfairisle Thank you so much. I will look into it.
3:26 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geology_of_Trinidad_and_Tobago mentions that many of the islands' rocks are metamorphosed. Metamorphism occurs when rocks are hundreds of degrees hotter (up to their first melting point at about 800 Degrees C) and subjected to low tens of kilobars pressure (at about 40 KM deep). Under those pressures and temperatures, a commonly found metamorphic mineral is mica. Micas are thin leaf-looking minerals that form "books" and rocks that contain micas will develop a foliated texture. That texture can look like a petrified tree trunk, but the rock has actually been exposed to far more severe PT conditions. Two common foliated rocks are called phyllite (mentioned in above Wikipedia) and schist. A gneiss is another common metamorphic rock. A gneiss contains less mica and thicker bands of other minerals (such as quartz).
Interesting thanks.
Hi,when I was at sea as a fisherman in trawlers on our way home we towed the coconut mats behind us to clean them,I wonder if it work with your ropes…just a thought.
Thanks for another informative and interesting video,cheers…Roly🇬🇧.
Yes it might be an idea to get the dirt out. Wouldn't want to get them around the prop though, sailing only I think!
@@svfairisle yes you do need a good bit of way on.
Hello Steve: Many thanks for the time and effort you put in this quality video. As always ... entertaining and insightful. That's the good news. The bad news: eliciting questions/clarifications !! If you have few minutes would appreciate a clarification on the quality CMP double-braid docking line you're loving. Does it FLOAT? A useful characteristic when back-down for Med mooring (and occasionally missing the helpers on the dock).
I might be wrong but I don’t think anyone does double braid floating lines. We used to get floating line for the dinghy painter but it was always 3 core and wasn’t actually very nice, gets stiff and didn’t do too well in the sun, and as with all 3 core hockles badly.
I am intrigued re the ss filters for the watermaker. How have you liked them? Expensive vs the regular ones? And are they specific to the Spectra watermaker or generic? We have a Rainman
It's early day, we do our videos in real time so I've only just fitted them. They are a generic filter so good for any watermaker, the only reason manufacturers say you need specific filters is you don';t want to be using cheaper paper filters that might start to break up and ruin your membrane. Obviously no chance of that with a SS filter. So as long as the SS filters are filtering to the specified size (which I assume they are) then you have a perfect filter that can be used until it starts to clog, then power wash. I will obviously let our viewers know how it goes over time,
Can you comment on costs and availability? Thanks!
They are on there website for $79 www.pureoceanmarine.com/
All the details are in the description
Aquarius had a pole out, I am wondering if that is the stress point , with a micro crack slowly propagating until it broke
Amel changed their manual after a dissmasting in 2003 it seems to say you should not have only one foresail out on the pole, you should have two. That's bonkers though as unless you're dead down wind you will only want one and backwinding a sail will put all the load on one side anyway. So if they think there's a problem with a possible weak point where the poles attach to the mast then they really should be doing something about it.
@@svfairisle I wonder if some sleave could be installed around the area where the pole attaches to the mast to distribute the load better. But then the first section of the pole would have to be shortened
@@chrismulvey49 It looks to me that the area where the pole sockets are is already weakened by the flared opening for the in mast furling motor. Not sure what could be done to existing masts, but it does seem like Amel should be beefing up that bottom section
While I can appreciate your new Sirocco fan ( I have one as well), I am wondering how you threaded the wire run through the overhead. I am facing a similar problem on Intuition and a hack would come in handy for my haul out next week.
Thanks.
I have a cable puller wire, search on Amazon, they have various names ‘fish tape’ ‘cable runner’ etc stiff but flexible with a rounded end you can usually fiddle it through most places
@@svfairisle Thanks for the tip. I think it will work...
And, just in time, I hauled today!
Captain Ken)
I've known him for a long time. say hi)
👍
What can prop speed be made out of to justify that price? Maybe it’s just me but if I owned or managed that company I wouldn’t be able to charge that price without explanation on the can I would be to embarrassed not to. Even if the explanation is a low volume product it is still a reason.
I completely agree. I’m afraid the answer is almost certainly that there are such a high proportion of very rich boat owners around who will not even take notice of the price and just go for the product they have heard of that it works as a business model. I really can’t remember what I paid for it years ago, I’m sure it wasn’t the stupid price it is now but I probably fell into thinking I was paying a bit more for a quality product and as I was earning decent money at the time didn’t worry too much. I remember being disappointed with the result though. If you’re going to charge premium prices you need give a premium product, if you’re going to charge what they charge now it needs to last forever!
How do you avoid dismasting? err--get Keel stepped Mast?!!
There are plenty of keel stepped yachts that lose their rigs. You do stand a better chance of having something left to jury rig to though, but you also stand a bigger chance of suffering massive damage to the coach roof in a knock down.
120,000 for two masts? Got to be joking if thats £, $ or €.
A design flaw then.
Could be a weak point where the attachments for the 'jockey' poles go? This is what Ken is looking into.
.