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Still waiting for that pic Kristin.Bilgeret

Ran out of time at the libary.I meant to add:With a full keeled boat The helm should almost always be amidships when reversing.You correct your line of travel by putting the boat in forward momentarily and putting the helm down to line the boat up and then reversing again.Ideally the boat will not gather any forward momentum and you will back up in the desired direction.You will loose a tiny bit to one side each time depending on which way your boat walks.If you try and use more than a degree or two of helm to steer while in reverse,the rudder will suddenly bite and swing the bow around fairly sharply.Unless that is what you want it is best to hold the tiller amidships.The engine is really an auxillary on this boat meant to get it back to port not a maneuvering device so there is no shame at all in pushing the boat in and out of the slip by hand if that is the sensible thing to do,and it often is.Commericial fishind boats here always have a breast line tied amidships that is the first and last thing to be tied to the dock.It snubs the boat and draws it in sideways in an orderly fashion.This is an especially good thing if you have wind or current behind you.Some places it is hopeless to try and power this boatin or out of a slip.....You can counter the prop walk somewhat by making an "S" turn when entering a slip.This takes a little experience.If the boat walks to starboard and you are making aport tie you approach at say a twenty degree angle after turning in,and about ten feet from where you want to stop with the bow very close to the dockyou swing the bow out and put the boat in reverse.The monteum of the stern coming around cancels the prop walk.This is more of a power boat manouver and I have to admit it dos;ent always happen that way,which is when a breastline or a boat hook could come in handy,not to mention a shipmate and some fenders.

Maybe let it burn down until the flame is small,snuff it and refill with the cheap stuff,methyl hydrate.It will take about a litre.It may have residue from the other products.Rotate the dial twice always to insure that it is off.Low fuel is the only time mine has fumed in about twelve or more years using it every day.good luck

The shoe on the bottom is astandard solution.Enough trama to remove that little nub would likely as not be enough to sink the boat and actually adds some grounding protection to the rudder.The materials to do the job would be less than a hundred bucks.While it is nothing to brag about I plowed over a reef at seven knots with my last boat.That boat drew four and a half feet,the reef had less than three feet over it.Damage to the supported rudder,nil.Incidentally,this was a full keeled boat as well,the best for reef bashing.

One thing about lazy jacks on a Bermudian rig,the head board can get snarled in the tangle at the most inconvient times,as you try to raise it.They make a lot more sense on a Junk or Gaffer where the yard guides the sail up thru the lines.Some like em,I don't.Books by Brian Tross or John Leather could be the best sorces for the info you want.

Other than price,that seems like a good idea.I have used a variation of that at my old cabin up the coast.I don't use the head on this boat at all,and especially the holding tank,yick.There allways seems to be a suitable alternative,so far,but I avoid busy anchorages and such.It always strikes me as a very Victorian contriavince,the little machine that makes nasty things go away;well ahh,until it plugs at the most inconveinent of times and You are left to wrestle with the unsavory beast in the little compartment.One of the boats I owned had a chart table,with chart stowage in the former head space and I am considering this....The other objectionablethings about holding tanks are,maintaining,,pumping andthe chemicials involved;where do they ultimely end up?So yeah I am all for a bucket where appropriate and a bucket and bag where it is not.Good idea.

Hi Deb.The table hooks over the seat rail and a small cleat on the bottom hooks under the trim on the front opening locker.As long as the seat rail and the lower peice of trim are parallel to one another,the table can be positioned any where fore and aft.Some boats will have to have along peice of trim added to the lower berth front(parallel to the seat rail).Anybody is welcome to use the idea.It's worked great for me.Bill

I tried the working jib out for the first time last week and the boat was noticably faster up wind compared to the rolled genoa I had on the day before.It also moved along nicely down wind in the dying breeze.A reefing 110 with three reefs in the main would be my choice if I only had two sails and a motor.I hope to aquire a storm jib in the fall and meanwhile funtion with #2,#3,cruising chute andthree reef main.It does seem like a highly subjective thing.

Weirdly enough,I measured my meager inventory,and inspected the furler to see how much hassle it was to get rid of today.The jenny is 31 on the luff and13.5 on the foot.How about a reefing 110.The furler has much to reccomend it but I am never happy with the shape in a strong breeze going to weather.My impression is that it is the people not the company that matter .North could be great in one town and suck in another.The person that gave great service may move to another company.Wre fortunate to have some really great companies in Victoria.My understanding is that all the sails are made offshore now.I  will almost certainly get mine through the local loft ,U.K. in this case as they did a great job in the past and showed great patience with my idiot questions,i.e. could you make that jib in 18 oz cloth to which the reply was,"are you planning on storing it on edge".Bilge

I tried the cheap fix a few years ago on another boat and it worked for a while but ultimately failed.The Whale/henderson diaphrams are formed in such a way that they can be flexed many thousands of times without stressing the seal or itself.The flat home made diaphram is stretched each time the pump is stroked so that eventually something has to give.I was a lot happier with the kit in the pump,my thinking being that when you "need" a pump,you really need it.

Nobody wanted to spend half the morning shoving the (wet) rode back into the chain locker on my old sea bird yawl so we coiled it down in a milk crate secured to the deck.Wesailed around Vancouver island like this,and it worked well in all kinds of weather.My last boat i made a purpose built box for this and despite burying the bow and a good bit of the trunk cabin on a few occasions it stayed put.Comericial fish boats use a deck mounted reel winch,very secure and heavy.The Contessa is a little dainty for such a homely solution but it works well.Cheers Bill