Located in the Abaco chain of islands in the Bahamas, Hope Town is my favorite settlement in these cruising grounds. High tide is a must for boats that draw around 6 feet, but once your in the protected harbor, there is plenty of water. Mooring balls are available, reservations are impossible and unorganized, just tie up to any ball that is not marked private or with a boat’s name, the owner of the mooring will visit you in the morning to collect the fee of around $10-$20. Marina’s are on the leeward side of the bay along with the lighthouse and currently under expansion (2012).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H82KTfWBCnk

“Hope Town was settled by British Loyalists who were seeking safe refuge after the American Revolution.  Many of the settlers came from the Carolinas, by way of East Florida, after that area was turned over to Spain in the Peace of Paris (1783).  The same treaty called for the evacuation of New York by the loyalists.  Many people moved back to England, Canada, or south to the British Caribbean.  The initial settlements were at Carleton (near the current Treasure Cay) and Marsh Harbour.  By 1785, there were over 1,000 refugees in Abaco who were distributed in five or six settlements.  The settlement at Hope Town was founded in 1785, in part, by a widow from South Carolina named Wyannie Malone.  Wyannie, along with her children, started a dynasty in Hope Town that spread the Malone name throughout the Bahamas, over to Florida, and outwards from there.”

It’s always a gratifying to see your work in glossy full color print as shown in this months issue of Showboats International and P&S – Power and Sail. However it burs a bit when the ship yard get the credit for your added fuel capacity and range, I had to fight for 5500 US Gallons of fuel, not to mention pay for it. Also interesting that our single Cat engine now has a twin….

Thank you to both publications for the ink!

Just off the coast of Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, we noticed a little grey smoke coming from a vessel close to us, within 90 seconds it was fully ablaze. in the 2-3 minutes it took us to get to “Final Act” all the decks were engulfed with flames and the owner of the boat was on the fly bridge saving his dog, they both were in the water as the flames took the tender. I towed the life raft about 100 feet away from the fire and got everyone onboard. Only the captain suffered minor burns and smoke inhalation, besides the expected shock and exposure to all 5 people and the 2 dogs, shortly after we dropped them off at Skull Creek marina.

I never would have thought a fire could have taken the ship so vary fast, just goes to show how little time you have to get off the boat when there is a fire. Also a great example of how proper engine room fire systems could either save the ship or at minimum, slow the fire down.  Proper video surveillance, shutting down the ventilation, closing passive air vents, shutting off fuel and engines in addition to standard fire suppression systems would have made a difference in this shipboard emergency. Also, there was no viewing port in the engine room door, the captain noted this as he opened the door to see the scope of the fire, often these windows are not installed because of noise and cost concerns.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxTwRRFaKMI

Positioned between Nassau and Fort Lauderdale, Chub Cay Marina is situated perfectly for a stop along the way. Additionally, there is a landing strip with Bahamas customs on the island if you need to fly home for a break or fly in guests.

Dockage $2/foot

Power $0.65/kw

Water $0.45 gal

Airport buss $5 pp

Landing Fee $20 (single)

In this fun little video I get dropped by my flight instructor to complete my voyage back to FL.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWsal6X90Kk

Available in HD

We have decided that we require 4 guest cabins, 1 crew cabin, 1 captain’s cabin and a proper laundry area; so, let’s add another 5 feet. Between Northern Marine and I we have come up with this concept for our new build, let’s call it our updated take on the expedition vessel.

Starting this project a few months ago I never would have thought how much time and effort would be spent developing the engineering specification alone. It’s been both an enjoyable process and terrifying; forgetting something from my engineer’s wish list could cost time and money later.
My decision to build with Northern Marine, based here in the USA, and not a foreign yard has proven to be a blessing at this stage making communications and meetings efficient and simple.

So, so far so good, the Spec is almost polished, and the yard is working on stability calculations, electrical system load analysis, build time-table and so on. Our goal is to be in the water in 22 months. My next project is to start on the interior concept and design.

The images in this blog posting may not be reproduced, copied, transmitted or manipulated without the written the permission of Northern Marine LLC and /or Aaron D. Pufal.

Here are my photos of my recent build from your Lo-Voltage plans. I am happy to say the build went well and I had to make only a few changes for my build and use.

I used 40 solid ¾” X 16′ teak strips for the cap rail and rub rails as it was so much easier to laminate and worked well with the teak and rubber decks that are finished only with teak oil.

Updating the propulsion I am using a Torqeedo Cruise 4.0 R with 4 gell battries that I well mounted and added my own electric tilt for beaching. I would recommend the Torqeedo Cruise 2.0 R as I never use more then 1800 watts to achieve maximum hull speed with a run time of over 10 hours! There are 2 onboard gell battery chargers for the 48V and 12V house system with a shore power cable outlet for easy changing. Separate 12v gell batteries run the marine stereo, marine amp, Raymarine depth sounder, Northstar VHF radio, LED deck lights, LED retro fitted nav lights, work lights under for and aft deck, linear actuators that pop up 2 electronics panels and motor tilt.

I’ve used “ez-stick”steering, it works great and frees up the deck.

I have discovered a new product that from West System called “Six10” that makes stitch and glue quick, strong and less messy, however, only after I built the hull the old fashion way.
As a note, the Torqeedo Cruise 4.0 R motor for some reason burned up the motor and control unit just after 3 uses, I’ve sent it to the warranty service center in the US and will update this posting with that experience and let you all know how the motor performs over time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SQah_fF2bo

This is a time laps film shows how sometimes the most narrow fairways can sometimes be very easy to navigate. We have all done it, we have looked at a chart or cruising guide sketch and immediately written off an anchorage or an entire area because of how intimidating it looks sitting at your desk. Compounding this issue are the old sailors at the yacht club bar droning on about how hard it was to get in to that bay in 1976! Well, in today’s world it’s the blog posting by a bean counter pontificating for a paragraphs about strong currents and coral heads.

Relax! I run this little 61 motor yacht alone and have a friend or guest help out when needed, like in this video. Furthermore, on this day the winds were 20kts and a ebbing tide of about 3 knots, no problem.

My point is, don’t pass up that anchorage just because it looks crazy on paper, sometime the more insane it looks on paper the easier it is to navigate, this is a good example of that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phlkBtl2hyw

Almost every yacht that transits this inside reef channel to Harbour Island uses a Pilot, and for good reason. Many props and shafts have been lost in this apply named channel spanning from Spanish Wells to Harbour Island.

This video is shot in time laps and shows some of the many corral heads and how close to the beach you must sail to avoid running aground.

In the short video below, G&G Marine was pushed on to the beach at the new small ship channel entrance to Bimini in the Bahamas. I found it interesting that the captain was able to keep the power on in ahead gear until the tide was high and she made it out safe.

As a note, 2 other yachts touched bottom on the way in just after us on our little 61′ Morlow. There are times the channel markers are not in the advertised position or not even there from my experience.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8-z-hea0qY

AVAILABLE IN HD

I’ve finished planking the for and aft deck of my little build.  This post shows two methods of adding the rubber between 1/2″ teak planks.

As you can see in the photo below, the method I have used here involves a great deal of sanding.  There is no reason to spend the time masking perfect lines (as in this case)  when there is a great deal of sanding to be done. You simply inject the “Teak Decking Systems” rubber into the gap filling as deep as possible, and then allow it to overfill. Finally, you trowel close to flat.

The more civilized method is to carefully mask each gap, inject until overfilling, trowel flat, allow to dry for 2 days. Use 100 grit sand paper on a random orbit sander until the tape starts to sand off also, then remove it.

As a note, I use an electric caulking gun to inject the rubber.  The teak and rubber decking is pre-assembled on the workbench using a jig and sanded using a table-top sander before it is installed in the boat.

In both cases, I like to sand first with a belt sander (120 grit) and then follow up with a random orbit sander (100 grit.)  If the teak is not for walking on, then finish with 220 grit.

Here is the finished laminates from the former post entitled “Clamps” and the sanded teak and rubber.