Correct yeah. The shore plugs are protected, though I also read that you want them on you plugs in the boat - but they may trip eachother as well so I know some folks at our club don’t use GFI outlets in their boats allegedly.
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Sailing Talk
- Thread starter MaksTO
- Start date
16 gauge at 10 or 12 amps will get very warm but rarely be a problem unless it gets trapped in an insulation medium like clothing. 12 gauge would obviously be better.
Yeah I believe I originally got the 16ga to run new wiring for lights and stuff, which I believe are mostly LED on my boat so won’t draw much. Though we have an annoying mini fluorescent light above the table in the cabin so I want to ditch that - just have to figure out how to attach a new light without screwing into the deck, probably adhesive or something like that. But first the battery compartment.
Your gauge needs to match the draw of the appliance , my windlass was 2gauge over a 12ft run . The VHF radio is 18 . Other instruments are 18 since it’s millivolts . Electric winches on old boat were 10g .
GFIs and proper grounding is important since stray current in marinas kill over 100 people a year and your stray current can eat the propellor off your nieghbours boat . ( actually seen it eat the prop and strut off a boat that had A/C installed incorrectly.) . You also should not be using 110v wire from homodepot. Marine 110v wire , 14/2 marine is stranded not solid wire , you don’t use solid wire in a boat. I’ll bet 80% of boat owner self wire jobs are using the wrong wire . Even the smaller gauge 12v wire should be marine grade ( which is tinned) and has a better vinyl cover . But that stuffs expensive, so they all cheap out.
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GFIs and proper grounding is important since stray current in marinas kill over 100 people a year and your stray current can eat the propellor off your nieghbours boat . ( actually seen it eat the prop and strut off a boat that had A/C installed incorrectly.) . You also should not be using 110v wire from homodepot. Marine 110v wire , 14/2 marine is stranded not solid wire , you don’t use solid wire in a boat. I’ll bet 80% of boat owner self wire jobs are using the wrong wire . Even the smaller gauge 12v wire should be marine grade ( which is tinned) and has a better vinyl cover . But that stuffs expensive, so they all cheap out.
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Fancy. Are you making sails in your basement or was this a commission for your boat?
I do own an industrial sewing machine , however getting load paths on cloth and effectively cutting a tri radial sail and getting a fast sail is mostly computer design now and cut on a 40x90 ft plotter . Nobody with long battens and scissors doing that now . It’s a silly investment, but it’s fun. The missus is questioning why a 5k sail goes towards a $2.00 nylon flag at the seasons end , but that’s the price of victory……
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Mad Mike
Well-known member
I cut sails for a while, they are a lot of work. I made small sails for Sabot racers, and just cut custom sails for a few small sail makers. If they has a big sail, they would fly in, remove a section from my 80x10’ setup one of my machines in the middle then sew away.
Sailmaking , another industry that has some boutique lofts left , the rest is all done offshore . Guy I use , Bay Sails , has a huge plotter cutter in Rochester at another loft he owns , also sources panels cut to order from Asia . The cloth is made in Germany and the UK , but Siri Lanka is closing the gap.
Boat I’ll be away racing in August uses 3Di sails , printed on a shaped mold in the Nevada desert ( humidity) . A guy in a harness flies over the mold lays down thread paths to control load and then the laminate is heat applied . It’s completely changed how sails are made . And yes it’s expensive. The main sail on the 59ft boat was 38k us . And the loft is busy lol.
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Boat I’ll be away racing in August uses 3Di sails , printed on a shaped mold in the Nevada desert ( humidity) . A guy in a harness flies over the mold lays down thread paths to control load and then the laminate is heat applied . It’s completely changed how sails are made . And yes it’s expensive. The main sail on the 59ft boat was 38k us . And the loft is busy lol.
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Not to drone on sailmaking but before computer cutting and design , you would go to a sabot or etchells regatta , whatever and take 2 or 3 sets of sails and test which ones were fastest in the conditions. Now you know before you leave home which sails to take , the human error chance has been eliminated. But like all industry we still those small lofts and repair guys , rip a sail on Tuesday and need it Saturday, your not shipping that to China for repair . Lots of “cruiser” sailors will buy China made sails mail order ,then complain when they want service at the local loft and are on the bottom of the list.
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Realistically I don't have much electrical on the boat, so I think this weekend I will write down part numbers of everything I have / can find and run the numbers on how much power everything draws and work from there.
The 16ga I have is Ancor Duplex Tinned. Just need to source a good source for terminals for 18, 16, and maybe 12 GA wiring. Would be nice to have a stockpile for whatever I may need. Will go over my 120v outlets and make sure they are done with strand wire and Ring Terminals as well.
It always amazes me how people can just try out some sails and see what performs better. I imagine the difference is pretty marginal (0.5 knots?), so discerning that vs other causes for a gain or loss in speed is so impressive to me.
Raced on a Melges 24 once, and was amazed at how in tune everyone was with their rigs and sail choices etc. I can only aspire to that level of understanding one day...
Edit: Our sails are probably original (40 years old), so gonna look into getting new ones eventually. Probably wanna fix the soft spot in the foredeck first before dumping more cash into this 25 footer though
I’ve been pretty spoiled with opportunity on some good race programs . And I’ve been punished with three day distance races when I agreed to crew on the wrong boat . I’m not the ‘smart guy’ on any program , but do it long enough and you figure stuff out .
40yr old sails are painting drop cloths now, but enjoy the boat and spend the money good beer and snacks . My wife always encouraged me to race other people’s boats so when something blows up , it alway does , i can crack a beer and casually mention , that looks expensive. But I do like driving , I did my decade on foredeck in offshore events . Wet and miserable is for others now .
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40yr old sails are painting drop cloths now, but enjoy the boat and spend the money good beer and snacks . My wife always encouraged me to race other people’s boats so when something blows up , it alway does , i can crack a beer and casually mention , that looks expensive. But I do like driving , I did my decade on foredeck in offshore events . Wet and miserable is for others now .
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I too am of a mind that racing on other peoples boats is generally better. As long as the crew / owner are nice to be around...
I feel like sail racing is a lot like racecars or any other competitive sport - you have to have enough cashflow to address (expensive) things that break often. I imagine casual ownership vs competitive racing are two veeerrryyy different ball games financially speaking, let alone skill and time requirements.
That said, definitely want to do some offshore racing one day, or even crew on LO300 to start, which is a more near term goal. But on someone else's boat for sure
Mad Mike
Well-known member
Agreed. That why I'm all stinkpot now.
If you get on the right boat you can learn more about sailing on a race boat in a summer than a decade of cruising . You’ll go in all weather and push the boat , sometimes too far . But you’ll learn to fix f ups in record time , how to stay cool when it hits the fan and how to trim for speed . In my short career we have lost a mast of a 40ft , hit a reef in FLA ( I was no navigator) , hit other boats ( no me driving) and blown up sails . But we also won the SusanHood , the LO300 , and some offshore stuff nobody has heard of . ( again not me driving lol) . We now race twice a week on the house League series , ( I drive this one) and it’s great fun , we have a new kid this year and he’s learning to sail , last yrs new gal took what she learned and went to a bigger boat . And yes 100% race on other peoples boat. I’m guessing I’m 10k a year , if nothing breaks . And I’m in the hack division.
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An acquaintance races in Lake Ontario and northeast US. He figures low six figures to support his addiction.
He's a semi-retired surgeon. He works enough to pay for sailing.WOW! I think I need a better job
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