small is beautiful

General Sailing Talk
Yara50
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Joined: Mon May 25, 2009 7:10 pm
Location: Sydney

Re: small is beautiful

Post by Yara50 »

Raya wrote:I find the Investigator perfect for 2+ day cruises as the time/effort spent preparing and getting away is considerable compared to the small beach craft, it's not really a daysailer unless left rigged up somewhere.

I can’t say that I agree with the above. (The first five words I agree with). I’ve owned my Investigator for twenty-five years now and have only ever used it for day sailing. Most days, I launch mid-morning and am back in the afternoon.

It only takes me, (and I do this on my own), about half an hour to stand the mast and attach the sails. Taking them down is always quicker. I spend less ramp time launching and retrieving the boat than a lot of the jetski guys.

I wouldn’t want anyone to be put off owning an Investigator by thinking that rigging it is an onerous task. It just takes a bit of practice and preparation.
You are obviously a master of the art of rigging and de-rigging, Ray.

I am in the two day outing camp. Firstly I have to do everything single handed. Secondly, But importantly, I am guilty of over-protecting the boat. The boat is on the street down a steep driveway from the house. Protected by a heavy, large cover, which takes a while to put on and take off single handed. The rudder, motor ,fuel etc are all stored up in the house. Always start with fresh fuel. Always flush the motor and drain the carby. Always clean out and refill the porta potty. Always top up the water tank. Set up the solar trickle charge for the battery. And on it goes. Even hooking up the trailer takes longer when there is no one guiding the reversing, and you are on a slight hill.
So for me, a weekend outing is best. However, overnighting is fun, and part of the on-water experience.
Ian B
Ex Investigator 563 #50 Yara
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Andrew
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Re: small is beautiful

Post by Andrew »

Gidday All,
it may be that i had a difficult trailer setup which has limited my one day sailing, Hope the rebuilt trailer version can make launching easier and quicker. In my case sailing preparation is usually done solo. Maybe time could be cut with a keen crew (getting harder to find?, with all the ipads, phones, computers etc diverting the general population these days?) Try to do the re-stocking/maintenance etc between trips so there's more time on the day. Maybe a lot more practice and tinkering can improve the land prep side of things :)
Andrew

Investigator #9 Teria
peter yates
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Location: Woodend Victoria

Re: small is beautiful

Post by peter yates »

I always find that having people "helping" is a mixed blessing. I feel under pressure to hurry and I never know if they have done things as I would, so I end up spending time checking up on what they have done. Ends up no quicker than a solo job.

The best thing I have found is having a safe device to raise the mast solo. Luckily, Tricksy's previous owner thought this out well and made a really good system which I have inherited! :)
I563 number 004 - "Tricksy"
CAL14 - "Gypsy"
"Myf" the skiff
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Raya
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Investigator Boat Name: Tme Out
Location: Gold Coast

Re: small is beautiful

Post by Raya »

I'm with Peter on this. I always rig the boat on my own even if I have a capable helper. I generally delegate the task of unhooking any rigging wires that snag when the mast is raised to give them something to do.

On the subject of solo mast raising, my investigator came with two chain plates with a short length of chain joining then. The two side stays are attached to the chain. This setup gives an "over lever" action which allows for the mast to be raised with the shoulds attached. When the mast is "walked up", there is no concern of it going sideways. It becomes a simple matter then to just attach the front stay and tension it using the adjustment on the backstay. No need to adjust the shrouds. It really does just take a couple of minutes to have the mast in place. Here is a picture of the setup. (The rigging isn't under tension in the picture.)
Attachments
Shroud chain.jpg
Ray
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Andrew
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Re: small is beautiful

Post by Andrew »

some Interesting points about the size of boat, for various sailing uses and locations. The Author of the Article had a west wight potter (15 fters if i remember correctly). It would be great for inland or semi sheltered waterways. Peter has a Cal 14 for day sails and easy launching, sounds like a good safe self righting mini TS.

I've certainly done allot more sails in by 8 ft dinghy than the I563 (by about 4x) but its limited to good weather, a smaller area and a few hours. Set off the beach mostly. The sailing experience is there.

so follow some dinghy cruising groups online. One bloke up here in Townsville bought a 16 ft classic cruising dinghy and started a fb group to follow, they are a rare breed up North, just a few. (and reading on it will become apparent why) After about a year he sold it and bought a TS (20fter)..his main reason was safety. The sheltered locations up here ideal for dinghy's are also full of man-eating crocodiles! Then we recently had the sad loss of a yachty on his 8 ft dinghy in Hinchinbrook channel, he was fishing from it when two croc's attacked and ate him alive. :| (The emergency services caught and euthanised the killers, and found his remains inside). I've always been careful in my 8ft tender. Ross River could have a croc (but its well surveyed and any crocs are soon removed) Hinchinbrook channel is wild-country be comparison,. Before the croc tragedy there (which is the first i've ever heard of around here) I kayaked ashore from Teria into 2 mangrove creek mouths on the exposed east side of Hinchinbrook where crocs would be less common. But in retrospect after the yachties loss i would go ashore on the beaches away from mangroves and stick to offshore Islands in future. The I563 is ideal for this, to get across rougher stretches of water to reach the safer croc-free destinations/habitats away from the coast up here. Sea Kayaker guided tours regularly tour the east side of Hinchinbrook Island without incident, they never go into the croc-habitat mangrove forests of the channel on the other side.

So "small is beautiful" (but there are limitations) The i563 is big enough to comfortably stay aboard in "Croc country" (just no kayaking/dinghy sailing or going ashore there!).
Andrew

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Ozzie
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Re: small is beautiful

Post by Ozzie »

I can remember taking the family on the erroneously named Alligator River’s “jumping crocs “ tour in Kakadu in 1990 and watching Fred Flintstone’s three metre long pets jumping a car length out of the river to take raw chook off of a stick. Ten minutes later dudes in twelve foot tinnies passed us going fishing :o. I guess it’s what you get used to.

We don’t swim in the middle of Lake Mac anymore since it became a shark rookery post the removal of commercial fishing. I do swim in the shallows and dive on the keel off the mooring, which I guess is not advisable any more either. Statistics are not comforting when your leg is missing.
Ozzie
Investigator #143 "SPRITZIG II"

The Mariner - “It’s too strange here. It doesn’t move right." ...
Enola - “Helen said that it’s only land sickness."
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Andrew
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Re: small is beautiful

Post by Andrew »

sharks seem more aggressive recently too, (wont swim off the boat at anchor up here, after the charter yachtsman was taken at Cid harbour). The news never tells the full story, were they fishing and throwing the guts in or something silly ? I gave up spear fishing in my late teens after a few shark encounters when they tried to eat my fish. Kept on scuba diving and met plenty of sharks, most were ok reef sharks but a few deep sea monsters scared the crap out of me. Once we were circled by a school of about 100 reefies in open ocean off a coral atoll, so the buddy system back to back ascent and leapt into the boat with the scuba tank on without a ladder!

Allot less daring now. We have patrolled beaches and netted areas for sea swims.

Visited a few croc farms too ozzie, its a must do if new to croc counrty. The guides have allot of info on them for safety. I took friends to our local croc sanctuary, 2nd trip.asked how a guide i met last time was. He quit after his arm was torn off at the shoulder by a death rolling croc there.

Visited Kakadu in the 1980s, same thing leaping monsters and 14ft tinnies nonchalantly fishing nearby. Its amazing how crocs spring in so quickly to grab prey. Flew in by cesna from Kathrine, along river, hundreds of crocs in there about 30 to 50m apart!

So " Right sized boat for the job" is a better motto than "small is beautiful" (tho its still a good motto too)
Andrew

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Peter T
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Re: small is beautiful

Post by Peter T »

I have sailed all my life. Well, most of it anyway. Starting off in Sobot's as a kid. Then as a teenager, sailed a VJ and then on to a Gwen 12 in which we qualified for the Australia championships.Then, as an adult went to a 38ft steel sloop, then a Roberts 24 and now finally to the I563.
From my experience, bigger boats are slower to react and are a lot more forgiving than the smaller ones and give a great feeling of confidence. Holidays on board are wonderful but the disadvantage of big boats is their cost, cost of everything you need to buy for them as well as the amount of work there is in performing the annual ( or more often) maintenance. The 24 ft Roberts was fun to sail but being a keel boat had most of the inconvenience of mooring and maintenance of the larger boat. Nightmare when they break their mooring. Then, now the Investigator. Excellent thing as far as a project goes, I was lucky enough to have purchased one with many problems, but I see that as a positive as I love fixing and building things so it has been a very interesting project to be bringing it back to better than new condition.
Also, through my life, as I have aged, my use and needs in a boat have changed. I am no longer capable to easily scrape barnacles etc upside down off a large boat nor do I even want to. The conclusion I have come to from the years of experience I have had is simply summed up as follows.
" The amount of fun one has in a yacht is inversely proportional to its length"
So I guess what I am saying is that it's horses for courses, but for me, the I 563 is perfect for me at this time. Easily launched and retrieved, easy to rig although this is a slight downer. But it's also a great little boat to just put in the water and take the grand kids fishing in. Great for an over nighter.
The absolutely most fun I have ever had in a yacht was when we raced the Gwen 12. What a hoot that was hiking out on the trapeze that was, ( except for the time I had my trapeze hook on upside down and then standing on the gunwhale, heaved out on the wire with both arms out above my head on a very fast broad reach only to have the hook undo itself and I remember hanging out there in mid air watching the boat sail on straight past me.
SPLASH. Ha ha.
All boats are good for someone and I love it that life is full of choices
Regards Peter T
" Sail-La-Vie," # 114


"Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats."
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