TAMERLANE
by Marcus Walkinshaw
Seattle, WA
(12/8/99)
These photos show some of the modifications made to my Stiletto 30.
The work was done by several people including the Nicol’s brothers at Stiletto, CSR Marine Yard of Seattle, Rush Sails (Seattle agent for Neil Pryde), Emerald City Marine Electronics, and, of course, an awful lot by myself.
All old paint was stripped off the bottom. The canoe body was faired to the limit that one could detect surface irregularities without special instruments. It was then sanded and covered with four coats of epoxy sealer and then four coats of Pettit Trinidad hard epoxy/copper biocide paint. This was wet sanded to 400 grit.
|
|
|
The foils were faired to near perfection and then sealed with four coats of epoxy. This was covered with four coats of VC Teflon and sanded to 600 grit
|
|
|
Technora capshrouds and runners replaced the pre-existing wires, and were lashed on with Technora and Spectra cordage respectively. At one-tenth the weight of comparable stainless steel wire (1x17), it is twice as strong (13000 pounds breaking strength for the capshrouds versus 6200 pounds for ¼ inch wire). Note the small plastic plate just in front of the starboard hatch. This is the antenna for the Magellan 6000 cartographic GPS.
|
|
|
A few changes on the deck can be noted here. On the center console the primary winches have been switched to Lewmar 30’s. This resulted in a 25% increase in power ratio over the existing Barient 24’s at a weight savings of about 21 pounds. You can also see the custom housing for the instruments on top of the forward engine hatch and tail bags mounted on the sides of the console. On the starboard pushpit are the new DGPS antenna and sternlight. The mainsheet is a 10:1 purchase with a 20:1 fine tune (which works very well I might add) using Lewmar airblocks. The foredeck hatches and cabin windows are new as well. All the wire halyards have been replaced with Technora or Spectra, depending on the use, as have all the older, heavier Dacron lines and halyards. All halyard and sheet shackles have been switched to titanium.
|
|
|
A closer look at the deck reveals the sheet stoppers added to the mast to take the load of the halyards. Almost every block onboard has been replaced with a Harken "Black Magic" type of airblock that is held on by Technora lashings instead of shackles.
|
|
|
The switch on the bottom of the instrument pod is for the speed sensor. There is one in each hull and the one in the water is naturally the one in use, which is designated with the switch. The sensors (by NKE along with the instruments) work by the rate of dissipation of an electrostatic charge and have no moving parts. Power consumption is tiny (20 ma) compared to any other unit on the market, especially the acoustic.
|
|
|
Like everything else, the bowsprit has been re-rigged with carbon airblocks. The large reacher now has an outhaul bridle, which keeps the base of the roller furler from turning when the bridle is tightened, but lets the sail be changed easily. A roller furler has been added to the small reacher, shown above. The white strap at the clew of the mainsail goes to the first reef. A second reef was installed along with a strap system for fast reefing without a boom. Also installed was a Bainbridge Sailman 3000 batten/slide luff system.
|
|
|
I call this picture "just another balmy sailing day in Seattle in December". Note the new compass in the starboard hull.
|