Messages

1

Hull and Rig / Re: Mast boot

« on: December 29, 2020, 08:45:00 pm »

We used a product similar to Spartite (sold in Marine stores to seal the mast/deck joint), but available for less at Walmart.  We did this during a layover in Ecuador in late 2009, just before crossing the Pacific.  We sold our CSY in the Philippines, and other than a little seepage during heavy rains from inside the mast, never had a problem again.  Details here:

http://svsoggypaws.com/CSY/rig.htm#mast_boot_seal

Hope this helps!  Whatever you use, if it has rubber, needs to be protected from the sun.  I sewed a sunbrella cover, and we used a very large (or two together) hose clamp to clamp it around the mast (make sure the SS clamp doesn't touch your alu mast).

Good luck!

Sherry

2

Interior / Re: Dodger

« on: November 15, 2020, 05:58:36 pm »

Hi and welcome to the forum!

We documented our upgrade to a hard dodger a few years ago, and can attest to the fact that it made an amazing difference in both our underway and our at anchor comfort.  it was like adding on a new sunroom to our house.

You can find our info here:
http://svsoggypaws.com/csy/cockpit.htm

Dave designed the frame, gave the sketch to a shop that made fly bridges for fishing boats, and they did a pretty competent job.  Then he got quotes from 3 different canvas shops, specifying every detail.  And 10 years later it was still keeping us dry and happy.  The use of the Tenara thread was important, as I never had to re-stitch the dodger.  A few zippers broke (the metal feet don't hold up well, so take extras--both extra feet and extra zippers of the appropriate length, if you are going long range cruising--even if you don't sew, you can always find another cruiser, or someone ashore, to make repairs, if you have the  critical items that are not usually availalee in remote places).

If you DO sew, there's a great Facebook Group called Sewing on Boats, and also checkout the "how to" videos on Sailrite.com (they have a Youtube channel and their vids are excellent).

Sherry

3

Systems / Re: Lithium Battery System

« on: November 05, 2020, 08:13:29 pm »

We are in the process of converting the 14 year old Gel batteries on our new Soggy Paws (a catamaran) to LifePO4 Lithiums.  We chose a DIY approach, and ordered 3.2v cells from RJ Lithium in China, a total of 8 cells which results in a 540 Ah battery bank, that takes up about half the size and weight of our previous Gel batteries.

RJ Lithium LifePO4 Cells

We have just put them in and are still finishing the install.  But before installing, we did some capacity testing, using a precision load, one cell at a time.  Here is the result for one cell, we took a full cell that was resting at 3.3v (13.2v in a 4 cell battery) and put a constant 35 amp load on it, and it took 7 hours for the voltage to drop below 3.15v (12.6v), and we got a measured 250Ah (from a 270Ah cell).  It's pretty amazing!



You do need to make some adjustments to your battery charging and monitoring methods as using standard lead acid chargers/charge profiles will kill your lithium batteries (and/or your alternator).

We'll let you know how we like it after we've cruised with them for a year.

A good place to start learning about converting to LifePO4 batteries is here:

https://marinehowto.com/lifepo4-batteries-on-boats/

and this one:

http://nordkyndesign.com/assembling-a-lithium-iron-phosphate-marine-house-bank/

Sherry

4

General Discussion / Re: Greetings from a new CSY44 WO owner

« on: November 04, 2020, 05:07:30 pm »

Darrin,
Assuming it is a CSY 44 Walkover, and it's hull number is 198, then it likely was completed in 1980.
They were top of the line boats when built--the manufacturer refused to compromise on quality and went under during an economic downturn.  I think the last year in production was 1980.

There's a bunch more info on the quality of CSY boats on our website:
http://svsoggypaws.com/csy

There are a couple of CSY 44's I know that were sold to Australians.  One was a 44 Walkthrough last sold in the Queensland area.  My records show it was named Kelbec II and the last known owner is in or from Tasmania.  Another was sailed to the east coast of Australia in about 2010 or 2011, and sold there, but I lost track of it.  The 3rd is Soggy Paws (our old boat).  It is owned by a guy from the Perth area but is current parked in eastern Indonesia because of the COVID lockdowns.  We sailed Soggy Paws from Florida to SE Asia and then got a hankering for a catamaran, and sold her in 2016.  They are great boats.

Good luck rebuilding!

Sherry

5

General Discussion / Re: Repository of all things CSY - Dropbox

« on: November 03, 2020, 12:00:16 am »

OK, I have sent out 6 new invites to the dropbox.

This is a collection of information useful to owners of CSY (Caribbean Sailing Yachts) models 33, 37, and 44 (and to some extent Antigua 44's).  Please browse, but DO NOT MOVE, RENAME, REORGANIZE, OR DELETE stuff in this folder!!  Best practice would be NOT to sync this folder to your Dropbox, but to download whatever info you want to a separate folder on your local drive. THEN you can rename, reorganize, etc.

If you have stuff to share with the group, please add it to the New Contributions folder, and message or email me a note and I will move it into an appropriate folder.

Thanks, enjoy!

Sherry
CSYOwners.com Admin

6

General Discussion / Re: Hello

« on: November 02, 2020, 11:31:57 pm »

Hi Walter, welcome to the group!  Good luck with your refit!  Are you in Central Florida?  Where is the boat?

Sherry

7

Hull and Rig / Re: measures of the mast

« on: November 02, 2020, 11:02:47 pm »

Hi Erik,

You can download some info I have saved on our website--the link to it is in this thread:

http://csyowners.com/forums/index.php?topic=6195

One of the posts in there gives specifics about the Kenyon mast section part number, which may help you call Kenyon to see if the the mast you are looking at meets the original specs.

There are also some drawings, which may be of use, but in a quick look, I did not see actual dimensions of the spar--just placement of the fittings on the mast and boom.

The CSY Guide to Buying a Yacht (pdf file) also has a discussion from CSY talking about mast strength and type of metal, etc.

You can download that here: 
http://svsoggypaws.com/files/CSY/CSY_Guide_to_Buying_a_Yacht.pdf

I hope this helps!

Sherry

8

General Discussion / Re: CSY Hull Number System

« on: October 27, 2020, 05:13:16 am »

Hi Capn Steve, how has Henrietta fared with all those hurricanes the Gulf Coast has gotten so far?
Sherry

9

General Discussion / Re: Repository of all things CSY - Dropbox

« on: October 27, 2020, 05:08:46 am »

Hi all,

I can add you to the dropbox, but unfortunately, Peter Roach, the original guy who set it up made it so everyone who's added can do anything in the dropbox (add stuff, delete stuff, move stuff around).  What's happened is people have synced their dropbox folder, and then decided to delete stuff, and stuff has gotten deleted out of the online folder.  There's not a lot there right now, sadly.

I do have a saved copy from a few years back.  I might try to restore it all, or set up a different one that I can control.

Also, I have just fixed the problem where the forum wasn't sending notifications out, and people were having trouble registering because they weren't getting the activation notification.

Sherry

10

General Discussion / Re: Greetings from a new CSY44 WO owner

« on: October 27, 2020, 05:02:28 am »

Hi Darrin,

Welcome to the group!!  If you can find the numbers on the stern (upper right hand corner of the stern--they are etched into the fiberglass, but may have been painted over).  Or KNOW the manufacturer's number for your boat (starts with TXY...), or know the previous name for your boat, we may be able to track some historical information.  I have a database that's been kept of CSY's since about 2000, but I don't find a Moonstar in it.  Is it an Australian registered boat?  Perhaps the Australian registry can give you a little history.

Sometimes, the primary hull number (ie "68") was also written on the bottoms of some or all of the drawers.

Good luck with your new boat!

11

Interior / Re: Aft Cabin Bulkhead Remodel - CSY 44 WT

« on: October 05, 2020, 11:13:11 pm »

We stopped in San Diego on our way back to the Philippines late last year, and saw Rendezvous' tiled aft bulkhead.  It looked really nice.  Here is what we ended up doing on Soggy Paws before we sold her.  It really made the aft cabin look nice.  With nice wood and carpenters at $12 per day in the Philippines, it cost us very little.



Actually, this is the VBerth, but we did the same strip planking design in the aft cabin too.  My pictures of that look goofy because of the lighting.

Sherry

12

Interior / Re: port hole gaskets

« on: October 05, 2020, 10:55:33 pm »

Also, someone on the CSY Owners Group on Facebook posted this item, available from Defender.  It is more similar to what we last used on Soggy Paws (3/8 inch square with a hole in the middle).

https://www.defender.com/product.jsp?id=2854847

The 3/8" version is 1.69/ft, so the McMaster stuff below is cheaper, but this material is more like what was originally there.

Sherry

13

Interior / Re: port hole gaskets

« on: October 04, 2020, 08:47:37 pm »

When I did a search today for the product mentioned in this thread, 8605K43 at mcmaster.com, it came up with this link.

https://www.mcmaster.com/catalog/126/3800

The 8605K43 product is 100 ft length of 3/8" round EPDM Foam Cord.  You CAN buy it in 10 ft lengths, using product code 8605K122, for only $6.

Sherry

14

General Discussion / Re: CSY44 - Sailing vs Motor/Sailing vs Motoring

« on: August 10, 2020, 08:29:26 pm »

Also, you might be interested in this chart.  I keep really close stats on the amount of time we spend pure sailing vs motoring, etc.  I haven't updated it on the website for last year, but all our CSY years are here (2007 to 2014).

http://svsoggypaws.com/mileagesummary.htm

There's a shocking number of "nights in a marina" for a long range cruising boat.  We have left the boat somewhere for an average of 2 months every year, flying back to the USA.  Plus we've spent a good amount of time doing "inland travel" in South America, Hawaii, New Zealand, etc.

On our big crossing years (South America to Fr Poly to Hawaii to Fr Poly to Fiji in 2010 and 2011, we did the most sailing, and the ratio of "pure sailing" (no motor on) to motoring (with or without sails) is very high.

I have a month to month view of this that makes that more evident, in a spreadsheet, but I've never published that.

Sherry

15

General Discussion / Re: CSY44 - Sailing vs Motor/Sailing vs Motoring

« on: August 10, 2020, 06:53:33 pm »

Kevin,

Re motoring vs sailing or motorsailing.  The answer on that one depends hugely on the captain of the boat and the weather windows you pick.  My husband Dave would truthfully rather pick a weather window that had very light wind, and motor or motorsail.  If the speed dropped below about 3.5 knots, vrooooom, here we go with the engine.  We have friends who would sit for a day ghosting along at 1 knot waiting for more wind.  So, the patience, and the sailing skills, of the captain make a huge difference.  Dave put in an additional fuel tank (custom made, behind the back of the settee) to add range, plus we carried fuel jugs on deck.  He was always making sure we had fuel to motor 1,000 miles if we had to.

Another factor is where you are sailing.  If you are sailing in the tradewinds, with pretty consistent winds, it's a lot easier to sail than in the equatorial belt we've been in for the last 6 years.

Our average speed, over a long period time doing our Pacific (mostly) downwind passages was 5.7 knots.  Dave is really conservative, and with a tall rig and a roachy main (set up for light air Keys/Bahamas conditions), if the wind was 15 knots or more, we'd start out with a reef in the main.  If we had any heel at all Dave would start talking about reefing.  And at night, we'd always drop in another reef.  We're retired, not in a hurry, and want our comfort more than speed.

Both us and Tackless II blogged our Pacific crossings, so if you haven't found those websites, here they are:

http://svsoggypaws.blogspot.com
http://thetwocaptains.com