Popular in the immediate post war years there has been something of a revival of late in teardrop trailers along with the whole idea of living with less. There are entire networks it seems on TV that promote the ideas of tiny living with families of 5 moving into a 250 square foot house. While that would be way too small for me, I do like the idea of the teardrop trailer and have been considering building one for some time. Light enough to tow behind almost any car it seems that there would not be a lot of organization needed to get it hitched up and hit the road. I know friends that have large fifth wheel campers that refer to them as their land yacht. These behemoths are indeed impressive with large double beds, flat screen TV's, and kitchens larger than many have at home. But getting on the road for a short break takes a lot of effort and would be just too much work for a weekend. On the other hand the teardrop, by comparison, should be swift.
Although I could just go out and buy a new teardrop, and there are lots to choose from, half the fun would be building it just the way that I want it. Another reason for wanting to possibly build my own is that the quality of some of the commercially built ones are somewhat lacking. This does not apply to all of the trailers that I've looked at but on some the joinery work is below par. Also, and this is big one for me, they lack much in the way of insulation. Given that any trailer I own will get most of its use in the winter months, when I'm not out boating, it has to be warm and cozy. Being cold at night will take all the fun out of it and the trailer would likely be used far less. I've done a fair bit of camping during my life and being in bone chilling conditions when the mercury is below freezing is no fun at all.
So I've been conducting some tests and I've been making up some insulated panels that I think will work. Essentially these are constructed from a sandwich of two sheets of plywood with closed cell insulation in the middle–light and strong. On the other hand many of the home built teardrops seem to be built on a framework of wood along the lines of a stick-built house. There are several problems with this. It seems to me the trailer is heavier than it needs to be, and the insulation is sub-par as the wood framework causes thermal bridging vastly reducing the insulation factor.
I will carry on with the tests for now and let you know how things turn out, and if indeed I plan to go ahead with the build.
The image above is courtesy of tinyyellowteardrop.
Of all the things that scare boat owners the most, sinking is probably at the top of the list. But fire is no less of a threat. Indeed, a fire, even if you manage to put it out, can easily lead to a sinking. The first line of defense when it comes to preventing a fire on board is to make sure that all systems are correctly installed and that there is nothing that can turn a small problem into a large one. Normally a single factor alone will not cause a fire; they are most often started by a combination of factors.
Should the worst happen you need to slant the odds in your favor of putting a fire out. The best fire extinguisher is probably a frightened sailor with a bucket, but after that, it usually comes down to genuine fire extinguishers. Most boats have a few of these on board. There should be one in each cabin, visible and easily accessible so that it can be grabbed and used in a hurry; speed is of the essence here.
But what if the fire is in the engine space? You may not even realize you have a fire there until it is too late. Worse yet, opening the engine cover to see what’s going on is often a bad idea, as it feeds additional oxygen to the fire and may cause a flare-up. The ABYC recommends that engine fires be tackled without opening the engine cover or—in larger vessels—the door to the engine room. The cover or door maintains a physical barrier between you and the fire and restricts the amount of oxygen that can reach the flames. Often, sailboat builders thoughtfully install fire ports in the front of their engine boxes; a small plastic disc pops out, allowing you to deploy the nozzle of a fire extinguisher through the hole. This is very sensible, but is not necessarily the best solution.
Top of the tree is an automatic fire extinguisher system. In its simplest form, this senses the engine room temperature, and when it rises above a preset limit, deploys an inert gas to deprive the engine room of oxygen, thus putting out the fire. Halon used to be the gas of choice, but environmental concerns have resulted in it being outlawed. New systems use another gas called heptafluoropropane, although halon is still acceptable for existing systems. (If you do own a boat with a halon system, be aware that it cannot be refilled with halon when serviced; the same holds true for older refrigeration units that use halon as a refrigerant.)
Installing an automatic fire extinguisher in the engine room is well within the capabilities of a competent DIY owner, but it is necessary to do a little research first. I contacted Sea Fire, who supplied me with the necessary parts to complete the installation that you see here after sending me a worksheet that asked some questions about the boat, engine size, location and most important, the size of the space that the system would protect.
In theory, it is possible to install an automatic extinguisher that employs a vial on a sprinkler head at the top of the extinguisher cylinder, which bursts at a certain temperature and smothers the fire. The advantage to this approach is that you don’t have to make any extraneous connections to your engine room. Most owners, though, will opt for a slightly more sophisticated system, which is what I did. Connected to the top of the cylinder in my system is a cable release controlled by a handle next to the helm that can be pulled to deploy the extinguishing agent manually. Because the boat in which I was making the installation had a large electronically controlled engine, I also installed an automatic shut-down system. With this, if the extinguisher is deployed either manually or automatically a relay trips and shuts down the engine. Shutting down the engine if it is running ensures that the extinguishing agent will not be sucked into the engine and ejected out of the exhaust before it has the chance to do its job and put the fire out.
Here’s How I Did It
Tools required:
Drill, screwdrivers, pliers, tape measure, crimpers, wrenches
Skill level:
Advanced amateur
1 Decide where the extinguisher will go. In many cases the decision is made for you, as there is not much space in the average engine room. Bear in mind that you will have to make a connection to the top of the cylinder and that, depending on the type of system you have, the cylinder will either need to be mounted horizontally or vertically. This will be made clear in the installation instructions.
2 Measure carefully, then bolt the mounting bracket into position. I had a nice clear space on the aft bulkhead, which was just perfect. You may not be so lucky and may have to reroute wires or hoses if they are in the way.
3 Mount the extinguisher as outlined in the instructions. The Sea Fire I’m mounting has stainless steel worm-drive clips that pass through the bracket and around the cylinder. Make sure they are tight.
Install the manual release cable. Bear in mind that it is stiff, like a throttle or gear shift cable, and will not bend in a tight radius. Cables are supplied in almost any length, so measure the run of the cable before ordering. An old piece of 6mm 1x19 rigging wire is handy for this, as it has the same bend characteristics as the release cable.
4A. After deciding where the cable will go, install the plate for the manual release, which should be near the helm. You will also need to drill a hole for the cable attachment; I was lucky to be able to use the plate to cover an unwanted hole where a gauge used to be mounted
4B.Install the brass nut and washer before passing the end of the cable through the hole.
4C.Then install the other components on the other side: barrel nut, O ring, T handle, and safety clip. Connect the other end of the cable to the cylinder, which is retained by a spring clip. It is also worth noting that the cylinder has a safety pin in place that has to be removed, but leave that until you have completed the installation to avoid a possible accidental discharge.
5 Use a hole saw to drill a mounting hole for the monitor panel.
6 The panel is passed through the hole and secured by a straddle clip on the back.
7 Wiring is likely to be the most time-consuming part of the job, as it must be neat and well ordered. First mount the relay/control box. I put mine behind the breaker panel. Use cable of the correct gauge; Sea Fire recommends no smaller than 16 AWG.
Finally, clip back the cables for a neat and orderly appearance.
With thanks to Brewer South Freeport and Matt Durkin.
Here are just a few of the many boats at last weekend's Antique and Classic Boat Show in Salem, Massachusetts. I've been attending this show for the past 15 years or so as the head judge and it is pure joy to see these boats and meet the owners.
There were cat boats, a pair of Elco flat top cruisers, and even a steam boat replete with an original 1894 steam engine, along with many others – all gorgeous. It was my intention to give you explicit details of the boats shown below but I lost my notes so you'll just have to make do with looking at the nice pictures, which you can click on to make larger and see more detail.
So the trip started off well enough, and it should have a been a straight forward delivery to the Chesapeake from Maine. Rita and I had set aside just over a week centered around the Memorial Day weekend, so I opined that eight days would be more than sufficient. Just before the off however it was discovered that the header tank on the Ford Lehmann engine was leaking and the neck on the filler would need to be repaired by a radiator shop. Yankee Marina and Boatyard in Yarmouth, Maine went above and beyond would be expected to get us on our way. Curt, the yard manager, drove the header tank to the radiator shop, waited while they repaired it then turned up on Saturday of Memorial Day weekend and personally refitted it. I can't say enough good things about this yard; perfect service.
After the drama with the header tank, I thought our problems would be over, and it would be plain sailing from then on, but oh no. We were literally about to leave the dock, and I thought I'd double check the engine oil in my familiar fashion, pull the dipstick wipe off the oil with a paper towel, replace dipstick then pull out one more time for an accurate reading. A simple task that takes a few moments at best. On pulling the dipstick for the second reading, I was horrified to see that the bottom half of the dipstick was missing! I was in a panic, how could this have happened? Where was the missing bit of dipstick? Thinking that it had fallen off into the oil pan, I knew that we would not be going anywhere if that was the case. An errant piece of metal in the oil pan could lead to catastrophic engine failure. The engine could not be run until the piece was retrieved. I was thinking that I would have to pull the engine and drop the oil pan, a very expensive job which would scupper our plans of heading south anytime soon for sure.
I rushed to True Value and bought the strongest magnet on a stick that I could find. I thought that I could poke this down the dipstick hole and by some luck catch the wayward piece of the dipstick, but even if I did the chances of actually pulling it back through the dipstick tube were slim to none. I was doomed, and I knew it. Just as I was about to break out the whisky and slump on the salon cushion I had the thought that maybe the piece had snapped off and fell into the bilge. I have white clean oil pads under the engine, and if the piece of dipstick were there, I would have seen it. I fished about for a couple of minutes and then if by some divine miracle I heard a click and up from the depths came the magnetic stick with the piece on the end. What luck! How it broke off and fell into the bilge I will never know but I was thankful that I found it and doubly glad that I did not spend days pulling then engine apart only to find it afterward, that really would have pissed me off.
The errant piece of the dipstick and the cause of much angst and swearing. I might not look like it in the picture but I was happy, things could have been so much worse.
Due to our late start, we only made it as far as Kennebunkport, I wanted to fill up with diesel anyhow so we put in for the night thankful that at least we were on our way and heading south. I went for a walk in the rain and stopped by this nifty looking boatyard across from Seaglass, our boat. I wanted to take other pictures, but all I got was this shot before my camera battery decided to die.
The forecast for the morning was not promising with rough seas and fog. In fact, we had lots of fog, this shot is on one of the better days! Instead of continuing our journey on the second day as planned we left Kennebunkport and turned back after half an hour when we realized that the visibility was about a hundred yards with five-foot seas from the south. This was very frustrating, but I always think it better to be safe than sorry. An added concern was that I had recently refinished the mast on the boat and although I had a shiny new 4G radome fitted this was not hooked up to the chartplotter. I never thought I would need it, how wrong I was!
A couple of days later we made it as far as Gloucester, Massachusetts where we had a fine night in the marina and met our friends Tom and Alice who invited us to dinner. A splendid run, the next day, across Massachusetts Bay saw us in Sandwich, a perfect jumping off point for the following day's run through the Cape Cod canal and out into Buzzards Bay. The current is swift, and this helped us along nicely, Seaglass making 12 knots over the ground at one point. Our good fortune did not last long, however, as the day wore on the weather deteriorated, the wind and rain came back with a vengeance.
The seas were right on our nose, and we were taking green water over the bow which slammed the windscreen making it hard to see, the wipers did their best but were not up to the task. In fact, it was so rough at one point that the fridge went walkabout and the cutlery drawer had to be taped up with masking tape to keep it in place. This is not my kind of boating at all! I had planned to make it to Westbrook in Connecticut but was worried about navigating the harbor entrance in the rough conditions so put into the Connecticut river instead where the entrance is wide, and it's safe and easy to enter. We secured a berth then went for showers and beers, that first one tasted so good, we'd earned it!
The drawer taped shut and the fridge after we wedged it temporarily back into place.
Recent Comments