Lighthouse Tender Peapod tiller length & other questions

[Baayar_Titiz]

Greetings,

I've sailed with my friend's newly built Peapod and have some questions to ask:

The builder's manual, page 239, gives the length of the tiller as 812 mm (32"), which seemed quite short for my sitting position. Without adding an extension part to this standard tiller, I wanted to learn how other fellow builders use this size tiller. Did anyone also have problems with the tiller length?

The rowing positions also posed some difficulty for my height & reach (my height is roughly 184 cm)  I can barely put my soles to the edge of the middle seat when I sit in front of the boat and use my legs to help the rowing action. But when I sit near the aft of the ship on the center seat, I can not find any suitable support point to press my feet against. Maybe I may plan to add some support here. I'm curious to know what others do for this to ease the rowing mechanics.

Even though I have exactly followed the dimensions for the halyard, the weight came out a little over 4 kg (9 pounds). Maybe my timber selection was wrong and I should choose a softer wood than pine. So bringing the halyard to the top of the mast needs quite a force and seemed awkward to me. Is there another alternative other than drilling a simple hole in the top of the mast, which adds up some friction, especially if the rope or the mast is wet with sea water? A kind of pulley maybe?  Can I safely make it slightly thinner than the design specs? Did anyone try this?

When I reef the sail, should I keep the boom at the original position? Or should I raise it so that the halyard will stay at the top of the mast? How to prevent the free movement of the halyard, if I lower it to keep the center of effort of the sail, better for stability? Is there more detailed documentation so that I may learn more about the rigging?

I have capsized the boat (due to strong gusts + no reefing + my fault) and it took a long time to empty it to make it float again. I had not followed the build manual here and did not fabricate the floatation blocks but put two inflatables to the bow & stern. Maybe this was another mistake but even with the standard floatation blocks, the amount of water that will flood the boat is plenty to empty with a simple bucket. What can be the best method to empty the boat after a capsize?

All the best,

Powderpark

 

[Michael_Scheibeck]

That was me.  I guess the forum logged me off before I finished my long winded reply.  I must have been hurrying a little to avoid that, and didn't review my respose as closely as I ought to have done.  I meant to say, "it's surprising how quickly miscalculation and mischance and mistake will combine to create Misfortune.

I wish you all joy of leaning how to manage your miscalculations and mischances without making too many mistakes.  <;-)

.....Michael

[Baayar_Titiz]

Lasjlo & Gramps,

Thanks for your suggestions and feedback. I will go with the toggles. Buying Brummel hooks from Amazon adds enormous shipping costs and import taxes.

For the tiller which I've mistakenly fabricated 87 cm instead of 127 cm, I have made another one:

Here is the design  of the new tiller:

Here is the lamination using two strips of mahogany and two strips of ayous:

 

Here is the comparison  of old and new tillers:

For the sail rigging, now I will try to make a sketch and a material list to make sure that I buy the correct hardware and do not forget anything critical. I will share it here for your review.

Powderpark

 

 

 

[Michael_Scheibeck]

I was about to suggest using toggles instead of the Brummel hooks if cost is a consideration, but Laszlo beat me to it...and provided photos as well!  <;-)

Anyway, "Amen!" to the toggles idea.  Sometimes, Low Tech is Go Tech, and looks "salty" as well.

.....Michael

[Laszlo_Morocz]

Powderpark,

That looks like really nice work. I haven't had any problems with the halyard getting tangled with the lazy jacks either with my Peapod or the Faering Cruiser that was rigged the same way. The angles are too different for them to get tangled in use.

Is that price for the Brummel clips because of the shipping? Amazon sells the clips in sets of 10 for $30. But a much cheaper option is using toggles. The toggles themselves are just hardwood dowels. You can tie the toggles to one line with the knot of yiour choice and make loops in the other line with a bowline knot. To join the lines just slip the toggle into the loop. To disconnect, slip it out. Here's a Youtube video demonstrating the cheapest and easiest way to do it.

If you want to be more nautical about it, use eye splices instead of knots. The pictures show how this works. Put the loop on one line and the toggle on the other. Keep the ends of the toggles rounded, maybe even covered with some padding so they won't chafe the sails. The pictures are from The Self-Made Sailor and they sell a DVD telling you how to do this if the pictures aren't enough for you.

As long as there's tension on the line the toggle will never pull out. If you make the knot small enough so that it just fits over the toggle, then the toggle will stay put even if there's no tension.

Hope this helps,

Laszlo

[Baayar_Titiz]

Greetings,

I've modified the top of the mast and made a slot using a chisel then mounted a locally manufactured pulley using a lathe to raise the yard easily with less friction. I also fabricated two 'cheek plates' using readily available pulleys and laser-cut & bent 2.5 mm thick stainless steel sheet.

 

So far the only problem I see is the potential entanglement between halyard and lazy-jack lines. I can change the placement of the cheek plates by mounting them to a lower point to prevent this possibility.

To complete the rigging as Lasjlo's suggestions, I have to purchase Brummel clips which are quite hard to find locally or very expensive to import.

As I counted from the photos, I need 4 of them for lazy jacks, 2 for parrels, and maybe more for other connectors. Is there an alternative for these clips? Maybe I can buy some of them if they will provide practicality & speed but if I buy around 10, it will cost roughly $150 locally.

Can any workarounds be found for Brummel clips?

Powderpark

 

 

 

[Baayar_Titiz]

Hi Bubblehead,,

Thanks for your reply, you are correct my sailing experience is very limited to a sailing canoe (Sailing RowCruiser) and capsizing is not very likely with this craft. We had no waves but quite strong winds with gusts that day and we made several mistakes. Fortunately, the sea temperature was high to swim and we managed to pull the boat to the shore.

As we arrived, a reporter approached, began recording us with his smartphone, and asked what happened. We told him that we had no problems since we safely returned to the shore after a capsize. We emptied the water in the boat and returned to our launch spot by oars. He asked other things but we did not provide much information so he wrote whatever seemed logical to him, declaring us as fishermen, with a leaked boat rescued by a coast guard, etc., and added other footage from another incident, where an ambulance appeared. Below is his work (in the Turkish language)

https://www.instagram.com/p/DBqMhXMoaGS/

All the best,

Powderpark

 

 

[Jeff_Richards]

   I'm adding this suggestion with the best possible intent...

It sounds like you might be quite new to sailing.  Finding a friendly someone local that could spend some time in your boat with you, or really in any other boat, might be of great benefit.  A knowledgable person could also provide some hands-on suggestions with your rigging questions. Any sailing club member would likely volunteer.  And even in the absence of in-person assistance, you can look at some how-to books or You Tube videos.  And of course we're always here ready to answer questions in the forum.

I carry a manual pump in my NE Dory to assist with de-watering. After a test-capsize near the dock when the boat was new I decided both a pump and a bailer were a good idea. I've never capsized accidentally, but have shipped a few gallons of water over the side several times. 

[Laszlo_Morocz]

Powderpark,

My tiller has a folding extension. However, even with the balanced lug sail rig I'll be replacing it with a push-pull tiller. My other sailboat has one of those and I find it much more comfortable for sailing. When I'm rowing with my wife as coxswain she also keeps getting hung up on dodging the tiller so it'll work better for her, too.

I'm shorter than you are but have no problem rowing. I just put my bare feet on the floorboards and that's enough traction for me. Small Boats magazine has a nice article about options for adding rowing braces if you need more support.

I think you mean yard, not halyard. The yard is the spar near the top of the mast that the head (top)of the sail attaches to. The halyard is the line that is used to haul the yard up to the top of the mast (haul yard = halyard).

You can definitely put a sheave (pulley wheel) into the top of the mast to reduce the friction. That would require you to enlarge the hole into a rectangle and drill through it to put in an axle for the sheave. You'll also need some way to secure the axle. Cotter pins are one good way.

An alternative I've used on some boats I've built is to just lash a block (pulley) to the top of the mast and run the halyard through that. The block can be lashed to the mast through the existing hole for the halyard. This allows a high quality low friction block of the correct size for your halyard.

When reefing, the yard comes down and the boom stays where it normally is for exactly the reason that you mention - stability. I've marked my halyard so I can quickly lower the yard to the correct reefing position. The yard is kept in place with a parrel which can be as simple as the halyard passing through the yard, going around the mast and being tied to the front of the yard at the sail's throat or something like a line with wooden beads on it to reduce the friction.

When lowering the yard, either for reefing or just dropping the sail, keeping the boom under control and in the correct position is done with lazyjacks.

I recently posted a 4-part series here on how I modified the standard rigging on my Lighthouse Tender Peapod. It explains how to add parrels, lazyjacks, a 2:1 purchase on the downhaul with a clam cleat, how to use all that to rig and reef the sail and how to furl and stow the sail for rowing. As a bonus it has a tip for stowing the oars while sailing. There are many good articles for rigging balanced lug sails and it'd be a good idea to look at them, too. However, my posts are specific to the CLC Lighthouse Tender Peapod with the balanced lug rig and have been tested out on the water so they're guaranteed to work with your boat. The series is:

Illustrated Guide to Better Boating through Lazyjacks and Parrels Part 1 of 4

Illustrated Guide to Better Boating through Lazyjacks and Parrels Part 2 of 4

Illustrated Guide to Better Boating through Lazyjacks and Parrels Part 3 of 4

Illustrated Guide to Better Boating through Lazyjacks and Parrels Part 4 of 4

Good luck,

Laszlo

[Robert_Whitehurst]

 

   At 184 cm, you are just a bit shorter than me, and I row my skerry from the middle seat fine even though I also can't reach the stern seat as a brace.  However, I installed the SeaDek adhesive padding which gives a lot of grip for your feet.  I don't know about the peapod, but my skerry kit came with wood cleats to be installed on the bottom as foot braces, which I opted to not use.  I'd expect you could use some leftover bits of wood if you wanted to make foot cleats and install them after the fact.  Mask the area around where you want to put them and sand all the paint/varnish off those spots, glue on the cleats and then fillet around them before refinishing the spots.

As for hoisting the sail, the skerry has the same basic design, a hole thru the top of the mast.  I took a fair bit of time sanding the hole smooth and putting a gentle taper on the edges before coating w/ several coats of epoxy and varnish, sanding each coat lightly and got a pretty smooth finish.  That, with smooth finish double braid line for a halyard makes hoisting pretty easy.  Or you can use what's called a "cheek block" screwed to the forward side of the mast to make it even smoother. 

 

[Baayar_Titiz]

Hi Laszlo,

Thanks a lot for your quick reply & clarifications.

I’m going to review and follow the links you have supplied.

All the best,

Powderpark

 

[Baayar_Titiz]

Michael, 

Thank you very much for your encouraging & kind remarks.

Journalism in my country is unfortunately not about providing correct and objective information to the public but trying to sell the most provocative story so that the audience will be amazed & entertained and more importantly become wrongly biased on a given subject most of the time.

Sailing is a leisure class hobby here and trying to build & sail a dinghy of this size is a lunatic effort at best. So What only acceptable means of being at sea is fishing. That's what the reporter concluded about us.

Anyway, being part of this adventure makes us proud. We are still full of joy and it is a pleasant feeling to how others like you share our enthusiasm and encourage us is a wonderful feeling.

All the best,

Powderpark

 

 

 

 

.

[system]

Well, there are journalists, and then there are writers of fiction posing as journalists looking for a story to make up.  Sometimes the best thing to do - with both sort, actually - is to tell them to mind their own business so you can get on with yours.  Glad you aren't letting any embarasement spoil your journey down the learning curve.

My last capsize was something I wouldn't want to see on Instagram, for sure.  Mishandled a gybe (bring the stern across the wind so that the sail is brought over to the other side - sort of the opposite of tacking) in a good bit of wind, and I didn't get ducked down under the boom (I call it a "lower yard" on a balanced lug sail) before the wind caught it the other way, pressing it against my shoulder and sort of pinning me to what suddenly became the wrong side of the boat.  (This was in a lug rigged Passagemaker Dinghy.)

Over she went, spitting me out into the drink with my head underwater long enough to ingest and aspirate a good bit of water.  Came up sputtering and coughing (wearing my life jacket, of course), called myself a damnfool landlubber, and proceded to swim around the boat to bring her upright by pressing down on the daggerboard as soon as I stopped coughing enough to breath halfway regular like.  The Passagemaker floats very high on her side thanks to the ample watertight compartments in the ends.

Having learned the hard way from previous capsize experience to keep all gear secured inside the boat at all times, I didn't need to spend any time rounding up loose stuff, so I was preparing to swim in over the rail when....

Well, I don't know what happened, but I apparently passed out, because the next thing I knew the boat was drifting downwind from me at a fair clip, and, being half full of water, soon capsized again.  (Discovered later that I was having some serious heart trouble at the time and didn't know it.)

I figured there was no point in wearing myself out trying to chase the boat, as we were fairly close to shore and drifting in that direction, so I started gently sidestroking along, figuring to catch up to the boat in the shallows where I could put things right and make my way back to the launch ramp well before dark.

That became unnecessary when an alert, nimble, intellegent young man with a pontoon boat came along to get me out of the drink, help me get the boat upright with the sail down (should have done that right at the first - won't make that mistake again!) and the daggerboard drawn out so we could tow her back to the dock where I'd launched.  By that time I was feeling pretty tired, so I bailed the boat out from the dock, got her back on the trailer, and was home before dark.

My point here is that we all make mistakes.  Heck, I've been sailing for four decades now, and I still make mistakes!  It's part of the learning process.  The trick is to try to avoid making the mistakes all at once trying to get down your learning curve too quickly.  Out on the water, it's surprising how quickly miscalculation and mischance and miscalculation will combine to create Misfortune.

And, hopefully, most of your mistakes will not be observed by pseudo journalists trying to make up a story for Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, or other such places where people you don't know can have a laugh at your expense.  <;-)

.....Michael

[Baayar_Titiz]

Hi again,

My last forum posting disappeared during the migration process from the old forum. nevertheless, I’m posting other questions related to the subject.

I have laminated another tiller (increased the length from 87 cm to 127 cm) and handed an extension:

The aluminum extension freely rotates with a simple mechanism like this:

Now, the only remaining problem with the rudder is the implementation of a pull-up/down system. I have created some sketches for the control lines but curious to know if any of you found a more elegant solution to freely control the rudder while beaching.

This one requires adding three blocks which is not very practical.

This one needs only one block but I’m not sure how effortless may it be to pull the strings to bring the rudder blade down position.

Is there anybody with a better idea to control a Peapod’s rudder?

[Laszlo_Morocz]

I find the Peapod stable enough that I can reach out over the stern to loosen the handle, push the rudder blade up or down and then tighten the handle again. When I launch from a trailer I launch with the rudder up and lower it once I’m in deep water and ready to sail. All this to say that I haven’t felt the need to add lines and blocks to my rudder. You may want to consider trying it as designed before proceeding. You could save yourself a bunch of time and effort if it turns out that it works for you.

Laszlo

[Baayar_Titiz]

Hi Laszlo,

Thanks for the feedback. Since I value simplicity and want to keep unnecessary items away from the sailboat I will forget about this mechanism.

All the best,

Powderpark

[Michael_Scheibeck]

I will, once again, agree heartily with Laszlo on this one. I thought we might want to do something with arranging up and down lines with the rudder (similar to what sailing canoe folks do) for our Passagemaker Dinghy, just because I don’t like having to lean over the back and maybe get my sleeve wet. Turned out that it wasn’t any real trouble, so she’s still sailing without the complications. Push it down, tighten it up a bit, and sail on. If it gets pushed up in a close encounter with the bottom, repeat as needed.

Now, the Passagemaker has a broad transom stern, unlike your Peapod, but if Laszlo says it’s stable enough to be able to reach over like that, I’m sure he knows whereof he speaks. Yes, she has pointy ends, but she’s way more substantial than any sailing canoe.

If your arms are short, like mine, it may help you to put the tiller over to the side opposite where the adjustment nut is on the rudder so you can get it as close to you as possible and keep from having to reach over the tiller. Like every other aspect of seamanship, you should practice the maneuver until you can do it quickly without thinking about it.

KISS: Keep It Simple, Sailor!

…Michael

[Baayar_Titiz]

Greetings,

As the water temperature is high enough, we started sailing, and here are my initial observations about the CLC Lighthouse Peapod Tender. Please note that I’m not an experienced sailor, so all below are my subjective opinions and may not be true. Peapod is a wonderful little boat, and you will love it as we do if you decide to build one.

I have uploaded a short video clip showing one of the recent tests in moderate wind (Beaufort 3 - 4) without reefing the sail.

Peapod sailing

Sorry for the quality of the automatic translation. The original was better in Turkish.

• I connected the oars to another rope with a loop at the end of the gunwale with a thin rope that I passed through the small ring under the plastic oarlocks, using a carabiner. In case of a capsize, there is no possibility of them falling off the boat.

• I’ve re-attached the original yoke, but it may need to be extended, especially if you have to sit in the midship.

• Peapod’s boom and yard (probably the mainsail mast as well) are indeed thicker than necessary. According to my calculations in the CAD program, by thinning them approximately ~2 mm on all faces, the weight can be reduced by around %17.8 If this is done, it does not affect their strength, and it also becomes easier to lower and raise the yard.

• It is comfortable to sit on the seat at the stern, but the bow of the boat lifts a lot, and it is also comfortable to sit in the bilge and rest your feet on the gunwales. As long as you do not change direction, you have good control of the boat.

• After rowing from the shore, it is difficult to come to the bow to hoist the sail. A solution is needed to raise the yard from the aft of the boat. It would be easier to prevent the sail from scattering when lowering the sail. This system will be more practical when it is necessary to crawl without disturbing the balance.

• The boom moves away excessively from the mast; the diameter and connection of the bead ring should be reduced. Also, this ring gets caught in the cleat horns. Some of them can be removed. The two and three-pulley system where the stern tackle passes works well. But a cleat lock should be placed again near the aft. It is difficult to intervene because it is far away.

• The reefing system is not bad; it is quite easy to look at the front of the boat between the boom and the tiller. It may be possible to improve the sail shape a little more.

• Switching from sail to oar is problem-free. When setting up the sail, since the mainsail mast is square, there is a possibility of incorrect installation; it would be good if the port and starboard (or fore/aft) directions are marked. The good thing about canceling the lazyjack system is that the landing from the parking position to the sea has become faster; these ropes were getting tangled during the installation. The bad thing is that when we lower the trip and collect the sail, the sail flies into the cockpit. Although moving the halyard control to the stern does not completely solve the problem, it will improve it.

• All the ropes inside the boat are still too long; they should be brought to their final length. The rudder and centerboard also work without any problems. The boat responds very quickly to rudder movements. Its balance is generally good. I was not affected much by the big boats passing by me, making waves. However, the boom hits the mast; this needs to be solved. The fork part of the rudder tiller is thin; the tiller can be rebuilt.

• A ribbon is needed at the end of the yard to watch the wind direction in mind at all times.

• The boat can be built 5% larger for my size. Length would increase from 410 cm to 430.5 cm, its width from 132 cm to 138.6 cm, and weight from 45 kg to 52 kg. I could fit in more comfortably.

• The dolly wheels could be a little bigger. You should try it with 20" bicycle wheels, maybe it would be easier to get it to shore. When getting to shore, the keel line from the head scraped the ground. You should think of a solution for that part as well. Getting into/out of the water from the parking position on the shore is difficult with one person. The dolly does not sink in the water. Its body should be metal, not wooden. This design is also not very easy when centering the boat on the dolly.

• A footrest while rowing is needed; it would be better if there were a step board.

[Michael_Scheibeck]

Good to see that you getting out and about on the water again! I wish you all joy of your continued adventures with your Peapod. <;-)

…Michael/Gramps