When we were planning our long passage to the Azores and Europe, I knew that weather would be one of the most critical parts of the trip. In preparation, I signed up for a 4-day marine weather class.
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I watched a webinar that featured a solution to chafing and creaking reefing lines by using a hook that grabs the clew of the sail and holds it without tension on the reefing line. Now how to get that on Gemeaux?
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Converting to lithium batteries nearly tripled our available power. I just didn’t realize the installation process would be so painful.
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We consume lots and lots of soda water. Buying and storing soda water in cans/plastic bottles, and even refilling a SodaStream machine, wasn’t working for us. We needed to up our game so I learned how to build our own carbonator.
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A couple of years ago I outlined some issues on our boat’s mainsail that caused some headaches for us. This post is an update to that and how we solved the issues.
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One complaint we have with the Helia is the mainsail. The combination of the square top and the roach provide extra sail area for the same mast height but complicates the hoisting of the sail.
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A catamaran, unlike a monohull, can overturn and not return right side up, prompting manufacturers to include escape hatches to exit an upside down boat. All this is well and good until the lens detaches from the frame…
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The toilet is an interesting piece of engineering on a boat. It generally works well unless something other than toilet paper and poop goes in…
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While I’ve owned a number of boats in the last 50 years, this boat has lots of new things to learn and challenges to solve. Perhaps things I’ve learned could help others, perhaps others could help me learn more.
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So Allen wants his own blog. If you’re one of our readers who wants to prevent a failing emergency hatch or curious about what a fo’c’sle is, welcome!
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We arrived in mainland Europe in August 2022 and covered 1200 miles across the Mediterranean. We left Gémeaux in Sicily for the winter and are now back onboard exploring Croatia and Greece for the spring and summer of 2023.
Allen's Cay in The Bahamas