What else ya gunna do?

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Hey guys, I’ve just finished editing this reel/video - which took surprisingly long to edit since I had to squeeze 21 days on the hard into a 1-minute video! 🤪🙈😅 Of course, this video only covers the surface; I’ll go into more detail when I’m uploading the long-format YouTube episode. 😅 As you can see, I’ve decided to repaint my whole boat since I didn’t like the old paint at all. It was grey, there were darker patches everywhere to cover up who knows what, and the YouTube logo that the previous owner painted on was something I just didn’t want on my boat since I personally like simple and clean lines. So now, Sirocco looks brand new and has her name neatly sitting on the bow and stern, and I added my home port of Berlin to the stern of my boat as well, which I’m very proud of (and just realized that I didn’t film the stern at all). 🙈🤪😂 The other jobs included not only the cleaning of the propeller or the new antifoul - I actually had to strip down the old antifoul completely back to the gel coat, to be able to check out a potential patch of delamination that my surveyor informed me about when he surveyed my boat. Unfortunately, the delamination was confirmed by a fiberglass and gel coat mechanic that I hired in Grenada. He actually found another big area of gel coat that was damaged on my keel - which probably happened when the previous owner hit the ground (and promised me that he had it fixed professionally but it didn’t look that way). The mechanic then fixed it and applied the brand new antifoul - so it was altogether way more expensive than the usual annual haul out (and took triple as long as planned) but it had to be done and I’m happy about the results! What do you think - doesn’t Sirocco look fabulous now? 😉🥰⛵️ Cheers guys, Kristina

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We got increasingly frustrated by our small petrol (gas) outboards that we use very infrequently on our dinghies and Chat 18 catamaran. Never quite knowing whether they would start, or how long they would run. Usually because the small jets would clog up, a problem aggravated by the ethanol fuel now used in the UK, USA and elsewhere. So earlier this year we bit the bullet and bought a used Torqeedo 1103 electric outboard. It was on ebay, from "one careful lady owner" - actually the advert said "only used on a fresh water trout farm" which we hoped was much the same thing. And we have been very pleased with it this summer, using it on Sagitta's tender, sometimes for long distances, yet never seeing the charge drop below 80% So we then tried using it on our Chat 18. And immediately discovered two problems, probably common to other small daysailing boats. First, the battery was much larger than the integral petrol fuel tank. So, when tilted up on the swingdown bracket, the Torqeedo hit the tillerbar. That meant we had to use the transom mount, which in turn meant the leg had to be angled back in use to clear the immersed rudder blade. Very inefficient and too close to the surface. And second, when tilted up and turned sideways the tiller control arm would detach - something that doesn't happen with a petrol outboard. So we had to remove it, and then reattach it whenever we wanted to motor. Fortunately Torqeedo has realised that many people have these problems and so supply reasonably priced, extra long cables, not just for the battery but also for the tiller arm. Accordingly we bought a 1.5m (5ft) battery cable and a 5m (16ft) tiller cable. This video shows the results of the first motor, one calm winter evening. I still have to re-route the cables through the back of the cockpit and more permanently mount the tiller arm. The deeper propellor is more efficient and there is no aeration when cornering or in waves. Top speed was very close to 5 knots, about hull speed on an 18ft boat. In reverse speed was about 3 knots. Although it's more awkward to lift the outboard leg without the battery in place it does now fit comfortably below the tillerbar when raised for sailing. So we're very happy so far! For once there is audio on this short video. But even if you turn the volume to high you won't hear the outboard - another bonus! More on the Chat 18 here https://sailingcatamarans.com/index.php/designs-2/2-catamarans-under-25ft/475-chat-18-daysailing-catamaran And Torqeedo here https://nestawayboats.com/