Preview: Outfitting a Small Cruiser for Voyaging, Part 3 – Below Deck

27 Responses So Far to “Outfitting a Small Cruiser for Voyaging, Part 3 – Below Deck”

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  GEORGE Ireland says:

  Where do you find a woman like Karen? What a lovely couple you are. And after a voice like that it seems as if you’re still like each other, that itself is amazing. I was the former captain of the SV America I have really enjoyed the cleverness of both of you and Leif. Many thanks to OCH and the narrator.
  .,

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  steve schwartz says:

  Dream boat and dream voyage.

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  Gus Mletzko says:

  All three videos – Brilliant. So many good ideas. I think you may have sold me on a Dana 24.
  Thanks for sharing.
  Gus

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  Paul Schonbrun DO says:

  Very motivating. I have a 1976 Chris Craft Caribbean 35 Ketch. I plan to copy and utilize many of your ideas all over my boat from the bowsprit snatchblock to your aft rode/chain locker. I’m just getting started but what a great set of videos with SO many ingenious ideas. Thank you!

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  John Sutherland says:

  Nicely done video! When I get to the point of fitting out my Dana for at least extensive coastal cruising it’s nice to have a reference for Leif, such talented shipwright. I try to go to Port Townsend once a year to visit friends and the sailing atmosphere. I’ve planned on fitting my Dana out there for several years so I’ll be sure to contact him next time I’m there and maybe get started sooner! I’d love to see this Dana in person sometime.

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  Barry Sherwood says:

  I like your use of lashings on your boat. can you provide a resource for how to make successful lashings.

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  Sean Hogben says:

  You know, I’ve been producing every kind of media professionally for 43 years and consuming it also. These unaffected, informative and sharply focused videos are both useful and, in the case of the third episode, absolutely heart-warming. You guys have hit such a rich vein of material and handle it so adeptly you deserve an award. Great work with straightforward story telling.

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    Steve Stone says:

    Thanks Sean. As you can tell, we love creating these videos, especially the recent ones from down under.

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  Terry Williams says:

  I am in the process of refitting the interior of my Rival 34 and your very informative video has been a great help.many thanks

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  Terence Mason says:

  Hi Jim & Karen, just reviewing your videos and wondered how you secure the bilge board below the companionway for knock down insurance. Great ideas on finding unused space, there is lots of it on our boat. As it happens, I am in the process of installing a M802 and locating the radio unit is really difficult; good idea on the drop down box – you got me thinking.

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  Marco Failla says:

  Delicious people make great things, or… great things make people delicious…
  Any way, I enjoyed very much your ideas and experience
  Thanks a lot. :-)

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  Tom Roderick says:

  Very informative and “simple” innovative solutions providing for safe voyages. A couple of experienced sailors and nice people whom I’d love to meet some day.

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  gene Park says:

  Brilliant! I am in the process of buying back my 32′ LOA cutter rigged sloop that I had in Sausalito nearly 50 years ago.
  A lot of good information offered in this video. Though I shan’t be doing any transoceanic sailing, I will be coasting the Northwest, Puget Sound etc, with any luck.

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  C Douglas Walling says:

  Thank You , Karen , Jim , Leif and OCH for the time you all took to film these videos, and share your ideas with all of us . I felt fortunate to meet Jim in person recently, and hope to meet Karen , too, but meeting Leif helping Jim with shifting tasks recently, made me a bit tongue tied and astonished to be among such celebrities.

  Getting a boat ready for an extended cruise is an enormous undertaking , few boat owners know , until they try to do it. Even the very little things can make a heap of difference when out sailing on the high seas .

  I am looking forward to many more videos from OCH , so glad you are there for all of us .

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  scott christianson says:

  I’m studying up as I’ve just gotten a Montgomery 17 and really need space saving cool ideas. What fun to come up with solutions. Lashing, that’s where it’s at! I may have to look up Leif for some good ideas. I saw his boat when she was about 3/4 finished, which was quite awhile ago. Gets you thinking, thanks for putting it out there. Scott

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  bart van nimmen says:

  Another terrific video for planning to incorporate safety issues. I appreciate that you give so many credit to your shipwright Leif Knutson. Indeed the ingenuity and creativity of such an excellent shipwright as well as his craftmanship are essential to make all these little features work properly. Many of these ideas are makeable and doable for the laymen too but creating them requires talent. Thanks again OCH for making this wonderful and very usefull set of videos and Karen and Jim for sharing your ideas. It may be worthwile talking with Leif directly to extend on other projects he has worked out. Keep up the wonderful work !

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    Steve Stone says:

    Thanks Bart. And to think this whole series was born from a chance meeting as we passed in the hallway of M/V Lotus in Port Townsend. We were introduced by Christian Gruye and all I recall hearing was “New Zealand in a 24-foot boat”. Karen and Jim are every bit as wonderful in person. We are quite lucky, and honored.

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  Ellen Massey Leonard says:

  Beautiful details! I particularly liked the sewn lee-cloths: most are affixed with screws and big washers but when the screw holes get stripped, people fall out!

  I have to confess to being rather surprised with the temperatures in the tropics Karen cited–I don’t think we saw more than 90 degrees in the cabin except on our Atlantic crossing when we were right beneath the sun’s GP (geographical position) around noon for about a week. I hope the world hasn’t warmed that much in the five years since I was in the South Pacific! Do you think it might have to do with hull color? I’d imagine that a boat of Sockdolager’s lovely dark green color would heat up faster than a white one?

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    karenlsullivan says:

    Hi Ellen, apologies for the tardy reply. Before we left the Northwest, Jim insulated portions of the hull by gluing pieces of those thin blue foam camping pads in areas such as lockers and around the V-berth. It worked great,and we found the boat to be cooler than most because of that and also her small interior volume and large hatches, in comparison to many other boats. It also works great in cold climates because it cuts down on condensation. We had wondered if being dark green, the hull would be hot, but it wasn’t noticeable on the inside.

    To answer your other question, the temps in mid-Pacific were so hot, often in the high nineties, because we were becalmed so much in a vastly bloated and extremely humid Intertropical Convergence Zone. 2012 seemed to be an anomalous crossing year.

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  Richard Dykiel says:

  I would appreciate a video series on lashing techniques. Maybe it’s too basic for people with more experience than I, but I find that having just books to guide you through is not the same as the kinsethetic experience that you might have seeing and listening to a real expert. Come on Karen and Jim, time to shine on the camera :)

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    Steve Stone says:

    Thanks Richard. Lashing is on our list to shoot.

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      Kit Laughlin says:

      I would be very interested in that video, too, Steve.

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  karenlsullivan says:

  Thanks, everyone. We’re happy whenever ideas get generated, used and shared. With the help of our friend and shipwright Leif Knutson, Sockdolager became an amazingly comfortable little floating home. After 10,000 miles there’s very little we would have changed.

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  Paul Packbier says:

  Amazing, and thank you for sharing these ingenuities!

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  Peter Brackenbury says:

  I have no experience in doing what Karen and Jim did. However, I like think about clever storage and functional space ideas for fun. This video shows that I am not nearly as clever as I thought I was, but also that simple and elegant is so much harder than it looks. All of these ideas have a minimum of fancy fittings and moveable parts and rely on features that are not easily broken and yet are easily fixed, provided you have some skills. What a treat to see these functional ideas in video form. I don’t imagine I will ever do a long Ocean voyage, but I still learned a lot for future weekend trips on a big lake.

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  David Dickson says:

  Great video, thanks for sharing such ingenious ideas from some very creative people.

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  John Sims says:

  Once again, a few minutes online & I’m more educated on boat building and offshore preparation than I could’ve ever achieved elsewhere. Nice folks. Great ideas. Thanks, OCH!