|
LOA: | 29' 6" | |
| LWL: | 23' | ||
| Beam: | 8' 6" | ||
| Draft: | 3' 4" | ||
| Disp @ DWL: | 7,800# | ||
| Cruising Disp: | 9,000# | ||
| Sail Area: | 406 sq ft | ||
| Ballast: | 2,000# | ||
| Aux Power: | 10hp | ||
| Designer: | Tom Colvin | ||
| Builder: | Bruce Petterson | ||
| In the slings at | Const Material: | 10ga Mild Steel | Larry working on |
| Cracker Boy | Launched: | 1981 | Beet's alignment |
Ginger is a 15% enlargement of the Tom Colvin design Julia. She is in Colvin's Medium displacement ocean sailing designs series, of which Saugeen Witch is probably the most widely known. The vessels in the series are characterized by single-chine vee-bottomed construction, a deep forefoot and a straight full keel with moderate drag (slope from bow to stern).
She is quite small for a steel boat, and so is immensely strong. Bruce built her carefully and with great attention to structural detail, resulting in a boat that also might work well as a bomb shelter. Julia was designed as a ketch, but Tom offered an optional sailplan that adapted his South China Junk rig to the hull and it was from this plan that Bruce decided to build.
The rig is perhaps best described as a Chinese lug rigged cat and in most respects she sails rather like a catboat. With no headsail to tack she can be brought through the wind just by putting the helm down. Unlike a catboat, the 'balance' area forward of the mast allows her to gybe without drama. She does not develop lee helm when reefed as some catboats do because the center of effort of her lug sail moves very little fore-and-aft in the process.
The sheeting system has gone through many iterations all of which worked to some degree. Initially we used double sheets (a separate set of sheets for each side of the sail) because a single sheeting system complicates the addition of a bimini (cockpit shade). This prototype system was my own design and employed euphroes (wooden blocks with holes that act kind of like a pulley system) that were also of my own design. I found this system difficult to reef (it added an extra step) so I then implemented a continuous sheet version of my design that eliminated the euphroes. This system worked quite well, but resulted in a great mess of line on deck. At his direction I experimented with Tom Colvin's preferred sheeting system (similar to what is used on some South China Ocean-going Junks), with euphroes and dumbell blocks of his design (and build I might add). Finally, I spent some time messing with single sheeting systems (we used the bimini more at anchor than under sail) and she is currently rigged with a single continuous sheet, which makes reefing as simple and fast as it gets and the sail shape is great.
There are other control lines for the sail, some that may be considered optional, some not. There is a running yard parrel (Colvin calls it a snotter) that pulls the yard tight to the mast, running lazy-jacks (which allow reefing UP two panels if needed), a kicking strap (pulls the bottom batten down and forward) and a running lower luff parrel (pulls the sail aft on the mast). We started with a bunch more(miles of line), but Tom talked me out of them and they haven't been missed.
Sailing to weather - Ginger steers herself to windward and if allowed to do so, she will tack through about 90 degrees (over the ground) at 2 - 2.5kts in smooth water with 10kts of breeze. The weight of her raked steel rudder creates this self-steering effect, and it works to varying degrees in all wind and sea conditions we have experienced thus far. Very light input from the helmsman to keep her head down a bit results in significantly greater speed (4.5kts close-hauled with 15kt breeze and smooth water), but a heavy hand results in dramatic leeway (20 degrees or more). The wind vane does a VERY good job providing this subtle input and though I still like to practice my helmsmanship, if we have to get somewhere to windward fast, the vane does the trick. The bottom line is that in smooth water or a light chop with wind 10+ knots she will tack through 90 - 110 degrees. Working our way down the Bahamas against the prevailing winds we usually could count on making good 2.5kts (20 - 25nm) during a day's work.
Bashing to weather - in rough conditions with winds 20kts and above Ginger is slowed rather badly by waves if hauled too close to the wind. In short steep seas she tacks through about 110-140 degrees and can fail to tack if she is moving at less than 3kts. The important thing appears to be maintaining a heading that keeps her speed up.
On headings 70 to 180 degrees from the wind she is much less sensitive to sheet/tiller handling and will make half windspeed (up to about 5.7kts boatspeed) with very little leeway regardless of how she is handled. The rig really shines on these points of sail. Downwind she is faster than many much larger boats. When the wind comes up over 18kts she will surf with a following sea and we have topped 9 knots in such conditions.
Reefing is so easy that we tend to carry all the sail she can handle in order to keep her powered-up in rough conditions. Depending on the point of sail she can carry full sail in 18-25kts of wind. We have handled her in several squall situations where we would knock off one panel at a time as the wind rose by the minute. Shaking out a reef is just as quick and easy.
Ginger is equipped with Ratcliffe trim-tab self-steering gear. The trim-tab gear is 'old' technology (modern systems are all servo-pendulum type and are much more powerful), but it steers her reliably in most conditions. The system is simple, adjustable and rugged - much like the rest of the boat. When first installed there was too much friction in the system, but it quickly wore in and now will steer her in very light air. The luxury of self-steering cannot be overstated...
We designed and built a bowsprit/anchor roller which allows us to fly a 403 square foot asymmetrical spinnaker from Airforce Sails. This sail keeps at bay the temptation to run the engine in most light air situations (windspeeds 6kts and below) and keeps us moving well in winds up to about 12 knots. If the winds are gusty, or steady and more than 15 knots, Ginger becomes difficult to handle -- heeling down until her lee deck is awash and developing very strong weather helm, a fast but white-knuckle ride.
Ginger works so well with the spinnaker that we experimented with a borrowed genoa and found it satisfactory. A small (100 - 130 square foot) jib that can be set "flying" (not hanked to a headstay) when conditions are right would be a useful item. Such a sail would likely improve speed to weather when we are faced with windward work in moderate winds and a chop. Running backstays would probably help to stabilize the mast and keep a taut luff when flying a headsail.
Ginger is fitted with a massive single-cylinder diesel. It is a model G10, manufactured by Sabb of Norway. We have an ambivalent relationship with Beet the Sabb (it is painted about that color). In Beet's favor, it is very solidly built, easy to maintain, uses relatively little fuel, requires no electricity to start or run, and drives Ginger at 6+ Knots with huge bow and stern waves. On the con side, it dominates the aft third of the boat, weighs 485 pounds (half of which is flywheel), requires diesel fuel inside our living area, shakes the whole boat and makes conversation below impossible when it is running. Initially Kim had to be angry to start it (don't ask) but she eventually developed her technique and it wasn't a problem anymore.
Before we got her out of Cracker Boy Boatworks I had 16 gallon keel tanks put in below the engine. In our haste to get Ginger in the water for the first time I didn't bother plumbing the tanks and just hooked up a 2.5 gallon Honda outboard fuel tank. It turned out that we ran the engine so little and Beet uses so little fuel we never needed any more fuel tankage. We kept one 6 gallon jerry can of diesel in the cockpit footwell for reserve. Over 10 months of cruising in Florida and the Bahamas we used less than 8 gallons of diesel.
I have fantasies of removing Beet, fairing the prop aperture and moving the waterline a full inch closer to what I believe Tom Colvin intended. I have it from two independent and reliable sources (Tom and James Baldwin who performed similar surgery on his Atom during his first circumnavigation) that we could expect a boost of about 3/4kt with the apeture closed and faired in. Auxiliary power would then be via a small (50 - 60#) outboard on a bracket alongside or simply by sculling oar over the stern.
Ginger sculls quite well with her 15' hickory yuloh (Chinese sculling oar), in a flat calm I can drive her easily at 1.5kts (though I've never done more than an hour or two) and if I push hard I can get her up over 2kts. Mostly it is good for marina/anchorage maneuvers that require slow speeds and fine control. Any time that a little added power is required - but not for long enough to justify running the engine - the yuloh comes to the rescue (bridges, shooting windward gaps in reefs or jetties, etc.).
A dividend of the trim-tab self-steering gear is that the tab can be set to counter Beet's torque-walk allowing Ginger to track perfectly straight under power. Without the assistance of the trim-tab she pulls doggedly to port.
She is small for a 30' boat, at least by walk-around/lounge-about standards. At 5' 2", Kimberly has standing headroom, I do not. She is bright and well ventilated below. The tip-in lexan Wiely-type portlights remain open in all but wind-driven deluge conditions. There are two 3" Dorade ventilators forward that move a great deal of air and when the weather is nice the forward hatch scoops even more below. There are no major bulkheads to disrupt air circulation. There are handholds everywhere.
Her storage capacity is truly prodigious (when you think the boat is full, just shake and some more will fit somewhere). We could easily load her until her gunwales were awash and not impinge on the modest living space in the least. Forward there is a large rode/chain locker (porta-pottie over), followed by a large convertible settee & table/double-berth, the galley and icebox/navdesk are amidships (port and stbd. respectively), and the engine and pilot berths are aft.
The galley stove is a Force 10 diesel/kerosene model that requires pressurizing and priming before use. Initially this was daunting, especially with the sophisticated/expensive/fragile bicycle frame pump I bought expressly for the purpose. For the first week my assistance was required to bring the stove to pressure (much to the cook's chagrin). Our friend Larry Riopelle brought us a $6 pump from K-mart, which has resolved this issue completely. The stove is still finicky about drafts when priming, but otherwise I think we are all reasonably reconciled.
Water is always an issue for long term cruising and tankage is one of Ginger's weaker points. She is fitted with two 15.5 gallon flexible Nauta tanks. These tanks were the only source of bilge-water Ginger suffered the whole time we cruised. The fittings are leaky and though I would occasionally find and fix one leak, others would appear. We ended up using the less leaky of the two tanks and four 3 gallon jerrycans to store the water we made with our PUR Powersurvivor 40E watermaker. The rest of the plumbing is simple and trouble-free.
The icebox is HUGE and is integral with the chart table amidships on the starbord side. In addition to it's great internal volume it is super-insulated so it consumes a great deal of space. Ice was a pain to get so, being vegetarian, the motivation for maintaining the cold in the box was low. We learned what keeps without refrigeration and kept crackers and digestive biscuits in the box. For future long-term cruising I would remove the icebox with Beet.
We sleep forward even when underway, the pilot berths are usually in use as storage or a staging area for items needing to be kept at hand. Despite several experiences with rough conditions on the night watch, we have never had difficulties with the motion or concerns about being dumped onto the cabin sole. Perhaps someday we will be out in conditions that require lee-cloths or wedging into a pilot berth; I hope not.
Ginger does not require electricity for any aspect of her operation, but we have chosen to indulge in certain luxuries that electricity affords. With the exception of the wiring to the masthead (navigation lights and VHF antenna) I did all of the wiring from scratch. Electronics include modest navigation and communication systems and a small boombox for music. We have only very basic electric cabin lighting. The LED masthead tricolor/navigation light from Deep Creek Designs is a wonderful piece of equipment, using less than 0.75amp-hours in an evening. The sun (via two or three Uni-Solar 32-watt flexible panels) supplies power which is stored in a bank of two 6 volt 180 amp/hour gelled electrolyte golf-cart batteries wired in series. We have both an electric starter and alternator for Beet, but have chosen not to install them; they appear unnecessary.
