Sail it, Stow it or Sell it?

Today's contestant is Marty Loken....

Here’s a game we like to call: Sail it, Stow it, or Sell it

We’ll list various boat-related gear. You tell us whether you would Sail it (meaning you like it or would keep it close at hand always) Stow it (maybe keep it somewhere around the boat or shop) or Sell it (don’t like or not needed).

Today’s contestant is boat builder and SCA Associate Editor, Marty Loken.

Yawl rig

“Sail it! The nicely balanced, fore-and-aft yawl rig is my absolute favorite, with so many reefing options. I couldn’t have been happier with the gunter yawl setup on the Wm. Garden EEL I restored several years ago, and this year I’m finishing work on a 14’-on-deck lapstrake gunter yawl modeled after a late-1800’s British beach boat—20’ overall including bowsprit and boomkin. Being able to hover in place with the mizzen; or sail under jib and mizzen alone in a blow…or barely touch the tiller with all three sails set, is pure joy.”

Danforth anchor

“Sell it NOW, or better yet, take the damned thing to Metal Recycling so it can be recast into something useful….like a better anchor.  We all grew up with Danforths and assumed they were the way to go, but they’re prone to breaking loose when your anchored boat spins around due to wind and/or tidal changes, and if your Danforth (or clone) snags a rock between flukes and shank, as they sometimes do, the poor thing can flip over on its back during a wind or tidal change and then proceed to drag across the bottom like a useless piece of junk—flukes up, doing nothing—as your boat drags onto a gnarly shore, after ricocheting off of other boats enroute. (That happened to me several years ago—the last time that I put faith in a Danforth.) And finally, on a more cheery note, we love our two current anchors—a Rocna and a Mantus—which never fail to hold.”

Belaying pins

“Sail ‘em! Maybe not on all sailboats, but we love them on traditional boats like the 1800’s-inspired gunter yawl we’re building.”

Tins of sardines

“Sail ‘em! They’re one of the finest sources of protein and Omega 3 oils; they’re obviously compact to stow aboard a small cruising boat, and of course there’s nothing yummier to enjoy with some sharp cheese, crackers and brew once at anchor in that quiet back bay.”

Diesel inboard

“Sail them…at least for certain boats. We love the little 30-hp Yanmar on our 1930 Alden-designed 30’ liveaboard motorsailer—fuel efficient, bulletproof and pretty simple as modern engines go—but on much smaller camp-cruising boats we prefer a 2.5-hp four-stroke outboard or solar-electric setup…if and when range isn’t a major issue. For small-boat cruising here in the Salish Sea, we mostly stick with four-stroke gas outboards, though, since some long passages are required and charging options for electric-outboard batteries are often too far apart.”

Paper charts

“Stow them, since you probably can’t sell them. If we were cruising into completely unknown waters with our larger liveaboard boat, I’d feel a bit more comfortable with paper charts as a backup, but at this stage of life most of our adventures are in pretty familiar waters, so we rely entirely on Navionics (iPad and iPhone), with compact, waterproof folding paper charts as a backup reference…in case we suffer an unexpected meltdown of smartphones and tablets. So, sure, we have room for some traditional rolled charts on our 30’ cruising boat, but there’s no way I’ll be lugging them when camp-cruising our 14’ gunter yawl.” •SCA•