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May 2008 
Practical Sailor New Boat Test: Compact Weta Trimaran Screeches Past the Big Boys on Biscayne BayWhen it comes to the pure love of sailing, it’s hard to beat a small, light efficient boat whose sole mission is to harness the wind. Designed in New Zealand, built in China, imported to the U.S. by Nor’ Banks Sailing of Duck, N.C., the 14-foot-6-inch, 220-pound Weta 4.4 trimaran with 158 square feet of sail was conceived in New Zealand by father-and-son team Roger and Chris Kitchen, and designed with collaborative help from a handful of experienced sailors. The challenge was creating a cost-effective boat with the strength-to-weight ratio needed for performance sailing. The boat uses carbon fiber on the framework, and on the mast and sprit while the light, stiff hull structure, daggerboard and rudder are built using less costly E-glass and Divinycell foam. The boomless mainsail, made by windsurfer sailmaker Gaastra, incorporates five full tubular battens that control draft and allow the mainsheet to be attached to a well-reinforced clew rather than a conventional boom. The high-tech Gaastra sail package, like the Harken hardware and carbon sprit and mast are all standards. The success of this pocket-sized trimaran is due in part to its triple threat sailplan of main, jib, and easy-handling, furling screacher. The “screacher” can add a virtual turbo boost. This 60- square-foot gennaker deploys like any roller furler but is trimmed via a single sheet led through both port and starboard leads. The ride is both exhilarating and responsive. Saving the Man Overboard Although Practical Sailor contends that the best way to save a crew member is to do everything possible to keep them on board in the first place (lifelines, jacklines, harnesses, tethers, non-skid decks, grab rails) and to perfect MOB drills, there are times when a crew member will go over. New waves of electronic devices on the market are designed to alert the crew to a man in the water, and to locate the MOB. These devices include beacons, alarms, and trackers aimed at expediting alert and recovery. Some products signal that a person is no longer on the boat. Other devices broadcast a radio (RF) signal that can locate a man overboard with on-board direction finding (DF) equipment There’s even a new type of mini-406-Mhz EPIRBs called Personal Locator Beacons (PLBs) that can summon the U.S. Coast Guard via satellite. Add to these choices the recently introduced satellite messenger system that can pinpoint the position of its owner and the choices become more varied. Practical Sailor evaluates a handful of these devices including Mobilarm MOBi-lert 720i and the 7200 and 7600 alarms, and Raymarine LifeTag alarm; beacons Emerald Marine Products Alert2, and Marine Rescue Technologies Sea Marshall SARfinder 1003, which is classified as a Maritime Survivor Locating Device (MSLD); and two personal locator beacons, ACR Electronics ResQFix PLB and SPOT Satellite Messenger. All Mobialarm units can interface with National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA) 0183-compatible devices. Can Your Boat Make You Green? Practical Sailor tests products touted as environmentally friendly and compares the shades of green of some of the best performing products on the market. Previously, we have looked closely at power generating and power saving equipment such as solar and wind generators, and we will continue to test these in future articles. This article focuses on pollution, waste, and proactive measures that reduce the impact of the foul things that are sluiced, rinsed, or sanded off our boats, or pumped out of them. Products reviewed in this article include copper-free bottom paints: E-Paint’s zinc-based EP-2000, E-Paint EP-21, E-Paint ZO; Sea Hawk ablative Mission Bay CF and Mission Bay CSF; Pettit Alumacoat SR, and Vivid Free; and Interlux Pacifica. Water-based copper paints Pettit Hydrocoat, Flexdel Aquagard, and Interlux Fiberglass Bottomkote Aqua were also examined. Next up we look at biodegradable paint strippers including Back-to-Nature Ready Strip and Aqua Strip; Pettit Bio-Blast; Franmar Soy Strip; Bio-Blast; Dumond Chemicals Peel Away Smart Strip; EcoSolve; and CitriStrip. We compared the effectiveness and shades of green of Descalers including: Barnacle Buster from Trac Ecological; Rydlyme Marine from Apex Engineering; Star brite Zebra Mussel and Barnacle Remover; and MaryKate On & Off. Finally we looked at waterline stain removers and hull cleaners including: Spray Nine Boat Bottom Cleaner; Captain John’s Boat Brite Algae and Waterline Stain Remover; Rydlyme; Prime Filters Mineral-O-Magic; and Nautical Ease Nonskid Deck Cleaner and Black Streak Remover. Aussie Grills Like It Hot In June of 2006 Practical Sailor looked at six propane marine barbecue grills from four manufacturers. Two high-end Australian barbecue grills have come to our attention since that test: The Sovereign Bravo BBQ and the Galleymate 1100. We took a close look at these grills and then pitted them in a cook-off against the winner of the June 2006, the Magma Catalina. Both Aussie grills have an optional grill face that is part grill and part flat plate, or griddle. The grill plates are machined from large sheets of corrosion-resistant steel. Both Aussie grills offer excellent wind protection and both come with an impressively large range of both rail and deck mountings. Both grills are made from 316 stainless steel, nearly twice as thick as the Catalina’s 304 grade stainless steel. Whatever Floats Your Sensor On many boats, mounting external sensors on the inside of a holding tank is too much of a hassle or is not an option because of where the tank is mounted. If the top of the tank is accessible, then it may be possible to install an internally mounted liquid-level sensor in the tank. Practical Sailor tested seven pre-packaged kits containing internally mounted tank-level sensors and remote monitor panels. Internally mounted tank-level sensors that used some form of float sensor were the SeaLand TankWatch1, Dometic DTM4, Groco TLM Series, and Wema SHS-8. Two test products used air pressure for reading: Fireboy-Xintex PTS and Hart Systems Tank Tender. And one product‹the BEP Marine’s TS1 sender‹used ultrasonic technology to measure tank levels. All should work on standard composite, polyethylene, or aluminum tanks. Top Marine Wax Products The number of marine wax products on the market is staggering, and Practical Sailor has commissioned a series of projects to help readers make sure they get the best and longest wax protection for their money and effort. Our most recent full-fledged wax test ran for little over a year, with the results posted in the Nov. 15, 2004 issue. A test of cleaner-waxes—a different animal—was carried out in 2006-2007, with Star brite Heavy Duty Cleaner Wax and Restructure Marine Cleaner Wax coming out on top (Practical Sailor November 2007). Prior to those tests, a series of articles dealing with gelcoat protection were published. Two are posted online at www.practical-sailor.com under the "Tools and Techniques" section: "Plastics Versus Weather: The Nature of a Losing Battle," an interesting read for those curious about the chemical battles between your boat and the environment; and Nick Nicholson’s "Offshore Log: Gelcoat Maintenance," some hard-earned how-to-tips on gelcoat maintenance. Lights On for Practical Sailor Headlamp Round Up Headlamps compliment rather than compete with traditional hand-held flashlights. Lighting of more than one kind is invaluable on board, and headlamps have the advantage of freeing up the two hands of the sailor who always seems to need a third. Our test focused on LED headlamps that claimed water resistance and featured a crosshead strap for comfort, and did not require a battery recharge. We tested 17 headlamps from six manufacturers: Icon from Black Diamond, a rock-climbing and skiing gear maker; the HeadsUp Recoil 2680 from Pelican, maker of all things watertight; and Vizion from Underwater Kinetics, along with four headlamps from Petzl, five from Princeton Tec, and five from Streamlights. Our top picks were based on wearing, testing and using these headlamps for months. Best Choice honors go to the Black Diamond Icon, a lightweight lamp that’s versatile and loaded with features. Recommended products include the feature-laden red-filter-equipped Petzl Tactikka and the lightweight, Lithium-powered Streamlight Argo HP. The Pelican outshone others on pure brightness. Norcross Hawkeye Sonar When cruising off the beaten path, you’re likely to come across harbors, channels, and other waterways that aren’t well charted. In these areas, a portable depth sounder becomes a necessary tool for safe navigation and anchoring. PS testers and well-known cruiser-authors Evans Starzinger and Beth Leonard recently had the opportunity to test and compare two such devices while voyaging the remote channels of Chile, where they often needed to sound an uncharted anchorage from the dinghy. The two products they tested were the Norcross HawkEye Portable Sonar System (DF2200PX) and Speedtech Instruments’ handheld depth sounder. Both are designed for use aboard a dinghy, through a fiberglass or wood hull, or through ice. The multi-purpose Norcross can read depths from 2.5 to 200 feet, and also has a sensor that measures the temperature of the water, the air, or any object the sensor is placed against. It can also be used as a fishfinder. A fish icon appears on the screen with the depth when the sonar detects something other than the bottom in its field. The Hawkeye floats and is waterproof to 200 feet. |
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