Fabio,
    We set up our Santorin, (sloop variant), for ocean sailing by doing the following:

1. Desalinator; We had a "seafresh" system with the HP pump engine driven. It fits into the engine room well.n Autohelm wind vane on an aft pole,(this also carried the satcom C an
2. We looked at a hydrovane system, but decided to carry a spare autopilot computer, and drive motor. We had ad navtex aerials), and this was superb at keeping us at the right wind angle with both poles out. ( we did not need the spare until Tahiti)
3. We removed the liferaft from it's locker, stowed it on the aft cabin top in a small wooden cradle, ( if you are replacing yours get one that is designed for deck stowage), and turned that locker into a fuel storage locker. You have to block the locker drain, which goes straight into the engine room, but you can get 8 "jerrycans" of diesel in there.
4. We already had a generator, 4Kva, for the 230v freezer, but we took a spare charger with us. The charger had already been moved from the engine room to under the sink as we found that it overheated when motor sailing in the tropics.

The shaft alternator works well at speeds of over 5kts (day)  and 5.5-6 at night, but we failed to carry a spare. Any low rpm, low output car alternator will do, but get it adapted for marine use. (the negative is separate, not through the alternator case).

We had a two fairly slow crossings, both ways in 1998, and would keep our eyes on the battery charge state. At about minus 50-70 AH we would start either the generator, (running the freezer and battery charger), or, once we had eaten the food in our small freezer, engine,  running the watermaker and shaft alternator.
   Because the watermaker and engine share the same salt water inlet, we found that about 1800 rpm gave enough water for both, and gave us an extra knot of boat speed. About 50 -60 mins engine run was enough and we had hot water as well!
   Our Perkins M50 used about 1.5 litres of fuel per hour when motorsailing, plus the fact that you need to allow about 50-60litres for port manouvering and approach and departure. We motor sailed for the first 24 hrs to get to the wind, so a fuel plan is necessary. Also, we did not let the water tank go below about 450-500l before running the watermaker. The boat rolls less with a fairly full tank.

Also, on long passages, the worst "enemy" for a sailor is chafe - the slight rubbing of sails, halyards etc particularly with twin poles. Part of our daily checks was to drop the balooner and check for chafe, also on main and sheets. We put a small section of engine hot water hose on the halyard where it attached to the sails, and covered that with duct tape - any chafe was instantly visible!

Finally - enjoy the trip - ocean passage sailing is one of the great joys in the world -

All the best;

Mike & Chris
Akwaaba SN 027


--- On Tue, 1/18/11, MAS <mas1766@...> wrote:

From: MAS <mas1766@...>
Subject: [Amel] Re: Ocean Hobo Santorin 96
To: amelyachtowners@...
Date: Tuesday, January 18, 2011, 10:28 AM



Hi Ivan,

I was sailing from Martinique to Union on a catamaran during X'mas holidays and I saw your Ocean Hobo moored in Rodney Bay.

Unfortunately you was not on board as I was looking to ask you some information.

I own a Santorin (n°28/91 s.y. Italica) and preparing the boat in Italy to partecipate to the ARC probably in 2012.

I took some picture of your boat in particular to remember the windpilot installation that at my eyes was well made.

Can you tell me if you are satisfied of Hydrovane?

Do you have any suggestion to prepare my boat for the ARC after your experience? Instrument, energy consumpion, sails, etc.

I saw a post from you before leaving to Grand Canaria concerning the weights balance of the boat. Also mine has a list of about 5 degrees to port and frankly speacking I don't like this in general. I will change my 8 people ocean heavy life raft with a 6 people lighter one and also follow some suggestion that Bob and Suzanne gave you.

Any comment and suggestion from you, or from any other in this forum, will be highly appreciated.



Happy sailing and best regards.



Fabio Cavalieri

Italica (Santorin #28/91)