Graham,

As a sailmaker who owns a Maramu I have some ideas for your sail. Your cruising chute should be designed differently than what most sailmakers suggest to cruisers which is an AP (all pupose) cut. In a nutshell the sail should be cut more as a reacher. The rationale for this is simple. The Super Maramu can make effective use of the balooner and has no need for a cruising chute until you reach a wind angle somewhere around 135 or 140 degrees. So there's no need to stretch the effective wind angle range of the assym to the usual target of around 150-155 degrees. You could even consider something more on the order of a Code Zero type sail that would be effective for close reaching.

Depending on your budget for the project there's a lot of options. The ideal would be building the sail with a specially developed cloth from Dimension Polyant called CZ. The sail is built with an anti-torque luff rope so it can be flown from a continuous line furler. This greatly simplifies handling. A short sprit should be fitted regardless of what material you choose.

If you want to do this more economically the sail can be built with a high quality nylon and deployed from an ATN sock.

Let me know if I can be of assistance.

Cheers,

Dave Benjamin
S/V Exit Strategy
Owner - Island Planet Sails

--- In amelyachtowners@..., "crwggb" <crwggb@> wrote:

We have just relocated our SM to Hong Kong, where we don't get much wind and on the whole cruising distances are small. We badly need more easy and quick to handle off wind horse power, in addition to the ocean crossing balooner.

I know several of you have fitted cruising chutes to your boats. Any pictures/advice on the mods you made to the mast head for the extra halyard, deck mods, size of sail, things you wouldn't do again(!) etc......would be greatly appreciated.

Graham
SM 140
Sula

Hi, everyone. I hope your season is going well.

My 6000hr Volvo TMD started belching blue-white smoke and losing oil and coolant, and lost power. After 3 different diagnoses from 3 different mechanics in Red Hook, St Thomas, I sailed Kristy over to Fajardo, Puerto Rico to the only Volvo service rep in the Caribbean. His name is Dan Ramos at Marine Mechanical (787)655 3702. I highly recommend him. He goes all over the world teaching Volvo techs and has a good reputation as someone who tells it straight and doesn't gouge his customers. My Volvo has a bad cylinder, oil on the injector and lost compression pressure. Guessing it's a blown head gasket, cracked block, or cracked head. Given the engine's age (11 years 6000+?hours) I looked at options and am going to swap it out for a new Yanmar 4JH4 110HP turbocharged engine. Hopefully I'll be able to use the old AutoProp that came on the boat, and/or repitch the new MaxiProp I bought to accomodate the Volvo.

Dan says the old engine's not worth much,even rebuilt, so I'm thinking about selling it for parts. Hoping to be able to use the old alternators, but most everything else can go including wiring harness and instruments. I had the injector pump and injectors pulled in 2009 and tested by Volvo in Charleston, SC. They said they were fine. I put a new Turbo on it in 2009 as well.

Hi, everyone. I hope your season is going well.

My 6000hr Volvo TMD started belching blue-white smoke and losing oil and coolant, and lost power. After 3 different diagnoses from 3 different mechanics in Red Hook, St Thomas, I sailed Kristy over to Fajardo, Puerto Rico to the only Volvo service rep in the Caribbean. His name is Dan Ramos at Marine Mechanical (787)655 3702. I highly recommend him. He goes all over the world teaching Volvo techs and has a good reputation as someone who tells it straight and doesn't gouge his customers. My Volvo has a bad cylinder, oil on the injector and lost compression pressure. Guessing it's a blown head gasket, cracked block, or cracked head. Given the engine's age (11 years 6000+?hours) I looked at options and am going to swap it out for a new Yanmar 4JH4 110HP turbocharged engine. Hopefully I'll be able to use the old AutoProp that came on the boat, and/or repitch the new MaxiProp I bought to accomodate the Volvo.

Dan says the old engine's not worth much,even rebuilt, so I'm thinking about selling it for parts. Hoping to be able to use the old alternators, but most everything else can go including wiring harness and instruments. I had the injector pump and injectors pulled in 2009 and tested by Volvo in Charleston, SC. They said they were fine. I put a new Turbo on it in 2009 as well.

To: amelyachtowners@...
From: annejohnholl@...
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2011 09:44:50 +0000
Subject: [Amel] Windscreen strut

Hi Ian and Judy, Yes it was my posting about 7000 messages ago, you have a good memory. The platic coating is an excellent addition and upgrades your device to become the Mark II model.
We left Bali Hai in San Carles over winter two years ago and were very impressed although it was still being finished.Our boat was on the hardstanding and luckily none of the yachts hauled out there were blown over in horrendous winds of up to 80 Knots which persisted for some 36 hours or so. This caused them to fit eye bolts in the concrete so that they could tie the boats down. This was a great idea except that they put the fixings in the concrete in front and behind the boats and then cranked up huge tension which must have tended to bend the hulls fore and aft. Why they did not put them either side of the boats is beyond me as they are much more likely to fall over than somersault. In the event the only damage to Bali Hai was that the Windex vanished into outer space.
When we returned to commission the boat we rented an apartment at very reasonable cost from the Brit who runs the English language shool.

Fair winds, I hope. Anne and John, SM319



------------------------------------

Yahoo! Groups Links

To: amelyachtowners@...
From: annejohnholl@...
Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2011 11:37:51 +0000
Subject: [Amel] SM windscreen strut, aft lazarette floor and bow thruster retrieval kit

Three easy inprovements.I moved the strut about 12 inches closer to the centreline to make it much easier to use it. This was a couple of years ago and no ill effects on the screen.
Fed up with the sloping floor I put in a level floor in the worst affected parts of the lazarette so that things stay in place. Easily done by using a level to mark a line on the stbd side of the central web from the start of the slope to the required length to give a new floor level about four and a half inches 110mm above the hull surface at the forward end.I then marked spots on the outer hull about every 12 inches and used these to draw a line along the hull. I fixed a batten on the centre strut and made a cardboard template of the new floor size and used it to cut out a piece of half inch,12mm ply With a jigsaw set to an angle of about 45 degrees. Two or three pieces of wood sawn at an angle were contact glued to the outer hull surface as support the new floor which I put in place and I supported the inner end of the floor with a little block of wood held in place with a screw from the top. I then repeated the exercise on the port side which is not the same shape.The forward end of the new floor is about below the aft side of the hatch.
The wooden block supplied by Amel in the bow thruster removal kit is too long and makes it harder to access the fixings for the thruster so I cut off five inches off the top end, drilled a new hole, and roughly tapered the sawn end to make it easier to relocate the thruster.
If everyone would use specific headings in the subject line above it would make it much easier to track back items with the search facility on this site!!

Just a thought, Anne and John, SM319 Bali Hai




------------------------------------

Yahoo! Groups Links

We have just relocated our SM to Hong Kong, where we don't get much wind and on the whole cruising distances are small. We badly need more easy and quick to handle off wind horse power, in addition to the ocean crossing balooner.

I know several of you have fitted cruising chutes to your boats. Any pictures/advice on the mods you made to the mast head for the extra halyard, deck mods, size of sail, things you wouldn't do again(!) etc......would be greatly appreciated.

Graham
SM 140
Sula

Hi, everyone. I hope your season is going well.

My 6000hr Volvo TMD started belching blue-white smoke and losing oil and coolant, and lost power. After 3 different diagnoses from 3 different mechanics in Red Hook, St Thomas, I sailed Kristy over to Fajardo, Puerto Rico to the only Volvo service rep in the Caribbean. His name is Dan Ramos at Marine Mechanical (787)655 3702. I highly recommend him. He goes all over the world teaching Volvo techs and has a good reputation as someone who tells it straight and doesn't gouge his customers. My Volvo has a bad cylinder, oil on the injector and lost compression pressure. Guessing it's a blown head gasket, cracked block, or cracked head. Given the engine's age (11 years 6000+?hours) I looked at options and am going to swap it out for a new Yanmar 4JH4 110HP turbocharged engine. Hopefully I'll be able to use the old AutoProp that came on the boat, and/or repitch the new MaxiProp I bought to accomodate the Volvo.

Dan says the old engine's not worth much,even rebuilt, so I'm thinking about selling it for parts. Hoping to be able to use the old alternators, but most everything else can go including wiring harness and instruments. I had the injector pump and injectors pulled in 2009 and tested by Volvo in Charleston, SC. They said they were fine. I put a new Turbo on it in 2009 as well.

Hi, everyone. I hope your season is going well.

My 6000hr Volvo TMD started belching blue-white smoke and losing oil and coolant, and lost power. After 3 different diagnoses from 3 different mechanics in Red Hook, St Thomas, I sailed Kristy over to Fajardo, Puerto Rico to the only Volvo service rep in the Caribbean. His name is Dan Ramos at Marine Mechanical (787)655 3702. I highly recommend him. He goes all over the world teaching Volvo techs and has a good reputation as someone who tells it straight and doesn't gouge his customers. My Volvo has a bad cylinder, oil on the injector and lost compression pressure. Guessing it's a blown head gasket, cracked block, or cracked head. Given the engine's age (11 years 6000+?hours) I looked at options and am going to swap it out for a new Yanmar 4JH4 110HP turbocharged engine. Hopefully I'll be able to use the old AutoProp that came on the boat, and/or repitch the new MaxiProp I bought to accomodate the Volvo.

Dan says the old engine's not worth much,even rebuilt, so I'm thinking about selling it for parts. Hoping to be able to use the old alternators, but most everything else can go including wiring harness and instruments. I had the injector pump and injectors pulled in 2009 and tested by Volvo in Charleston, SC. They said they were fine. I put a new Turbo on it in 2009 as well.