Kaimusailing
s/v Kaimu Wharram Catamaran
| Vessel Name: | Kaimu |
| Vessel Make/Model: | Wharram Custom |
| Hailing Port: | Norwalk, CT |
| Crew: | Andy and the Kaimu Crew |
| About: | Sailors in the Baltimore, Annapolis, DC area. |
23 April 2024 | St Marys, GA
D4 Launchie
The laptop pooped the bed, so I have to scurry around with alternatives. Not as bad as typing on the phone.
17 April 2024 | St Marys, GA
Dinghy Skeg
I was suffering with what seemed like a cold and also had allergy symptoms. I awoke and felt fine. The green pollen that was coating everything was gone. Maybe it will return.
07 April 2024 | St. Marys, GA
Clammy Hands
Items came in from TEMU, the Chinese cut rate retailer. One was a nice little drone that cost about twelve and a half dollars. It looked like an easy thing to play with while I coughed and sneezed. I was fighting a summer cold, even though it is not summer elsewhere, it seems like it here. A nice [...]
02 April 2024 | St. Marys, GA
Sun Doggie
After laminating the cedar strips onto the gunwales of the dinghy I found the screws I used wouldn’t come out. The epoxy had seized them. The screw heads were stripped so I cut a straight slot in the heads with the cut off wheel. The cedar smoked when the screw heads got red hot. I could remove [...]
21 March 2024 | St. Marys, GA
Just Add Water
The rainy weekend started off with overcast and fog but no rain. It looked like I might be able to get something done on the D4 dinghy. I wanted to change the bow seat which is really the bow deck. The sailing option uses the deck to hold the freestanding mast. I didn’t like how the deck looked, [...]
01 March 2024 | St. Marys, GA
D4 Dinghy Alternative Seats
The rain event was more wind than rain, strong winds with gusts up to 44 mph. We drove into town to see what the harbor was like. There was a small sailboat that had dragged anchor and was sitting close to shore. The tide was out. We left and played with Bleu at Notter’s Pond.
Sailor Matt on Duty
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We didn't make it to Kent Island either. At about 5 in the afternoon I realized I would probably be anchoring in the dark if I continued to Kent Narrows. I decided to jibe head back to Bodkin Inlet, but anchor near the mouth. It was familiar water, OK to anchor in the dark there.
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The trip back was much quicker than the windward slog on the way out. I had been trying out the Sailomat. Sailor Matt was steering the boat and it became apparent that it needed sail balance to be spot on. If the boat had too much lee or weather helm, even if the main rudder compensated, the Sailomat would be outside of its range to bring the boat on course. The auxiliary rudder would be “hard over” and the boat would never get back on course. Compensating with the main rudder didn't seem to help, but adjusting the sails did. When the Sailomat was having difficulty, it meant something was out of balance. Typically a boat will self steer upwind by sheeting the jib in flat and easing the main slightly. This configuration will tend to keep to a course all by itself. It's easy to see how an imbalance that can make the boat stick to a course can also prevent a selfsteering device from working properly.
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I was satisfied with the Sailomat's performance. Perhaps the auxiliary rudder would need to be lowered a bit. The picture is of the Sailomat installation. The white windvane is at the top mounted on its aluminum tube. The control lines from off picture come in from the bottom. They turn the tube, and thus angle of the windvane to the wind, when the control is turned. At the bottom is the servo oar, made of hardwood. In front of the servo oar is the auxiliary rudder. You can see how it can perform better if lowered. The installation manual recommends mounting it a bit higher than expected, but that is for a monohull which has the stern wave building and coming up higher on the auxiliary rudder. On the catamaran in between hulls this stern wave is absent, so the auxiliary rudder can be installed lower.
