3 Attachment(s)
Commander #155 'Mephisto Cat'
This is the Gallery page for the Carl Alberg-Designed yacht known as 'Mephisto Cat'. She was built sometime late in 1964, or early 1965 by Pearson Yachts of Bristol Rhode Island.
She is a model known as the 'Commander'. She is Hull number 155. The Pearson 'Commander' and the Pearson 'Ariel' share the same hull but the 'Commander' has a smaller cabin and the best 9' long cockpit on any boat, which is ideal for daysailing. The 'Ariel' has a 3' shorter cockpit and a larger cabin better suited for cruising.
Carl Alberg was born in Gothenburg, Sweden in 1900 and he grew up to become one of the legendary yacht designers of the 20th century. He drew some of the most beautiful lines for the many (now 'classic') Yachts he called his own. He always maintained his preference for the traditional Scandinavian style of narrow beams and generous overhangs. You can read a bit more about him here:
http://www.alberg30.org/CarlAlberg/
A few info bits & historical trivia:
'The Pearson Commander is a capable and stiff sailing yacht. It boasts a very large cockpit, which makes it ideal for daysailing.
Carl Alberg owned a Commander as his personal yacht in his final years as a sailor. He kept his hull #302 in Marblehead Harbor, Massachusetts, and belonged to the Boston Yacht Club, where he served as an officer on several occasions. Hull #302 was named after his wife, "Alma". (One of the launches at the Boston Yacht Club is named "Alma" today, in the Alberg's memory.) Mr. Alberg sold his Commander to his friend and fellow club member, Mr. Gene Collard in 1974.
Mr. Collard renamed the boat, "Hot Spur", and sailed her until 1979, when she was purchased by Mr. Tim Risk and renamed "Out a Gear". Hull #302 was purchased by Dr. Jack Mallett in 1985, and moved to his home harbor of Padanaram, Massachusetts. In 2002, Dr. Gil Stillings acquired "Acadia" (the name Dr. Mallett had chosen), and she now resides on the Kickemuit River in Bristol, Rhode Island -- just a few miles from where she was built and within eye sight of Mr. Everett Pearson, co-founder of Pearson Yachts.'
I bought the 'Mephisto Cat' in March 2006 for sailing in San Francisco Bay where she has 'apparently' spent most of her life. Lacking anything more appealing, and having learned that this had been her name for all her recorded history, I have kept the name, & hope to find out more about her pevious owners / history. I know very little, but I've heard that she spent many, many years in Tiburon and also on a mooring in front of the San Francisco Maritime Museum. -As evidenced by her appearance on main picture in the museum's brochure... If you have any information, please contact me.
The Mephisto cat has undergone a complete restoration (2008) and many upgrades since I acquired her. Here you will find a details of the work done on the Mephisto Cat, and also some tall tales of Sailing adventures by her and her salty crew.
-------------------------------------
UPDATE: The Mephisto Cat is back in the bay! After the owner's wanderings to Hawaii, Australia, and So Cal... The Mephisto Cat spent a bit of time on the hard, but after some 10 months of working on her (and other adventures) we are now back in San Francsco Bay!
The Mephisto Cat is still undergoing a few upgrades, but she is now sailing as Carl Alberg intended. (Carl's personal boat was a Commander after all!)
Picture 1: is one of Carl Alberg And Everett Pearson sailing along in a Pearson 'Electra'. - Mr. Alberg is at the helm wearing the dark suit. (not typically my choice of sailing attire!)
Picture 2: This was taken during our last sail before I took the mast down and she was loaded onto her trailer while I went abroad for a bit...
Picture 3: A picture of C-155's restored Hull number plate. (I should have wiped it down!)
2 Attachment(s)
The Trailer... Hull Profile / Dimensions for trailer or cradle
I had a trailer built when I found out I would have to move out of the country and had to store the Mephisto Cat out of the water for a while...
It is interesting that the best source for trailers of this sort is nowhere near the west coast...
The trailer is all steel galvanized with sealed wiring, and flush-equipped brakes for safe dipping in salt water. It is also equipped with an extra axle at the front end. The intent of this additional axle is to be able to launch the boat from the beach... Hopefully somewhere in the gulf of California (Sea of Cortez) someday (sailing down in Baja!) where there might not be a lift or an appropriate ramp available.
I would probably do the recovery at a location where a lift, or crane is available.
I have not used it in this manner yet...
Hull Profile / Dimensions for trailer or cradle.
The sketches/dimensions on the attached .Pdf will be helpful to anyone wanting to build a trailer or a cradle specifically for their Pearson Commander/Ariel.
(NOTE that the Ariel and Commander SHARE the very same hull design.)
This same measurement method is good for any other boat... provided you take these actual measurements for the intended hull!).
I had my trailer built with bunks for more gentle support while towing, but this information will also apply if you wish to use pads.
Credit for the ability to take these measurements should go to 'LITTLE GULL' which was on the hard, fairly level, and not too far from me in San Rafael. (And to her owner Ebb, who quickly made her available when I was in a bind to provide these measurements to build my trailer in a rush...)
Ebb, you may have noticed a few nail holes and pencil markings on the asphalt in August 2006... I used these to lay a grid on the ground below 'Little Gull' in order to take my measurements.
PICTURE: Sample from document below (attached as PDF)
-------------------------
These are some notes on the dimensions and drawings in the PDF:
Drawings #1 and A1 (1-of-3 and 2-of-3)
Note the marked dimensions related to the descriptions below:
(A) Width (Thickness of the Keel)
The shape of the keel (in horizontal section) is similar to that of a wing. It has a bulbous leading edge measuring about
9" at its widest (Location 'a2' in Drawing A1). This tapers back to a mere 2-1/2" at its thinnest (Location 'a1' in Drawing A1). This is at the trailing edge as the keel ends to allow for the rudder. This dimensions occurr at a section close to the lowest point of the keel. If your trailer will have 'guides' to float the boat onto the trailer, you will need to allow for this width.
(B) Transom To back of Keel
Pretty Self-Explanatory; This Dimension is 82.5"
(C) Tansom to Center of Keel
Translation: Location of Center of Gravity (CG) This is a critical dimension for trailers as this will dictate where the trailer's axels are to be located. This will be an important one for your trailer buider. Easier to 'eyeball' on a fin keel; harder with a full keel as the ballast location is not so obvious. I calculated this approximately with a bit of math, but find that it must be fairly accurate as I am able to end up with a tongue weight of about 700-800lbs with the boat nicely centered on the axels.
This may seem like a big load on the tongue (it is!) but these boats are not light loads! Less tongue weight will leave you with potential uplift to the rear of your tow vehicle in uneven pavement, and this is not good as you might end-up FOLLOWING your boat down the freeway.
The Land Cruiser's max tongue weight is 900Lbs with a Load leveling device (Highly recommended! As it nicely transfers the load to the front of the tow vehicle and makes for a wonderful tow!)
Brakes on the trailer are also essential!! The boat and trailer will likely weigh WELL in excess of you & your tow vehicle!
(D) Bottom of Keel to Hull height
Not so critical for a full keel boat... Dimension D2 on Drawing A1 may be useful to someone...
(E) Transom To Bow length
LOA (Length overall) Dimension: 25'-7" (it really is this; just like the book says!)
(F) Length of Keel.
Translation: Bearing surface length of the Keel. I did not want to have the rudder shoe bearing any load as the boat sat on the trailer, so I deducted dimension 'H' from this measurement as noted in Drawing A1. The trailer's steel structural member goes the full length, but the treated 2x6 that actually bears the keel load is shorter, leaving the rudder shoe nicely up in the air.
(G) Bottom of Keel to Deck
This should be the dimension from the bottom of the keel to the bow eye. - I decided against installing a bow eye. My trailer has bunks, which in their cradling shape provide quite a bit of resistance to back/forth displacement on the trailer.
If I ended up relying on a bow eye to hold the boat, I'd have quite a few BIGGER issues to worry about...
The dimension I used is good for the Bow stop element incorporated into the trailer which you can see in the pictures above. I might have to slam on the brakes -but I do not think that I run the risk of accelerating out from underneath the boat...
Keel bunk measuring Guide (Page 3-of-3)
The dimensions listed are pretty accurate, but since Trailers/cradles have adjustable bunks or pads this accuracy is not that critical... although you do not want to be too high...
If the drawing might not be obvious or easily read; so here: the measurements are the dimensions of vertical lines starting from a horizontal plane at the bottom of the keel to the point where they intersect with the curvature of the hull.
One set of dimensions is taken from a line offset 20" from the centerline of the hull (inner set of bunks), while the other is at 30" from the centerline (outer set of bunks).
All measurements (towards the bow) marked 'Side' and those appearing to be missing are points that intersect with the hull plane above the waterline (where the nice paint is), or do not touch the Hull at all. (- For example; at 27' and 30' from the Commander's transom there is no longer any boat for pads/bunks to reach!)
Other Dimensions (Page 4 in the .Pdf)
This page adds a few additional dimensions not listed in the previous drawings that may be useful to both Ariel and Commander owners.
Please let me know if you are using this as reference - Just so I know if it is useful - AND especially if you have any different findings from the dimensions / data that I need to update.
2 Attachment(s)
Mast Base design - Pearson Commander
My Commander's mast Base was in pretty sad state (the original was some sort of wood laminate). It did its job appropriately enough, but its best days had long since passed.
I remember reading posts where the Design for the Ariel's mast base (Included in the owner's manual Pg. #166) was confused by some of us with the Commander's. They are indeed DIFFERENT. I myself started going down that route, but was lucky to notice this early on... (Phew!).
The Ariel's base rests on a level part of the deck, while the Commander's base sits on a slope resulting in a significant angle that the base needs to compensate for... hence the design difference.
Below is a .Pdf with a fabrication drawing for reference. My submission for the 'Commander' portion of the owner's manual! If you deliver this to a fabricator / Machine shop, they should be able to deliver exactly what you need (as long as you have a Commander - see the manual for the Ariel mast step).
I do not know if my old mast base was the factory original piece. It was nicely worked out of a piece of wood laminate, but it had not been maintained and the top layers were weathered badly. It was solid and fortunately still managed to do its job properly, but it was not pretty...
After considering several materials for the replacement base (I considered a similar wood laminate, a solid piece of hardwood, or a piece of high-tech plastic), I decided to go with Aluminum. Apparently, Pearson offered an aluminum replacement base for the Commander at some point. Durability and ease of maintenance ruled the day. I imagine the aluminum base will last longer than I will...
As I came out of the educational egg as an engineer, it was also a bit of welcome challenge to design and have this puppy fabricated... A few friends in the trades helped keep costs low by helping with finding surplus materials / fabrication / machining skills. Thanks to all!
In the end I had to buy a NEW small slice of an 8" round aluminum billet the minimum charge was more than I thought it would be initially, but there were not many scrap pieces of 8" round Aluminum billet laying around...
The hardest part to machine is the slight radius (R= 64") on the botton of the base. (this is true for both the Ariel & Commander bases) This radius was accomplished largely by hand, as proper machining would have been quite pricy $$$... But a great fit is achievable with a bit of sweat...
My hand written dimensions on the drawing attached are my AS-BUILT revisions. This matches the dimensions of the base currently on the Mephisto Cat...
Rico's Commander mast base
That aluminum mast base is absolutely gorgeous! Lucky Boat!
You came out the egg, as you say, an engineer - how you created such a controlled and sharp-edge curve on the bottom is masterful.
Actually unbelievable.
We have a Grizzly vertical milling machine now in the shop here and Mike has just set it up with a digital controller. I mean I can visualize machining process now that I see how it's done in person and do menial tasks on the thing - but he too would be impressed with the difficulty of producing that curve on the bottom of the mast step.:cool:
Since my egg was cube shaped, my method would probably be something like a half-round metal file mounted on a swing arm activated by a bicycle pedal crank and chain and a sort of tilting table that the operator by eye would move into the swing file. The machine would be marketed under the Chimp logo.
Altogether the piece is brilliant:D
3 Attachment(s)
Transom / Lazarette Structural reinforcement
Ebb; I saw the same type of isolating material underneath this tang as I found underneath the sailtrack on the mast... I am puzzled by the apparent switch in production tactics by the pearson factory... e.g. Aluminum vs SS spreader bases; Al Rivets, vs SS screws for the mast track, etc.???
Perhaps a previous owner's solution for the fastening of your mast's tang??
I think that the little bird outline will look great on 'Little Gull's' mast. I knew I wanted to do something there... but it took me a while to figure out what to do. Then the obvious came to me!
It is amazing how hard it is to spot familiar boats out in the bay... I figure this would be a great help. Maybe this way I can actually get some pictures of the 'Mephisto Cat' actually sailing!
C-227: Feel free to copy... but royalties may be in order! :)
The Mephisto Cat is now wet, the mast is stepped, and it is ready for a bit of sailing to tune the rig...
But we are NOT there yet... I'll first post a bit about the improvements in the lazarette...
The middle picture is the 'before' condition.
I'd not yet taken the mast down from the carrier and we'd already started to dig into the demo scope. (This picture was taken about 8 months ago!!) The first step was the famed weak point: The Backstay chainplate in the lazarette...
But in getting to this and since I'd had my eye on this bit of a moist spot on the floor of the lazarette we got a bit distracted; A bit of poking around resulted in what you see... Water had found its way into the void under the lazarette floor and the foam filling was pretty soaked on the starboard side.
This was cleaned out, to find everything else in good order. The floor of the lazarette was replaced with new plywood & glass and then new foam was injected.
This brings us to the initial issue - the backstay chainplate:
Note the small Brass screws in the 2nd Picture. These are the standard fasteners to the small knee /brace. There are 3 of these bolts, but I had already removed one before I remembered to take a pic....
You can also see the top edge of the knee... Not the strongest design. There was not really any sign of stress or fatigue to indicate an issue, but this element always seemed to be a bit undersized... A jolt could break this structure and I can imagine the whole thing pulled apart...
Note the original Pearson finish in this pic. - I wish I knew the history of this Commander, but it seems to have been pretty well taken care of considering its 40+ year history.
The new design is seen in the 3rd picture. Some strategically placed plywood and fiberglass. All covered with a bit of mat for good measure.
This was taken before we decided to fill the small gap between the rear edge/lip of the well and the transom. This area is /was always hard to reach and tended to collect muck... It is no longer accessible... Now the rear 'lip' of the well continues aft where it meets the transom.
I feel much better about this configuration. Likely overbuilt for a production run, but we only have one backstay!
Now I will have many other things to worry about, and will likely need to abandon ship before even starting to worry about this chainplate failing... :) -Knocking on wood...
4 Attachment(s)
A few more pictures from the trip...
Glad you enjoyed - Thanks!
Here are a few more... In my hurry to post updates I screwed-up the sequence and left a few good ones out.
Picture #1
A little company is always nice when lacking wind... I felt like tossing them another towline. The point pictured is Point Dume, just east of Malibu. (the coast runs east-west on this stretch). Note my nifty winch booties... - $6 on e-bay...
Picture #2
An earlier shot of the sunset above. The islands seen here are (from left to right) low-lying Anacapa Is, Santa Cruz Is, and San Miguel Is. is just visible to the far right
Picture #3
Offshore drilling rigs just south-east of Santa Barbara. These are similar to the ones we were happy to see due to their bright lights during our thickly clouded passage around Point Conception as these were the only points of reference we had to hold a course by. -I was not so happy to see the ones pictured, however, as they left an oil slick, were smelly, and I had to clean some globs of crude off my bow after passing through the area!
Picture #4
Point Piedras Blancas Lighthouse Approx: 35°39'50"N 121°17'10"W - about 6 miles north of the well-sheltered San Simeon Anchorage. (There are not many places at all to duck into along the Central California coast. This makes the weather considerations that much more important...)
The Anchorage at San Simeon was our original destination for the day, but distances, wind, and timing for a daylight arrival at the next port suggested a departure time about the time of our arrival there. Being fairly fresh from our short sail from Morro bay, we just kept going...
4 Attachment(s)
More Pics and a re-cap on miles traveled
Here is a re-cap of the miles traveled from my initial route plan. I've adjusted some distance as shown by my GPS track (the easier ones to get data for), others I've used the expected route mileage. The total mileage (GPS vs Plan) turned out to be very close so any variation in any one individual segment should be fairly small.
The boat was launched in Ensenada(Mexico) on July 12th, 2008. I spent the next few weekends (about 7 or 8) Commuting about 550 mi r/t) from Santa Monica to step the mast, install all the deck hardware, coambings, sails, rigging, do the mast tuning, fit out the interior, and do a bit of sailing prior to departure.
I even participated in a couple regattas held by the 'Ensenada Yacht Club (A small, informal group of sailors who I ran into at the marina where I stayed). A good reason to procrastinate on all the work I had to do...
The commuting was a bit of torture, (especially the crossing at the Border!!)but I was somehow determined to sail the Mephisto Cat to 'Todos Santos Island' and then head North crossing an international boundary as once I gotback to San Francisco, the opportunity to do that would not be readily available...
Anyway - here is how the miles stacked-up approximately:
Leg..................................Distance.... Cumulative Distance... Length of stay...........Facility...................Crew.... ...... Destination Arrival / Departure
Depart Ensenada (Marina Coral Resort)........................................... .................................................. ...............................Shoved off @ 1am on a Saturday.
Ensenada to San Diego.................. 75m..........75....................2-3 Hrs...........Customs /police dock..... Agustin & Guillermo...... Arrived SD:2pm / Departed for Dana Pt: 4pm
San Diego to Dana point................. 65m.........140................. 2-3hrs ................ Guest dock ................ Agustin & Guillermo..........8am / 11am
Dana Point to Newport Beach..........23m........... 163 ................4 days ............. Mooring .................... Singlehanded .................5pm / 11am
Newport Beach to Long Beach ......... 20m ....... 183 .............. Overnight ....... Restaurant guest dock ....... Denise & Michael ........12pm / 5pm
Long Beach to Marina del Rey......... 34m .......... 217 .............. 3 months......... Del Rey Marina .............Singlehanded ...................6am / 3pm
Marina Del Rey to Oxnard............... 54m .......... 271 .............. Overnight ...... Channel Is Marina ........ Singlehanded .................. 7 am / 8 pm
Oxnard to Santa Barbara ............... 33m .......... 304 .............. 4hrs ................ SB Guest Dock ........... Carol ............................ 7am / 4pm
Santa Barbara to Morro Bay ............ 128m ........ 432 ............ 10 days ....... MB Yacht Club / Mooring .... Carol & Kristen ............... 8pm / 9pm
Morro Bay to Santa Cruz ................ 143m ......... 575 ............. 2 days ....... Santa Cruz Marina .............. Carol .......................... 8am / 5pm
Santa Cruz to Half Moon Bay .......... 53m ........... 628 ............. 5 hrs ........... HMB Guest Dock ............. Carol & Kerry ................. 9pm / 2am
Half Moon Bay to Golden Gate Brg. .... 26m .......... 654 .......... in transit ......... in transit .................... Carol & Kerry ................ 10am / 10am
Golden Gate Brg. to Sausalito ........... 6m ............ 660 ......... Overnight ..... Schoonmaker Pt Marina ....Carol & Kerry ................... 11am / 4am
Sausalito to Vallejo ........................ 25m ........... 685 .......... Homeport .......... Vallejo Marina ................ Kerry .......................... 2 pm
And a few more pictures:
Picture #1
Cruising along the California coast around Ano Nuevo Island (East of Santa Cruz once again, the coast runs east-west on this stretch).
This is the start of the cliffs that Richard Henry Dana describes in his great sailing book "Two years before the mast".
Picture #2
The Pigeon Point Lighthouse (Note Kamikaze seagull in picture)
Picture #3
Fort point in San Francisco and the silhouette of Alcatraz Island beyond.
Under the arch at the South end of the Golden Gate Bridge lies Fort Point. This fort was completed just before the American Civil War, to defend San Francisco Bay against hostile warships. Funny how one generation's most advanced formidable defense is another generation's mere obstacle to public transportation...
Picture #4
The city comes into view through the morning haze. You can see the top of the spire of the Transamerica tower in the middle of the picture.
4 Attachment(s)
Reconditioning of the original coambings
Ok... Now back to our sheduled project documentation program -already in progress:
The Coambings
The Mephisto Cat came to me with what I assume are the original coambings. They appear to be Teak (evidenced by Smell, feel, & grain) and although they were well weathered to the gray patina commomn to weathered teak, and had a bit of mold in the areas not exposed to sunlight. Fortunately, they responded quite to just a bit of cleaning-up and looked relatively good for the next year without any oil or varnish.
They were untreated, but in great shape. I would guess that they had been varnished at some point long, long past, but it seemed that they had received only oil -if anything- in the more recent past, and nothing for at least the last few years.
I do not have specific 'before' shots (I missed these...), but you can see them in some of the previous pictures of the boat on this thread.
After a couple scrubbings with a bit of Ajax cleaner (A bit odd, yes... But it works great on teak!) they came right back to a nice light brown color. This encouraged me to do a bit of work on them and to eventually get them all varnished-up.
Originally, I thought I would not bother removing them, but since I had already taken everything else off of the hull, I thought I might as well...
In hindsight I am glad I did. Taking them off allowed me to be able to get a nice prep on all surfaces while working in comfortable positions, and to do the repair described below.
It was a bit of a bear to get them off as they were quite solidly attached to the boat. There was a bit of well-cured polysulfide against the fiberglass and this held them on quite strongly even with all the fasteners removed.
Reinforcing/Repair of the coambings.
The coambings are positioned with a slight curve to them and this provides a bit of rigidity against bending of the wood plank in the vertical plane, but it still remains a wide piece of wood that is only supported laterally at the cab attachment, and at the winch stands, and at the bottom edge (at the3" or so...) as they are fastened to the fiberglass.
As I mentioned, my coambings were in great shape, but a bit of eager help in removing one of them caused a longitudinal crack along the sharp corner cut into the coambing as it transitions from the deck onto the cockpit's side. (See last picture below) The removal of the polysulfide bond responds much better to warmth from the sun, small wood wedges, and some guitar strings (think cheese-cutting wire) as opposed to brute force...
I did not want to have a weakened coambing as I thought the crack would only get worse over time, but I also did not want to have an obvious repair with wood or metal reinforcements visible.
I thought of using a loooong stainless or bronze wood screw from the bottom edge as this would remain invisible. Failing to find such a beast I used a length of coarse-thread 316 stainless-steel allthread rod and epoxy.
First I glued the cracked surfaces together. Then I took a 5/32" drill bit (9" long, I think it is...) and drilled a hole through the middle of the thin dimension of the coambing. I smothered the sides of the hole with epoxy (using a twig from a natural broom) and then used my drill motor to screw in the length of 3/16" stainless steel all-tread rod into the pilot hole.
This not only pulled the two pieces tightly together, but it should provide solid reinforcement against future side-load stresses that may cause cracks. Especially towards the front where the Commander's coambings are up to 12" tall... and towards the very rear where the stern-most few feet remain unsuported.
After seeing the results, I proceeded to put four more pieces of rod into this coambing. two more as further reinforcement where the crack was and another at the unsupported rear end close to where there is the rear sharp corner cut into the coambing.
...then I put another three pieces of rod into the other coambing. - Just for preventative strengthening...
The holes look large because I drilled a 1/2" hole about 1/2" into the coambing to allow for the jaws of my drill to drive the rod below the edge surface of the coambing and then filled this in with resin.
The driving/screwing of the rod takes quite a bit of torque, as you can imagine. The trick is to keep the pilot hole in the middle of the material - a bit tricky with such a long drill bit / rod.
Out of the six holes I drilled, I only sort of screwed one up. The rod actually came onto the surface but only at the very tip. I ground this down to make smooth and left it. (Somewhat visible in the third picture) - Not too bad for work with a hand drill...
I then cleaned the wood up, did a bit of sanding, and over the course of the next few months sanded and applied some 8 coats of Epifanes clear varnish. The pictures were thaken sometime in the middle of this long process so the coambings do not look their best at this stage.
Epifanes is wonderful stuff. (It is made in Holland - one of my of my most favourite former homes!) I've had good results with it and it is amazingly long-lasting. It really brightened the coambings up nicely... They look pretty amazing and it is one of the first-things that people comment on about the little boat.
Comments on outboard performance - experience so far...
Thanks TonyG. It was not to hard to do... and I think that the rod will certainly help the coambings.
Here is a bit on the issue of outboard performance addressing some of the most common issues brought-up on the board:
The 'Mephisto Cat' is a 'Well in the lazarette' / outboard model' from the factory. :) I am happy to not have to deal with an oily bilge! Although I could learn a thing or two about diesels... And I salivate a the big & handy storage space that is available in the lazarette to those of you with inboards... Hmmm... :(
I can only dream of the day when a nicely suited electric motor is available!
In any case; So far I've used a 2003 NISSAN 6HP, 4-stroke outboard engine with the long shaft (20”) on the Mephisto Cat. This NISSAN model, as well as some other brands (Mercury?) is apparently made by TOHATSU so they share the same mechanicals - only the marketing bits are different...
I’ve used this motor for a handful of seasons in San Francisco Bay, as well as at Marina del Rey (Santa Monica), and on coastal voyages from Ensenada, MX, to San Francisco as described in previous posts on the Mephisto Cat gallery thread.
I can only wish that a 2 piston motor will become available soon - for reduced vibration!
The typical issues faced with outboards on Ariels & Commanders seem to be the following:
1.- Will the motor fit in the outboard well?
The 6 HP Nissan fits quite nicely in the well being able to rotate pretty much throughout its full range. The lazarette cover closes, clearing the top of the motor by two to three inches. (I am unsure if the internal tank version of this motor would fit as the internal fuel tank cap is located at the top of the motor cover, and sticks out at least a couple of inches...)
The bottom unit is thin & slender (unlike some other brand's models) allowing for an easy fit in the well (there are maybe 3" inches to spare around the widest part of the lower unit as you lower it thought the well...) The slenderness of the bottom unit also helps in reducing hydrodynamic resistance while sailing with the motor in the motor well – which I often do….
This motor only weighs 55lbs (Per Nissan) which makes it easier to handle. I think that this is the heaviest you can go while still being able to (relatively) easily handle an oddly shaped mass as an outboard motor - especially at the point where you are lowering it into / pulling out of the lazarette.
2.- How much power do you need to power an Ariel / Commander (HP)?
I find that this motor moves the boat quite well. It will cruise at about 4 to 4.5 knots at ¾ throttle, and will reach hull-speed (~6kt) at a bit less than full throttle.
While sailing in SF bay in the past, where the winds and currents are not to be ignored, I have found the need to use the full power of this motor while fighting a strong current, or while motoring into a channel with a strong wind on the nose.
While using the motor during coastal cruising, I found that when faced with strong winds on the nose - and the resulting long-reach wind swell - the going gets slow... Mostly because out in the open, the wind swells easily kill your forward momentum.
In these cases a bit more horsepower might help, but these are unusual circumstances for these boats. AND I would argue that if you find yourself in this situation at that point you’d be MUCH better off sailing-off with a reefed main and a storm headsail as this will improve your ride and likely progress as well, so the benefit of a bigger outboard in these cases may never be enjoyed… while you’d ALWAYS be burdened by the big outboard’s weight. **
However, in my time spent in coastal marinas, such as Marina del Rey / Santa Monica Bay where currents are negligible, I found myself wishing for a little (maybe 2-3 HP at most) two stroke motor that I could pull out in a jiffy… This would be more than enough to get in and out of the marina when the winds were blowing. If I were still in this environment, I’d definitely go with the tiny motor. If you are in a lake environment doing mostly daysailing, I'd really consider this route...
** As I've learned more about this issue, I found that the solution in this case (from a hydrodynamic standpoint) is not really more horsepower, but rather a larger prop diameter at a lower pitch to increase efficiency of the available power... Providing what is known as increased 'bollard pull' -the equivalent of more torque in a car engine- with the same horsepower...
Unfortunately, these motors will not physically acommodate a prop much bigger than what comes from the factory...
Another wishlist item: An outboard with a BIG - FOLDING prop!!
3.- How fast will the boat go?
6HP will get you to hull speed in most conditions. There is no need for more horsepower. - 20HP will maybe give you hull speed PLUS maybe 1 or 2 knots more, PLUS a big bow wave in front of your boat… and this while using MUCH MORE Fuel. In short, there is no need… (unless, as I described above, you will be ONLY sailing against very strong winds in sheltered waters -with no wind swell. These conditions would allow you to enjoy the extra horsepower to fight the wind, but these conditions are unlikely…)
4.- Shaft length
My motor has the 20” long shaft. (Note: For 2009, Nissan is offering a 25” extra-long shaft.)
I found that the 20” long shaft works really well on these boats. The steepest swells faced were while motor-sailing around Point Conception where we saw 8-10 ft ocean swells that were far apart enough to not present a problem (11-14 seconds). Big swells are not a problem for the motor, but when these swells are reflected by the concave coast between Point Conception and Point Arguello, and become 4-5 ft swells coming in opposing directions, plus toss in a 1-2 ft wind swell… All of these combining at random can present a tall chop which can be a challenge, mostly for your comfort.
Even in these conditions the prop managed to stay in the water but did suck in some surface air for an instant a couple of times as the conditions above combined to produce a steep/deep chop. Note that when the cavitation happened, it was quire unexpected based on the behavior of the boat at the time, and never due to a severe pitch or roll - the prop seems to stay in the water while pitching /rolling. What seemed to do it was simply a very tall / steep chop, in my case, resulting from a combined wave/swell.
The cavitation was only for an instant causing the revs to increase, but only for an instant. I do not think that the motor had time to reach max revs. I do not think that cavitation is an issue for the 20" shaft length based on the amount of time that the motor had to work in these conditions...
In short; If I were in the market for a motor, I'd stick with the 20" version...
The 25” shaft would provide a slightly increase in the safety margin against the above situation, but most of us would not be in this stuff as a matter of routine… (hopefully!!). The down side of this extra length would be a bit of additional drag while sailing, a small bit of added weight, and the 5 extra inches increasing the required storage space.
Thoughts?
Spinnaker on the last page!
Hey Rico, your boat looks great! That spinnaker looks familiar. I guess the sails are working ok? Where you get the storm jibs outfitted. Looks like they did a good job.
mike
4 Attachment(s)
Install of compression pipes at the Spreader brackets
I am slowly catching-up on posting the many little projects that I've undertaken. Here is one more:
I have noticed that some boats come with Spreader brackets that are made out of aluminum, or some sort of alloy.
My mast came with nicely stout Stainless Steel spreader brackets. I found it odd that there was no compression pipe spanning the gap inside the mast, but it is most likely that the design did not require these.
Pearson did build these little boats with a proportionally large mast that has a very strong section... I do not think that Alberg's drawings, or Pearson's production design included compression pipes in our masts, but I thought it prudent to install these as an upgrade...
The Spreader brackets are fastened by 2 bolts that go right through the mast. The lower bolt also secures the upper end plates of the forward & Stern lower stays. The role of these fasteners is not an unimportant one, so one would like these to be stoutly in place, but tightening excessively will weaken the mast at the mid-point (where the spreaders are located).
The idea behid the compression pipe is that this pipe will act as a strut and take the compression load that comes from tightening the bolts at the spreader brackets relieving the mast from this pressure & avoiding the risk of weakening the mast ...
The installation is quite easy. The hardest part is perhaps finding the correctly sized pipe, as your average hardware store does not carry stainless steel pipe - you'll need to look at a rig shop, or industrial supply shop.
- I went with stainless to match the material of the bolts that will go inside the pipe. I was lucky to find a 14" or so scrap piece in the stainless scrap pile which I got without charge from a friendly rigging shop. - If well isolated, I suppose aluminum pipe will work... but you have to take care to use plenty lanocote to isolate the different metals.
Picture #1
The pipe that tightly fit my fasteners came with an 0.75" OD (outside diameter) which gave me a nice thick pipe-wall as pictured. Pipe is sold by specification of the inside & outside Diameter.
I had a machine shop cut the pipe for me as it is important to have paralell cuts at the ends. I made the cut marks a bit generous as I needed a close fit. (Cannot make the pipe longer after it is cut!!) I used a grinder to fine-tune the length, and to achieve the appropriate bearing radius at each end.
Picture #2
It is important that the inside diameter of the pipe matches your fastener's diameter closely, the outside diameter dimension can vary more as long as you get a nice stout pipe... but not too big... I'd say the size pictured is about as big as you'd want to go... Half that thickness would be strong enough... Note that the pipe-end in this picture remains flat as I had not curved the end to match the mast extrusion curvature.
After painting the mast, I covered the base of the brackets with several layers of vinyl tape to avoid scratching the painted surface and to isolate the Aluminum from the stainless. I then cut the pipe to the appropriate length and added a curve to the ends to match the mast's profile.
I drilled the hole in the mast that is just big enough to insert the 0.75" pipe into the mast. Enlarging a hole can be tricky - you do not want to 'move' the hole - just enlarge it. I used one of those sheetmetal drill bits that have a number of stepped diameters and I found it to be the ideal tool to do this as it keeps you well centered when using a drill motor by hand.
Picture #3
You can see the old hole and a new hole with the pipe & bolt in it. (I did them both the same way) -It is hard to see, but the pipe end now matches the outside curve of the mast. See folowing post for a close-up of this.
(I used red paint to cover-up the bare aluminum as all the white paint I had was two-part - I did not loose any fingers on this project, I am happy to say!)
Picture #4
This is essentially how the whole thing fits together... (I took this picture at the time of testing for pipe length and you might notice that the end of the pipe is still flat at this point.) When complete, the pipe only extends out of the mast by only a bit and matched the mast's profile curve.
4 Attachment(s)
Weekend at Angel Island / Commander 'reunion'
We spent a beautiful weekend at Angel Island (mid 80's -at least- and bright blue skies...) and ran into TWO other Commanders. I've never seen so many Pearson Ariel/Commanders in one place at once...
Unfortunately, I spotted them as we were returning from a hike on the South side of the island and did not get to chat with the group, who'd apparently tied up at the dock for the afternoon and sailed off on a course in the general direction of Berkeley...
I do not know if I they even saw the Mephisto Cat tied-up out on one of the moorings at Ayala cove... (See Angel Island map on post a few posts up). It was a busy day and there were MANY boats out there, both at the dock AND on the moorings.
Picture #1 I think I see 3 crispy new sails among the two. Hopefully We'll see them out more often. Note the tripod style winch bases... I'd never seen this type of base on these boats before.
They are both early-ish Commanders as it appears they featured the full companionway opening. (I am sure about the blue one - 95% certain about the white one.)
Note the transom O/B mount... :confused:
- While Posting this I noticed the Pennants on both boats' rigging. On other pictures I can make out the letters 'CSC' and looking at the 'Cal sailing club', website, they do list the Commander in their fleet list... So I imagine that this is where they come from...
Picture #2
While we are at it, here are a few more pictures...
Here is the Mephisto Cat settled in for Sunday evening's rest. We stayed until Monday and we essentially had the whole mooring field to ourselves come late afternoon on Sunday... I took the picture from the trail looking towards Richmond.
Picture #3
A view from the 'perimeter road' looking towards the Golden Gate. I was REALLY HOT at this point... We may have been into the 90's - Rare for the bay...
Picture #4
View towards the west end of Racoon straits. Belvedere Is. and Sausalito in the back. The Angel Island Ferry from Tiburon is visible.
Thanks for the quality photos and updates
Rico,
Thank you for taking the time to post photos and great naratives of them. I, among many others I'm sure, really appreciate it. Plus you talent and love that you have and continue to bestow upon Mephisto Cat help keep me motivated.
2 Attachment(s)
A great weekend for sailing
Thank you Chance,
I am glad that you are enjoying reading about my little adventures... I am really enjoying being back in the bay and its great sailing environment. I really enjoy sailing these capable little yachts and working on them is part of the fun (most of the time anyway!). I only hope that more people get inspired to restore more of these great little yachts.
This was altogether an outstanding sailing weekend! :)
The highlight was definitely the Hoppe regatta on Saturday. It was a bunch of fun and look forward to participating again! It is not often that I get to sail with fellow A/Cs.
The weather was beautiful all weekend and the winds just like those that the SF bay is famous for...
I set off for the central bay on Friday and had a great singlehanded sail to Berkeley. I decided to take the sails down outside of the Berkeley marina... (Mistake!) It was blowing quite a bit and I got pummeled and soaked as I tried to get the sails down... Note to self: There is plenty of room INSIDE the protected marina. Next time WAIT to take the sails down until you are inside!
The Mephisto Cat participated in the Association's Hoppe Regatta on Saturday. You can read about the competition and see some more great pictures here:
http://www.pearsonariel.org/discussi...ead.php?t=1989
I especially like the first picture taken as we headed off towards San Francisco. The other is at the crossing of the finish line (below): (Photos courtesy of our own Bill Phelon).
On Sunday we had a perfect warm, clear blue sky sail with with south westerly winds back to Vallejo. It was one of those sails that make the day go by too fast...
Just prior to our departure on Sunday, we had a chance run-in with Sean Faul. He is the former skipper of Commander 'Faith', (C-239), whose great voyage from Chicago to Berkeley - via the Panama Canal is documented at:
http://www.geocities.com/sjfaul/Sailing.html
His log is beautifully written and tells of a great adventure. When planning my trip from Ensenada headed North I looked at Sean's log for insight on that section of the passage. When finding the site to post the link here, I found myself reading it again! It is very detailed and entertaining - there are many exciting tales from their trip nicely woven & documented on the site such as:
Running from a hurricane, underwater repairs on the high seas, in addition to the typical Pirates, ports-of-call adventures, sea monsters, etc. (I made-up the sea monster bit :p). In any case, I wish I could keep a log like that!
We spoke for a while about 'Faith' & the 'Mephisto Cat', and among other anecdotes he mentioned that he had just completed a beautiful refurbishment of 'Faith' and that he'd just sold to a friend up in the Pacific Northwest. He was doing the delivery and had so far had sailed 'Faith' up to Fort Bragg. - I saw pictures of the end result of his restoration, and Faith did indeed look beautiful.
Hopefully he'll chime in with some pictures of the nice work... And maybe the new owner will post pictures of some PNW scenery!
He also mentioned a few details having to do with Pearson's development of the Commander's bridge deck, but I'll let him share that story...
Rico I love looking at your boat...
I want mine to look similar when I get done with it. (like I will ever get done with it, after all it is a boat).
Are you using a block at the aft end of the new tracks behind the track car to create a fair lead to the winches? It is hard to tell from the pictures but it looks like if the track car was forward to much it would cause the jib sheet to rub against the combing boards.
Rico you do things the way I like to do them...
with a touch of class and attention to detail.
Your chart table is very nautical and looks great. Nice job.