Ariel sighting... A-250 "Fluent"

To All:

Alyce and I spied a pretty boat near Bristol,RI that we had not seen for a couple years. When we closed to hailing distance we found she was "Fluent" A-250(?). We passed news of the association to the skipper. Hopefully he'll join and we'll get a full report. Short list of interesting mods... Westerbeke 12hp IB, Split backstay with tension control, Sea Hood and I'm sure lots of other cool stuff...

Cheers,
bill@ariel231:)

Sorry about the resolution, all we had on board was a cell phone and a sketch pad:;)

Ooooh! Looks good and sounds interesting! :cool:

Great sketch!

Alyce and I took a swing through bristol harbor and got a better shot of "Fluent"... One of the more interesting features is her line stoppers and halyard winch on the sea hood:

What are line stoppers and can you post pictures?

I'll have some more detailed pictures tonight.

a better generic term is a rope clutch:

Hmmmm, lots of improvements: a sea hood, stern pulpit, two sets of winches, cove stripe - she even has canvas for the companionway! Looks like an inboard model too. Nice find Bill!

Ok, here are some close-ups...

first the sea hood and rope clutches.. note the direct feed for all lines led aft from the mast. this set up looks like it works really well for around the buoy racing:

while we are near the mast, note she has been fit for internal halyards (so far I've only done this for my topping lift):

here's a close-up of the adjustable backstay:

... and this is clever. it looks like the deck just forward of the hatch has sprouted a pair of horns to prevent the jib sheets from fouling ;)

ps. a note for Moderator Bill... can i trouble you to move the A-250 and A-201 threads to the gallery page? they may fit better in that location...thanks bill@ariel231 :)

That is definitely a boat owned by someone who sails a lot based on all of those modifications. One of my first orders of business for A-24 this winter other than a new rudder would have been tweeking the running rigging. Going up to the mast was getting old and I wanted to run all of the halyards, topping lifts, etc. aft to the cockpit to make sail handling easier. Originally I was going to run them along side the hand rails aft, but the sea hood idea makes a lot of sense and cleans things up nicely. Good find Bill.

Bill-

Thanks.

Rope Clutch I understand. Does the halyard come down the mast to a cheek block installed on the mast and then to the rope clutch?

yes the cheek block are mounted on the sides of the mast...

I've sailed on boats with a pit arraingment like this. it works great for around the buoys. All lines drop into the cabin. A person is stationed there for spinnaker hoists and drops. I'm not so sure this works for cruising (you'd need to do figure out where to put the halyards etc when it rains)

I don't know if this counts as a true sighting but I found this Ariel in an article. Solidare at one time was an active member in the local association.

http://www.latitude38.com/lectronic/...10-10&dayid=15

Ed. That HAS to count as a sighting. Right?



bill,
Viz #11,
Moderator Bill's forehatch has a neat anti-fouling fitting in the form of an off the shelf S.S. grab bar installed just in front of the hatch lid. Fits perfect. You might usually find a pair of these on the inside of a companionway. Works perfect and it's another sturdy handhold and tie point.

bill,
Also #8 and #14...
Unusual use for any seahood. Have to wonder about the forces on that shell. The shell looks very precise, maybe it is aluminum - but it's probably a frp composit lamination. Aren't any ribs across to stiffen it so it still will be bendy to stand on even at 3/8 or 1/2"- if it's laminate. Anyway it sure is intriging from the construction standpoint. Forces from bar-taut halyards to that nice squat winch would be in the TONS, wouldn't you think??? And all that concentrated load in the middle of the shell! Fascinatin.

both are certainly less radical than tossing the forward hatch completely like your A-338 and my A-231 ;)

bill,
Duno what 338 will have. I've got two Bomar deck hatches up there that'll catch line just as easy as the original!

It's a good idea probably for an offshore boat to have exterior 'coaming' around three sides of a hatch like the Bomar's which are merely gasket pressure sealed - to direct green water over the lid.

I've seen stainless coaming around mega yacht hatches. I can imagine a line and water diverter as a sort of molded deck extension in fiberglass closely surrounding the hatch. With glass it could be made a softer shape and less of a toe or knee killer than metal.

Something in vinyl might be even better, if they made it. It could be installed relatively close to the hatch so that the hatch would provide stiffning. It could have soft corners and be renewable.

(As a emergency flood barrier inside a barn here on the ranch - which has pool heaters, water pumps, and water treatment utiliies with miles of pvc pipe - the containment CURB on the floor is ensolite foam covered with a tough vinyl fabric. The triangular section curb is glued to the concrete with polysulfide and fabric corners are made by gluing over-lapping flaps of vinyl to itself. A forklift could roll over this stuff and it would pop back to its former self. Something like this but much smaller would be a good addition to the deck on 338. A soft and tidy barrier protecting a projecting hatch that you GLUE on I'd be very interested in!):cool:
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ _____________
FOAM COAMING
OK, we'd have straight sections that would be cut to length.
The profile would be 90degrees to the base on the inside - with a slope from the wider base to a more narrow top on the outside.
There would be radius corners that would match the straight sections but would have an added flap of cover that is glued onto the straight stuff, making a very nice seam.
Straight sections would have finished ends so that they could be left open without corners if desired.

The forehatch on the Ariel would have to have custom 'cleat' platforms made for the foam coaming to sit on. Radical coachroof curves there. Could be done!
The foam coaming wouldn't be more than 1 1/4" wide at the base and maybe 1 1/2" tall or less? Comes in three sizes for most hatches. Available in cloud white or almond beige........

Ebb

I agree, i'd love to get some details on the seahood construction. it's subject to some big loads for the halyards. I know the boat and her skipper have done a lot of inshore and offshore racing in the past. Don't know if the sea hood was part of the boat at the time.

Bill