40+ years development of Boanerges
The development of Boanerges over 49 years of existence and maybe in the future ???
This album deals with the 40+ years of development of Boanerges. The hulls were built in 1975. Now we live in 2024, so 49 years passed and the boat is still relevant and can compete on sailing properties with many modern catamarans. And can be that for another 20 years. Boanerges went around the world as a bare-bone open-deck cruiser with a minimal layout and equipment. When I bought here in 1999, she was still the same boat as when she left England to travel the world.
From the start, Boanerges was meant to stay independent, at anchor or moored and in the mud, without external dependencies. And relatively light. She still has no built-in water tanks and is equipped with 20L jerry cans, while one had to get the water by the dinghy anyway. And it helps the crew to mind the use of water. The mast is a heavy 4mm round tube, with no means of sophisticated bending and stretching of the sails.
With me, a transformation started. For the first 4 years, I used her as is. The first trip in 2002 was from Amsterdam to the Scillys with friends who had little children. Boanerges proved to be a sturdy and friendly Go-Anywere cruiser, big enough to entertain young ones. The next year, June 2003, I took Boanerges with friends to Portugal. From then on the winters were used to modify and develop the boat and during the sailing season making for trips. I decided that the basic structure and deck layout should not change. Ideas for a small cabin, like on the Louisiana catamaran, were discarded. The open soft, and later hardtop, is way better.
Technically she is after 24 years the same boat, with no alterations underwater, the beams are structurally not altered, with 3 cockpits and a trampoline in the front. She sails as safe as ever. The outboard engines and black water tanks serve well. (a watermaker is added) The main development is that I added first a low soft-top windscreen to sit outside, sheltered from the spray of the cold North Sea. In 2005 a complete, removable soft-cabin was developed for in the harbour. I was thinking about going to the tropics, being out of the sun all day should be a must. The sailmaker insisted that Sunbrella was not needed, PVC should do the job. He had clients happily sailing with his canvasses in the Caribbean. This appeared to be a costly mistake. After one year tropical sun and UV detoriated the stitching and zippers. In St.Martin, I converted to a solid but very light cover. One can occasionally walk en work on it. 10 years of living under the hot sun proves this solution is definitive. No hot cabin life inside or behind a cabin in the cockpit, but sitting outside, in the fresh breeze at anchor. Now it is solo sailing from within the hammock above decks with a 360-degree view around.
In Amsterdam, I had installed an electric Anderson winch for all the pulling and all sorts of hoisting and pulling and added a Quick Hector anchor winch, sturdy, simple Robertson/Simrad autopilots on both sides. And a Schenker a watermaker was installed with Solara flexible solar panels. Both appeared to be a mistake. I left with a PVC dinghy, which was too a mistake.
At St.Martin, the problematic Schenker was converted into a Spectra. No problems since then. Too, computer-based navigation, AIS, and trustworthy Kyocera solar panels were added. When sailing solo 4Ah continuously is required.
Actually, except for the Andersen and Quick winches, most of the investments were lost money. I could not anticipate tropical conditions, like most other novice long-distance sailors.
The boat is dependent on battery charging these days, like most other boats. It was my constant effort to keep that electricity circuit up and running.
30 years ago a common setup was an Aquair tow generator, which produced a lousy 1 AH, a wind generator with a big output, but dangerous and prone to malfunction, some small solar cells, and lead acid batteries. Power saving was a must. And corrosion was a big spoiler. After 3 cheap Chinese generators, a Honda gasoline generator was needed as spare.
In 2010 I mounted reliable big solar panels on the hardtop. The KISS wind generator gave a lot of energy when the boat was moving. And it too generated a lot of trouble. However I was able to generate 3AH continuously. But with worries. The autopilot worked continuously. Over the day, with the sun, the watermaker made 20L/hour. At anchor, the fridge was active and luxurious.
Today, in 2024, I expect wind and gasoline generators to be no longer needed in some years. In the tropics, solar power will do the job. The electronics for charging have enormously improved. But corrosion from damp, hot, and salty air is still a big problem, together with fading LCD screens in all sorts.
I expect the next 20 years should be used to convert Boanerges to electricity operated, while using the same trustworthy Yamaha 9.9HT auxiliary outboards as spares. Technically it should be simple to install a used 7Kw electric car motor, under the mast beam on a pivoting axis. 4Kw gives a cruising speed of 4Kn, without wind or current, and 6.5 maximum with 7Kw. The propellor is lifted out of the water when sailing. The boat can accommodate about +/-20 m2 solar panels and still be able to sail. Within 10 years that area delivers a massif amount of electricity. I have started with building a big SS support for panels at the back of the boat and adapting the electrical system to +24V, and then stopped developing due to age, and Casa Boanerges. The next owner should take over and develop that with care. The needed lithium batteries pose a threat when treated without knowledge. This project is complicated due to the lack of knowledge of solar-powered sailing boats. Africancats.com was one of the first to embrace electrical propulsion.
