Conachair is an Ebbtide 33´steel cutter. Designed by Alan Pape specifically as a long distance cruising boat specifically to be made in steel. She was built by Oceancraft, Wadebridge in 1983.
Selfsteering - Aries windvane, constantly great piece of equipment, even in light airs.
Power - 200Ah batteries. sterling 20a mains charger, 100w solar, aero4gen wind generator. Solar not enough to keep batteries charged at anchor so honda generator used to top up through the mains charger. Laptop charged at same time, possibly the single most power hungry device on the boat.
Electronics - Garmin GPS128 mounted in cabin with Garmin 72 handheld gps as backup. Raymarine ST40 bidata is the only instrument in the cockpit showing depth & log (distance\speed). Raymarine SL72 radar with 2.5Kw radome mounted on radar arch above cockpit. Very good for solo offshore. When set to timed transmit it can be set to scan, say 12 times once every 10 minutes, This saves a lot of power. Usually I set the guard zone between 5 miles and 1 mile, any target in this area will set off the alarm. The internal alarm is not really capable of waking a tired sailor so I fitted an external alarm from Tech-X, Australia. (www.tech-x.com.au). This attaches via the seatalk output on the radar and is LOUD! Course and speed from the gps are also displayed on the radar which is useful as you can check heading a speed from the comfort of your bunk. Nasa AIS was fitted in Canaries and is a wonderful offshore tool. It won´t warn of fishing boats but larger cargo vessels will set off the alarm normally around 6 - 10 miles. Data includes name of ship (not always available), course and speed over ground as well as position. The screen gives an indication of ships direction relative to your own so is a great way to tell quickly if you are going to have a close encounter or if you can relax, much better than radar.Nasa weatherman gives wind speed, outside\inside temp and recording barometer. Not very useful and last time I was up the mast I knocked off 2 cups from the ananometer, no doubt it will remain like that for some time to come. Icom VHF, both handheld & fixed. Nasa ssb receiver, good to receive weatherfaxes, headphone output direct to mic input on PC. Log & fridge both seem to produce interference and need to be turned off when receiving a weatherfax.
Anchor - Rocna 20Kg & 50m 8mm chain. Spares, 35lb CQR, delta & fisherman. CQR currently stowed on deck but at some point shall be mounted next to the Rocna on the double bow roller. SL manual anchor windlass.
Domestic - force 10 twin ring cooker with oven & grill. Currently on butane with Spanish bottles. Heads is a baby blake. Hot water is available from a heat exchanger attached to the engine exhaust. 20 minutes engine time will heat the tank. There is a seldom used pressure water system, mostly the foot tap is used in the galley. Saltwater available at sink in galley also via footpump, very useful in clean anchorage of offshore. Music is via car radio with input for 3.5mm input for ipod or computer. Heating if ever necessary is via dripfeed diesel heating in main cabin.
Sails & rigging - Cutter rigged, Harken roller reefing on the foresail, staysail hanked on. Mainsail slab reefing with 3 reefs. All lines at the mast, I see no reason to change this as it works well and keeps the cockpit clear. Standing rigging was replaced in Canaries 2008 with dyform using existing norsemen fittings. 8mm throughout apart from twin backstays which are 7mm and inner forestay which is 6mm. Winches are lewmar, 30´s for the foresail and 10´s for the staysail. Foresail winches are only just big enough, 40´s would be nicer. Mast has steps, wonderful addition making a trip up the mast easy.