Options that are a Must Have / Nice To Have - BayRaider

[globetrot]

Many of you have had your Swallow Boats (Yachts) for many years and several have had more than one. If you could lay your boat out again, from the beginning, what factory 'options' are worth paying for up-front and what options are just nice to have?

What would you suggest to add later, after-market?

[Graham W]

Louis,

A big question!  My BR20 when new came with many of the options available back in 2010.  Since then, if I was unable to modify the boat myself, the yard (or someone else) would do it for me.  Within those three categories, below are the items that I think have been the most important to me (very important ones marked with an *, essential with a **).  Tastes and uses differ, so others may think that a spinnaker, for example, is essential.  I sail solo a lot, so many of my essentials** are dictated by that.

Original options purchased in 2010
Sprayhood*
Smaller mainsail, for use without gunter yard.  Originally for sailing on Swiss lakes without a licence but also good for slow but steady sailing at sea in difficult conditions
Mooring cover
Tek Dek seating
12V electrics, GPS/fishfinder*
Two rowing positions*
Sleeping board infill*
Spinnaker
Toestraps*
Tiller extender**
Rubbing strake
Tan sails (less dazzling than cream in places where the Sun shines)

Subsequently supplied by the yard or by someone else
Upgrade of swinging cradle trailer from unbraked to braked, higher load limit**
Stainless winglets on rudder top, used for mounting highly visible trailer registration board and, after arrival at exotic destination, excellent retractable swim ladder*
Long plank bowsprit with bobstays for flying additional foresails*
Flying jib, code zero, mizzen staysail and significant additional rigging for same*
Tacktick wireless wind instruments*
Cockpit tent as extension to sprayhood
Cockpit net instead of cover for trailering*
Improved waterproofing of lockers**
Reinforced trailer winch post, two speed winch**

DIY projects
Double topping lift on mainsail**
Tiller tamer**
Improved self bailers, large capacity manual bilge pump, additional 12V pump system**
Upgraded and modified gunter yard*
Much longer oars, reinforced oarlocks*
Improvements to rigging for faster reefing of mainsail**
Jib topping lift
Simple mainsheet traveller
Reversed mizzen outhaul, amended sheeting
Upgraded sail telltales*
Spirit stove base for top of centreboard case*
Large capacity lithium battery and upgraded electrics, including solar panel and charge controller*
Improved ballast tank filling and emptying system(s)**
Outboard well wooden infill to replace plastic lamellae
Mast gallows*
Mizzen pigstick for flying the flag
More flexible (and useful) design for infill under foredeck*
Lots of cockpit bags mounted around the boat*
Carved and stowable wooden loo seat***!

Would not have again
Offset retractable carbon spinnaker pole - intrudes into the cockpit when retracted and of uncertain strength when extended - plank bowsprit much better. 
Suzuki 2.5HP outboard - unreliable with supermarket petrol, short range, noisy, underpowered.  Mariner 6HP with Sailmate prop, large external fuel tank and Aspen fuel a much better proposition, especially in tidal areas
Picnic table part of sleeping board infill - hardly ever used and I would probably make my own lightweight infill next time
Fishing rod holders - I’ve hardly ever used them (I have simple handlines) and they fill with water.

As you can probably tell, I have spent a lot of time trailering, sailing, thinking about and tinkering with my boat. Most of the best ideas have come from contributors to this forum. I haven’t been able to sail Turaco since early 2018 and then, just as I was about to get back on the water, along came the virus.  However, even recent garden sailing with an appreciative three year old granddaughter has been an enormous pleasure.  The BR20 is a great design and has been made even better for my varied uses - extended cruising, racing, exploring, daysailing and generally messing about.

[Matthew P]

Hi Louis

Many options depend upon the type of use for the boat, some of which you will not discover until you've owned it - and as Graham, I, and many others have discovered, the BayRaider's versatility lends itself to continuous evolution, hence Graham's comprehensive list with many good ideas.  My advice would be to consider carefully what you intend to use the boat for and postpone options that can easily be retrofitted as you evolve your use of the boat.  Otherwise you might end up with a garage full of redundant kit like mine!

There are some items I definitely would specify on a new boat, including some items already listed by Graham.  Disregarding budget and in rough priority these are:

1) A well built, easy-to-use trailer. 

Bare boat and trailer combined weight is uncomfortably close to the 750Kg max for unbraked trailers (and the max unbraked limit is even less for many quite large cars) so a braked trailer is very desirable.

The boat should be easy to launch and recover WITHOUT ever immersing the wheel hubs in water.  Well set-up swinging cradle systems are good.

Large wheels and softer suspension will protect your boat.

LED trailer lights save a lot of unreliable lighting board misery.

There is probably more about trailers on this forum than any other topic - which does not mean BR20s are difficult but a good trailer makes a big difference to your enjoyment of the boat.

2) A reliable, easy to manage and quiet outboard motor (2nd biggest topic?). 

For cruising inshore waters an electric outboard might be ideal.  Quiet and easy to use. I've not used an electric outboards for inland waters but would have one if I could afford it.  Some makes have disappointed (plenty about this on the forum) but modern electric outboard motors range, power and other features are evolving fast and the technology has come of age.

For cruising a heavily laden boat (including water ballast) in open water with strong currents and choppy waves the power and range of petrol engines remains the best option.  I'd look for a reliable, quiet and compact type with all controls on the front, including gear lever.  Mine is a 10 year old 6HP Tohatsu that in spite of regular servicing fails most of these criteria. Other owners have been very satisfied with modern Yamahas.

3) Large capacity hand pump or electric pump for emptying the water ballast.  The cockpit is self draining, if you open the self-bailer in the cockpit sump, so a pump is not necessary for clearing significant water from the cockpit. It is handy though for draining the cockpit sump if the small amount of water there bothers your crew

All the hand pumps I've seen fitted by the yard are too small.  Mine is a Whale Titan (big and simple!) that just about fits alongside the outboard (check it will fit with your outboard) I would even consider having two. My pump is set up with a "Y" valve so that I can switch between pumping out the ballast tank and draining the cockpit sump. Some boats are fitted with drain plugs between the water ballast tank and the cockpit sump.  In this case, specify big drain plug(s) to the sump- 25mm or more.  An electric pump is a handy option and need not be permanently fitted. 

The self-bailers are only efficient at speed - when you probably want water ballast anyway.  But see below for a useful modification to one of them.

Draining the ballast tank can quick and fun without pumping when recovering the boat onto the trailer. Opening all the ballast tank round hatches, including the two small ones forward ones (to let air in as water exits) and the cover between the cockpit sump and the outboard well.  The water whooshes out of the stern as the bow is raised onto the trailer! 

4) Maximum diameter ballast tank drain/fill plug that will fit in the drain recess.  Small plugs take a long time to fill (and drain) the ballast tank. Alternatively reverse the direction of one of the self-bailers and remove the one-way flap so that it can be used to scoop water into the ballast tank quickly when you need it in a hurry. Remember to close it before grounding the boat, otherwise you may find you have inadvertently acquired a heavy load of sand ballast. Also check it's closed before winching onto the trailer

5) A carbon mast.  I have a wooden one that looks nice but carbon is lighter, doesn't warp or crack and require as much varnish.  I'd certainly have a carbon mast in future. 

6) Spray hood, especially if you do much cruising. The factory fitted spray hoods are excellent - big and simple to use.  Its worth wrapping a well tied-tarp over them to protect them from UV and road dirt when trailing or not sailing because taking them off the boat is tedious.

7) Combined chartplotter and sonar scanner.

Not essential but useful and interesting.  The sonar is useful to avoid grounding the center board and rudder, even if the chartplotter is not important.  The associated batteries and wiring is a faff and fitting transducers tricky, so best to let the yard do this.

I have a 10 year old Garmin 555S which has served well except for unreliable electrical sockets.  The charts are now out of date and sonar technology and software has much improved so I might upgrade to: https://seamarknunn.com/acatalog/Garmin-Echomap-Plus-65cv-excluding-transducer---Preloaded-UK-Chart-SM230_0100189110.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI4t2dieqK6QIVybLVCh0cNwz4EAQYAyABEgJL7vD_BwE
Note this has UK charts, not Denmark.
 

I've found a sail and mast bag useful.  It protects the mast and sails from trailer wind damage and UV light and all the sticks and bits of string can be loosely bound to together and then securely zippered up without a lot of faff.  See photo.  The wooden crutch is home-made to support a tarp over the whole boat when in storage and not necessary for road-use.
 
All this is my personal opinion of course and other owners will have many other ideas.  Some of us get almost as much fun out of devising gizzmos and "solutions" as we do sailing- myself included.

Matthew
BR20 Gladys
   

[Peter Taylor]

Hi, my boat is a BC20 so not all applies but some are common to both types. You can read about what I chose either as yard fitted options or to fit myself on my "blog": http://seatern.uk/2014/11/comments-on-equipment-after-first-year/ gives my early assessment and I've generally added notes if I've later had further thoughts. A description of the initial equipment fit is linked to from that page. More recently I've been using a top down furler for the asymmetric spinnaker and I would recommend that particularly if you sail single handed. It works best with a purpose made sail so worth considering from the outset if buying an asymmetric.
Peter

[globetrot]

Excellent info guys... thank you. Still open to more feedback, should anyone have additional comments.

How necessary are UV strips on jib and mizzen? Again, it will be located in Denmark, so similar amount of sun to the UK. Stored outside, possibly in the water, but covered, in the summer and stored on a trailer and covered in the winter.

[Graham W]

On my Hyde sails, UV strips came as standard, although it took me a while to realise what they were for and to furl in the correct direction.  Their somewhat flimsy Dolphin predecessors had no UV protection and suffered accordingly, even in Wales.

[Sea Simon]

I bought my BRe " nealry new" so didn't get chance to specify. I did however get a very good "discount".

I would agree with all said by the other Gents, and would add....Have a really good dig about on this forum there's so much info here!

My particular "hobby horses" are:

Bilge pumps. Don't bother with the standard offering of a Gusher Urchin, upgrade to a gusher Titan. Double acting, much more effective for a moderate increase in foot print, and cost. Mine fits ok, next to a Honda 5HP outboard, with just a little careful wriggling to get the motor security lock on.

Jib. I had a conventional jib as standard, plank sprit, roller furling. I found the jib a little small, so have had a larger, deck sweeping version fitted now. Boat points better, and goes well down wind when cruising. I find can sail single handed ok, even with the larger jib. Sheet loads are not high.
A UV strip on the rolller furling standard sail is essential here in Cornwall.
You'll also need one on the mizzen if left rigged. I stow mine after use.

Which leads me to... you'll want a jib stick of some sort for running. I have made a fly-away pole at minimal cost. Very effective. I don't bother with my asymmetric when cruising, especially with wife as crew. Poled out jib much less stressful!

Outboards. Think VERY carefully about the electric v petrol issue, and how it fits with your usage plans.

Similar conundrum. Antifouling. my first boat with Copper bot from new. I'm a convert, it's great!

And again, carbon mast. So many advantages. Great for single handed easy rigging. Think I would have preferred spreaders fitted if that was an option. More support, more tweekable?

Blocks etc. Most are Selden on my boat, but a few Seasure brand from factory. Seasure are cheap for a reason. Have changed almost all of mine for better quality items. Best done from new?
Cleats. My cabin top clam cleats were the cheap all plastic ones. they were cut to bits over a weeks regattaz so badly that they did not function. Cause hard modern ropes. All now changed for the hard anodised alloy versions. Again low spec was a waste of money at build. Slight pita to change, cabin headlining had to be removed.
Spinlock clutches on halyards are good.

Ropes. Hard modern ones! Changed both main and jib halyards for higher spec dyneema, so as to retain anything like reasonably consistent hoist tension. Standard halyards were wasted on a boat with performance pretensions.

[Graham W]

I suppose that the cost has to be kept down but even so, money spent on higher spec hardware is seldom wasted.  I can think of very little original BR20 hardware that, like Simon, I haven't replaced.  Particularly the plastic stuff like the Clamcleats on the spars, which wore through very quickly.  And all the blocks, which were agricultural.  Most of the string.  And now the jib furler too, for the second time.

[Sea Simon]

GW, yes I agree of course costs have to be controlled and i believe that I understand why.
 Not intended to be a list of moans. No citticism of yard etc intended.

Trying to help the OP maybe save in the long term, if he is lucky enough to be able to specify a new boat.
"Buy cheap, buy twice"?

Any chances of me upsizing to a newer, biigger boat are fast disappearing....along with my pension fund! Another common issue I suspect?

[globetrot]

To all that have contributed to the topic: thank you. You're absolutely correct. With all new ventures, I find that I often go into it with the best intentions and trying to do as much research as I can. I get this idea in my head of what I NEED, only to find out that it is impractical OR I find out later that I wish I had spent a little more money on something when I had the opportunity to do it right.

I think we have all been there.

Some things are worth tnkering over and others are best done right from the beginning.