Paul,

Living on a small boat without another place to dry things, my main strategy is to keep as much water as possible out of the cabin. When it comes to wet-weather gear, I prefer it to be as light and thin as possible and try to avoid fabrics that absorb moisture. For this reason, I don’t use modern membrane fabrics or heavy PVC oilskin. At the moment, I’m quite happy with light, stretchy PU rain gear (for example, Helly Hansen Moss Rain Jacket). Because of its small volume, it hangs next to the companionway, where any dripping water can be collected (which isn’t much), and it’s easy to grab when I’m caught by surprise by rain. Since the fabric doesn’t absorb water, it’s also not a problem to put it on even when it’s still wet on the outside.

Compared to you, however, I try to avoid touching my tiller(s) whenever possible, and if conditions become unpleasant, I simply fire up the diesel stove. So it’s a different use case.

 :)

Hi Jan, 

I fully understand your armchair sailing preferences in these temperatures, but somehow I started to really enjoy sailing in the cold :)  

Interesting story of that hairdryer. Unfortunately, my battery bank (50 Ah at 12V) is way too small to produce heat from electricity for extended times...

Cheers to the cozy armchair

Paul

Hi,

this is a bit offtopic from the junk rig:

Aboard my Ilvy, a 25 ft Maxi77, I don't know a good solution yet where to put wet oilskins and clothes to dry.

For a day or an evening out, it doesn't matter, I just take the wet stuff home and dry it there. But when cruising, even if only for the weekend, until now I didn't see any other possibility than to spread everything in the small saloon. Thus, creating a mess and destroying the cozy atmosphere - and massively humidifying the air under deck, which leads to heavy condensation. All not too bad in summer (yet still uncozy), but ugly as soon as temperatures droo.

There is no space for a permanent, vented wetlocker.

I am thinking of sewing myself a temporary wetlocker, like a narrow tent from cabin sole to the ceiling, which can be quickly installed/uninstalled hanging from the ceiling. There would be two ventilation holes: one intake at the top, and one outtake at the bottom, to which a vent hose leading out of the boat and small computer fan could be connected. But before trying this:

Any ideas on this? There are a lot of boats below 30 ft in the JRA, how do you deal with this? What are your solutions?

Cheers

Paul