Rare bird - A Beneteau First 260 resource

Several years ago, I posted about adding a MarineBeam mastop LED nav light. That post is HERE . Over the years, people have asked about the wisdom of having nav lights mounted at mast top. More specifically, they wonder if the light is too high to be seen close in, allowing boats to avoid you. To help address this, here is a picture of BlueJ taken at dusk, with some light still left in the sunset behind us.The MarineBeam LED nav light is so bright that it casts reflection all the way to the photographer's position. Viewed from 300 feet away, a mast top nav light 40 feet above the water is separated from a deck mounted light by less that 7 degrees of viewing angle. It is also clear of shoreline light noise that can clutter and obscure a deck level light. Off our bow is a boat with deck level lights. They are hard to distinguish from shore lights. These facts, combined with their clear advantage in open waters, make it the lighting of choice.

 The 2023 racing season is starting off great for Team BlueJ. For the FIRST time, we have WON the prestigious WYC 'G' series, which is the front half of the season-long Sunset Series. Most of the crew left right after the race, so Jodi and I got the team picture! The new instrumentation is helping greatly. Not just on the water, but post-race review and debriefing. We can also create videos with data overlaid in them, an amazing training tool. And fun to watch! Good times!

 The picture below shows it all. After 20 years, the original painted-on Beneteau logo had chipped and faded, and made the whole boat look old. Finally time for a re-do! While removing paint from the gelcoat might seem like a hard task, in reality it goes very quickly with the right tools and supplies. Here is what you will need: Wide painters tape EZ-off oven cleaner (yes OVEN cleaner) Small plastic scraper White vinegar 300 grit sanding block Your new vinyl sticker replacement Eye protection, gloves, paper towels, rinse water, etc etc First tape and paper off the area for overspray and drip. I found with some care you only have to tape below. Now spray the entire logo with the oven cleaner. Not too much, not too little. Let it do its work. Remember that the cleaner is VERY alkaline, and care must be taken. Give it 5 minutes. Now try and scrape the lettering off in one spot. It should just peel right off, leaving only perhaps a ghost of an outline. If not, wait a minute longer. To...

Nine years ago, I posted about an update I made to the 260 backstay to allow a backstay flicker to be used. That post is HERE . As noted in that post, the factory backstay adjuster does not have enough travel to allow the flicker to pull the backstay away from the leech of the mainsail. The setup worked OK, but had issues. First up is that it was HEAVY. All stainless wire & shackles, with a heavy 6:1 block system that was cascaded via dyneema through another heavy block to make 12:1. The 12x power was not quite enough, and the heavy 3x block drooped and would hit the driver in the back while standing at the tiller. So it was finally time for an upgrade! The new system is all 3/16ths (5mm) dyneema, with 2 ceramic low-friction rings creating a 4x multiplier for the small 4:1 tackle. This makes for a VERY LIGHT 16:1 setup. The only suspended SS in the entire setup is the small shackle at the top of the 2x block. On the deck I needed to add a small SS U-bracket to hold the extra purcha...

Six years on, and after a bunch of people asked, I figured that it was time to do part #2 of the refrigeration story. A long time coming, but at least I have a very good feel on what’s what! If you missed the first post, you can find it HERE . Overall, the Isotherm system gets full marks from us and the crew. It works very well, uses little power, and has been 100% reliable. But let's look at the details. Obviously the big deal is always going to be POWER. The unit draws about 4 amps when running, and runs at about a 25% duty cycle in our climate. Doing the very convenient math, that equates to a reasonable 24Ah/day consumption. Looking at it another way, it means it draws about 1/4 of the capacity of a 100Ah lead acid battery in a 24 hour day, and in 2 days will draw it down to the recommended maximum drain of 50%. It's actually a bit more than I first posted, measuring now with more accurate gear. Here our NASA Marine BM-1 Compact battery monitor is tracking the draw (plus .2...

 One nice 260 feature is the factory remote genoa car adjustment system. As non-overlapping headsails are very sensitive to car position, being able to adjust on the fly is very handy. From the factory, a 3:1 puller system allows you to tow the car forward. Typically, the pull backward is left to the force of sheet. But often this is not enough, so many boats incorporate a shock-cord assisted system. I added this to BlueJ. The first trick is finding where to attach the cord to the older-style Amiot car. While there are openings on the car, all will snag the block and prevent it from rolling. A more clever solution was needed. My solution was to drill a very small hole on the outboard/aft part of the car, and insert a small SS shackle there. It gives a very solid attach point, is clear of the block, and does not affect performance or strength in any way. The next question was to how to run the shock cord. Best practice calls for a long a run as possible, so the cord has maximum effe...