Dave: A couple of question for you: What is the length of the main cabin from the forward to aft bulkheads?
George: 7'7".
Dave:I'm trying to get a feel for how much space is in the main cabin. Also, back in April you mentioned
you were using biaxial tape to cover the fillets in the bow and stern compartments. How is that material to work with?
George: I tried the biaxial as an experiment. Its main advantage seems to be that it conforms to bends and goes around corner without lifting, which is great in
the wider tape. In this particular tape, the weave is quite open and I probably wouldn't choose it to buy again.
The orignal ballast was the crews gear plus wet sand carried in two
long sausage shaped bags on each side. This is what was used in the
Ultimate Florida challenge. Matt also made two concrete plates that
could be attached on the floor as another form of ballast. Since the
boat is small and the interior space is somewhat limited, I am now
testing the use of about 180 pounds of lead instead of the earlier
methods employed.
Mindy and I used 180 lbs of sand as ballast in Cedar Key, and it
seemed to work well but took up a lot of space. For a week long cruise
like we had in Florida, we may in fact have had a lot less ship's
stores than Matt had aboard for his 3 week long adventure in the
Florida Ultimate Challenge. Therefore, it's quite possible that his
overall ballast was just as high as our own. Nonetheless, I still
prefer ballasting a little more heavily so that our sharpies are less
tippy when all 160 lbs of me is on deck. One thing I noticed right
away was that Enigma was a lot more tippy than either Swamp Thing or
Little Cruiser, and that also may have influenced my decision to
ballast her up some more for our use.
Hi Dave and Dave,
New member here. I have been wondering about the use of lead sheet over the cabin bottom (Enigma460) for a portion of the total ballast. 1/16" sheet is 4# per sq. foot. I guesstimated the cabin area of E460 to be about 20 sq. feet plus or minus. I have used lead sheet stacks for centerboard ballast to avoid melting and casting the stuff. Sheet lead is used in shower pans, as lining for radiation proofing, etc, and is available in a variety of thicknesses. One would have to glass over it, or maybe foam and glass.
Does this make any sense?
Jim Luton
I thought of substituting 1/4" lead sheet for the two concrete ballast planks I removed from the Enigma 360s; however, in the end, I decided to use just lead ballast in the side pockets to keep the floor space clear. You certainly could use the sheet material if you like, just as long as you had a way to secure it down. Another possibility would be to make the chines out of some metal, which would provide both ballast and good impact protection while sailing.
I know I'm jumping the gun here since the plans for the Enigma 460 are
not finalized yet but I was thinking about ventilation and insulation
in the main cabin. Paradox has the vent trunk and the open bulkhead
behind the main cabin. The 460 essentially forms 3 watertight
compartments with the access hatches in place. I was wondering if a
small dorade vent at the front of the main cabin together with leaving
the main hatch slightly open would provide sufficient ventilation.
I was also wondering about adding thin insulation to the inside of the
hull of the Enigma 460 as is done on Paradox. The insulation on the
inside of the hull of the Paradox is somewhat protected with the built
in shelves and bulkheads. It would seem the inside of the Enigma 460's
hull would be more open to people or objects resting against the hull.
This would probably call for an insulation that is compressible such
as the foam that camping mats are made from. For the floor of the main
cabin a thicker mat would probably be needed such as the cushions Dave
and Mindy use on Little Cruiser, or perhaps one of those self
inflating camping mats.
I will be sailing in New England waters so insulation will be
important to me.
Hi Dave,
I just had a visit with Matt last week and ventilation is one thing that we discussed. As designed, Matt has specified a Nicro 500 vent to be mounted in the top of the aft hatch section. (I see that I never provided pictures of the completed hatch system, but perhaps I can do that when I get back to Baja). The forward vent has been more of a question. Matt is suggesting a below deck dorade box. The vent will be as on Paradox, a simple hole in the deck forward of the house. Clean and simple and hopefully lightweight. On the interior, the box will vent into the cabin via a hole in the forward bulkhead. I am still awaiting details. As you might gather, this is a detail that Matt didn’t specify in the prototype plans. I have made the solution a bit more complicated by changing the bulkhead hatches to a larger size, since now there is less space on the bulkhead for the box and vent. It will work out though, and for the time being I have bigger projects to tackle.
It is tempting to add more and more, but the intent of this design is to keep it light and simple. Paradox provides for more built in amenities that increase livability, but the boat is necessarily quite a bit heavier as a result. I keep having to remind myself of this.
Regarding insulation, I am going to proceed without it, but can foresee that it might be desirable in the future for cooler climates. I agree that the polyisocyanurate insulation in Paradox might not be the best for Enigma. The camping matt type insulation seems like a good possibility. Lower R value but soft and likely durable enough for the sides. Maybe something more durable for the floor?
Regards,
George
"...Last time things were very tight aboard Enigma (360) for 2 people so we intend to make some minor changes to the boat to give us a little more space. One of these adjustments is to use lead as our primary ballast. Last time we used sand bags, and the bags took up a lot of precious interior space. This time we intend to use the 1 pound ingots that we bought off of Ebay. These are going to be placed in much smaller bags for a total weight of 12 pounds each. We will most likely need between 14 -16 bags in all, and each one will be secured to the bottom of the boat.
We also intend to make one large custom foam pad to sleep on instead of using two individual thermarest pads. We discovered last time that there wasn't enough beam to fit both of them at once without overlapping them in the middle, which created an uncomfortable ridge. The final change will be the addition of cloth side pockets to store lightweight gear and navigational items like our gps and our vhf radio. In 2008 we packed our gear primarily in dry bags, and we had trouble accessing our stuff quickly since we located our equipment in the bow and the stern compartments to free up the cabin." - Dave & Mindy Jan 2009 www.microcruising.com
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