SV Gallant Fox

Scallops and Risotto

The essence of propane cookery is learning to use low heat.  This lends itself well to seafood, which does not need a high heat to brown food in a stove top dish.  Also, it works well since it uses just a bit of propane.  We carry a 10 week supply of propane on board.  However, if I cooked a two hour stew or baked every night, we would have a 10 day supply.  This dish requires about 20 minutes of propane usage.  I know - you are suppose to use a pressure cooker on a boat.  Or a crock pot!  Don't even mention pressure cookery in my presence.  I know folks who cooked everything in a pressure cooker.  Yes it is fast, and probably works well for tough cuts of meat - but it makes everything taste like mushy food.

I am not even sure how I made this dish, because I was so busy making sure the wine I was going to use in it was OK - but here goes.  Make your risotto.  If you have never made risotto before, go find a recipe, there are thousands.  I usually fry up some arborio rice with shallots in a little butter and olive oil (1 cup rice to 1-2 tbl oil/butter).  If there are no shallots use a bit of onion and garlic (after all, they are related).  Then deglaze with about 1/4 cup of wine, and add your stock, usually chicken (2 cups).  This can be out of a can, or homemade, or both.  Add a little stock and stir, boil, add stock stir and boil, till it is done ( 20 min).  At this point i usually add some fresh herbs - usually parsley, since I keep that around, and a bit of grated Parmesan cheese.  Cover and set aside.

Scallops are quite easy.  Wash, season, and dredge in flour, then fry at a high heat  (for propane) in olive oil and butter, for about 1-2 minutes.  Set aside and tent with foil.  For this dish, I made a sauce of roasted peppers, pine nuts, kalamata olives, and capers.  I made this sauce since this stuff was sitting around on the boat, and I had gotten too blasted to make anything more complicated.  Fry up a little shallot in the pan you just cooked the scallops in, deglaze with wine.  Throw in all of the above prepared ingredients, add a bit of butter to thicken  (1 tablespoon) and pour it over the scallops after placing them on the rice.  Don't forget to add in the juice that has come off of the scallops to the pan sauce.  This is a nicely bitter sauce, that balances out well with the sweet rich taste of the scallops.  The pine nuts give it a nutty smooth edge.  Use about a 1/2 - 1tablespoon of each ingredient, so as not to overpower the scallops.  The green stuff around the edge is some baby spinach that was quickly braised in the same pan as the scallop sauce, after the sauce was poured over the dish, and sprinkled around the edge of the plate for color contrast.

     Galley with the usual suspects - small pots!

This dish looks pretty fancy, but it is made in a one quart sauce pan and an 8 inch skillet, and uses about 6-8 ingredients.  It takes a bit of technique in the galley, but is not hard to prepare.

Bilge Pump

The Malo 39 is a dry boat.  That is - water does not seem to run into it all of the time like my old Hunter 34.  All of the typical places where water use to leak in don't exist.  The shaft seal is oil based, so does not need water as a lubricant, and there seems to be minimal condensation in the bilge. Also, the toe rail does not leak.  So, with this in mind, the bilge pump Malo installs drains the sump at the aft base of the keel.  This sump is pretty deep - so if all of the water decided to run out of the engine - it would end up in this sump.  This bilge pump also functions as a shower drain - just to give you an idea of its capacity - which is about 2-3 gal per minute.  Not really much of a bilge pump.

Malo also installed a wonderful high capacity manual bilge pump with a 1 1/2" hose that ran from the bottom of the bilge to a 1 1/2" stern outlet.  This was the perfect arrangement, but was dedicated to the hand pump.

I knew this was a problem when ordering the boat, but again, there did not seem to be much to do about it.  So, I decided to install a bilge pump after about six months of ownership.  I wanted this automatic, so there was some hope that if something blew out while we was away, the boat would have some chance of not sinking.  This idea about the boat not sinking became very important to me - I realized that MS would be very upset if this happened, and I would probably be in a lot of trouble- so I devoted about three months to the comedy of errors that was this upgrade.

Malo constructs a little ledge in the keel that seemed about right for the Rule 3700 - this was the biggest pump I could get in there.  It takes about 17 amps, is rated at 20, and claims to pump about 3700 gal per hour.  Practical Sailor tested this pump with about 3 feet of head on it, came up with the amp rating, and found that it pumped about 2000 gal an hour.  That's pretty good, only 1700 gal per hour less than Rule claimed!!   It would take care of inflow from a 2-3" hole in the boat - the failure of one thru-hole.  The problem was, how to exhaust the water from the pump -  its takes a 1 1/2 inch hose.

Here is the Rule with the water sensor.  The water has to raise up above the pump, and hit the sensor.  It was a little exciting when I was flooding the bilge to see how this would work - I made sure that MS was not due home soon......

A slightly different view of the pump in the bilge.  This is about 2 feet down from the sole.  I mounted the pump on a piece of wood first that was cut from a template, then glued it down.

The best info I have found about bilge pumps is from Nigel Calder.  Several things create problems for bilge pump installation, according to his rules.  First, no check valves to inhibit flow. Second, no taping into deck scuppers or dedicated hull outlets - since this could backflow into the pump in all kinds of circumstances, and, would require a check valve.  Then there is the head issue, and diminished capacity based on the number of 90 degree turns.  When I had reread his stuff about a dozen times, I decided it might be best to get a couple of buckets, and always keep a few scared sailors around....

My first attempt at the installation was stringing 40 feet of 1 1/2" bilge hose from the pump and tying it into the stern bilge exhaust with a tee fitting.   All of this white hose ran from the sump through the port and aft lazerette.  This sort of worked, but was a silly, stupid installation that took many holes and several weeks of time.  When I was done I felt like an idiot, and went back to the drawing board.

I then came up with the bright idea of taping into the existing hose, and exiting the water through the hand pump.  This was a diaphragm pump with, naturally, a check valve in it.  Anyway, I was at a loss, so decided to try it.  Nowhere could I find a reason why this would not work.

  Here is the "y" junction tapped into the original Malo bilge exhaust line.  You  might notice that I ran out of hose clamps for double clamping - need to fix that someday...                  

I used a garden hose to try and flood the boat, and the pump kept up fine.  The existing hose from Malo runs right along the base of the boat and out the stern - there is very little head, which probably helped.  I was only flooding with about 500 gal per hour, though.

A major problem was getting the pump to drain the water out completely, and not recycle water as it backflowed into the bilge.  This was solved by installing a switch that used a water based sensor to activate the pump, and had an eight second delay - this allowed the pump to completely exit the water from the bilge.  I also remembered to test the manual pump - it still worked!

Here is the auto bilge pump switch.  There is also an Aqua-alarm bilge monitor down there in the bilge, but that is another story.  Wiring is 10 gauge, run directly off of the main bus with an in-line 20 amp fuse.

In hindsight - I would have asked Malo to install a separate drain line for a high capacity pump, which they would have been happy to do and would have been quite easy at the time.  I have a small amount of comfort with this pump, (probably amount as much as I have with any electrical appliance on which my life might depend), which seems to work quite well, and maybe would handle a failed thru-hull if we were off of the boat.

Battery Box Upgrade

Ah batteries - we can't live with them and we can't live without them.  The 12 volt lifestyle can be can be quite liberating. After all, you have all of this modern stuff with you and you are running it off of a battery.  Or you are using this magic box to convert 12dc volts to 110ac - then running other things like DVD and TV and computer.  The batteries, however, need careful attention to mounting, since you don't want 500 pounds of lead flying around when things get rough.

Malo sent the boat with what they claimed to be about 280 amp hours.  That might have been the factory rating, but in actually usage it was under 250.  This might give you a usable range of about 100 amps.   These euro batteries were quite lite for their rating, and they sucked dry very quickly.  One day at anchor in the Northwest, running the heater, would suck them dry.  I knew this was an issue when ordering the boat, and had intended to upgrade the batteries all along, so this was my first major project on the boat.

The factory battery box was a beautiful fiberglass box mounted under the forward settee next to the mast.  It had all of the electrical fuses on it.  First step was to disconnect this wiring, carefully marking all of the lines and circuits.  Getting the batteries out was easy, they did not weight much more than 80 pounds each.

Next, I constructed a new box out of plywood and fiberglass, built into the boat.  I glassed in a 3/4 panel for the bottom, and 1/2 inch for the sides.  This was all taped into the hull and waterproofed.  The box was designed to hold 3 4D gel batteries.  They weighed in at 470 pounds, and would give me 525 total amp hours.  Hard to believe, but this was just barely enough to power the cruising lifestyle.

When installed, the batteries caused the boat to slightly list to port.  This was balanced out by moving 5 cases of beer and wine into the starboard lazerette.

The batteries are held down by nylon webbing on stainless ratchets.  They are mounted to padeyes that go through the bulkhead, and underneath the deck.  It took me a while to engineer this hold down system, but they are now completely secured.  All of the cables were remounted on the side of the box after it was painted with gelcoat.

Malo had installed a great little ventilator hose for acid batteries.  I left this in place, even though it is not needed for gel, because these batteries will die in some out of the way place where I can only get lead/acid batteries.

How do I know this - simple - just plan for the worst, and maybe things will be better.....

This was a big, stinky job.  There is just barely enough space to get these batteries in.  To date it has worked out OK.  I still need to get the labels on all of the cables, but now I have messed with the boat so much, I know which ones are which.

The completed box.  The black bands are the nylon straps.  There is one set that go around the front of the batteries to hold them snug against the bulkhead.

How I became the propane chef

Enter the Propane Chef with a RANT.

Back when Marianne and myself had a big house in Seattle, we used to entertain a lot.  We had Christmas Parties, Thanksgiving, summer parties for 20 -30.  Private dinner parties for group of four to  six to eight with 3-5 courses.  I used to cook for all of these, sometimes spending days in the kitchen.  I once prepared  food for 60 people at a martial arts seminar.  I cooked food for the office and had them over (Bar B Q for 20).  This was a lot of fun, and cost a lot of money.  A few years before we moved on board, I realized that of all the hundreds of people I had entertained, only half a dozen or so had invited me to their house and fixed me a meal.  Suddenly, I realized that I had been had, but it took me 12 years to figure it out.  I don't do big parties anymore.  My thanks to all those who invited me into their home and gave me a drink.  To the others, may you always attend potlucks where there is noting to eat but chips and stale French bread. 

All of this cooking, though, really improved my culinary skill.  I could do Southwestern, Northwest, South American, or Southern, with barely the flip of a pan.  I had dozen of cookbooks.  I had huge pots to cook stock in all day.  Giant cast iron skillets.  Rows of spoons and knifes. 

So - I was prepared to become the propane chef.  However, the first act of the newly born chef was to store all of this kitchen gear away.  You don't need it and can't store it on a boat - although some try.  Remember, you are living a life of essential elements - that is the key.

What, you may ask, is the propane chef about. 

Well - its all about cooking well, living the good life, on a sailboat.  Just because you have downsized your life, gotten rid of all of the above mentioned stuff, and moved onto a sailboat, it does not mean you have to eat off plastic plates and make nothing but one pot meals.

The propane chef is about finally having time to cook. Not that I didn't make time before - its just now it is real time, not stolen from some other task.  Contrary to popular belief in the media, it takes time to cook.  Not a lot of time, but more time than most people are  willing to donate to it. 

But hey- you live on a sailboat, you have time, there are no yards to mow, gardens to water, etc.

Second rule of the propane chef is that you don't cook unless you are drinking.  Fine wine is best to drink while you cook, and I prefer champagne in the morning.  It does not matter the time of day, as long as you are not casting off.  I prefer a martini or two later in the afternoon, however, but they tend to ruin the timing of a quick saute.

Hopefully, these posts will be about cooking all over the world.  The different ingredients you can find, the style of the chefs and local cuisine, and how the locals cook.  It takes time to find these things, and I hope to have it.  No sailing around the world for this boy - I Will be too busy looking for the next mole'.

The propane chef at work - he has been in his cups too long while in the galley.  He truly intends to give the "Galloping Gourmet" a run for his money.  ( Not the new dry G. Kerr, but the young drunken one who helped inspire me when I was 8 years old).

Here is the happy diner, wondering what will be for dinner tonight.

      

  Here is one view of the galley. 

This is a propane stove.  It has two burners of about 5,000 BTU.  There is room for one 12 inch pot and one 8 inch pot, plus an oven.  (more on the oven later). That level of low heat necessitates a completely different cooking style.  Thus is born the Propane Chef. 

Windlass Upgrade

Our beautiful Malo 39 cane with a windlass, but alas, the windlass did not work.  Oh, it pulled up the chain OK, but every third time it snagged on the chain stripper.  It was only later we found out why.  The Swedish Cruising Club has installed 5000 mooring buoys in Sweden.  This is probably more than in the entire US.  No wonder the windlass did not work - nobody at Malo had ever dropped an anchor!

Here is a picture of the box, with the windlass siting on top of it.  It is fabricated out of 3/16 316 stainless steel.

The real issue was an innovative design that mounted the windlass on its side on a vertical surface - the side of the anchor locker, and installed a custom chain stripper.  This would seemingly work, until it self destructed by fouling.  We destroyed several chain strippers, each of heaver steel sent to us by Malo, and each was destroyed.  Malo fixed this problem by mounting the windlass horizontally in the Malo 41.  But how to fix our problem.  We owe the solution to Bob Charleston - who designed a steel box that would mount under the windlass, and allow it to be held horizontally.

Here is the box mounted in the anchor locker.

This was a pretty good solution.  We subsequently mounted the chain roller, supplied by Malo, from the box to the bow.  This gives the unit a very unified construction. 

The windlass power cables had to be extended, to reach into the box.  The box does have weepholes in it.  Their was some concern with corrosion, since the windlass is aluminum and the box is steel. This was solved by making a gasket and sealing it tight with silicon.  The anchoring system now works perfectly at its highest speed.  The solution was two year in the making, though, and cost about $1,000 cash.  Our thanks to Bob Charleston for the idea.

We still needed a way of deploying a secondary anchor.  Mikel Locatel came up with this idea for a bow roller:

This roller - a beautiful piece of custom metalwork by Malo, creates a fairlead for a rope rode to the capstan.  Malo calls it the "American Type".  We raised the windlass in the locker a bit through installation of the box, which gave it a better lead.

Finally, we upsized our anchor from a 44 pound to a 66 pound Bruce.  This is one size bigger then the specification provided by Bruce for our boat size.  We have it on 220 feet of 8 mm chain (5/16" ).

Here is the finished look.  Our secondary is a FX-37 aluminum anchor, with 25 feet of 5/16 chain and 150 feet of 5/8" rope rode.  This rides in the bilge in a stowage bag.  We carry 600" of 5/8" yachtbraid (in two 300' sections) than can be shackled on in an emergency to extend the rode.