I made a grave mistake when we first bought Harried Potter. My Admiral is deathly terrified of water, and thus almost equally afraid of heeling. I reassured her that Potters do not normally heel over as far as other sailboats, due to its flatter hull and hard chines. “How far over does it heel safely?” she wanted to know. “Oh, about 15°,” I answered.
I sure set myself up there. Ever since, she has wanted me to install a tilt gauge that was easier for her to see than the tiny red lines on the compass that came with our P-19 —simply so that she would know when it was time to panic. I looked for one whenever picking up other sailing parephenalia, but could never find one in stock. Finally, I spotted a fairly inexpensive model at West Marine: a “Lev-O-Gauge” with bright white lines and numbers.
To install it, I had to do a bit of thinking. How could I make sure that I got it truly level? I don't think that there is a flat piece of ground anywhere on our property. Trying to install it while on the water wouldn’t really work either, since a boat will inevitably bob up-and-down, side-to-side, no matter how calm the doldrums.
It occurred to me that I would first have to determine what should be level on the boat, at least in theory, and then install the “heel-o-meter” along that same line. I therefore decided to use the flattest, horizontal surface on Harried Potter that I could find: the bottom ridge of the gangway. I set up the cockpit table and placed the level from my toolkit along its rear edge, as shown below on the left.
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On the right above you can see that the level's bubble is slightly to the right, barely touching the second, small line. As I suspected, our patio apparently tips that much to the left.
I therefore held the level up against the cabin wall where I wanted to install the heel-o-meter, and tipped it until the bubble was in the same position. I could then stick the heel-o-meter onto the gelcoat by placing its flat top against the bottom of the level, as seen below on the left.
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On the right above, you can see the heel-o-meter installed directly underneath the compass on the starboard side. I had originally intended to put it on the opposite wall, but then decided that I didn’t want it in the way when adjusting all the lines led aft to the cockpit on the port side.
| Sure enough, both instruments show that Harried Potter tips just slightly to the left on our patio —but the heel-o-meter’s reading is much easier to see. The photo on the left shows a close-up, with the heel-o-meter’s small metal ball indicating an angle of about 2° to port.
I can predict that, when we’re under sail, my Admiral will be watching that tiny ball like a hawk. Will this help assuage her trepidation? Maybe... but I’m not gonna hold my breath. Instead, the only real change will be that, when an errant gust hits, I will henceforth hear a rather loud alarm: “We’re up to 20°!!!” |
