Lacuna
1970 Aquarius 23
#231
Lacuna's specifications
(This page is under construction. Please stand by.)
Lacuna is an Aquarius 23, hull #231, manufactured in 1970 by Coastal Recreation, Inc., of California. Dennis Todd and Ed Moye have owned her since 1990. She's carried them around Vancouver Island; throughout Puget Sound, the San Juan Islands, and the Gulf Islands; down the Columbia River from Richland, Washington, to Astoria, Oregon; and on many aimless miles on her home waters, Fern Ridge Reservoir, near Eugene, Oregon. Her most recent adventure was the Inside Passage from Olympia to Glacier Bay and back.
The A-23 was designed by Peter Barrett, a champion small-boat racer, to be a family-friendly sailboat that could be easily operated and transported. It features a capacious interior, light weight, simple rigging, removeable inboard rudder, lead ballast encapsulated in a shallow keel, and a retractable centerboard. While retaining the best of these features, we have made many modifications to improve her performance, comfort, and safety.
(click here for a larger image)
A-23 brochure (.pdf, 6.3 MB)
Dimensions
length overall 22' 8"
waterline length 21' 2"
beam 7' 11"
draft 13"/4' 7" (centerboard and rudder up/down)
interior cabin height 4' 11"
displacement 2,280 pounds
displacement/length ratio 105
sail area/displacement ratio 23
ballast 815 pounds (includes 165-pound centerboard)
working sail area 248 sq. ft. (143 sq. ft. main, 105 sq. ft. jib); spinnaker 276 sq. ft.
Features
Rudder: The rudder shaft is mounted in a removeable box that is fitted into a trunk in the aft cockpit sole. This placement has both advantages and disadvantages when compared with a stern-mounted rudder. Advantages include the ability to mount the outboard motor directly on the stern on centerline, keeping the weight more centered and forward than in other small sailboats with stern-hung rudders, where the outboard is mounted on a bracket off the centerline. Lacuna's rudder is balanced, allowing a light touch on the helm, contrasting with the often heavy feel of an unbalanced, stern-hung rudder. The short distance between the centerboard and rudder enables her to maintain control even when perched atop a steep wave and to turn sharply when needed.
Disadvantages to this design include the inability of the rudder to kick up when striking sunken objects, the necessity of wrestling the rudder, box, and tiller assembly out of the boat before loading Lacuna on her trailer, and until recently, a persistent leak when motoring near hull speed (the joint between the top of the trunk and the cockpit sole is a known trouble spot in this design).
The Aquarius 23 has a deep stern cutout for the motor, which allows the cockpit to drain quickly if the stern is pooped by a wave. The rudder box has two vertical slots that act as cockpit drains, making the cockpit self-bailing. They also allow water to flow into the cockpit when the stern squats into the water, as it does when motoring fast or when sailing hard with half a dozen people on board. This water found its way through a few small, persistent leaks between the top of the trunk and the deck and ran down inside the hull to pool on the cabin sole. In 2006, I finally corrected this by excavating all the original fiberglass filler and balsa wood around the top of the trunk, letting it dry thoroughly, then filling the cavity with West System epoxy and high-strength adhesive filler.
The bridgedeck is almost as high as the stern cutout, reducing the likelihood that the cockpit could flood the cabin. Three mahogany wash boards fit into teak channels around the companionway.
We converted the large pop-top hatch to a slider by installing stainless steel angle flanges along the lower outboard edges of the hatch. The flanges slide in grooves milled in 1.5" X 1.5" clear oak rails installed the length of the cabintop aft of the mast.
Rig: The A-23 is tender, allowing her rig to be light. The fractionally-rigged mast has no spreaders, which makes raising and lowering the mast easier, but lacks the self-reefing feature of spreader-induced mast bend when gusts hit. It's equipped with a Strong Track mast track and slides, which greatly reduces friction when raising or lowering the mainsail.
We contrived a mast-raising system that allows us to raise or lower the mast using a genoa sheet winch, jib halyard, spinnaker pole, and system of lines to stabilize the mast as it goes up. A single person can raise or lower the mast in less than an hour.
Unlike some A-23s, Lacuna has lower shrouds and a backstay (split above the transom and anchored to stern chainplates). The shroud chainplates are bolted to the inside of the hull. Sealing the chainplates where they pass through the deck has been a persistent problem--every sealant we've tried has eventually failed.
All running rigging can be operated from the cockpit. The mainsail has three sets of reef points. The first and second reef can be taken in from the safety of the cockpit; the third, which we've never used, would require a man on the cabin top. A downhaul line on the headsail makes it possible to douse sail completely from the cockpit. As the wind rises, we go to the foredeck and hank on a smaller headsail to balance the reefed main. In heavy weather, we rig jacklines on both sides and clip into them or a strong padeye in the cockpit.
Mainsheet: The original mainsheet rigging was minimalist, consisting of a sheave on one stern quarter, a double block at the end of the boom, and a sheave and cam cleat on the other quarter. I won't go into its many faults, but after several iterations we came up with a mainsheet system that is easy to use from any place in the cockpit with either rail to weather. It's an efficient system with a centerline pull on the end of the boom.
The crossbar is 7/8" stainless steel tubing with fittings made for dodgers. At its ends, pushpins hold it to anchors, permitting quick removal when the rudder must be pulled. The Harken ratcheting block has become one of our most prized pieces of equipment. It allows easy mainsheet control no matter how big the wind gets.
Like many small yachts of the vintage, Lacuna was originally reefed by rolling the boom. This system precluded the installation of a vang. After we set up slab reefing, we installed a block-and-tackle vang with 4:1 purchase, giving us better control of sail shape.
Hatches, ports, and deadlights: Lacuna has two opening hatches, one on the foredeck and the other in the aft cabin bulkhead. A small hatch in the port side panel of the cockpit footwell allows access to the pressure water outlet. A solar vent is installed over the head compartment during extended periods of idleness but removed from the path of the sliding hatch before sailing.
Her original deadlights were plexiglass in aluminum frames. No matter how we tried, we couldn't get them to stop leaking. When we repainted Lacuna in 1998, we replaced them with surface-mount smoked acrylic deadlights screwed to the cabin sides, giving her a more modern look. Vinyl rain gutters helped bring leakage almost to zero.
We laminated mahogany frames for the inside and finished them with high-gloss varnish. They are certainly more attractive than the corroded aluminum frames they replaced!
boom tent: In 2005, Eric Olsen helped me make a two-part boom tent of Odyssey III 6.5- oz. reinforced with Shelter-Rite 18-oz. coated polyester.The tent, supported by three heavy-duty aluminum collapsing tent poles, ties to stanchions and other fixed points. The front half alone provides enough shelter to leave the main hatch open in most conditions. I spent many happy hours in its shelter watching the rain while swinging at anchor. The zip-off aft half provides complete shelter for the cockpit and privacy at the dock. It was one of my most valued accessories on the Inside Passage, providing a rare opportunity to stand upright on Lacuna without getting rained on.
paint: In a two-month ordeal in which we sometimes resembled space-suit clad miners working on Mars or Venus, Ed and I painted Lacuna (1998). After renting a capacious shop, we stripped her of everything removeable above the waterline: fittings, hardware, ports, hatches, mast step, stanchions, rubrail, and pulpit. After de-waxing the surfaces and scraping off the loose flakes of gelcoat, we sanded and ground the gelcoat down to a solid surface. We filled larger voids with West System epoxy and #404 high density filler then faired the surface with epoxy and #410 microlight filler.
We inspected all through-deck holes for core rot. We used an L-shaped nail driven by a cordless drill as a router to grind out any soft fibers. We filled the cavity with epoxy and #404 and re-drilled the hole before installing the hardware.
We took everything out of the interior and wire-brushed and sanded the flaking paint a previous owner had applied (before then, a crawl back under the cockpit would inevitably lead one to be festooned with peeled paint flakes). After the interior and exterior were prepared, we hired professional painters to apply the paint. One sprayed the hull and topsides with two-part Awlgrip white epoxy primer (D8001) and Awlgrip Egg Shell White (H8015). Another painter applied Awlgrip Ice Blue (H5004) on the nonskid and trim and brushed the interior with Pettit Easypoxy gloss white one-part polyurethane. Given the toxicity of the solvents and the cost of the Awlgrip, we felt they earned their pay.
While re-installing the hardware and fittings, we replaced the backing plates under the stanchions (leaks had turned the plywood backing plates pulpy), winches, and other high-load applications with plates made of high density polyethylene. Relying primarily on Boat Life Life-Calk,we re-bedded all the deck fittings. We replaced the aluminum-framed deadlights with surface-mouned smoked deadlights with mahogany frames inside, sealed with silicone.
Bottom paint: blue West Marine CPP ablative antifouling paint.
radar/chartplotter: JRC Radar1800 color radar/chartplotter with 12" radome mounted on Seaview mast platform. (2005) This unit can hold two C-Map cartridges. I put it on a swing-arm mount so it can be seen from the cockpit or the cabin. Although I didn't put many hours on this unit because of its high electrical consumption, it was well worth its keep when I needed it. It allowed safe passage when fog obscured all detail. I would have used the chartplotter more if it weren't integrated with the energy-sucking radar. Even in standby mode, the radar's draw was substantial. The screen is easily scratched. The operating procedures were sometimes frustrating, especially in route planning.
battery charger: Xantrex Truecharge 10A three-stage, two-bank charger (2000). This unit provides almost worry-free battery maintenance. When the batteries are deeply discharged, it will charge them at a high rate, then will reduce the voltage as they approach full charge. When they are fully charged, it applies a low charge to keep them topped up. It isolates the two deep-cycle 12V batteries and charges each as needed.
solar panels: Lacuna has three flexible solar panels and a charge regulator (2000) that, like the Xantrex, has three charging stages, from deep charge to maintenance, for two isolated batteries. We usually place the panels on the sliding hatch and hold them in place with light bungee cord, but the panels can be placed almost anywhere on the boat for optimum solar exposure.
depth sounder: HDR600 (2000)
tillerpilot: Raymarine ST1000+ (2005)
Tiller Tamer, tiller extension
knotmeter: Kenyon 6100 (not operational)
pressure water: Plastimo 13.2-gallon flexible water tank under vee-berth, Scandvik recessed shower head in cockpit, pump, accumulator (2005)
anchors: Fortress danforth-style (2000), Lewmar Claw (2005), 40' chain, 250' nylon rode, bow roller (2005), rode bag
heater
outboard: Honda BF8A (2004)
dinghy: 17' Sevylor Ocean Kayak, self-bailing
shore power: Marinco 120V-30A stainless steel power inlet, 25' 30A shore power cord w. adapters for 15A and 20A outlets, 30A breaker, one GFI-protected outlet in the cabin, switched feed to battery charger.
safety gear
riding sail
mainsail: Full-batten (Waagmeister, 1993), with three sets of reef points. Converted to Strong Track sliders by North Sails Portland (2006).
headsails: Storm jib (1993), heavy-weather jib (Mack Sails, 2000), working jib (Mack Sails, 2000), 145% genoa (North Sails, 2006), original spinnaker.
12V electrical system: two deep-cycle batteries isolated by a Guest 3100 battery selector switch.
fuel tank: 26-gallon aluminum tank, Racor fuel filter/water separator (2005)
reefing system
head: Sealand SaniPottie with built-in holding tank, plumbed through a three-way diverter valve to a deck fill for pump-out and to a macerator for overboard discharge (2001)
bilge pump (2005)
lights
radios: VHF, handheld VHF, AM-FM cassette (1999)
compass: Plastimo MiniContest (1998)
navigation equipment
chart locker: Lacuna has over a hundred pounds of charts, guides, atlases, and books. Click here to go to her library page.
