Checklists

My dad and I went out for a nice little sail on Friday afternoon.  Just a little wind, about 7 knots, and I only unrolled the 150 – didn’t even bother to raise the main.  We only stayed out about 45 minutes but with the modern convenience of roller furling, not to mention having most other gear optimised and in its place (and a good checklist), we were able to get underway in about five minutes.  Stowing everything when we were done, including flushing the engine, took just a little more time than that.

I told my wife when we bought this boat that I wanted a fast, seaworthy, comfortable, daysailer.  The C&C is certainly capable of significant coastal if not ocean passages but my main focus has been to keep it clean, uncluttered, and light with most gear set up and in it’s place for quick and easy use.

For a quick daysail I check the oil, disconnect shore power, start the engine, and cast off.  When I’m done I connect the hose to the flush connection and run the engine for about five minutes while I reconnect shore power.

There’s still a bunch of stuff to forget.  They are mostly trivial items such as “stow companionway locks under steps” but they do need to be done and, under some conditions, undone trivial items can add up and cause real problems.

The CnCPhotoAlbum has brochures online for most C&C models.  From one of those brochures I was able to get a deck plan and cabin layout that I could import into a Word document.  I put the text of the checklist into the Word document, along with the pictures, and drew lines (in Word) to the relevant area of the boat that the checklist item refers to.  I printed a startup and a shutdown list and posted them on the bottom side of the chart table.

I tried to imagine the instructions someone un-familiar with the boat would need.  Not only did I include the item, such as “remove pedestal cover…” but I tried to include enough information to get the job done, such as “…and store it in the quarterberth.”   I’ve observed problems that guests and family had with various pieces of gear and added notes to help out when possible.  I also included a small bit of history of the boat’s design from the naval architect for the curious guests.