Seasickness has tainted my wife’s enjoyment of boating. We addressed this on our previous boat by fitting Humphree Interceptors. These replace trim tabs and work like a guillotine, coming down parallel to the transom. The blades are short and wide so they don’t need to travel more than a few cms, meaning they are able to adjust quickly, on a wave-to-wave basis. On my current boat (a Mitchell 28 with a semi-displacement hull), I was getting quite a bit of roll in a beam sea, so I needed to help mitigate that. But Interceptors were expensive to buy and I couldn’t fit them myself. And then the new Humphree Lightning system arrived. The motor was contained in the Interceptor itself, there were no big holes to cut in the transom, the setup was said to be straightforward and critically, it was an affordable option for small boats.
THE INITIAL PREP
I bought a Lightning package with all the functions you would expect (auto trim, pitch, roll, list and coordinated turn) plus the underwater lights option. When the box arrived, I downloaded the instructions and spent a few days planning the installation. I had to decide if I was going to drill the 18mm transom hole for the wiring above the waterline or below it. Covers are provided for the wire if you go high, but as the wire outlet is not in the centre, I avoided asymmetry and went for the below-waterline fitting.
This story is from the December 2023 edition of Motor Boat & Yachting UK.
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This story is from the December 2023 edition of Motor Boat & Yachting UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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Lofoten or Bust- Part 4- Grandezza owner Per Harrtoft heads back to Sweden after an epic 3500nm adventure deep into the Arctic Circle to visit the mythical Lofoten islands
After ten memorable days in the Lofoten Islands in the far north of Norway, we are on our way back south towards Sweden. We have already made it as far as Trondheim, a charming place even if it was raining so hard we had to cycle round the city centre clutching umbrellas. But now we are back on board Deamare, our Grandezza 40 Fly, eating up the miles at a steady 31 knots.
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