Vang

Excellent, Just secured a brand new Z-Spars rod kicker/vang from another forumite for a decent price.... It was the one remaining thing preventing me from being completely able to reef from the cockpit..... Unless I ran up onto the foredeck to slacken the kicker, setting a reef in would have been difficult..... but now I can lead the kicker back and let it off to reef.... Superb!

forumites change my weekend plans

I left early Saturday morning, and was at the boat by 10h00. I immediately set too, and had the new treadmaster fitted by midday. I am very pleased with the results.

BEFORE:


AFTER:


I then fitted the new stern light, and replaced the fixings for the spray hood with nice shiny new ones.... Then the forumites started turning up!!!! First Beancounter, then CliveG, then Flying Junior and finally JimDew and his other half Lynne.... Before I knew it the boat was full!!!! We chatted for a couple of hours and then retired to the Lord Nelson, and had a bite to eat, and a slightly larger amount of beer! We were joined by quite a few other forumites, including Sailorman, Yanita, and Kas..... and planned the Oostende trip for the end of May... Jim, Lynne and Flying Junior stopped the night on Maggie, and after we had sampled a particularly nice single malt and gone to bed at 01h00, I slept like a baby... I arose Sunday, cooked a hearty full english breakfast and when everyone had departed at about 10h00ish, I started to get on with a few jobs..... It was however, bitterly cold, and before no time, my hands were frozen, so I packed up and came home... So, I didn't get all my jobs done, but a jooly good weekend was had!

Working weekend

Again, Off down to the boat this weekend.... this blog is begionning to have a monotonous element to it! Plan is to start the storage in the forepeak, so that I can get the wall carpet fitted, and then pick up a number of other smaller jobs..... I want to glue the treadmaster to the deck, over where the old winches were mounted.... I want to try and remove the old windvane mounts and the old autopilot mount (broken!)... I then am aiming to run the 4mm line I have bought up the mast and remove the spinnaker halyard, so that I can wash it... or if this proves too troublesome then i'll fit the bridle to the pole.... Besides this, I am hoping to fit the hatch stay, and also source and fit a gas tap in the galley..... Lots of little jobs now (as well as a few bigger ones), so hopefully the list will start getting shorter a bit quicker.... I am meeting up with a few peeps Saturday night for a drink to discuss the Oostende trip in May, and JimDew and his better half Lynne are stopping over for the night to save a drive home..... and flyingjunior may well drop in sometime in the afternoon..... Better make sure that i've got plenty of bacaon and eggs on board!

Newark

It was wet and cold for the Boat Jumble in Newark, that we've just returned from.... Did however, get a few bargains.... Besides getting 23m of 6mm braid for the luff reefing lines, and 25m of Kevlar 4mm to make a bridle for the spinnaker pole, all of which was less than 50p per metre and all of which I was after, I also got the following bargains:

A sheet of grey treadmaster (to match my existing stuff) for £18... normally £40
A brand new Jimmy Green Danbuoy for £25... normally £50
A pair of Crewsaver oily trousers for C for £15... normally £50
A pair of Holt Allen jammers, with a bridge for £18.... normally £30
A pack of 10 lift-a-dot fittings for £6.... normally £20

I need the jammers for the traveller.... it previously had clamcleats, that were firstly a bit small for the rope, so didn't hold well, secondly were quite worn, so didn't hold well, and finally, to easily kicked out..... so I removed them.... the jammers will be much safer... I also needed the lift-a-dots... the old ones are OK, but looking pretty corroded.... I unscrewed one to check it out, and the thread just disintegrated, so suspect that they would fail shortly anway, so these will give added peace of mind.... So happy with the trip.... and saved quite a bit.... However, more jobs to do!!!!!! As an aside, I have also been working on a plan to raise the boom slightly... I wasv thinking about getting the sail recut to remove 8", and then lift the gooseneck, and re-rivet it higher, but someone suggested to me that I first try taking the outhaul to the flattener cringle, which is about 12" higher up the leach.... I'll also put a tie down round the boom to provide downwards as well as outwards pull, and hopefully that will gain us about 8" or 9" extra height at the cockpit..... sails are off at the moment, so only time will tell..... Also, as a final note... I bumped into Paul (pvr) from the forum at Newark.... hope you sold the tender Paul!

Jumble

Not down at the boat this weekend.... But, there's a boat Jumble on at Newark, and we may well go along.. Need a saloon table top (or a complete table if the dimensions work), plus quite a bit of low stretch rope of about 6 to 8mm for the split reefing lines, soem high strength stuff such as spectra for the pole harness and a bit of thicker stuff for the pole downhaul.... Suspect that I won't get any of that, but will come home with loads of other stuff that I don't need!

productive weekend

A full weekend of work on the boat has seen good progress! Got down to Maggie by 11h00 on Saturday morning, after a visit to the chandlery to buy about £15 of stainless bolts.... boy do they know how to charge for a few bits!!!!! would have been a lot cheaper to buy them on-line, but by the time I'd paid postage, there wouldn't have been a lot in it.... I started by removing the winches on the starboard side.... a lot easier than the port side, as they are over a locker..... by 13h00, they were all removed, and the medium sized one was relocated to the coach roof.... I also removed about 6 cleats and jammers while I was at it.... don't need them... god knows what they were all for.... there were originally more jammers and cleats than control lines! Refitting the main winch proved to be a little more difficult than I had hoped for. The correct location was immediately over the gas locker, which is a seperate box inside the locker. It has only about 1/4 inch clearance between its top and the top of the locker. so besides the obvious issue of getting a spanner in to tighten the bolts, the protuding nuts would also foul the gas locker..... so out it all came, and had to be lowered by 1/2 inch. While it was out, I fitted the winch in place, and then refitted the gas locker, reconnected all the pipes, added seco9nd jubilee clips to douple clip all the pipers while I was at it. By now, it was getting dark, and I just managed to fit the starboard side clutch before light faded to far. I tried to thread the ropes through, but they weren't going to be easy, so for lack of light I gave up for the evening. During the evening, I removed yet more internal trim, and removed all the bolts holding the various u-bolts, winches and cleats from around the base of the mast. With the clutches and everything led back, I only need 1 cleat either side. I wanted to bang out the bolts with a hammer, but it was 22h00, so didn't want to make the noise! Arose at 08h30, and by the time I'd consumed breakfast, and sorted myself out it was 09h30. I went back to threading the ropes through the clutches. It was now that I realised that in the dark, I had fitted the clutches back to front...... ******. Still, the mount holes were symmetrical, so just a 15min job to whip it off and turn it round.... The smaller diameter ropes went straight through and gripped very well. The larger ropes were still being difficult, and the ends being a little frayed, I decided to whip them. This took a while, but in all honesty, worth doing anyway, and when the lines were whipped they went through fairly easily. I then set to with a hammer to remove the fixings unbolted the previuous night. They came off with a bit of brute force, and I just had to be careful with the teak 'wedges' that allowed the winches to be mounted at an angle, to avoid the treadmaster being ripped as they unglued themsleves. By 12h00, they were free, and I set too in mounting the deck orgnaiser on the starboard side. This was relateively pain free until I discovered that the machine screws I had bought weren't long enough. They had to go through about 3/4" of deck organiser, and then 1 1/2" thick coachroof..... she's a solidly built old gal! I eventually managed to find enough bolts from the prevuiously mounted winches, and a bit of effort with a spark plug wire brush had them gleaming, so the deck organiser got fitted. Hoorah.... a completed starboard side. The port side went smoothly, and by 14h00 was completed. the whole set up is much tidier, and now most things can be done from the cockpit. I still need to get a rod kicker and lead it back, otherwise the reefs will be hard to pull in, and I need to buy some rope to manage the front reefing cringles on the luff... otherwise its still a trip to the mast to set the cringles onto the reefing horns...... but all in all a vast improvement. I spent about 45mins sweeping and scrubbing the deck to remove the detritus from the work, and then retired below to re-fix all the trim...this didn't take too long, and soon I was packing my tools away.... try as hard as I might, I couldn't find my adjustable spanner... then it dawned on me. I had taped it to the underside of the coachroof to hold the nut in place while I worked above..... I had replaced the trim inside, and the spanner was still taped up there.... ahh..... It only took me 20mins to retrieve it, and then I swept up and packed up ready to go.... 15h30, and I was off home, knackered, but real progress made....

ebay strikes again....

Bought a little 5Kg Danforth off eBay this week for a fiver.... just a small one to stick in the bottom of a locker for use as a small kedge, or perhaps in extremis as an anchor for the tender... Was also bidding for a saloon table... a nice one made from teak, but got outbid at the last minute..... back to plan B..... unless another pops up, then it'll be making one myself..... plenty of time yet though... Down to the boat this weekend to get a few more jobs done.... plan is to get the starboard winches moved.... as previously said, should be a lot easier than the port side because access is much better.... if I get time, then I am also hoping to fit the deck organisers and clutches, but that depends upon the availability of the appropriate stainless bolts at the chandlers.... I have a piece of steel handy from which I can make a suitable load spreading backplate.... it'll be hidden behind the headlining, so I am just going to liberally plaster it in Hammerite to provide some durability! SWMBO managed to get some really nice canvas hanging tidies from Tesco earlier this week... very strong, and for the massively reduced price of £1.99 each!! I was wondering about whether they could use them instead of making storage units in the forepeak, but try as I might, I can't see a practical way of fitting them in a useable position.... So.... the other challenge is to measure up the forepeak for the storage units.... and then I can make up the bases..... another visit to trial fit them, and then by the next time I am down, I should be able to start making them up..... OK.. what else can I do?..... Perhaps start fixing the batten to the forepeak for the storage units... an epoxy job.... and fix back down a couple of pieces of trim that have come loose.... measure up the small shelf under the galley stowage units... I am going to shelve it, with a couple of drawers... could start making them at home.... Perhaps start removing the old broken autopilot mount, and the two old wind steering vane mounts..... I guess that there is also quite a bit to be done in removing the old winches from the coachroof that have previously been used for reefing, and will no longer be needed when the clutches are in.... The list goes on and on...... good job I enjoy this stuff isn't it!