Busy

 Looking busy out there. One is pointing straight at us with a 90% probability of becoming cyclonic. 

 

In the mean time UK Steve has done a sail with nice report and US Steve is prepping for one. The latter Steve may get wet...

Arrived at Hilton Head

 She is home again:

Gannet has reached Hilton Head over land. Soon she will be masted and slid into the water.

Gannet is moving...

She is being trucked across the USA to her new berth at Hilton Head.

More about Webb Chiles' boat can be read here:

https://self-portraitinthepresentseajournal.blogspot.com/

Sturdy tiller extension

 
The capsize story started with the breaking off of the rubber joint of the tiller extension. With a cut-up broomstick, stained and whipped with some painted braid, the stainless steel universal joint is as strong as it gets:

Stainless steel universal joint

 

In combination with the new deck seating this will arrange for a much safer, better and more comfortable sail... I hope.

 

Tiller extension

Snotter

Funny word... 

 Triggered by Steve's post I did some work on the same thing.

The mizzen mast had an eye for a short line to act as the snotter. That eye's rivets started to let go. So after some spying on other Welsford builders I got the right idea:

Much stronger setup. With the block on the boom end I will be able to control the sail shape even better from cockpit. 

Some surgery

 No more backtracking. It is done. Cannot undo this ever...

Water never comes close to the coaming where the helmsman sits. But the helmsman would like to sit on the deck and have better view of the water and gusts, and hang out a when needed with his feet in the foot straps. But the coaming makes that position very uncomfortable. So finally I let the jigsaw rip. Once it is painted up and finished we will not remember how it was.

This is the intent:

Very comfortable fit/sit.

First you can view the fitting of the new 2.5hp Mercury engine, which was laying around for 2 years without being used. Next the cutting away of the port side coaming followed by the starboard coaming. I had to do this quick before any doubting would sabotage this project.

A small ridge was left so that wash water does not trickle in too easy and also to have just that small ridge to feel when sitting on deck.

A new GoPro7 Silver was tried out with a time lapse video. The short video shows the result of the rough cut next. The an epoxy session can be seen. Nothing dramatic, just logging in video form. 

Note: Previous videos in this post were deleted by YouTube for some unknown reason. So I made a small movie using moviemaker of Windows. The quality is less than perfect but good enough.  The filesize was below 100Mb so the video file was inserted straight into the blog.

Updated Note: YouTube quickly reinstated the removed video after I contested the deletion. The video in this post has been updated with this one because its quality is much better.  Hopefully in the future YouTube will allow me to post more videos.

Into practice

Last vacation day was invested in boat projects. I have a few of those after the last trip... Just no more vacation days. Evenings and weekends will do just fine. Nothing like messing around in boats... Especially if your own ship gets made better.

Storage, short term and medium term needs some attention. No more lose items and things lying around in the boat while sailing. For that i need an easily accessible space with hatch opening.

A larger hole aft was sawed out around the existing round inspection hole. The hole gives access to a wet locker. It does not get good use because of the poor current access. The twist lid is a pain to open quickly and close. And it is just not easy to find what you need inside through a small hole. 

The new rectangular hatch has a single lever which closes it over a rubber sealed strong frame. 

What I am happy about was the quality of workmanship around the existing round hole. No voids.  No water could get through that hole. If the lid was twisted closed...

5200 was probably used. Butyl tape is used these days. 

In the background the rectangular new unit can be seen with the cut doublers.

Epoxy is drying on all the bare plywood pieces.

The second scope is the jib sheet setup. Specifically the clam cleats. Under tension these are stuck and require me moving inwards and using two hands to release sheet. Not good in an emergency. It has happened a.few times already but after last sail that's it. I watched how Steve (the Englishman sailing ARWEN) and others have their sheets setup and decided the following would be simpler and safer:

What you see is the dry fitted inside of the port seat. The sheet runs along the outside of the coaming and then bends inwards through a single block, through a hole in the coaming straight to the helmsman's position:

The sheet makes less bends like this. To be cleated the sheet needs to be pushed down into the clam cleat. To release sheet an easy pull suffices.

As mentioned before, the ss universal joint for the tiller extension has been purchased. The extension needs to be a nice piece of wood... 

Also the Hobie Bob unit has been ordered. This particular one sits on the mast, with the top inserted, and strapped down. Seems to me that this will be quite sturdy and easily handled. I will shamelessly remove the Hobie brand from it though.

More progress to follow.