Rope trick

Happy Christmas to our followers. Those of you who have been following this story will know that it was Christmas day two years ago when we decided that we would commit to building our boat. That two years has been hard work but also enthralling, challenging and educational.

 When we started all this business I wondered in what way I could contribute best to the building of our boat - I am not much of a carpenter but wanted to do a bit more than choose the colour of the berth cushions (!). Consequently I decided that running and standing rigging would be my contribution (over and above the financing of the project). I am pretty handy with string but knew that this would be an interesting way of getting more familiar with the processes of fully rigging a boat. Consequently I set up a list of what I thought I would need and heck, there is a lot of it. In fact it's not often we sit back on our boats and count up all the bits you need to for rigging. OK where, to start ? Well 100m of 8mm Marlow braid for halyards and bobstay tackle. This then set me off on how to put eye splices in braided rope - well there is an excellent video on Marlow ropes site where the bloke makes it look all so easy...... Well I maybe didn't expect the first one to go easily and sure enough it didn't but I learnt from it and tried again. The result I was rather pleased with so went forth to do the next one, which I wasn't.

 The whole things appears to revolve around how much slack you can get into the outer cover in order to allow for the thinned down core and cover to get back down inside and I really have no insight into why one has worked and the next didn't - It's the same rope......The problem is that I need nearly all my 100m for the halyards and every duff splice get cut off - need to crack this asap..And I have paused in this blog to have another go and have had some reasonable success in creating a small eye splice and finishing it with some whipping. I have also been whipping the three stand mooring warps and splicing the fender lines.

Now those of you paying attention will know I left a cliff hanger in the last post whereby I eluded to rigging her in a slightly different way, well following various discussion with riggers and rope companies, we are going to have a crack at using Dynastay for the standing rigging. Dynastay is incredibly tough 12 braid hollow rope with low stretch and minimal creep. It is easily spliced and very lightweight. It has the advantage of being able to examine the fibres for wear and is easy to handle and store. Shrouds will have sailmakers thimbles spliced in and then be lashed.  Consequently Santa has bought me a load of 5mm Dynastay and a set of Selma fids (below) so I will be splicing my way into the New Year.

What about chafe ? I hear you say. That is dealt with by protecting and areas prone to wear with the outer braided jacket of a piece of braid on braid and then whipping it into place.  From what I can gather there are a few gaff rigged boats done this way - one belonging to a rigger so it can't be all bad and whilst it is not mainstream in the UK and the Dynastay is not stocked widely, we decided it was worth a go.

I will let you know how I get on when I've made some up.

 And the rest of the boat ? Well, the two layers of ply for the cabin top have gone on with the hatch runners and grab handles. the companion way is built and the surround for the forehatch. Also D has been lovingly crafting the rear posts that sit as aft stanchion posts in the rear corners of the cockpit. They are a puzzle of weird angles and are best left to D who has that kind of brain.

Also, earlier in December we had a productive trip up to the East Coast to collect the trailer and to talk to the sailmaker.

Photos below.

 Grab rails

 Companionway

Forehatch surround

 

Aft post

Cabin top

Trailer

Man power vs Horse power

Well, after much head scratching about how to get the engine in, four friends turned up last Saturday and gathered round the 10hp Nani (80kgs) to debate their approach. I left them and went to put the kettle on and by the time I returned it was done ! Consequently I don't have any pictures of the exercise. However, I am assured that it went like this. The engine was slung beneath a strong pole and lifted up into the cockpit. It was then manoeuvred into position and placed onto the bearers. All pretty simple and done in about 20 minutes - hooray for that.  The engine needs a propeller and a beautiful piece of engineering is currently sitting in its box on my kitchen floor. It is a Darglow feathering propeller and it is a joy to behold - I never thought I would be so enthusiastic about such a basic necessity however it is truly lovely. In order to check the clearances, D made a cardboard propeller (which in my book is in the same category as a chocolate teapot) but it served its purpose. Whilst the engine was going in, I took the opportunity of the cover being off to take a better shot of the boat overall. Other items are all coming in a rush now and an expensive visit to the Southampton Boat Show sees us now in possession of some fancy lighting, a twin hob (spirit stove), the radio and nav instruments and oh yes, the berth cushions have been collected and are lovely. We are also planning to collect the trailer from the East Coast and visit the sailmaker to discuss options. I am also compiling the order for the running and standing rigging. A discussion at the boat show with a bloke on the English Braids stall has made us contemplate a more modern approach to standing rigging. More on that if we go down that route - I will keep you in suspense for now. Anyway photographs as usual below.

Cardboard propeller

 

 

Real thing

 

 

 

And there is the engine

 - in situ

 

And a better view of the boat overall

 

 

Even Keel

Since the last post lots has been going on. Starting with the delivery of 630kg of lead keel which was fettled such that it had a flat top to marry up to the deadwood as it was rather wavy when it arrived. The hull was then raised on boat legs and the keel manoeuvred into place and bolted on. All was then faired (keel and deadwood) and then sheathed in epoxy and fibreglass and then primer. Then D returned to the interior and has manfully started varnishing and sanding and varnishing again. We are using a slightly satin finish varnish which is looking good. And now the foredeck is going on and the cockpit structure is being worked on. D is also working out what skin fittings will be needed. And in the middle of this we had a visit from the prospective builder of G138 which was nice. I will shortly be starting on the above deck rigging items. I am starting to compile the list of what will be needed and we have ordered the berth cushions.

Photos

Below is the keel as deliverd



Here is the keel in the process of being flattened on top
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And here it is finished



And here is the device used to winch the keel under the hull using short pieces of scaffolding pole to roll it over. The made the job quite straightforward and better still no one got bits trapped under a large lump of lead.




Here is the keel positioned under the hull.

Here the deadwood is completed

Deadwood at the aft end of the keel

 

Here is the keel enclosed in fibreglass and with a coat of primer.




Here is the ply layer of the deck going on the bow section

 

Bye for now.

 

 

Time flies....

I have no idea where the beginning of 2016 has gone. I can only apologise to my followers for the lack of updates. It's not that I haven't been taking photos.. anyway enough of that let's get on with the interesting stuff that you come here for !

The forepeak is now fitted out and ready for varnishing, the fiddly bits of trim are going into the main saloon and D has started to bury his head in catalogs of 'boring bits' - various electricals, pumps, tanks and all the other stuff I know I ought to take more interest in but can't summon the enthusiasm for.... now give me a bit a rope..... Oh yes and a keel is allegedly on its way to us at some point. Watch this space.

A view from bow to stern shortly after turning over

A view of the galley and nav areas

The forward bulkhead and trotter boxes and the big deck beam

The aft deck supports

Cockpit side deckbeams 

On a roll

Another milestone reached today as we managed to round up enough friends to turn the hull the right way up. The manoeuvre involved removing the hull from the 'shed', resting one side on trestles and lowering the other down onto an old mattress, then setting up a restraining rope through the keel bolt holes and attached to an obliging tree via a block and tackle. The hull was then pushed over and shuffled a bit and carefully lowered onto the deadwood. Ropes placed underneath were then used to lift the boat back into the shed where the old building frame was taken out and new supports put in. It all went pretty smoothly with nine people involved. We know it has been done with six people but eight to ten makes it quite easy. The team the retired for beers and lunch.  Here are the photographs. Oh also this week, the engine arrived. It won't be going in for a while but it is a tight fit and having it in the shed will allow D to take measurements off it as he starts the fit out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

'Just Right'

Lots has happened since Christmas, starting with a lovely pile of bronze fittings arriving courtesy of Classic Marine. They are, starting from centre top and going clockwise, tabernacle, gaff saddle, stem fitting (more of that later), goose neck, mast band and bow fitting. A helpful hint we received was to get the fittings and then make the parts to fit due to tolerances not necessarily being perfect.

You may have noticed that the stem fitting is not as shiny as the other fittings as this is a 'pre-owned' item and in fact came from 'Just Right' the Golant Gaffer adapted and built by Gus Davidson and sailed in the 2010 Jester Challenge in aid of the Macmillan Cancer Charity http://www.boatshed.com/transatlantic-for-macmillan-cancer-support-blog-3704.html. Although 'Just Right' didn't complete the full transatlantic she got to the Azores and back 
We understand Gus recycled his boat and we are the happy beneficiaries of his well travelled stem fitting. I rather like the idea of having a bit of Golant Gaffer history incorporated into our boat.

The other job completed over the Christmas break was two coats of primer (Nautix HPE epoxy primer) on the hull which was quite quick and straight forward with D applying paint with a roller and me tipping in with a foam brush. 

D has also been manfully sanding the inside of the hull which is rather cramped but done in short burst is not too bad.

Then D turned his attention to the mast, and here is a bit that he made earlier which graced my kitchen for a while !

Then for the real thing. The timber  was scarfed into long enough lengths and cut to shape.

This is where you need space twice the length of the mast to run it through the saw.

Then the pieces are glued together with epoxy and cable ties hold the pieces in place.

And finally, the mast is planed to final shape and size.

The mast is hollow and contains a plastic conduit into which the electrics will run.