Saturday 30 March 2013

More off-set steps...


...  you could get a bit cheesed off really.... 
Let's start off with the good news... A recent birthday resulted in a number of gift vouchers from Amazon - imagine my surprise then when I found you can buy both Selden and Barton blocks from them (I was stunned - is there anything Amazon don't sell??)...
 
Following a brief exchange of emails to ensure I got the right "matched pair" my main sheet problem is now largely resolved... for £80 I got a pair of Selden blocks from Ratseys [clicky] the lower block is the one to the left, with a matching double block at the top, this will give 4:1 - which should be plenty... all I need to do now is buy the line... 10mm braid on braid,but I need to figure out the length (it'll be long!)... either way that's one of the "necessaries" I can almost sign off..

More good news (I'm feeling better already ); I can also sign off one of the second group items as I got lucky on eBay with the purchase of a boom claw (actually I got a pair for less than the cost of a single new one, and have since already sold the other one to re-coup costs!) - so good news - I'll rig it later - I'll need to bodge a kicker, but that's OK, small steps and all that..

Now the bad news - having been delighted at the quality of the foresail, but amazed that someone wouldn't put a UV strip on it, I got the now completed sail from the sail-makers and hot footed it down to the boat to fit it...

Buggery... but at least the old name has now been scraped
off ready for a replacement at some point in time
 
...not good...  it's tiny - I'd say a no. 2 at best...  if I rig it as it should be with the tack at the roller drum, the head of the sail is so low that I can't use the roller reefing (the halyard wraps immediately). If I rig it with the head high enough to stop halyard wrap the tack of the sail is a yard and a half above the drum and it looks ridiculous (see picture).... for the time being I'll rig it as it should be and roll it by hand when I need to...  them's the breaks...

Elsewhere, the boat got a good clean, and I replaced the starboard side mushroom vent which was in a hideous condition - the port side one is as bad and will be done later. All I need to do to finish the job is replace the temporary nuts and bolts with stainless ones and squirt a bit of sealant underneath before tightening down - that's a job for tomorrow or the day after.

3 comments:

  1. The perils of buying a boat while it's laid up. We bought one where the anchor chain was the wrong size for the capstan - seemed like it had been that way since new - really frustrating ended up having to haul by hand while the nice shiny capstan just took up deck space!!

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  2. Steve, fix the tack to the furler drum as per normal, then use a strop attached to the head of the sail long enough to allow the furler swivel to go right up the top of the foil. It should then furl all ok without any halyard wrap.

    If you search for a Plastimo furler instruction manual online, you will find additional information.

    Fair winds

    Julian ( Billy )

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    Replies
    1. Blimey - I never thought of that!! Genius! Thanks Billy, will try it and see how I get on......

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