Sunday 28 February 2016

#BringTheCupHome... Oman... Hell yes...

...first day highlights just watched and a good start, a 3rd, and then back to back wins... dominant! 


....and the news has just come through that they also did well today despite the racing looking to be much closer

From the BAR web newsletter...

"The first race the team had a clean start but rounded first reach in sixth place, they fought their way through the pack to take second. The next race, the British team were one of three boats over the line, meaning another tough fight back, this time grabbing fourth in the final metres of the race.
The final double point race saw the team jump the start again, and this time the team were just able to claw their way back to third, right behind the America's Cup holders, Oracle Team USA (OTUSA) who were overtaken by Groupama Team France. It was enough to take the event by just two points from OTUSA, with Emirates Team New Zealand another four points back in third."

...superb. Well done, the boys!

Louis Vuitton America's Cup World Series Oman – Final Leaderboard 

  1. Land Rover BAR - 8, 10, 10, 18, 14, 16 - 76 points 
  2. ORACLE TEAM USA - 9, 6, 9, 12, 20, 18 - 74 points 
  3. Emirates Team New Zealand - 10, 7, 5, 20, 16, 12 - 70 points 
  4. Groupama Team France - 5, 8, 7, 10, 18, 20 - 68 points 
  5. SoftBank Team Japan - 6, 9, 6, 16, 10, 14 - 61 points 
  6. Artemis Racing - 7, 5, 8, 14, 12, 10 - 56 points 

Louis Vuitton America's Cup World Series Overall Leaderboard:

  1. Emirates Team New Zealand 192 
  2. ORACLE TEAM USA 186 
  3. Land Rover BAR 185 
  4. SoftBank Team Japan 161 
  5. Artemis Racing 161
  6. Groupama Team France 150

Saturday 20 February 2016

Job #13 - sail cover velcro replace - done..

The plan worked a treat... all done and dusted inside of 45 minutes... one down and a whole load more to go... 


Dropped the idea of a rivet both sides as the pop rivet didn't have enough depth...


Drill through with a 4mm drill bit (I used one for metal not wood as the wood ones were too sharp and tore up the webbing), push the rivet through, slip the washer on on the reverse, squeeze the two sides together with a pair of pliers, and then crimp the rivet..  I found that if I didn't do the squeezing bit first, the rivet didn't sheer cleanly..


That'll do..  not the most exciting of posts, but hey, we get our jollies where we can...  

Tuesday 16 February 2016

Job #13 - sail cover velcro replace - I have a cunning plan...

So - after 20 minutes I had managed to sew one side of one tape, and I had sore fingers, and I was scrabbling around for a thimble... "sod this for a game of soldiers", quoth I... 😁

At that rate it would take me 8 hours to finish the sewing so a new plan was required, and then, like a bolt of lightning to the cerebellum I had an idea....

Bottom line, an order has gone in for 4mm aluminium pop rivets, and also 4mm aluminium pop rivet washers - brad awl to make the hole, washer, rivet, and washer on the other side, crimp and the job should be a good'un... stay tuned for the results of the experiment, but it should certainly be quicker....

Wednesday 10 February 2016

Fledgling 12v electrical system... job #5

Time to start thinking about job #5, installing some electrics.. been two years now and that's long enough - I feel the need to be able to press switches and see lights come on.... 😀

So basic requirements at this stage is nothing more than:
  1. battery
  2. isolator switch
  3. bus bar
  4. switch panel
 ...working towards the following....

Click to "embiggen" - this diagram shamelessly ripped off from the Sailing Around blog [clicky] (worth visiting by the way)
 1. Battery

So my good mate Giblets gifted me a battery when we exchanged the spondoolics for the new outboard the summer before last, and up until now it has been sat in my garage.

I have put it on an occasional charge, and it seems to hold that charge so I think it's good to go, and if push comes to shove I can always replace it...

Some basics - the battery dimensions are 13cm by 19cm by 24cm (W/L/H), and it is 40 amph's - so not huge, but suitable to my purposes at this stage..  most importantly it's a sealed unit so I can turn it over, even upside down, with impunity while getting it into position

It will be in a battery box, which will then be strapped to a sheet of epoxied marine ply, which will be either:
  • bolted between the sides of the quarter berths, just behind the cockpit drains and under the cockpit sole....  or..
  • bolted to the lip of the opening for the same space
...this shows the spot, and the opening... option one is widthways roughly where that white rag is , the lip of the opening for option 2 (lengthways) is in the foreground..

 The opening I've taken the picture through is 22cm high so everything will fit through in one dimension or the other...  I also have limited access to that space from above via the quarter berths...

2. Isolator switch

Any number of these are available on eBay and the like, I am an electrical novice, but I had one of these on Pap and if it was good enough there, it's good enough for Sparrow..  this is the master switch to the whole system, if this is off, there's no power to any of the devices in the boat...

The studs underneath are M10 - one is connected via cable to the positive on the battery, the other connects via cable to the switch panel..

For cables I've bought a set of car jump leads - yes, I know tinned cable would be better, but they are 4 or more times the cost..  From what I can tell these are 16mm2 (they are 100Amp capacity so plenty of oomph) , so 8mm outside diameter and 2mtrs long. The planned cable run will be short, no more than a metre, maybe a metre and a half.

For connectivity at the battery I already have quick release cable clamps (you can get bolt on one's, but I had quick release on Pap so I'm falling back on duplicating what I know and am comfortable with.
The other end of the positive cable will have a copper tube terminal (16mm2 with 10mm opening) to attach to the stud on the isolator switch. I will take a length off - length TBD once I see where the switch physically is - to attach to the other side of the switch, and connect to the next element in the puzzle...

3. Bus bar

So.... thus far we have battery, in box, bolted to boat (via battery box/ply board), with 16mm2 copper cables attached to the battery using quick release clamps - one positive/one negative.

On the positive cable we have the isolator switch wired in, but on the negative side currently just the bare cable length. This (negative) cable I will connect to a 12v bus bar so I have a common negative for anything I want to attach to the switch panel...  you could use a power distribution post (like a big bolt) but a bus bar allows you to work on each device without having to take everything off the post to get at the cable you want (probably the one at the bottom!)

You can buy a pukka bus bar, but they are 6 times the cost of the following which was recommended to me by the guys on the  Practical Boat Owner web forum - this is a stainless steel 8 Way Earth Terminal Block...

...and on to the next step in the puzzle..

4. Switch panel

So.... thus far we have battery, in box, bolted to boat (via battery box/ply board), with 16mm2 copper cables attached to the battery using quick release clamps - one positive/one negative. Positive cable (red) has an isolator switch wired in, the negative (black) runs direct from the battery to the bus bar/earthing block. Now I need the thing to allow me to turn individual devices off and on - the switch panel....

These switch panels are available in a bewildering number of styles & prices, and are a bit of a God-send as they come pre-wired, and with fuses...  I've chosen a 6 switch (6 gang) panel as my requirements will always be pretty simple, and I plan to combine some devices on a single switch anyway (nav lights for example) - I've also chose one where the light comes on when the switch is turned on (at least you know there's power there when you see the light )



The wiring basics are as follows:

..and I'll:
  • attach the positive cable (from the battery via the isolator switch) to the switch panel
  • the switch panel is a device in it's own right (as the switches light up when they are on), so it also needs a negative - the board comes with one wired in, and that needs to be connected to the bus bar - at this point if everything is connected up, and the isolator switch is off (ie. power is on), then the lights in the switches will work when you click them...  hopefully....
...seemples....   he also said hopefully.....

All the subsequent things I'm going to connect to the switches on the panel (VHF/nav lights etc.) will then have their negatives screwed into the bus bar and their positives to the required switch on the panel.. depending on the panel I get, the fuses will be a variety, so I will choose switch based on fuse...  but that's next stage....

Just in case anyone is interested - here's the costs so far...
  1. battery - free
  2. battery box - £15.99
  3. jump leads for battery cables - £4.90
  4. isolator switch - £4.99
  5. bus bar - stainless steel 8 Way Earth Terminal Block - £3.18
  6. switch panel - £18.95

Monday 8 February 2016

Imogen lashes out...

Imogen [clicky] passed by last night....


...and with just one casual flick of the tail (23:30 they think) completely and totally cr*pped on one of my fellow club members...  I'm absolutely gutted for him, she was his pride and joy...