Monday 13 October 2014

Out!

So the morning of the lift out dawned grey, damp and chilly - albeit dry for the time being...

Popped into Wilkes (other large anonymous DIY supermarkets are available) and picked up a couple of large fence posts for Sparrow to spend the winter sitting on - I was going to go railway type sleepers, but thought it was overkill. Also got hacksaw blades for a different job I had in mind....

Got down to the club at about 10:30 (HT 14:30), checked I was on the list for the day (yes there actually is one, but to paraphrase the words of Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, I'm not sure the plan ever survives the first boat ashore... 😏), and then headed for the boat, stopping for a quick chat to arrange with "Coral" Paul getting his mast down...

Once on the boat I winched up the mooring so I could get to my mooring strop/chain - as I suspected the shackle attaching swivel and chain to buoy had rusted solid, but I didn't want to leave the chain/swivel etc on the mooring all winter so 20 minutes later and I'd hacksawed it off - so new shackle next year (and possibly a new swivel as well, as its five or six years old now)...  slipped a line through the mooring, attached boat, and removed mooring gear...  job done...

Slipped into the tender and rowed over to Paul's boat where with the help of one of the shore crew we dropped the mast safely... agreed that the best plan with a tide the height we were expecting was to go under the bridge soonest as it would be impossible (even with masts down) for an hour either side of high and by now it was already 1'ish...  once on the other side of the bridge we could pick up a mooring on Langstone side until the lifting guys were ready for us...

Forgot my camera so this is off the phone....  taken while enjoying a coffee and waiting my turn - this is Coral being lifted...
..and carted away...

Fired up the trusty mechanical donkey (and it really was easier manoeuvring the outboard with the mast crutch on the rear deck) and motored under the bridge and was soon sat on a spare mooring waiting my turn..  cup of coffee later and I was the second or third one out...  lifting this year involved putting four people on board with boat hooks - amazing how low a Hurley 20 floats with five blokes on board!

Position this year is opposite the clubhouse - power and water about 20 yards away, bar about the same - it's going to be a good winter!

Too busy yesterday to pressure wash the hull (I know it seems keen, but I've found unless I do it soon the weed just case hardens and it takes five times as long) so popped down the club early this morning before work and pressure washed the vegetation off....  very weird weed this year, most of the boats show the same, like a very fine garden lawn....  usual crop of barnacles under the nose (where she settles when tide drops) and bottom of the keels, but it all came off fairly easily with the assist of a wall paper scraper....

Popped the engine into the tank for a fresh water run through and once all done, legged it to work - quite a constructive morning....

Friday 10 October 2014

Job #19 - Genoa sheet cam-cleats

Never too early to start ...  just bought two of these.. 


They didn't cost that much by the way...... 

Monday 6 October 2014

...gone!

...so where we left off last week we were in the current position....


...picked up Rod the Mod at the slipway on a quite astonishingly good morning - flat as a flat thing, sunny, warm.. perfect mast dropping conditions...

Checklist:
  1. Forward lowers disconnected, put a couple of small shackles on the freed up chain plates to make it easier to attach the A frame legs...
  2. Attached A frame legs to shackles, double checked jib halyard was firmly attached at apex
  3. Let off some slack in the backstay
  4. Main sheet attached to stem fitting and then underneath of the A frame apex - put some download on (at this point mainsheet/frame/jib halyard become the new "fore-stay")
  5. Loosened off cap shrouds and rear lowers
  6. Checked around to make sure all good and then detached fore-stay from stem fitting
  7. Eased off top bolt and undid/removed bottom bolt on mast/tabernacle
  8. Rod put some load on the back stay and I cracked a few inches on the mainsheet and the mast started to go..
  9. Eased off slowly while Rod guided mast from the cockpit, checking spreaders didn't foul the crutch
Done..  phew.. 

After that it was just a matter of easing the mast forward (after having taken out top bolt of the tabernacle, 'natch) and resting the foot on a  block of wood tied to the pulpit.... secured everything to the mast with a mooring line and all done bar coffee and a natter, then repairing to club bar for reviving snifters and more chat....  cheers, Rod!



PS.  Looks like just in time... 



Postcript: weather has been bad this week with wind and rain so I took the opportunity to pop out last night to check all well - it was but I also took the opportunity and whacked on a few more ropes to hold everything firm....

Wednesday 1 October 2014

Going... going...

Sorely tempted to go sailing, but yesterday afternoon was devoted to getting the boat ready for a mast drop - possibly this weekend - but the way the forecast is shaping up probably another time...

First job was to get the jib genoa off, and as I'd bought the A frame with me, deploy that as well - all done...

A frame sits outside the roller furling/forestay so that the furler can be lowered safely to the deck as the mast is lowered... the A frame legs are secured to the chain plates - I have them on the centre ones (the uppers) at the moment, but on the day I'll shift them to the forward lowers as it pushes the frame forward about half a foot...


The new halyard diverter I fitted last year worked a treat - it was obvious where the halyard had sat in the eye strap, but unlike last year no physical damage to the rope - chuffed with that...

Next job was the mainsail - all done and contents wrapped within sail cover - this year I took the decision to take it all ashore as last year it filled the cabin so much it was difficult to move around below...  all done, even in my tender, though there was a couple of feet of overhang......

With the boom gone next job was the mast crutch - this year I decided on a change - last year the legs sat in the cockpit but this had the double effect of being a pain in the ar*e to physically get round when I needed to deploy the outboard (and the new one is bigger), but it was also unstable as the legs were only the width of the cockpit floor apart...  can't sit them on top of the cockpit lockers as then I can't open them, and then I noticed that the coamings extend beyond the back of the cockpit - ideal spot as the coaming will anchor the end of the legs...

Just waiting for a mast....
...and that was largely it, once I'd loaded the Suzuki outboard into the tender....  beer o'clock time, and I thought well deserved!