More jobs done - and the mast is raised for the first time..

..with the new rigging that is..  and not without some issues...  but that's for later. 😏

With the first sunny day in some time I managed to get a quorum of the Jolly Boys to pursue my plan to raise the mast with the new rigging..

First day in an age with some decent warm weather saw Dave, Rodders and I clambering all over Sparrow while we started to put it all together..  I'm not going into detail on the what and how of the mechanics of this, as it is all documented here (clicky). I usually have a read of that step by step the night before as a refresher!

All the new rigging was now back on the mast, and the only addition to the checklist was to jettison the old Goiot roller furler so that it was no longer in the way - I'd already disconnected it at mast head when I I connected the new Furlex furler, so it was just a matter of handing it down and storing it under the boat for the time being..

All went fairly well getting ready - a problem with the split back stay cable run was fixed before we raised the mast, but when we went for the mast raise somehow the burgee halyard had got caught on something, wasn't spotted, and before the line snapped it bent the spreader on the starboard side causing some of the pop rivets to fail in the spreader base..  now idea how it happened but it did... 😏

Once the mast was up, all the side stays on port and starboard were good - lowers and uppers - right length and room for adjustment - but the backstay/forestay combo was definitely half and inch too short even with the minimum adjustment on the backstay bottle screw. We resolved the problem in the end by refitting the original shackles used on the old rig and that provided the necessary extra length to connect everything up correctly...   my guess is that the rigging will stretch slightly over time and we may be able to get rid of them eventually, but for now the job's a good'un with the shackles..

While the rig was up, I took the opportunity to try the genoa - the riggers had warned me that it might need some adjustment and they were right. The bead in the luff of the genoa was too thick for the slot on the Furlex..  not surprised really as the old Goiot furler came off a far bigger boat originally so was oversized. Happily the luff length is fine, and the sail is now with my local sailmaker to have a new bead fitted to the luff..

While we were putting up the mast one of the old temporary cockpit locker lids also gave up the ghost...

..think Rodders may have been balancing on one foot on it.. 😁

So next day down to start doing some repairs...  first the cockpit lid...  I put these temporary one's on over the winter purely to save the actual one's from weather damage over the 6 months on the hard..  the temporary ones are in two layers of heavy duty bin bag sealed on all edges to (try) and stop water ingress but they're not 100% and this one had basically rotted after three years doing service..

I launch in 3 weeks so the replacement was a quick and dirty from something I had laying round in the garage..

Before.. 

..and after... 

..then it was time to focus on the spreader plate...   I'd done the other side back in 2013 [clicky] so was happy with what needed done. but first I needed to do some panel beating on the plate to flatten her out. 

Ideally I would have like to take the whole thing off and flattened it out in a vice, but there are 8 to 10 pop rivets and also a through mast bolt, and that bolt was not going to come undone even with application of the largest socket, and Plus Gas penetrator, so I decided to fix in situ using G clamps and hammer with wood to protect the metal..

Just that one at the top to do which needs a little help with a drill to straighten the hole to get the rivet in..  job's a good'un..

Next - and in order of importance:

• antifoul needs doing
• companionway hatches need paint
• cockpit board (where the solar and the VHF aerial sit) and the outboard pad needs a coat of wood protector
• then I need to do a few small jobs on the tender...  
• I want to put another length of steel pate on the bottom to protect the keel from rubbing, and 
• I fancy putting another coat of floor paint on the floor - it takes days to dry so I can paint it and then just turn it upside down to dry over the next 3 weeks.. and finally
• touch up the black paint on the topsides/bottom

Catch up - and the first boat goes in...

...the life jacket service is complete - no issues, and the jackets remained firm after a 24 hour inflation - all good for another season, though they really are beginning to get old... 😏

One job done..

Another job is also nearing completion - super excited to take delivery at the tail end of last week of the new standing rigging..

...and even more excitingly the new roller furler - shiny'ness in the extreme...

..new and old side by side...

At this point in time I have re-fitted the port and starboard lowers, I'm just waiting on a break in the almost constant deluge we've had in the UK since seemingly last November to finish off the other bits - attach the new furler, then uppers, and also backstay - it'll be done sometime this week if the forecast is to be believed...

Once that's done my plan is to get a quorate of the Jolly Boys to put the mast up while I'm still on the hard - one to make sure the stays are all the right length and everything fits, and two to ensure I don't need to make any changes to the foresail as a result of the new furler (either luff length, or luff bolt rope)... much easier to know of any issues while she's ashore rather than when she's on the water.

Then finally - the first of the Jolly Boy boats has been launched - AmiLy was launched at the tail end of last week..

She's always the first as Rodders gets a winter contract from Premier and they don't give away anything free... either way, after the quick tighten of a raw water inlet bowl (😏) all was well on board, and once again we got that smell of "boat" - a mix of plastic, fuel, and sea...

We bought her round to Whale Island on Friday - no plot as I forgot so last years will do as the route, speed and distance would be exactly the same. Overjoyed to be sat on the cabin roof with a forward mooring line in hand chatting to Smithy who has the stern line, as yet again we come in for a safe along side...  😀

Brilliant - thought this winter would never end... 

Next jobs - finish the standing rigging, and then we bend on the sails on AmiLy, hopefully this week..

Log:

Distance: 4.0 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind (Speed; Direction): F4 ; SWxS
Sail Plan: n/a
Speed (Max/average in knots): 6 / 3.3 

Life Jacket service

Gas bottles weighed, and 24 hr inflation test kicked off...

Anyone would think summer is coming...😏   

I can confirm the first of the Jolly Boys boats launches this coming week...  and after so long some boat time is coming!  AmiLy launches Thursday weather depending, then we'll put sails on and a delivery trip back to her home base ready for the first trip out either Friday or Saturday.

It'll be Baltic but I can't wait.. 😀

Job # 9 - Standing rigging - under way!

Progress - and not a little exciting - on this years job # 9, replacing the standing rigging..

It was last done in July 2013, and although she's not been raced, or had what I consider to be heavy usage in the interim (in fact for one year - COVID - she wasn't even in use), it has been 13 years since it was last done. Having suffered a rigging failure and dismast in the past, I am perhaps more risk averse than most, but hey, the insurance companies like us to do it every 10 years, and the forestay in particular gets a hammering from the roller furler, and was showing signs of wear - if I'm doing that, then I may as well do the lot..

So - time to start getting the new stuff done - I'd already decided I was going to Holman Rigging to get it done, as it's probably not an exaggeration to say that they saved my boat after the last dismasting as a result of some innovative thinking. Problem is, they are based in Chichester Marina, and Sparrow is on land at  the opposite end of the harbour. Easiest way to do it then was to strip the rigging myself, and then take it over in the car...

Two hours later, we had the following..

"SU" - starboard upper etc..😏

...fairly painless - the caps for the spreaders were a little stiff to get out, but other than that, it was just seven clevis pins secured by split pins through each of the swage eyes and the uppers, lowers and back stay were free - labelled each as I went along...

Ready for the riggers - note the spreader caps on the uppers - interesting that they make the rigging with them already on as you can't slide them over the fittings at either end..

...what very definitely wasn't easy was the forestay though. What I found was that the furler was constructed round the forestay - so to get the forestay itself out would require a full disassemble of the furler. 

The swage eyes at each end could fit down inside each of the foil tubes, but the forestay wire was fed through a slot in the internal metal plate/butt that fits inside the end of each tube to hold them all together. Bottom line, you'd have to undo each/every tube completely to get the wire out..  more thought was required on that, so I put it off until I'd had a chance to have a chat with the rigger.

I'll be quite honest, even before this point, I'd been considering the possibility of actually replacing the furler for a number of reasons..

1. it's very old and therefore spares are almost impossible to get hold of
2. it was not the right size for the boat - it originally came off a far bigger boat and was just cut down (hence the 6mm forestay required - the clevis pin at the lower connection of the roller furling needed a swaged eye with a diameter of 12mm 😐 which is only available to fit 6mm wire)
3. it was stiff and hard work to roll out and in the foresail

...so I was hoping that in addition to the new forestay, I might be able to get it serviced so at least it would be smoother to operate.

Popped over to the riggers at the beginning of the week, and after a good chat discussing the options, agreed that the only way we could easily get the furler to them, was for me to transport it on a long ladder on the roof of the car. Having said that they were also of the view that on such a small boat, tensioning up a 6mm forestay is difficult, and as I suspected they don't have the parts to service the furler (but they were willing to have a look at it and perhaps cannibalise any old furlers they have laying round). 

So, what are the options for a furler for a 20 foot boat these days I asked.. 😁

Turns out it's one of these..

...and having surprised me at how much cheaper it was than I expected I've signed on the dotted line, and paid the deposit..  👏

Just had to check the diameter of the chain plates for the back stay bridles (5mm as it happens)

... and I came home with the following order..   uppers/lowers are a direct like for like replace, 4mm swaged eye/stud, back stay is almost like for like, Holman advised forks rather than eyes on the bridles...  and then there's the forestay/furler combo..