Lunch on the verandah..

A reduced contingent of the Jolly Boys (Smithy was elsewhere occupied) convened at Rod's gaff at 0800 on Thursday for a much anticipated trip on the water..  the day before had been breezy to say the least (4's and 5's powered by the heatwave we're currently experiencing) but the day in question was light and almost non existent when we arrived at the pontoon (and true to form the day after was 4's and 5's as well..😏)..

Undaunted, and fortified with cups of coffee and pain au raisins, the Jolly Boys went for it and had a quite surprisingly good sail to Cowes..  wind was on the nose, F2'ish, but good enough for a long tack towards Cowes before turning on the motor for the last bit (we were hungry 😁)

Isle of Wight Festival this weekend so we anticipated problems getting a lunch time berth and had a back up plan to shoot up the Hamble and have something to eat there if it didn't all work out, and sure enough East Cowes advised they were full - even for a short stay..

As we went past the Island Sailing Club though, we noticed their pontoon (members only) was empty..  I wonder...  cheeky phone call later asking if we could moor there to have lunch and they advised we would be OK to do that! Fantastic..

One of the best views in the Solent I think from their verandah, and even better with one of their home cooked fish and chips in front of you! Lunch and two pints later, it was back to the boat for a snooze, before the return trip..

Which was largely a repeat of the morning since the wind had gone round 180'ish degrees and was back on the nose again! Top end F3 to start with though which saw Dave doing a cracking job on helm - four tacks saw us approaching Gilkicker, but with the wind dropping, it was time for the motor again..  

Fantastic days sailing on a super warm day..  

Log:

Distance: 27.06 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind (Speed; Direction): F2 occasional F3; E going W going SE
Sail Plan: Full main and genoa
Speed (Max/average in knots): 6.3 / 2.5

Spicy..

A slightly quicker trip out than I expected for this one..

Third day on the boat in as many days! After two days maintenance though I was way overdue some R'nR and as the forecast was showing considerably less breeze than we have had over the previous few days (and the day before it was blowing so hard it was actually blowing paint off the end of the brush!) I thought I'd go for it..

HT 15:29, but I was on the boat by one. Once onboard I took the reefs out I had put in for the previous trip as the wind was still showing fairly light and as per forecast, warmed up the donk as I was prepping the boat, and then dropped the mooring to raise the main in the pool head to wind/bridge, as yes, it was another one of those westerly's...

Tacked and headed off down wind on main only, down the ditch and occasionally gybing as the wind was twitchy, nice run, high 2's and 3's against a biggish tide..

By the time I got to Sweare Deep I was bearing up to wind and the genoa was out of the shadow of the main so I rolled out 90% of the genoa and we were tracking nicely towards Marker, but with the wind consistently getting stronger, and twitchier, and bugger me if 50 yards before Marker it didn't go round a bit more southerly. Three tacks and I was through and carried on towards the bottom of the harbour..

Should have known really as I could see some of the big boys being laid over at times, and by the time I was just shy of Verner it was gusting a solid F5 and I was well over canvassed. Tacked, eased sheets, and lit the afterburners for home..  last of the tide and a F5 on the quarter and not surprisingly she lit up..  solid stream of 6.3's and 6.5's, but it was uncomfortable so rolled away a chunk more of genoa and then she was good.

Rocketed into the Deep, I had breaking water on the bow from the wind blown chop, engine down and on and sails away as I went up the ditch in a consistent low end F5.

Short and sweet..

Log:

Distance: 7.14 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind (Speed; Direction): F4 gusting F5; WSW occasionally SW
Sail Plan: Full main / 90% then 75% genoa
Speed (Max/average in knots): 3.1 / 6

Make do and mend...

Bit of maintenance bodge'ry been going on ..

First - as mentioned briefly in the last post I'd noticed that one of the switches on my switch panel wasn't lighting up when clicked on...  I have a simple 6 gang switch panel - for reference this is it - largely vanilla make as multiple manufacturers seem to market it, so I suspect it originates in China somewhere..

I had assumed it might be the respective fuse (each of them has their own fuse in that square holder to the side) but a check of the fuse showed it to be good, and even when I changed it for a new one the switch still wouldn't light up.  

Time to get the voltmeter out then - which showed the individual switch was good and doing what it should do in 'on' and 'off' modes (I compared it to a working one) so the obvious conclusion is that it is nothing more than a failed bulb/LED in the actual switch, which is a pain in the proverbials

New stiches are cheap though, and although it would be nice, the price of these panels seems to have rocketed in the passage of time since I bought the first one - what was twenty quid in 2016 is now thirty five nine years later - besides - I'm not changing the panel for one failed bulb in one switch! 😏

So down the chandlers and £2.50 later I had a new switch (in fact two, as I bought an extra as a spare)

Note - three connectors - gold is the common neutral (on this one) - middle is positive, and then negative for the device you are connecting

Looking at the back of it though, it's not a straight forward swap as the switches are actually soldered into a common negative "bus bar" integral to the panel - to get the switch out, heat had to be applied,  and then the contact gently separated - once you do that (and my gas soldering iron decided not to work on the day so I had to use a lighter 😕) the individual switches then are held in place by plastic clips. Push them in and the whole switch can be pushed out..

Note common bus bar in foreground - all the switches in the panel are connected/soldered to that - offending switch has been removed in this picture..

Offending switch removed..

..new one could then be orientated so that it's the same as the other switches (so that all of them are in "on" or "off" in the same direction ...  OCD? me? I think not.. 😏) and then you can wire it in. 

Now in an ideal world, where your gas powered soldering iron was working, that would be easy... but in this case an alternative solution had to be arrived at until I can get to mains power source for another soldering attempt. In my case a small spur cable from the main negative with a spade terminal for the new switch - shame it was red but I didn't have any black cable with me so it was "make do and mend"

...and then with positive attached it was time for a test - and the switch lit up.. job's a good 'un..  

New one a slightly different style but it works...

That done it was time to move on to other things...  you may have heard me mentioning that the washboards will need attention/replacement this coming winter as they are beginning to reach the end of their natural lives - by far the worst is the lower one..

The wet got in last winter and the top surface delaminated - I had dried it out as best I could, and then given it multiple coats of paint but it was clear it was getting worse so a stop gap solution was needed to get me to the end of the season without further deterioration...

I had toyed with multiple ideas - more paint, epoxy/filler, epoxy cloth, plastic wood - but in the end went with a simple solution..

Uggghh...

..a good rub down with sanding paper, and then UPVC stuck down with a thick (gap filling) adhesive - with the washboard in I drew a line down the edge of the beading it sits in, slapped the unguent on  (extra for the pitting area) and then stuck some plastic card I had on top, slid it round a little to ensure all edges were sealed, weighted it down and left it to dry..

..once done  the entire board got a couple of coats of paint..

...and I'm surprised how good it looks - time will tell...