I spent two hours working on the boat after getting home in the evening. The real luxury of an interior space with light and power. I have fitted two U-bolts either side of the companion way to act as safety harness points. Large marine ply pads behind each, which I hope will distribute the load successfully.
I have bedded the nuts and washers in Sikaflex, which I just cannot do neatly. I get it everywhere, but I hope I got enough in the right places. I am following a tip I read in a magazine. Only finger tighten the fittings, enough to just cause the sealant to start squeezing out. Then leave it 24 hours before tightening right up. That way the sealant goes off and isn't squeezed out of the joint. (I have only just noticed, now I look at the photo, that one of the ply pads is a bit wonky. Not much I can do about it now. You can see the Sikaflex just about everywhere.)
I have also made up a couple of wooden "shoes" to take the end of a boom gallows. This photo shows them just dry assembled. I need to glue them up, shape them to the coaming in the cockpit and then saw it in half on the pencil line to form the two shoes. Still a lot of shaping needed before they can be fitted and the gallows made up. If all goes to plan, I should have a set up which allows me to rig the boat much faster after trailing. At the moment it is literally just minutes to raise the mast, but sorting out all the shrouds, booms, halyards etc. can add half an hour. I hope to improve on that.
The problem of sorting the rigging can be helped by using some long velcroe straps. When I derig my boat I first remove the throat halyard, peaking halyard and foresail halyards and strap to the mast with a long velcroe strap; then the topping lifts and last the shrouds. Rigging is then the reverse removing one strap at a time. This saves the many ropes getting tangled.
ReplyDeleteRoger
I think it is rehearsing the procedures that helps you speed up. Daisy G has a two part mast, and the first time I rigged her I had taken the sections apart and managed to get a twist between them when I reassembled it. Took literally over an hour to disentangle it all. Now I keep the mast in one bit, just slid forward for transport. I can just slide it back, bolt into tabernacle and shove it up with a bit of a heave. I'm hoping to be able to keep the boom and halyards at least partly connected so that I don't have to spend too long reattaching them all after transport.
ReplyDeleteTry using mineral spirits to wipe up the excess sealant. I find this does a super job.
ReplyDeleteRandy
Try using mineral spirits to clean up any excess sealant. Works super for me.
ReplyDeleteRandy