Roger Long
05-13-2010, 05:38 PM
I sailed past Portland's tall ship today and was glad to see that they have made substantial improvements in the steering system.
The steering lines are about twice the original cross section area as near as I can tell from the distance and appear to be brand new braid. The galvanized hardware store blocks have been replaced with beefy looking (I assume there are metal straps inside the cheeks) wood shelled blocks. The square shape, which is quite harmonious with the overall architectural theme, provides plenty of extra fastening area. This is an improvement over the more typical oval pattern which is quite deficient in material cross section at this critical stress point.
There are now proper pillow blocks to lead the steering lines in through the transom instead of another set of galvanized hardware store blocks on eye bolts as she arrived with. These appear to be ordinary steel and unpainted but there is quite a bit of that on the vessel and it seems to be holding up just fine.
I can see why the skipper looked so confident at the wheel on the TV segment that aired recently, he now has real command of his vessel.
http://www.rogerlongboats.com/images/RFupgrade.jpg
The steering lines are about twice the original cross section area as near as I can tell from the distance and appear to be brand new braid. The galvanized hardware store blocks have been replaced with beefy looking (I assume there are metal straps inside the cheeks) wood shelled blocks. The square shape, which is quite harmonious with the overall architectural theme, provides plenty of extra fastening area. This is an improvement over the more typical oval pattern which is quite deficient in material cross section at this critical stress point.
There are now proper pillow blocks to lead the steering lines in through the transom instead of another set of galvanized hardware store blocks on eye bolts as she arrived with. These appear to be ordinary steel and unpainted but there is quite a bit of that on the vessel and it seems to be holding up just fine.
I can see why the skipper looked so confident at the wheel on the TV segment that aired recently, he now has real command of his vessel.
http://www.rogerlongboats.com/images/RFupgrade.jpg