Blue Moon, an unusual 16ft Sailing boat..

[The Q]

Took a look at this boat, it looks amazing! The keel was made of what? Did you build yours? Its really very similar to Sztrandek, and to be sincere, i would rather Lysanders desing! lol!

Best regards

The Standard Keels are welded Steel plate, just a T shape, though a curved top to the keel to match the hull, mine had additional steel plates bolted to the sides to increase their ballast. People have had fin keels and drop keels designed for the Lysander, but they are really meant as a bilge keel boat.

Sadly I didn't build mine, as at the time I bought her, I was living in the Outer Hebridies, in Military accommodation. No facilities available, and the transport costs for materials to the Hebridies are expensive.

[The Q]

Not much directly done to the boat this weekend, just a light rub down of the stern varnish, then the first coat of varnish over stern that's on top of the the name and numbers..

The rest of that drizzly day was spent in the garage, some existing shelves were extended to make them wider by about 9 inches, they were then loaded up with the detritus from the work bench, which is now clear except for the keel. So next week , I can bond the ballast weight to the wooden stub keel.

Other work in the garage included two more shelves fitted, one is above the workbench window, so I can't reach it if the bench is in full use. That shelf is not fully complete yet as there is a keel in the way..

The other shelf is just to the right of the window, its a perfect fit for SWMBO's old ghetto Blaster, yes it's that old and has been gifted to me in the work shop as she has something much smaller and involves digital. Now tuned generally to something classical, the blaster can take CD's or cassettes.

[The Q]

Mooring All...
No work on the boat done this weekend, life got in the way..


What should have been in the way, is the Tri Icicle race, which is 20 mile ish round trip of three legs on the Norfolk broads. Anything can enter from little Dinghies to 45ft broads cruisers.. Only the second time I've missed it in 20 years.


My normal sailing compatriot was in a motorcycle crash 14 months ago, and only about a month ago had some Meccano changed in his thigh so he's still barely mobile..


Looks to have been a good race, and there are 4 Yeoman class in the top 10 including the winner, 2 of the Yeoman whom we normally beat, so we missed out there.. Numbers were a bit down this year probably due to covid..
Pictures of facebook here.. https://www.facebook.com/SnowflakesS...39313466221777
Results below for those who don't go on facefart.

Oh I don't know if you ever had Meccano in the USA.. it was a children to teenagers assembly kit, including hole punched metal strips rods, wheels and hundreds on nuts and bolts.. you could built all sorts of things out of it..
image.png.60e14793998dd5413d14904293126482.jpg

[Breakaway]

Its your special day, Saturday, huh?

Kevin


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[The Q]

Its your special day, Saturday, huh?

Kevin


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Actually it was Sunday, But it is the clubs Big open event of every year.

This Year next Sunday we have the Yeoman class Nationals. They rotate that event they rotate through several clubs, But as far as I know it's the first time at Snowflakes, I've sailed the Winning boat of the Tri Icicle with a previous owner and we did well in it,
The current owner bought it and brought it to the club without knowing it had been based here before..

After the nationals the club will settle down to its normal winter routine on round the buoys outside the club, or a longer distance race down or up river depending on tide and wind. That will continue through to late March. There is of course a special event held on Boxing day, but what that will be this year is anyone's guess with the covid situation..

I've sailed yeoman for 20 years and was class chairman for a few years..

We are in 103 in the front page picture with my compatriot at the helm about to take to long way round the buoy..
http://www.yeomankinsman.org.uk/yeoman/yeoman.shtm

If the helm of 103 recovers from his injuries, we'll go back to sailing that every winter, with me helming the light wind races while he helms the windy stuff. I'll then sail Blue Moon in the Summer, while he goes off to sail his Solo..

[The Q]

Well, nothing done on the boat this weekend, to much other things to do, I did get some wiring done in the garage, so the first new light is up, a 4 ft LED batten over the lathe area.. works well..

The Yeoman Nationals were cancelled due to 40+mph winds forecast... They were going to be postponed till next weekend, but now England is in Lockdown for November...

This time I won't get furloughed due to my medical conditions, but neither will I get laid off, as I work for an essential business.

I am however getting to the end of my leave year and most weekends till Christmas are going to be 3 days as it's use it or lose it..
I really do want to get on with some boat work..

[The Q]

Today is Remembrance Sunday, I should be at the Sailing club, lowering the club Flags for the 11:00 silence, but for the first time in 20 years due to lock down, I won't be doing that. Normally the club members would assemble on the quay in front of the club for the silence.

We Will Remember Them.
poppy_in_wheat_field_1170x461.jpg

On the Kohima Memorial , it says..

When You Go Home, Tell Them Of Us And Say,
For Your Tomorrow, We Gave Our Today.'

[The Q]

Finally did a little work on the boat, I backed off the keel bolts holding the lead lump on to the wooden stub keel, filled the gap between with thick bonding resin, and then wound it all back up again. The keel is unfortunately lying on it's side so I was only able to form a fillet on the top side and scrape off excess on the bottom side.

Next week the great adventure of getting 150 KG off the work bench and down to the floor, then fillet the other side..

Meanwhile also the workshop got it's internal doors that work, but are not finished yet and the power wiring has been extended 3/4 the way round the shop. Just the bit behind the workbench to do to complete the ring and a socket back there for the radio, when the keel is moved out of the way..
After that general lighting wiring and switches need installing.

[johngsandusky]

Today is Remembrance Sunday, I should be at the Sailing club, lowering the club Flags for the 11:00 silence, but for the first time in 20 years due to lock down, I won't be doing that. Normally the club members would assemble on the quay in front of the club for the silence.

We Will Remember Them.
poppy_in_wheat_field_1170x461.jpg

On the Kohima Memorial , it says..

When You Go Home, Tell Them Of Us And Say,
For Your Tomorrow, We Gave Our Today.'

Very moving.

[The Q]

Thank You Johngandusky,
I'm from a military Family. Most generations have had several persons who have served,
Myself and wife,
My Dad, and three of his 4 brothers, the uncle the other side was a policeman..
Both Grandfathers and most of their brothers . Those who weren't were often in things like the Merchant Navy or in a reserved occupation down the mines, or maintaining railway track during wartime....

As to this weekends work on the boat,

The adventure of lowering the keel from work bench to the floor was carried out, I think the workbench sighed in relief..
it wasn't elegant and had a few problems, but was achieved without damage to keel , me or anything else.

Of course the fittings I was waiting for, arrived the day after it was lowered, so it was just ropes and blocks to a roof beam.., I've decided for comfort, It needs another reduction in load on the operator, so this week I'll see if I can work out a method to add another turn round a block or two..

There is a proper mounting rail for the lifting tackle now fitted to the roof beams with load spread between them and reinforced. I've put my weight on it and there wasn't even a creak from anything..

More wiring was carried out so 2 of the 3 LED battens are now working from their switches in their correct places, one has still to be fitted, but I haven't fitted that part of the ceiling yet, about 1/2 of the ceiling is now clad and insulated with fibreglass.. I've run out of OSB, and with the Land rover in for an engine repair, I can't carry full sheets. So because the DIY sheds are also not cutting timber at the moment, that's on hold..

So the keel was then moved on the floor, I can "Walk" It by moving one end at a time, It's sitting nicely on it's bottom even though the keel bolts are still sticking out a little more than they should. The second side was filleted between Stub keel and lead lump.

Next week I should clean that up and then start fibreglassing it all. It only needs a couple for water protection of the wood, but several to join the wood to the lead lump to make sure cracks don't appear under load..

[The Q]

Morning All,
This weekend was just a two day affair, and I had various aches and pains which reduced my efforts..

So the workshop had some handles made and installed on the doors, nothing fancy just 2X1 spacers and a 2X1 pull bar across the top, I've not even sanded them yet.

The ring main was completed, while doing that I noticed the consumer unit was wet, then my head my head touched the underside of the roof and that was wet too... Condensation, the results of many years of leaks inside the garage.. Anyway wet and electrics don't mix, so I cobbled together some left over bits of OSB to make a ceiling over that area, installed that and stuffed some insulation in the gap. The area was dry the next morning.

A hoover has been purlioned from the stock, we had 5.. ours and inherited.. This will form part of the built in dust extraction system, I bought a cyclone unit and have used an old 20litre resin can as the bucket. So the cyclone unit is now bolted to the lid.. It awaits more piping which I hope to get this week.

4 pieces of beam were extracted from the used pile , screws which refused to come out, met the angle grinder, and the beams cut to length. They will be part of the frame work for the table saw trolley.
The Table saw was extracted from storage power up and.... Nothing...
Checked, the plug and fuse.. OK,
Checked the built in resetable fuse OK
Checked the on off Switch OK.
Then thought plug in somewhere else.. Lots of noise as it powered up...
Yep an old extension cable that doesn't like modern plugs with half insulated pins..



After some sanding and preparation work, the keel was then laid on it's side and sand / keyed on the bottom. The angle grinder was then deployed cutting off the excess threaded rod sticking out from the bottom of the keel only, about an inch on each rod... it sits on it's base better now.
A length of glassfibre was cut, luckily the width of the roll is just over the size of top of keel, down the side, then across the bottom, handily economic. The glass was then resined into place.
Next week sand that down, cut off the small amount of excess, then turn it over and do the other side.

[The Q]

Another weekend over, and just a little more progress..


First there was the adventure of turning the keel round, whilst I can walk it by lifting each end alternately, that didn't give me clearance to turn it round. In the end I lifted onto 2x4 beams on their edges, then pushed the keel so the beams toppled over, by doing so I moved the keel 2 inches backwards which after 3 repeats gave enough clearance for the Dillet to pass by the workbench.


Once turned round, and shuffled to one side of the workshop, it was just tip it over, trim off any excess fibreglass round the edges then cover this side of the keel with glassfibre.


Next week I have the fore and aft edges to cover for reinforcement, and maybe the top.
The fun starts after that, getting the keel turned upside down, in order to put several layers of reinforcement on the bottom..


Other work, in the workshop, I was donated an old small cupboard from SWMBO, 20 inches by 15 inches by 2 ft tall, including the drawer on top. That, She / Her mother has had it for over 50 years and it was secondhand back then. It fitted nicely over the workbench at the back, attached to the wall about 18 inches above the work surface.. Temporarily I'm keeping my tins of La Tonkinois in it, off the uninsulated concrete floor and a bit more insulated than being on a shelf in the open workshop area next to a cold concrete wall..


The LED light battens were causing some interference on the radio, So I've fitted some Ferrite rings to the mains cables as they leave the LED units. That seems to have fixed the problem..

[The Q]

Not much done on the keel this weekend, After I had finished cladding the ceiling and inserting fibreglass insulation. My back was screaming enough!!!. So I sat down, cleaned off the top of the keel, and fibreglassed that..
After that rest I did try out moving the keel with the altered block and tackle arrangement.. It's easier, but not as easy as I'd like, some more bits have been ordered to make the task easier..

The interest in improving the lifting tackle also because I've had a diet change!, thanks to covid, I wasn't getting the routine medical checks from the doctors for sugar levels (though they've now called me in tomorrow.)
So I bought my own diabetes testing kit...
After some experimentation it showed I reacted badly to bread of all sorts, rice, and mashed potatoes. Removing them from my diet and my weight is dropping dramatically. Even though I've replaced mashed spuds with chips or baked spuds.

If I were to drop to my required by the RAF weight for someone of 6ft (admittedly 35 years ago) of 11.5 stone (161 lbs)(73Kg) Then I'd have another 30 KG to add to the keel..

[The Q]

Since the last waffle, I've changed the lifting tackle , which now works well.

Glassed round the aft end of the keel then added a layer either side which comes the a point. Next time out this will be trimmed straight ready for it to be sanded and given a suitable profile when finishing occurs...

Next time, probably tomorrow the new lifting tackle, will position the keel on a pile of breeze blocks so I can almost turn it over to do the bottom and leading edge.

Various shelf doors have been fitted to keep the dust out, more to do..

[The Q]

Every day so far of this holiday except Christmas day I've worked on the keel.


So it's had two coats all over of heavy glassfibre cloth , one of surface tissue on the sides and bow.
The bow was surfaced this morning, while that was setting, I sat the other end and reshaped the tail end of the lead lump casing. It needed building up a little on one side, that was done with glass cloth and thickened resin. It's now setting with a heater gently blowing over it.


It needs turning over to finish the bottom of the keel, but that will have to wait till tomorrow. When it's all set..


There is Border collie at my feet wanting his long walk...storm Bella is on its way time we went..


Ps Ben the border Collie is banned from the workshop until I've vacuumed up very well, a dog with fibreglass up his nose would not be a good idea..

[The Q]

Now that's odd, the most recent post of mine has gone missing.. So..
Both sides of the keel have been sanded, filled, sanded, filled, etc, The bottom was mostly done it just needs final finishing.
One side has now had two coats of topcoat with, a light sand and wash off between.

While waiting for it to set after the filling, a shelving unit 55 inches by 18 inches was built for the library and another had it's sides made, with the shelves awaiting fitting. That of course couldn't happen during top coating due to dust..

I'm back at work today, so no boat work till next Saturday, with mask wearing now required in the factory, unless you are in an area on your own.. Which, luckily, mostly, I am..

So next week

Turn the keel round again to topcoat the other side,
Assemble the other shelving unit, maybe paint both units.

[The Q]

Another weekends work over, the last side of the keel is now setting, and that will do until it's fitted to the boat.
Next weekend I'll shift it out of the workshop.

The second shelf unit is now setting. The first has been adjusted to fit the non straight walls. I'll be collecting the paint during the week, and I should have some corner brackets by then to attach them to the wall.

[The Q]

Not a huge amount done this week,


The heater timer worked well, nice to walk into a warm workshop...


The keel is now finished except for anti fouling, which it will get with the boat.. So it was lifted onto a trolley and after a multi point turn, the trolley was moved into the entrance of the workshop. It would have moved on to near the boat, but we had heavy snow on the Saturday, and it was tooo cold on Sunday..


One Shelving unit has now been painted blue, due to drying time and a keel in the way, the other hasn't been done yet..

[The Q]

Today, I've moved the keel out , it didn't get far, the ground is too soft, even with the board beneath. So I've parked it where it is until I get a couple of thicker boards .

And a couple of photos..someone insisted in being in shot..
20210123_135246533.jpg20210123_135348251.jpg

[The Q]

Not much done really, the axle of the trailer was de rusted, zinc paint coated then top coat painted. After about 23 years sat around, the trailer needs some care and attention.

Much measurements of the trailer were done, the old flatbed off the top which is held on by 4 bolts needs to be removed , then the chassis needs derusting zinc coating and painting. The old red lead paint has just about had it..

Meanwhile the old, flat bed needs cutting into various pieces, the main piece being 1/3rd of the old flat bed to provide somewhere for the keel to sit, and a couple sections to mount the new section back onto the trailer... Once all the bits are cut to size then they'll need treating before bolting back on..

I've spent hours and hours working over the trailer design, to get the balance right, and to comply with UK trailer laws. At one Point it looked like the axle would have to be moved, until I realised If the boat is put on the trailer backwards, the balance point was near enough correct..

Luckily the old flat bed the boat rested on, on the trailer, is not part of the chassis, so that can be removed and replaced it with a new smaller one without getting the trailer tested..

I discovered this small unbraked trailer has bigger section tube than the 2 ton capacity braked trailer, lightweight it is not which brings me too.

calculations for the the trailer being rebuilt for the new version of my boat, which weighs 275KG, +188Kg for the keel = 463Kg

An unbraked trailer under UK law, cannot weigh all up more than 750 Kg.. so 750Kg - 463kG = 283 Kg. The tube weight is calculated to be 180Kg leaving 103Kg then you have to add axle, wheels, couplings etc.. it's going to be close.... At the moment the Boat is in the weigh of the crane, so the trailer can't be weighed to get a more exact weight.. It's going to be close...

Oh some excess weight was removed after the boat was weighed so that will give a bit more leeway..

The old trailer light board is now 40 + years old so I've ordered the parts to build a new one, all Sealed LED units. Various brackets will need to be made to fit the board to the trailer, and the over hang of the boat at the rear could be over 2M requiring a warning board and that mounting some how to the pointy bit of the boat..

[The Q]

Over the last couple of weekends the board, which will be come part of the underside of the hull, to spread the weight of the keel, has been glassfibred and sanded ready. However it's been blowing 50mph with snow out there. So it ain't going to be fitted yet.


So I started cutting the old flat bed that sat on the trailer, then a section was taken into the workshop, I was going to start further work on that section, but found the noise of the angle grinder on hollow metal tube way too loud indoors and my ear defenders have hidden themselves somewhere.. A new pair has been ordered, but no deliveries at the moment due to the snow,,


Two more smaller pieces need cutting from the old flat bed, all three will then need trimming to shape, de rusting , zinc paint and topcoat painting, then assembling together as the new bed to rest the keel on, on the trailer..

[The Q]

With New ear defenders on, the piece of flat bed already cut off was trimmed to shape, wire brushed down (wire brush in angle grinder) painted with Zinc paint, then top coat. another top coat still to do..
last weekend was -3C 45mph winds not a weekend to be outside, next weekend is forecast to be 10mph Winds +17C so if that happens the rest of the flat bed will be butchered up for bits..

Some time ago when I started looking at rebuilding Blue Moon, I found a handicap calculator that gives rough figures from the sizes of sails and hull. It's used on the PRHF (Performance Handicap Racing Fleet) in some areas of the USA.. (found here, http://www.capedory.org/phrf.html ).

After butchering the formulas to remove things like inboard outboard options as they don't apply to Dinghies and small keel boats. Then using their fiddle factor column which they used to adjust for type of course, I used it to change the final results from the USA 3 digit PRHF handicap Number to the 4 digit UK RYA Portsmouth Handicap number.
I then put in the details of every Dinghy and keel boat including Blue Moon, that I could find the dimensions for to produce a graph..
That produced a reasonably straight line except for a few of the most extreme boats. The graph was plotted Portsmouth Number against Norfolk Handicap Number. They should correlate, and for the most part do..


Anyway I searched for the spreadsheet on the computer and found it.. It claims I last used it 2005!!! So I suspect that it's an early version.. I've updated it with the latest figures from Blue Moon and it shows it to be faster than first thought. I'm not sure I believe that, but won't know till she sets sail..

There should be a second spreadsheet of generated handicaps / issued handicaps but that's missing, So I'll have to regenerate it.

Further research and adjustments will, be made to the spreadsheet.

[The Q]

This weekend, more metal bashing, two pieces were cut off the old flat bed for use. The rest of the flat bed was cut into useable pieces for the might come in handy pile. The smaller piece goes between the sides of the previously processed section, it will spread the weight of the boat onto the axle. That piece has now been trimmed to size and cleaned up for painting. The larger piece goes at the front end of the section that will have the keel resting on it. It goes from side to side transferring the weight onto the A frame of the Trailer, 40 inches forward of the Axle. It's been trimmed roughly, and dry fitted. It just needs a little fettling, then derusting, before painting with the little piece. I was going to weight the trailer but the bathroom scales failed.. They are 30 years old plus .. A new set has been ordered. The trailer needs to be raised up to work on it, I'm going to get some foundation blocks this week for the purpose, they will be used later to raise up the boat to fit the keel.. More playing with the PRHF spread sheet seems to indicate a Norfolk Handicap of about 13%, that's slightly faster than an Enterprise but slower than a Laser. I need to do more work on the spreadsheet though to add more information. 4 MDF sheets were demolished into sections for shelving and uprights in the library Three more shelves were installed, as were two uprights for the next section of shelving.

This weekend, more metal bashing, two pieces were cut off the old flat bed for use. The rest of the flat bed was cut into useable pieces for the might come in handy pile. The smaller piece goes between the sides of the previously processed section, it will spread the weight of the boat onto the axle. That piece has now been trimmed to size and cleaned up for painting. The larger piece goes at the front end of the section that will have the keel resting on it. It goes from side to side transferring the weight onto the A frame of the Trailer, 40 inches forward of the Axle. It's been trimmed roughly, and dry fitted. It just needs a little fettling, then derusting, before painting with the little piece. I was going to weigh the trailer but the bathroom scales failed.. They are 30 years old plus .. A new set has been ordered. The trailer needs to be raised up to work on it, I'm going to get some foundation blocks this week for the purpose, they will be used later to raise up the boat to fit the keel.. More playing with the PRHF spread sheet seems to indicate a Norfolk Handicap of about 13%, that's slightly faster than an Enterprise but slower than a Laser. I need to do more work on the spreadsheet though to add more information. 4 MDF sheets were demolished into sections for shelving and uprights in the library Three more shelves were installed, as were two uprights for the next section of shelving.

[The Q]

Well Doris has spoken,
Outdoor sports allowed from March 29th, the rule of six should go May 17th, So all is Go for the 60th 3 Rivers Race on Jun 5/6th 2021 (unless Doris Changes his mind).

Entry Forms on www.3rr.uk

100-150 boats, 50 miles to be sailed on Norfolk Broads, under 3 bridges requiring the dropping of the mast 4 times, the record about 8 hours(Thames A rater) the worst.. only 13 boats finished.

Reckoned to be the toughest Inland waterways event in Europe, the 3 toughest mass participation event in the UK.

As an aside to this Racing at Horning Sailing club was due to Start 28th March.
But now of course can't start in a limited fashion until April 4th on Black Horse Broad and then programmed Down river to Acle or Thurne on the 5th