Blue Moon 2

[The Q]

I had a four day weekend this time. One day was allocated for SWMBO'S birthday ( out shopping) and three days for boat work..
and then..


A phone call and SWMBO's brother and wife arrived for two days..


So what was achieved on the one day?


After a wash, dry and a tak rag, The entire sides of the hull above the water line was given its first coat of Toplac.


The lathe was fixed in its final position, once all the parts were cleaned and oiled / greased where necessary.

The rod of acetal was searched for and eventually found in it's safe place, after mounting it in the lathe, the sheeve box measured again for it's sheeve. 19mm x4.5 mm.


One wheel was turned in the lathe, as it was parted., It flipped out and could I find it...no.. so I turned another one. I've checked it fits , but it's not installed yet as I need to put in the new halyard first.


I've left the acetal rod in the lathe, I'll turn up a couple of more sheeves for spares when I get the chance.

[The Q]

Howling winds with some heavy rain were the main aspects of this weekend..


So what got done?
First the mast got rigged, new main and jib halyards and the jib vang, Though that may get re rigged yet..
Why? well there is a hole though the mast for the old spinnaker halyard but unusually no sheeve, there's just a plastic tube in the hole, I guess Teflon tube...


Then at the bottom of the mast no sheeve to turn it to the crew, But signs there was one once. So I'm thinking on that one.
Unusually the halyards do not go down inside the mast but down inside the luff groove, which made it much easier to rig..
Then I thought that mast could do with a clean, so after the rain had stopped again, it was washed down and old tape removed.. Now it's a lot less green..


Old tape, yep, boom and sail limits plus some over holes from old fittings.. The removal of tape showed the mast had been a Goldspar, sadly now very grey, what can be done about that I'm not sure.. Recommendations anyone?


Then I made a wooden V to go in the keel trough, this will stop it moving forward in transport and guide the boat into the correct balance position on the trailer. That's now drying in the workshop and will get a good coat of paint before installation.


A box of ratchet tie down straps arrived, I've installed three, which are now helping hold the cover on. I think in transport 4 will be needed.

[The Q]

Not as much work done as I'd hoped this weekend.

Mast tidying up was done but the jib vang rerouting wasn't... why? I tripped over a stay and hit the floor heavily, left arm and shoulder now very painful..
Prior to that I'd sanded above the water line, cleaned off, tak ragged, then painted the hull above the waterline.

The material for the boat cover was placed on the boat and marked out to fit.
then removed to the mobile home floor where after joining the dots, all forward of the mast was cut along with the mast hole and collar.

Next week the work hopefully will be sand below the water line and antifoul (first coat)
trial fit the mast... However..

Fridays forecast is 50MPH winds and Saturdays not much better..

[The Q]

Friday,
Took cover off, and the crack I caused previously when overtightening the tie down straps had reappeared, an inspection inside showed nothing there.


so nothing for it but.
Mark up 3.5 inches either side of crack, get grinder out, took paint undercoat and any filler down to the fibreglass skin that covers the ply hull.
Covered that with a thickened resin, pushed a six inch wide strip of glassfibre tape onto the resin, until it was properly coming through the weave.. covered top with more mix, used a straight edge to get a smooth fill.
Sanded most of the Bottom in preparation for antifouling.


Saturday.
Rowed across to the motorboat found the port stern mooring rope undone, this would have been the leeward rope during the storms so why ? , No damage to the boat or its cockpit hood.
Then off to the local chandler's for another tin of Toplac, and home via a hardware store for non boat related stuff.
home, sanded the repair, that of course showed minor imperfections needing a finishing coat of filler.


Sunday,
Sanded repair and rest of bottom of hull, gave the non repair side of the hull a coat of topcoat. Managed to just get that out of the previous tin of Toplac. Gave the repair a coat of undercoat.

[The Q]

Friday,
Sanded primer, on the repair, tack ragged and painted the entire repaired side.
Got the running lights working on the light board, there appears to be a problem with the wiring for the brake lights to socket wiring in the landrover, further investigation required.


Saturday.. Rain... other duties carried out,


Sunday,
The mast was finally put up, an interesting problem on a 15ft long deck 6ft above the ground putting the foot of a 23ft mast down the hole.. Tip of the mast was pointing into the wind before being lifted, a very chilly North easterly that was..
Most of the rigging went well, except for a 20mm cheek block leapt off the deck and is not to be found, Myself, SWMBO and the dog had a good search, but it's gone missing.. as it's one of a pair for the Jib sheets, another has had to be ordered.


The other problem is the Jib vang routing, trying to find a suitable route back to me in the boat with out too many turns and not impeding the Mainsail vang.
Noted, I don't need the forestay fitted to the mast, the Boat has the jib wire while sailing and the Jib vang as a backup. The jib vang can be moved to the jib attachment when not racing, keeping the tension off the Jib Club.
Also noted, I've forgotten to fit the block to the mast for the topping lift, need to do that and one on the boom..

So the currrent list left to do before the 27th March..
Other jib Cheek block,
Main sail vang,
Mainsheet,
Lock nuts on the steering controls,
Antifouling,
Second coat of paint over repair..
Trailer mud guards need fitting,
Brake lights need fixing.
Warning triangle for boat overhang needs making..

[The Q]

Friday more finicky details worked on,

Various search's through the box of delights, aka the accumulated spares box, provided parts for..


Main Vang rigged,


mainsheet rigged and cut to length, ( off a 50m roll),


Sat in the chair and played sailing checking all the ropes and sheets came to hand.


Hull given a last hand sand, in particular those awkward bits like the hull to keel joint.


Masking tape applied to hull ready for anti fouling.


Then we went to collect a loom, full size floor standing, a two shaft table loom, a warping mill with Heck, and various bits and pieces. The big loom in kit form went on the Landrover roof, the rest inside, just, there wasn't much room left. New retail price for that lot, maybe £5000, second hand £1000, price to us... A bottle of wine..


Lowered mast 50mph winds forecast.





Saturday,


Hull given two coats of VC17M.


Top 6 inches of the hull below the waterline, which gets the most weed here, given a third coat.


Leading edges of bow, keel and rudder given a 4th coat.


Small amount left in sealed squeezy bottle to do bottom of keel when she's next hanging from a crane.


Blocks fitted for topping lift


Steering controls fitted properly with lock nuts and washers,


Steering control lines where they cross fitted into PTFE tube.


Decided another packing washer in the steering will help, a piece of HDPE has been identified as a candidate.


The New boat cover fitted, it just needs the excess material being cut off and the boat number put on.


The boat number 1260A is required to be put on the cover because the cover obscures the number on the boat.


SWMBO had painted the big loom with woodworm treatment during the above, we've just moved the parts to the woodshed for storage until we organise room for it, it takes, a 6ft square cube of space but with access required all round that's 10*10 ft floor area needed.


Sunday!!!


Cabinet building in the mobile home for the TV and heater, good progress on that was made until I ran out of screws.
So a kit of parts was made from the remaining plywood and Battens for future work on the cabinet.

The warning triangle for the boat cut and given a cut of paint. ( required by UK law due to the amount of overhang beyond the trailer lighting.).

The new washer was made, by marking up a square of plastic, then putting a bolt through the middle before installing that on the lathe, it was then just a few minutes work to turn it to size.







Left to do


Install That washer,


Fenders need made to measure attachment ropes and caribina hooks.


Mooring ropes need cutting to length and attaching to caribina hooks.


20ft tow rope needs selecting from stores, (club requirement for all keelboats)


Topping lift needs fitting,


Trailer needs mud guards fitting, hubs regreasing,


The warning triangle needs painting and brackets fitting so it will fit the boat.


The weed deflector needs fitting in front of the rudder.





Went looking online for more VC17M, before they change the formula and because with the current high inflation it's only going to get more expensive.. Found two 750mil tins at 60% off, yes please I'll have some of that!!!.

[The Q]

Almost ready to go to the party.

BM1.jpg
BM2.jpg
BM3.jpg

[Alan71]

Hello Q,

I'd say she's ready for the PARTY!

The paint looks terrific!!

I hope you and she get along well and have a good time!!!

Regards,
Alan

[The Q]

Hello Q,

I'd say she's ready for the PARTY!

The paint looks terrific!!

I hope you and she get along well and have a good time!!!

Regards,
Alan

Thanks, don't get too close to the paint, she could have done with more work on that...

My winter club had it's last race on Sunday, and the summer club starts this coming Sunday, So there is a lift in / out this coming Saturday. I've arranged to be there with Blue Moon. In fact I'll be the first there, and will be getting the crane out ready to use.. (two man job to use)

Note, The winter club hires the summer clubs premises for the duration, they are totally separate clubs, the winter club having been resident elsewhere till 1964.

The forecast is very light winds over the weekend , which will be good for the first time out. I've just checked the tides on the river and the first race is around high tide, so not too much current either..

[The Q]

just went outside to walk the dog, and realised something....
Tomorrow I need to tow my boat to the sailing club..
Problem,
The boat is now on a 3ft keel, hull and cockpit depth, 2ft 6inches, trailer bed above ground 14inches
That's a total of 80 inches..
Landrover height 77inches

At the end of this road is a hump backed bridge large diameter concrete pipe with a single track road over it.
There's another of those a mile or so further on.
And about 5 miles further on there's a full blown hump backed bridge.
Boat is 16 ft long
Landrover is 15ft 7 inches long....
Alli mast is 23ft long.
So either way I have around 7 ft of overhang. Today I urgently need to find a way of propping up the mast at one end by maybe 3 ft.

[The Q]

The problem was solved.IMG_20220326_065022.jpg

[The Q]

We got there.IMG_20220326_105236.jpg

[The Q]

and the full Story of the long weekend..
Friday,
Loaded the landrover with everything I could think of that we might need.. and forgot the paddles...
Pumped a bit more grease into the trailer bearings, tightened the wheel nuts, hooked up the landrover.
Put on light board made it secure, checked the lights work OK.
Put the mast on the landrover roof experimented a bit and but tying it down on the forward slope of the cab roof found I could get enough clearance over Blue Moon to get over the hump backed Bridges.
Put warning triangle on the bow of Blue Moon.

Saturday,
08:00 set off for the club, after about 3 miles stopped and checked everything over. As the trailer has new hubs, new wheels, and everything on the trailer was effectively new. All OK.
About 3 miles later hear a strange noise, couldn't stop, I was on a zigzag bend that goes round the walls of a pub. About a hundred yards on I can stop..
The road goes between the left hand edge of the pub and that grey car..


4 screws have pulled out of the lighting board and the board is on the road. all lights destroyed..
Nothing I can do but find a bit of rope out of the Landrover and tie it on..


Get to the club and undo the lock to the gates. it's only a combination lock but unless you know there are some pins to remove or it won't unlock.. It's difficult even if you know how..
Bring the landrover and boat in and park it appropriately.. While putting the lock back on the now open gates, three of this years club officialdom turn up..
Release trailer from Landrover, manoeuver front of landrover to back of crane. Go onto the island to get from the locker the bag of bits needed to operate the crane.
Hook Landrover front towball to crane having removed another lock, pull crane back , push Blue Moon under the crane arm..
Get The ladder off the trailer, get into BM and sort out the lifting plate. realise i need some bits from the crane bag, climb out again get them climb in again, sort that out, climb out go to winch add handle from the crane bag, wind the hook down into the boat. Climb back in again and hook up.
Wind up to take the tension, get the mast off the land rover, stand it leaning against the boat, climb onto the boat lift the mast up and put it into place loosely tie on the stays.
Wander off to a near by cafe get a takeaway coffee.


Unload Landrover onto Dyke bank, sit in Blue moons chair on the bank, and drink the coffee, just as I finish the Yeoman Keelboats start arriving for lift in..


Now there is a second trained crane operator there I can wind up BM off the trailer by about 6 inches, remove trailer and anti foul the bottom of the keel.
Then using the landrover push the crane to the dyke, wind the boat to just above water level, and wait the 15 minutes it says on the can of antifoul before launching..
Lower her into the water for the fist time in 23 years...


Pull back the crane so the next boat can be readied for lifting.


Load all the stuff into her start paddling round the Island, and... Run aground,
Various club members take a rope and start pulling from the bank, eventually a club rescue boat turns up and tows BM round to the front of the clubhouse.


It was low tide, and we've had High air pressure over use for several days, that pushes down the North Sea, and lets the water out of the broads... So our water level was 2 ft lower than normal. all the Yeoman being launched had the same problem.


Start fitting out BM, with the odd interruption as I go across to push each crane load to the water..


Try pulling up the sails ... And...
The mast is too low, the boom is trying to take my head off..
14:00 all the boats are in the water. there's not much more to do to do to BM, so she gets moored on the club island in what we call Dinghy Dyke. it's where they tie up between races.


Make a temporary set of blocks to move the mast up by about 8 inches..

Sunday..
08:00 head for the club..


Uncover BM remove mast, extract holding plate for the base of mast from the depths using a very long screw driver extension.
Insert blocks, screw blocks into place put mast into place, temporarily tie mast in place, haul BM round to the clubhouse front as the dinghies are starting to turn up..


Head into the club house for a coffee and a bacon roll, coffee 60p bacon roll £1.50, the first cash I've used in a couple of years..
After consumption finish rigging, miss the first race as I wasn't ready. but while the are out go for a trail sail, clamps on the steering gear slip, have to return to the clubhouse by pulling on the steering strings directly.


Realign and tighten up clamps, enter the 2nd race..


Started quite well it was a broad reach, later a run.. But tacking back I find problems, I can't set the jib properly, the jib club is snagging on the jib furler line, the jib club outhaul line is snagging on the bow cleat..
As I finished the race the Nylock nut holding the pivot for the steering control decided it wasn't going to lock, so it came off as I came into the quay..
That was put back on, then lunch.
Rigging had slackened off tightened up, this race went fairly well but still had problems tacking.


4th race, put a block of wood behind the mast pushing it forward, helped keep the tension on the rig, sailed a lot better...Then I ran aground and needed a tow off... mud banks aren't where they were 3 years ago!!


jib club removed and is now in the landrover so I can modify it.


BM wrapped up, I tried towing her with a rowing dinghy across to here mooring alongside the motor boat. When I climbed up on the motor boat I find the rear cabin roof hatch is missing (21inches by 19 inches) I'll have to make a temporary ply cover this week, then make a new one..
As for the towing by rowing, ok in light conditions but for stronger conditions I'll need to resurrect an outboard motor..
Get home at around 19:30


Review of what to do next.
Modify the jib club... Do I need a furler? it's a very small jib, might just try doing without next week, but I need to mount the club a Couple of inches higher.. still thinking on that one..
Move my seat back a bit, to get the boat balance a bit more aft, as she's slightly nose down when I'm aboard. That will require moving all the controls and cleats..
Wire the side stays into the cross trees, they keep popping out..

In the future,
The new Jib can be about 2ft taller,
The new main needs to be about 6 inches shorter, this old thing I'm using for development has obviously stretched.
I have some spare room on the boom, might go for a slightly longer foot as well..
She definitely needs the new rudder design, she has a sweet spot of steering at the moment, but beyond that it gets hard to pull back to centre. This is because the turning centre of the current rudder is too far aft, it was all I could do at the time due to the shaft size. The new shaft will be 1/3 less in diameter..

Hopefully some of this weekends club photos and BM will be sailing on some, so I can post one or two here..

[Alan71]

Hello Q,

What a lovely tale!

Only one thing really matters......" Lower her into the water for the fist time in 23 years..." .

Regards,
Alan

[The Q]

The damming evidence...
A video of our sailing waters, Sunday 27th March about 15:30, and at 3 minutes into the video. Yours truly and Blue Moon well and truly aground with rescue boat in attendance.. The rest of the fleet are up river somewhere..

https://youtu.be/61w5_ALo6ns

[The Q]

No more development this weekend, but I have noted more work for next weekend.
4 races were competed in on Sunday.
Wind light and variable, low tide was supposed to be 14:00 but was still pouring out at 15:00, hard work sailing into the wind and tide..


Race one, went well and BM overtook a boat 5% faster on Handicap, overall came in about mid fleet. finished on Handicap 168 seconds behind the leader on a 1 hour 15 minute race.


Race two, went well most of the fleet bunched up together , which on a river slows you down somewhat, So BM was able to keep within range. BM Won! by 134 Seconds , from the first home boat. (1 hour 20 minute race)


Race Three, I made a hash of the start losing about 100 yards by the time BM had done 100 yards.. The wind went very light, eventually I retired , as BM was drifting down river on every tack..


Race four went well , more wind but the others got away, came in last..

[The Q]

Saturday:
I was at the SC attending a first aid course for the 3 Rivers Race guardship crews. It was given by a competitor, who just happens to be a plumber, well that's what he calls himself, he's actually a heart surgeon...


Sunday:
Well, I didn't sail this weekend it was gusting 40mph, and I'm not yet happy with BM's handling in strong winds..
So I went to the club, added a couple of plastic milk Bottles half full of water on string to the cover, to help hold it down, then paddled round the front and removed the Jib club.. After that returned to the club house for a coffee and Bacon Butty .
Then to home and the workshop.


I've discovered some International Canoes have a tube within a tube jib club, by a clever arrangement of string, the inner tube slides out lengthening the Jib club on close hauled, some boats also use the string to tighten the leech at the same time.
So out with the angle grinder and cut off various bits and pieces plus unbolt and remove the furler.. I'm going for the K.I.S.S. principle. While thinking about the various bits of string they were using, I thought, why not use a bungy inside the Club to draw back the sliding extension?.. That removes more complications of string..

So I put a 28mm diameter dowel into the lathe and turned that down to just under the 27mm ID of the jib club, after checking that slid in and out OK. I put the extension into the lathe with a drill bit in the headstock and drilled a centre hole. then using a hand drill I drilled a 45 degree hole to meet the end of the center hole.
Through that a bungy was fed with a knot in the end a hollow was made in the extension to accommodate the knot. Then assembly was fed into the jib stick, the bungy tensioned up with just enough tension to pull the extension back into the jib club.. That was OK so...
The extension was then removed and varnished, I wouldn't be surprised if I have to sand again before final installation..


On the club , the forestay (the wire in the jib) mounting points were moved back about 5 inches as I've realised they were too far forward.

So that's it for this week, next week I will re install the jib club, add the bungy suggested by Jim to force the Jib club to boom out. Then realign the jib sheet turning blocks, before going sailing again next Sunday..

Next Saturday is Horning Boat Show.. http://www.horningboatshow.com/
So anyone around can come for a visit, the show itself is free, but trips out in our 20-25ft open keel boats are £5 for a 20-30 minute trip..
I'm on exhibitors car park duty, but if I get the chance I'll get Blue Moon over for work..

[The Q]

Just a bump up reminder of Horning boat show, mentioned above.

[The Q]

Race one,
Started well, then jib club extension jammed again or to be more precise was sticking, I think the varnish was still to soft (second coat given on Saturday)..


Race two rigged a string to force jib club extension back in so I could tack the jib.


Race 3 , got really irritated by having to pull various extra bits of string, the jib club was supposed to mean self tacking!!! Removed all the bits of string and the bungy that helps with holding out the boom.. Jib had too much belly..


Race 4 moved the luff mounting point forward of the pivot of the jib club.... It worked, self tacking was back properly and the jib was relatively flat. Kept up with the other boats, all with taller rigs for half the race.


Conclusions..
The mast on Blue Moon is fairly "soft" and bendy, with no vang, putting tension on, the forestay just bends the mast forward. Hence the removal of the jib club bungy, it was pulling the jib club back to hit the mast.
The mainsail is back at the house and will be modified to bring the leach foot of the sail up 18 inches and the luff foot up 5 inches. Measurements were taken for that.
This will allow a vang to be used, if that's successful, giving more jib luff tension the jib club bungy will reappear.
If that's OK then the jib club extension will be pulled out to the maximum length that doesn't hit the mast.., and the jib luff move back as far as it can for a reasonable shape.
I'm considering a block and tackle beneath the Jib club to increase tension, but this will be a last resort..

[The Q]

someone took a picture from a long distance which includes BM sailing so this is a clip
.BM.JPG

[The Q]

Yesterday a down river race From Woods Dyke to Thurne Lion Dyke. about 6 miles.


Woods Dyke was fun, Hire boats doing all sorts of strange things, though luckily, the chaos cleared just before the starts.
The course from just below the H in Horning to the dyke by the name Thurne, via a buoy down river of Thurne Mouth.

yandy165633.jpg


The big broads cruisers had first start and just disappeared, their tall rigs picking up the wind above the trees.
Five minutes later it was a combined keel boat and dinghy start, a White boat, 3 Rebels, several Yeoman, Blue Moon and a lonely Wayfarer.
BM made a mid fleet start, and kept up well for the first half mile, then the taller rigs of the big keel boats started to tell and they pulled away, BM stayed with the Wayfarer for some time in a painfully slow race in light winds, once we got past the Horning water works the Wayfarer started to pull away, it is 7% faster on handicap..


Once finally clear of the trees at Ant mouth then BM started to sail better, this weeks modifications included two extra jib sheets to the tip of the jib club, pulling on these allowed a proper goosewing and much better down wind performance..
At Thurne mouth we turned right down to a buoy , rounded that and then tacked back to Thurne Dyke, BM was close enough to the finish to see the last Yeoman finish in the distance and the Wayfarer.

After lunch the race back, the wind had got up by this time and pre race it was a bit entertaining. One Broads cruiser stuffed itself into the reeds as the safest place to go.
Shortly after as BM proceeded towards Potter to avoid the Broads cruiser starting area. BM found herself between two bowsprits 3-4 foot each side.. Until the windward one tacked BM was trapped, First the leewards boats bowsprit hit the main sail of BM, as they tried to stay off the reeds, then as I steered up to avoid the reeds the outer Boats bowsprit hit BMs mainsail. Some how BM popped out from between the Bowsprits and when I looked back both Broads cruisers had stuffed themselves into the reeds.


Shortly after they extracted themselves and all departed safely at the hooter.
I put BM into the reeds myself, as I needed to do an adjustment to the rig which I couldn't reach from the seat.. On leaving it was discovered the new jib sheets meant I could goosewing the Jib against the wind and easily backed out of the reeds..
Five minutes later and it was BM's turn to start, no hassles BM made a very good start... First even, yep we were in the lead for about a hundred yards till the entire fleet swept past with their bigger rigs and sail areas..
When we reached the turning mark BM was about 100 yards behind, so then it was tacking up to Thurne Mouth and turn left up the Bure. Long tack, short tack most of the way. In the Strong clear winds the Wayfarer was pulling away, even though they were doing more tacks than BM, once we got to St Benet's straight BM sailed the whole length very Close hauled, no tacks, while the Wayfarer and a couple of other boats ahead could be seen to be tacking often.
Not surprisingly BM caught up a lot, and this continued all the way to Cockshoot Dyke, at that point we reached them., and after a couple of attempts, got past before the corner at the start of Horning village.
Finally crossing the Woods dyke finishing line about 50yards ahead of the Wayfarer..

[gray duck]

Nice report! thanks

[Thad]

Thanks. Fun.