Sunday, December 30, 2012

The Mast is Risen

Well I decided to raise the mast to get it and all of the standing rigging out of the way so I could start the fairing and fiberglass repair on the cabin, deck and cockpit.


Once I started piecing all of the parts together, I started noticing things I was not too sure about.



This is one side of the boom with a large slot, likely to fit slugs on the foot of the sail.  I can't remember if my sail has slugs or a rope foot.  No need to worry, the other side of the boom has a smaller slot, that looks like it will accommodate a rope footed sail.















The next puzzle.  This is a shot near the chain plate for the shrouds.  There is an outer shroud that attaches at the top of the mast and an inner shroud that attaches just below the spreader.  What was confusing is that there was what appeared to me at first to be a 3rd shroud also attached just below the  spreader.  It had a block on the other end of it.  After doing some "asking", I now believe it to be a running back stay.  I learned something new.




After studying the "How to raise the mast" drawing put out by Sailcraft, I was successful in getting it done with the help of my son and one of his friends.  Was able to do it without a winch.  I just used a 6:1 purchase and the 3 of us pulled it up quite easily.   We just beat another shower, in fact we had pea size hail!





A shot from the front.




















and a closeup (blurry) shot to show the clearance between the cabin roof and the boom.  About 3 inches here.














At this level, the goose neck attachment is about 2 to 3 inches below the track opening where the sail slugs enter the mast track.  Time will tell if I need to modify the main sail.


















By the way, yesterday, this blog had exceeded the 2000 page view mark.  Incredible!



Thursday, December 27, 2012

Helm Station - Part 3

This past weekend was a bust, down with the flu.  Well enough to enjoy Christmas though.  Got back at it yesterday.


I tabbed in the helm and finished fiberglassing the remainder of the bulkhead.  I think that completes my major fiberglass projects.  Likely some additional small fiberglass work in my future to close relocated thru hulls etc.

Oh yeah and I want to reinforce the drop board casings.  Maybe that might happen in the next few days.















This is just a shot I took this morning.  I like the lines of the raised roof from this angle.







Started mocking up the placement of the wheel and controls.  I need to measure for my steering and outboard control cables.



My first layer of fairing mix.



Sunday, December 16, 2012

Helm Station - Part 2

Who says it never rains in California?  The past 2 weekends have not been conducive to working outside, but I managed to make some progress.

Here is the helm station out of the mold.  I spent about an hour sanding off remnants of the mold.  Instead of using melamine, I used pieces of 2 doors from IKEA that we were going to throw away.  The white surface of the IKEA doors are basically shrink wrapped onto the particle board.
Unfortunately, the cohesion between the  fiberglass and the shrink wrapped material was greater and the stuff just peeled off the particle board in some spots.







A shot from the starboard side.  You can see a void smack dab in the middle of the front surface.  I drilled a small hole and applied a layer of resin along the entire surface.











Here is the back.  I fiberglassed in 3/4" plywood on the top and front for structure and to accommodate the rotary helm mechanism.

















I had enough time today to mount the helm station to the bulkhead.  I had prior cut out a piece of the plywood bulkhead and actually used it for the helm structure.  This cubby will be for a fire extinguisher.
















I decided to mount the helm station off center, because my idea is to place the helm chair as far starboard as I can.  That way I can easily see either through the cabin or along the starboard side of the cabin roof.  You can revert back to my drawing I posted in a previous Post.





A shot from the starboard side.  The cubby will be for my winch handle(s).  This is a good time to comment on an Oh Oh moment I had right after laying the last layer of mat in the form a few days ago.

The form was made perfectly square.  I realized that the bulkhead was angled forward.  Since I did not want the helm station to conform to this angle, I used the plywood to take up the difference.  In the long run, this works out nicely since now I have a place to tab when I fiberglass the helm station to the bulkhead.

Just making lemonade!

You can see the remnants of the shrink wrap material in the cubby.  I decided to just add a thin layer of resin on top instead of trying to sand it off by hand.

BTW,  the lid in the bottom of the picture can be fully raised vertical, without hitting the helm station.






Obviously all plywood used in this project needs to be fiberglassed when exposed to the elements.  I had purposely left the plywood on the bulkhead un-fiberglassed until after I mounted the helm station.  You can see from this picture that I will have a nice overlap of mat/fabric when I fiberglass this area.

You would think I knew what I was doing!














Another shot of the port side to show the angle of the bulkhead.

Off to the right of the picture, you can see my continuing efforts with making a filler mix of resin to fill in the hole in the gunwal left by the old controls.  I think I am finally getting it.  Used a mix of resin, micro balloons and cabosil.  Actually you can also see it on various spots of the helm station where there were mold defects.













These next two pictures are from the inside of the cabin to try and show the cavity that will house all of the helm mechanics and electronics.

You can see the screws at the top and right hand side of the picture that I used to mount the helm station.











Have not really decided on the configuration of the wall to hide all of this stuff.  I am likely going to build a wall just aft of the nav table.  I will place an access door as well as the electrical panel.  In fact, I may just have the majority of the wall be the door so I can flip it down to access either the helm station mechanics or the back of the electrical panel.  I guess I will decide how far forward the wall will be once I install all of the gadgets and gismos!








I will be taking 2 weeks off for Christmas, so hopefully I will be able to make some good progress toward the steering and outboard controls.  That should complete the major structural modifications, then it will be on to plumbing and electrical.  I will likely tackle plumbing first since that will account for any more holes that need to be made.


Sunday, December 2, 2012

Helm Station - Part 1

This project will likely have several "Parts".  Its been raining since Friday, but I have been able to squeeze in a little bit of work on the helm station.


This is the mold for the helm station.  The 2 cubbies were afterthoughts.  I had already assembled the main form and applied silicon fillets.   The crevice between the cubbies and the forward part of the form presented a challenge in placing fillets and subsequently laying mat and fabric.  I was able to apply a layer of each today, but got to dark to take a picture.  I will need to apply one additional layer of mat and fabric, but since it gets dark around 5:00, it'll have to wait until next weekend.

The cubbies were sized to accommodate a fire extinguisher on the port side and one or two winch handles on the starboard side.

That is all for this post!