Friday, June 26, 2009

Trying to prepare for storms


Sorry, but not much has happened with the dinghy recently. The main reason is that I have not been well and work has also been getting in the way. We will be on the case very shortly!

In the meantime I would like to thank a friend Andy, who very kindly collected a Storm Trysail in my absence. I bought second-hand for Roach. It is made out of cotton, and is circa 1950’s, but it is in very good condition and looks like it has hardly been used. Not something I would use very often, but a nice thing to have in the sail locker. As I don’t want to add a second track and gate to the mast, I was thinking of adding strong loops with toggles – a well known simple, if old-fashioned, way of attaching a trysail.

Another addition has been the purchase of 4 bronze stanchion bases. I am not fond of stanchions, but I think that if I do make a channel crossing or venture further afield, they will provide some added security. The idea is to have two either side of the cockpit and two more where the shroud plates are. That should protect me getting swept off deck when I am going to reef down the main. I rarely venture forward of the mast, so I don’t really see the point of stanchions further forward.

Monday, June 08, 2009

Dinghy Day Five


Well have not been doing much on the old dinghy of late as I have been quite busy. Well very busy infact. Anyway I managed to get some time on her today, Sunday and I have taped the seams of about half the underside of the hull. There was quite a bit of planing and manual sanding involved! Just thought I would let you know where she is at. Note my cheap peel-ply made from plastic grocery bags!
Tip: always pre-cut your fibreglass tape!

Today was around 4 hours work, so I reckon the total build time of 20 hours is not so far out of you do in stages like me and have everything set-up (total spent is 16 hours so far). I am sure there will be many more hours spent sorting the sil plan and rig, so the 20 hours I think refers to making something that floats and one can row rather than a whole sailing dinghy.

Tuesday, June 02, 2009

Dinghy Day Four







Well today I managed to get the dinghy stitched and taped. If working alone, then stitching is the only way to hold the thing together, but it is more work in the end as the stitches will need to be removed. I would recommend just taping the thing together with the aid of a few well placed screws; this requires a second person though. It will produce less work in the end as filleting around stitches is a pain.

I managed to finish filleting and taping half the boat with the help of a very interested 23 year old gardner. He wanted me to show him this new stitching technique and I let him muck in. The result are rather messy fillets, but hey, this is designed to get me sailing and not a work of art. If I can show locals a few new skills on the way so much the better.

The slow tropical hardner is not that slow. Three mixed pots exothermed in just a few minutes. I suppose over 30 degree heat and 100% humidity is not condusive to epoxy work. So managed to tape half the inside of the boat. Tomorrow the other half of the inside after work I hope. Then we flip it and start taping the outside.