Trestles

Daisy II off her trailer onto trestles

This has been a long time in the making but Daisy II was finally tempted off her trailer onto 'terra firma' - using a set of trestles.  The initial design for these came from this link and most of the woodwork was done during the winter.  However, in an attempt to beef up the design, a keel support has been introduced, carving up a railway sleeper.
Today, the final deed was accomplished, made all the more complex by the trailer design, the various sets of rollers getting in the way. 


Back-winching, the rear support was in place first.


rear support

At the time, the rear of the trailer was just in front of these, and the trailer was already tipping backwards with the boat resting on a combination of this support and the trailer keel rollers.  As back-winching continued, the keel had to be jacked up in stages as the trailer was slowly pulled out from beneath the boat. 
Eventually, the final position for the keel support was in place, and the balancing forward trestles were pushed in place.



Forward keel support and balancing trestles.

Technically, the hull is now much more accessible for work, although it make take a little courage on my part to spend much time underneath the boat.  However, the whole thing seems pretty sturdy, particularly with the introduction of the forward keel support.  The key motivation for doing this now is to access the trailer for servicing, whilst I have a few weeks with no immediate sailing commitments.  Plans are well advanced, however, to trail Daisy II to Cumbria in July and to Cornwall in August, so the trailer needs to be in tip-top shape! 
Depending on time, I may start chipping away at some of that old antifouling - I'd quite like to get back to the original hull, and perhaps repaint beneath the waterline - that may all have to wait until the close season.




Coaster winch servicing

Serviced winch reassembled.

 Most, though by no means all Drascombe Coasters include a sailing winch mounted on the bridge deck, so positioned to ease the strain when tensioning jib sheets.  In reality, it is rarely used in its complete form (with a winch handle); a quick tug on the sheet followed by a couple of clockwise turns around the winch with the jib sheet, then cleated off is all that is invariably required. 

Daisy II's winch was well overdue a good service since the thing was becoming more difficult to turn and had never been touched by me in nine seasons of ownership.  Consequently, I had little idea what to expect when taking it apart.  

Yours truly in winch servicing mode...

As it happens, the winch is mounted on a base plate which is attached to the bridge deck by three bolts which can be found just aft and on the starboard side of the centreplate housing.  Fortunately, these can be left well alone since it's always fiddly working in this area. To detach the winch, all that's necessary is to undo the central bolt from above and then lift off the winch drum from the base plate.

Winch drum removed and turned upside down.  The two 'pawls' and their associated springs can be seen.  The one on the upper right looked to have been disconnected although I subsequently found that this could have happened as it the drum was removed.  

This shows the main spindle (centre) removed.  In this picture, the drum (l.h.side of picture) is now turned the right way up revealing two further upper pawls. These were particularly caked in and the associated springs had no effect at all. Inside the l.h.drum, a white plastic bearing can be seen which needed removing and cleaning.  On the upper rh side of the picture, the base can be seen, inside which is a second, smaller white plastic bearing, along with two washers one flat, the other barrel-shaped.

In this picture, drum, once again inverted is on the l.h.side foreground.  A large diameter metal washer is removed from this and can be seen at the top of the picture.  Once this is removed, the central white plastic bearing can be removed and cleaned.  This picture also shows the smaller white bearing removed from the base plate - this one, strangely, had a diagonal cut from top to bottom.  The two washers mentioned in the previous picture can also be seen.

I rather 'followed my nose' when cleaning it all.  The four pawls needed removing - care is required here, since each includes a tiny spring which could easily escape!  I used 3-in-one and an old cotton tee-shirt to clean off the dirt and grime, and then regreased everything and reassembled it all.  Reassembly took three or four goes to get right and, each time I pulled off the winch barrel to have another go, one or both of the lower pawls disconnected.  So it was all a little fiddly.  I have no idea if I used the right cleaning stuff and subsequently find, on the web, that Harken sell proprietary cleaning fluids for pawls, winches, and the like.  I'll see how mine goes and have another go if necessary.

A slightly odd thing was that there was some inconsistency in the way it had previously been assembled since, when I first observed the lower pawls, one of the springs was housed the opposite way round to the other.  The two ends of each spring are not shaped symmetrically, one end including an angled bend and the other simply looking tangential.  Either way looked as though it could technically work, although each would worn slightly different.   So, when reassembling, I decided to go with way three of the pawls were initially assembled, rather than the inconsistent one, but have no real idea which is correct.  

The reassembled winch is a bit of a revelation since the grey central drum now turns independently of the black one - which it's obviously supposed to do when winching properly, but the top two pawls were so caked in dirt and grim, the whole was stuck fast!  Now, everything in general turns so much more easily and I'm looking forward to pulling in those jib sheets with comparative ease!  Roll on the sailing season!

Fitting out, 2015

Things have been quiet on the blogging front but, behind the scenes, fitting out has been chugging along quite nicely.  The first task was to strip back the mast to bare wood.

I then applied several coats of International Compass varnish, that being the best of a modest choice in the local chandlers.  Not that I'm fussy about this: the remaining spars seem more than happy with their Ronseal exterior varnish.  If I had some left in the pot, the mast would have had the same - I fancied a change, though.

I've also applied a coat of Sadolin to the gunwhales.  I still need to do the inner facing side plus the transom.

'...upon thy belly shalt thou go, and antifouling shalt thou apply annually, all the sailing days of thy life...'. Indeed, it does seem like a punishment for past and intended pleasures, but it must be done.

So, one coat of International Cruiser Uno Plus (on offer at Fox's Marina) applied.  I now need to roll the boat back a few inches to cover the bits obscured by rollers on the trailer.

Whatever else gets done depends entirely on weather and time.  The plan, as ever, is to be sailing from the beginning of April.  

'A little varnish and less polish' - fitting out season, 2014

Alterations to mizzen boom attachment, 16th March 2014

I haven't posted here for a while which is really a reflection of a manic start to 2014 from the non-sailing perspective.  However, things have been ticking along and, following my first sail today, there is some catching up to do.  So, this post is all about the fitting out and I'll put up a second post about today's first sail.

I'm not much of a fitter outer!  A self imposed deadline of launching by 5th April has been adhered to come what may.  Hence, 'a little varnish and less polish' would neatly summarise my efforts in this fitting out window.  I have run some Sadolin over the wooden gunwhale capping - which will doubtless have the purists spitting into their tins of Deks Olje - and scrubbed the decks and hull.  I also repaired the damage to the stern transom caused by that lowlife boater who collided with Daisy II on her mooring last October.  This latter repair involved removing the wooden transom for the first time, use of some 'Plastic Padding' filler followed up with some colour matched gelcoat repair.  The resulting finish is functional rather than professional but then I've never been completely satisfied with repair jobs previously done by boatyards.  I didn't do much in terms of photography for this one.  And, of course, we mustn't forget my favourite job of all - the good old antifouling, by several nautical miles the boater's least pleasant job of the year.  If I had the money to pay someone...

Antifouling, International Micron extra, this year in the preferred navy blue

As for the black marks on the spars, maybe I'll just wait until there are more black marks than brown wood, and then paint the whole lot black!

The most significant modification has been to remove and repair the damaged mizzen boom and use the opportunity to make some alterations to the attachment.  The previous incarnation involved chiselling a groove in the mizzen mast to house the boom fitting.

 This looked rather shoddy but, more significantly, prevented a raised boom from resting flat against the mast.  Hence, following an idea picked up from last year's Broads Rally, I glued together a couple of pieces of spruce over winter, fashioned this into a semicircular prism attachment to fit the contours of the jaws and then, using epoxy, glued this to the mizzen, filling in the previously chiselled groove.

semicircular wooden prism made to fit the attachment jaws

epoxy resin and filler used to attach to mast

Finally, I sanded down the whole and finished it with brown exterior paint.

I used a couple of screws to reinforce the join, but these caused trouble when fitting the jaws so have been removed.  Again, purists will be upending their pots of varnish , but I really don't have the time or patience (or skills) to fashion a fully wooden scarfed joint; I'm not a big fan of varnish and this paint matches a similar alteration made when extending the height of the mast a few seasons ago - a repair which still stands the tests of time.

The major objective - to allow a raised mizzen boom to rest against the mast - has been achieved, although I neglected to provide pictorial proof.  That may be corrected in due course.

I also had some filling to do on the boom itself.  Having filed away the loose wood, I used a similar but lighter coloured epoxy filler, finished with a few coats of exterior varnish and have since reattached the rigging eye.

Not the best angle, but mizzen boom refitted and functioning during today's sail.  

Finally afloat! Launching and first sail

Launching at midnight may seem a little mad but it has its benefits.  Firstly, it is surprising just how much light there is especially with assistance from a full moon.  Then, there are the advantages yielded by the stillness often prevalent at night - a glassy sea, and no wind to send the boat to places unintended by her skipper.  I also quite like launching when people aren't watching so that judgments cannot be made!

This 'slipway' is in fact a developing hard area just opposite the entrance to King's Boatyard.   On spring tides, there's always sufficient water to slide the boat into the water once the tide begins to lap at the wheels of the trailer.  As usual, I had to make use of back-winching but otherwise launching was pleasingly uneventful and, having found a temporary home for car and trailer, Daisy II, tender and I drifted off into the night and found a vacant mooring for the night, as close as I could reasonably estimate to the position of my own allocated mooring.

Friday evening, anticipating the midnight tide

In the morning, the first job was to find the correct mooring.  This year, I have been allocated a place six moorings closer to Pin Mill Hard.  It transpires that, in last night's darkness, I had managed to find the adjacent mooring to my own.  The mooring line is well maintained by King's Boatyard and, once I'd removed most of the slime that naturally accumulates,  Daisy II was fastened securely and breakfast could begin. 

View from the cockpit on Saturday morning

Time for the season's first sail.  All sails seem to be working well.  I've made few changes to the rigging except that the shrouds are now lined in plastic covering for almost their entire lengths.  At a few points, I needed to resort to motor which I was happy to do to ensure the outboard was functioning reliably.  Unfortunately, this presented the only problem in the whole weekend when the motor cut out when travelling south towards Trinity Terminal.  I think this was due to a slight break in fuel supply.  I checked all fuel connections and eventually managed to restart the engine which then performed well for the remainder of times I used it.  The repairs done during the service seem to have worked, the whine has disappeared and it sounds a good deal less laboured.

First sail; note functioning echo sounder - though I gave up on the log ages back.  The paddle kept on clogging up with weed and, now that I always travel using GPS, I have an instant reading of speed and distance.  At some stage, I'll get the paddle removed and the hull reglassed and, at the same time, purchase a new echo sounder.

View of the bilges after 18 hours in the water.  Less than a thimbleful of water ingress, the seemingly redundant, ultra-high absorbency sponge looking up forlornly (long may that continue but, just in case, you're staying put, mate!)  In previous seasons, at this point there has often been an inch of water all around the centreplate casing during the first day on the mooring, which had always subsided as the hull expanded.

Once the sail was complete, it was time for lunch, and I then spent the afternoon doing the various jobs that I never seem to get round to.
Firstly, I replaced the two cords I use for reefing the main with thicker cord. These consist of lines taken, one from the clew to the first (or second) reefing cringle, the other from the tack to the equivalent cringle on the luff.  When reefing, rather than disconnecting the block and then reattaching to the cringle, I simply pull the line through the clew and cringle and secure.  The purpose of the thicker cord is to try and beef-up this process with a more secure arrangement, and to ease the knot-tying process - often carried out in increasingly rocky sailing conditions
I have also repositioned the hinges on the starboard side locker lid, glassed over any old holes and, today's job, lined the lid with thicker watertight sealing material so that, in the event of a knockdown, the hatches remain more watertight.  This job has only partially worked and I may need to reposition, or even to add to the latches in order to complete this.
Various other jobs included replacement screws in various parts of the boat, and ensuring all equipment was safely stowed.

Daisy II on her new mooring which is closer to shore than the old one.

Meet Pamela Jean, the latest addition to the Drascombe fleet at Pin Mill

7.8nm

Fitting out: polishing and various repairs.

Not yet looking in Davy Jones's locker...

The fitting out season has been later than anticipated.  The poor Easter weather saw to that.  Since then, antifouling has been done and the hull and deck polished.  I've been using some new polish recommended in the chandlers at Suffolk Yacht Harbour, called 7-11 Radiant.  It's one of these products that makes absolutely no effort to sell itself through a glitzy label, and could be easily missed.  However, it is supposed to polish stainless steel, fibreglass and washable surfaces and seems to have done the trick.

Polished hull

Polished cabin

The outboard has been serviced, and the squeal has been fixed - it sounded quite serious and, from the verbal report offered by Bob Spalding Marine who serviced it, the fact that I was able to rely on it with intermittent squeal for several weeks at the end of last season was fortuitous indeed.  Fortunately, I know nothing about engines so continue to live in blissful ignorance...

Since I've owned her, I've had a problem with leaks in and around the centre case caused by bolts which attach the wooden keel band to the hull.  One bolt sits forward of the centreplate casing, and I repaired that a few years back (photo at the end of this post).  There are a further two pairs of bolts which project either side of the casing from the keelband through to the cabin.  The aft pair of these seems particularly vulnerable and sits close to the central keel roller when the boat is on the trailer.
Usually, a few days on the mooring helps swell various joints and the boat manages for the remainder of the season with little water ingress.  However, the situation has steadily been deteriorating: each time the boat rolls on and off the trailer, the keel band bears the full weight of the boat, nudging the bolt heads and causing the shaft of the bolt to work loose.

Offending nut next the centreboard case - forward pair, the aft pair were worse than this.

It seems to have been a strange design for a trailer sailer, clearly something of a fault which, so I am told, new Churchouse Boats-built Coasters dispense with.  Finally, I've decided to do something about it.  Churchouse Boats recommended drastic action: that I remove them all together - both pairs - remove the keelband and fill the hole from both ends. There's no way I'm in a position to remove the keel band, but I have decided to remove the aft pair of bolts and fill from the top end.  The job involved removing each bolt, using a Dremel to shift the decayed material around the bolt inside the boat, and then filling with Epoxy from the inside, pushing the resin down through the holes (which I did using the head of a nail) and using a couple of tissue plugs underneath on the keel band to form a temporary stopper (my improvisation).
Tomorrow, I'll inspect the work, do a bit of sanding inside the cabin, remove the stoppers in the keel band and put some more filler in the wood from the underside.  What I want to avoid is any means by which the repair can be pushed back up through the old holes as the boat passes over the rollers when launching.  I'll have to watch out for this but will have an early opportunity to assess this since I had to move the boat back on the trailer to access these holes, and will have to roll this repair back over the central roller prior to trailing the boat down to Pin Mill.

Keelband, two bolts removed, ready for filling; and antifouling!  These particular two bolts sit very close to the central trailer roller when the boat is on the trailer.  These were the worst offenders, far worse than the previous photo shows.  The dark wooden patch shows where the roller connects with the keelband.

Filled hole, port side, epoxy curing

Filled bolt hole, starboard side.  This picture also shows the repaired echo sounder

I decided to keep the forward pair of bolts in place since they presumably had a purpose in supporting the split keelband around the centrecasing as it sits on the trailer rollers.  We'll see how these manage.

The last photo (above) shows the repaired echo sounder which hadn't worked for most of last season.  I have reattached this to the hull, hopefully forming a suitable seal in which the necessary oil can sit.  Will report on this repair during the season.

While I'm at it, I think I shall have another go at sealing the bolt (referred to above) which sits directly forward of the centre case.

I removed and reset this bolt four years ago, but it needs redoing.  Last time, I used a washer which had previously been missing.  I also repaired the centrecase support (top rh side) and this repair seems to have held rather well, even for a bodge-it-n-scarper DIYer such as myself...

This will involve removing the bolt, using sikaflex to coat the bolt and the hole, and then replacing the bolt, nut and washer.  The problem with all of these bolts is that the keelband is designed to flex as the boat rolls along the trailer rollers.  The keelband bears nearly all of the weight of the hull and these bolts do begin to move and, in doing so, leaks occur.

Come wind or weather, I shall be sailing next weekend...