Getting Ready for SHTP 2021 [Archive] - Singlehanded Sailing Society Forum

AlanH

11-11-2019, 02:40 PM

I gave George McKay the emergency rudder that I build as a trial run for the Wildcats new primary rudder last year. He's using it on his Capo 30 (modified to 33 feet) "Skye", so I need to make another rudder. The E-rudder I made then was a bit of overkill for an S2 7.9, though according to George, it steered Skye just fine in 10-13 knots of breeze and some swell. It'll go to Hawaii with Skye on the next Pac Cup. That confirms that the basic method works, so here we go again. Skye's rudder had a 15 inch chord and was almost 7 feet tall.

I'm not a big fiberglass guy. I mean...I'm not high-tech. With advice from Greg Nelson, and after borrowing some pumps etc. from him, I vacuum-bagged the Wildcat's primary rudder, and it's tight. Skye's rudder was a dry-run for the primary rudder and I bagged that. It didn't go as well but what I learned from doing that, made the primary rudder better, so it's all good. However, this time, I'm going to do it low tech, no vacuum bagging.

The core of the rudder is 2 x 3 redwood. Why? Because there's a huge pile of 12 and 16 foot pieces of this stuff lying in an empty lot down the street and it's free. I used it for Skye's rudder...it works. this will be smaller than Skye's rudder, so seems good to me. The pictures are deceiving, as I was trying to glue on a piece in the bottom of the rudder, the leading edge to make it balanced. I was using TiteBond II, which has zilch gap-filling ability and it just didn't work. So I knocked it off with two whacks from a hammer and I'm back to a 12 inch-chord, straight blade. That's the four "Main" edge-glued boards in the picture. That will be plenty big enough.

4851

Here's the rudder core, clamped on my driveway, where is where I do all my low-tech work. The glue holding the four remaining pieces, glued up edge-wise, is PL Premium polyurethane construction adhesive. PL Premium is cheap. It gap-fills just great. It's strong as #$%^&*...lots of the DIY boat guy use it for quickie plywood-panel boats. I used to use it to repair cabers for the Highland Games. the wood failed before the PL Premium, ever did. I make up some test joints when I built Skyes e-rudder and tested them. The redwood failed before the joint did.

This rudder is 6 feet tall and will have a 12-inch chord, maybe a scooch more, like 12.5, when I'm done with the fiberglassing.

AlanH

11-11-2019, 03:14 PM

Dimensions are...

Overall length, 6 feet...will be 5' 10" when I trim off the ends...
Chord .. 12 inches
Thickness.... the boards are 2 inches thick... a REAL two inches, not the 1 3/4 of standard "2 x 4"'s. However, it'll be planed down to about 1 3/4 inches thick. Add in the thickness of the tri-axial fiberglass, and we're back to about 2 inches thick.

Above waterline, 2 1/2 feet, below the waterline, 3 1/2 feet. Let's focus on the below-waterline area.
The 12 inch chord , converted to metric is 30.5 cm.
The 3 1/2 feet depth, converted to metric is 106.7 cm

So my emergency rudder will have about 3254 sq. cm of underwater area.
I'm just thinking about the general rectangular shape of the blade, not accounting for shape......so not surface area.

A J-24 rudder, which would be a touch small for the S-2 7.9, but not by much, has a submerged chord length of 30 cm and a submerged depth of either about 89.0 or 95.5 cm depending on which picture you look at on the class rules...I can't figure it out. Would a J-24 rudder control an S2 7.9? Sure. Is it a "keep racing" rudder or a "get home" rudder? I'm thinking, somewhere in between.

Those numbers give a submerged area of 2670 sq. cm or 2865 sq. cm for the J-24 rudder.

So my e-rudder has significantly more surface area, underwater, than the J-24 rudder.

The maximum thickness of the J-24 rudder is 3.9 cm thick.
If I say my rudder will have a final maximum thickness of 1.8 inches, which is about right, that's 4.6 cm

So my rudder is a bit thicker than the J-24 rudder...should be a little bit "grippier" if not as fair and fast.

CONCLUSION...if the J-24 rudder would steer the S2 7.9, and I think it will, then this should be fine.

How does it compare to the rudder I built as the Wildcat's primary rudder?

which is actually a tich larger....but nowhere near as thick, as the One Design rudder.

The Wildcats primary rudder has an underwater chord of 13.5 inches / 34.4 cm. The submerged blade is 44 inches / 111.7 deep. That gives a total submerged area of 3842 sq. cm.

compare the e-rudder area to the primary rudder area... 3254 sq. cm / 3842 sq. cm = .85...so my e-rudder is 85% of the area of the primary rudder.

I'm good with that!

AlanH

11-23-2019, 06:32 PM

OK, today I spent about 90 minutes getting some shape into the rudder blank. I started with my favorite crude woodworking tool, the drawknife. This redwood has some knots, and therefore some grain distortion, so I accidentally knocked out some chunks that will need fairing, later. That's all right.

4899

AlanH

11-23-2019, 06:38 PM

After spending some time with the drawknife, I moved onto more wood-hackery tools...namely a surform plane and a really coarse disk on my drill. Between judicious use of the surform plane, with occasional intervention from the drawknife, and grinding down the harder wood of the knots with the disk, I managed to get a halfway decent shape in the leading edge of the blade, and smooth the junction between the first and second boards.
4900

Not-so-gentle ministrations of 100 grit sandpaper on a long block faired the leading edge to "round-ish", though it's not by any means elliptical. If I can get a really nice trailing edge I might go back and thin out some of the leading edge again.

4901

AlanH

11-23-2019, 06:43 PM

The way I glue up the boards, the trailing edge board had a huge knot in it at the bottom. That was going to be a pain to fair, so I decided to just round off the bottom of the trailing edge and tell everybody that it's an "elliptical" shape, which will reduce turbulence as the attached flow leaves the rudder surface. This is garbage, but what the heck.

I spent about 45 minutes with the belt sander, thinning the trailing edge and working a taper through the back two boards. There's actually quite a lot of that left to do, and the trailing edge is nowhere near straight yet, but it's progress!

4902

AlanH

11-24-2019, 05:39 PM

Todays three hours of rudder work began with more shaping with the surform plane and belt sander. I spent the majority of the time thinning the aft 1/3rd of the blade. I also sanded off all the old weathered wood up above the waterline and got down to clean wood, which will bond with the fiberglass much better.

4905

The underwater part of the blade is looking smooth and the aft 1/3rd of the chord is a reasonable taper down to a roughly 3/16th inch trailing edge. That edge is not perfectly straight, but it's not bad and this IS an emergency rudder, after all. Putzing with the belt sander had produced a happier-looking leading edge as well. It's not really elliptical, but it's "more" elliptical than it was yesterday evening.

4906

AlanH

11-24-2019, 06:00 PM

I've been toying with the idea of not using a cassette at all. This e-rudder weighs about 18 pounds right now. Add the fiberglass sheathing and it's pretty surely going to be around 30 pounds. That's a lot lighter than any other e-rudder I've built. I know how I'll make the gudgeons..wood, fiberglass, 2-inch glass tape and carbon fiber, but the question is....put that stuff straight on the rudder and just have a blade, or build a low-tech cassette?

If I go with the "just a blade" route, it's less to carry on the boat. I will cut the aft edge of the upper half of the rudder at an angle, so the top of the rudder is a bit smaller than the underwater chord, which will save a bit of weight and space. Of course, then I won't have to deal with storing a cassette.
If I DO need it, if it takes me an hour or 90 minutes of cursing to line up the pins and gudgeons, does it REALLY matter?

On the other hand, a low-tech plywood cassette is braindead easy to build. You store the whole thing on the boat with the blade IN the cassette, so it doesn't take up that much room.

Whichever route I go, there's nothing to do quite yet, as any cutting of the upper half of the rudder will happen after it's fiberglassed

AlanH

11-24-2019, 06:07 PM

Two of the boards had some significant warpage, so they didn't glue completely flat. There's plenty of glue contact, so it's strong, but there are some big "dips". That's irrelevant in the blade, because SO much material gets removed, but up in the above-water part of the rudder, it'll make for some funky-looking fiberglassing. So I glue'd in some cheater bits, which I'll belt sand down flush with the rest of the rudder.

4907

4908

AlanH

11-24-2019, 06:12 PM

And finally, I mixed up some epoxy with redwood sanding "dust"...which is about the same size as the wood dough you can buy, and made some wood spooge/putty. That went on/into the two "oops's" that I labelled yesterday, that got hacked out a bit too deep with the drawknife. They will kick off overnight and maybe tomorrow I can hit 'em with the belt sander before work, we'll see.

4909
4910

All in all, this won't win any awards for super-fast rudder design...it's not as accurate as the primary rudder, where I routed out the foil shape using an elliptical template. However, it's reasonably smooth, plenty strong, and a reasonable shape.

AlanH

12-27-2019, 06:41 PM

After zilch progress for a few weeks, I took advantage of being off work for two weeks and the second sunny day in a row to work on the E-Rudder. Step One was to use the surform plane and belt sander to smooth down the "cheater bits" that I wrote about, two posts up. That didn't take too long, and since it was only about 1:00, I figured...why not fiberglass the rudder? So I dragged out the box with the extra-stuff left over from making the Wildcat of Loch Awe's primary rudder and pulled out what was left of the 24 ounce triaxial. There was enough, yay!! I laid it out on the rudder and while I wish it was an inch wider, it's close enough. Scissors time! .....and we're off!

First, I belt sanded down those bits that I filled in. You can see them in the post just above this. I got those pretty flush, and while the trailing edge of this rudder is by no means perfect, it's really not bad at all. It's almost as good as the Wildcats primary rudder. Next up was to paint on some epoxy, over the whole rudder. I learned, when I made those earlier rudders, that if you don't coat the wood, first, it will soak up epoxy and starve the glass weave. So on it went.

AlanH

12-27-2019, 06:53 PM

This was going to be a low-tech job, so I laid the 24-ounce triaxial fiberglass on, and starting painting/glopping resin on the cloth. I never mixed up too much resin/hardener as I was pretty sure I had enough to do the job, but I didn't want to waste it by having it kick off in the plastic mixing tub.

4968

I did one side first. The rudder has 3/16 th's holes drilled in the end, and small screws were partially driven into them. The rudder hangs from those screws, which lie on the sawhorses you see. Well...DAMN...but one of them popped out and I had neglected to put a sheet of plastic on the ground under the project, so the rudder got a mess of dirt in it. I cleaned it up best I could with a brush and paper towels but there's some dirt in this layup. Dummy....one sheet of plastic would have saved quite a mess. All right, so I took the screws out and replaced them with some long nails, just shoved in the holes and that worked fine. This will still be plenty strong enough.

Anyway, I have one of those wedged fiberglass laminating rollers:
4969

So between using the dispo paintbrush to paint/glopp on the resin, and the roller to even the wet-out of the cloth, I just went at it for about an hour and 45 minutes.

AlanH

12-27-2019, 06:57 PM

Honestly, it all turned out pretty well. Some hand-smoothing and pulling was needed here and there, but nothing awful.

4970

The weave filled in pretty nicely...you see see some dirt in the layup....dangit!

4971

I got everything laid down pretty tight by about 3:30

4972

The upper part of the blade, that will be inside the cassette, is in the lower left corner of that last picture. I didn't pay a lot of attention to the bonding of the glass to the wood along the front edge of the upper part of the blade right there, as about an inch and a half of that will be cut out. Why? To add some balance to the blade. That will expose the width of the wood core of course, but I'll epoxy on a strip of 6 ounce cloth just to seal it

AlanH

12-27-2019, 07:05 PM

It's going to be COLD here tonight, and there's a lot of humidity in the air. This morning there was ice on the back window of Joans car, so I thought it might be wise to cover the rudder.....tarp tent! This should keep the dew off.

4973

Looks cozy inside!

4974

Joan revolts at having epoxy kicking off in the garage now, so all my glasswork has to be outside. It's supposed to get down to 37 deg. F tonight, so the epoxy might not cure all the way by morning. I'm sure it'll be hard by tomorrow afternoon, though.

AntsUiga

12-27-2019, 07:17 PM

Are you on schedule for the E-rudder race?

AlanH

12-27-2019, 07:58 PM

Here's a view of the cassette and original rudder that I built, deployed at the dock on George McKay's "Skye". This is the e-rudder we had for the LongPac.

4975

See how the rudder body is cut back...the part that sits inside the cassette is smaller, fore-and-aft, than the underwater foil. The rudder drops into the cassette, but then it would wobble fore-and-aft, except that I made a "jammer"...another piece of the same wood that the rudder core is made out of. This is "jammed" into the back of the rudder, between the aft edge of the rudder blade and the inside-back of the cassette. That shoves the rudder forward and locks it into place. It should really have a retaining pin or something to keep it from falling out, but I made this cassette in a hurry.

The body of the cassette is 3/8 plywood. The fore and aft parts of the box are cut from 2 x 4 doug fir. The initial fastening of the cassette box was done with a mess of s.s. 1.25 inch deck screws that I had lying around from.....building the deck on my house.

Rudder pins..."pintles" are some 1/2 inch s.s. bolts I had lying around. The hinges on the cassette were laminated from alternating layers of 1/8 inch plywood and 10 oz fiberglass. They're 3/4 of an inch thick. The hinges are fiberglassed onto the plywood cassette with 1-inch fiberglass tape.

I think the weak point in this assembly is the hinges. If I were to re-do this, I'd make them thicker...more material, through which those 1/2 inch bolts go. The other possible weak point is that the cassette box could possibly rip off the lower hinge. I think I would double up the fiberglassing that attaches it.

The cassette for the rudder I'm making now will be very similar to this one, though I plan to make the hinges differently.

George has replace the 2 x 6 and wood fittings to which the cassette is attached with a stainless steel post, and welded brackets. Also, this rudder wasn't originally made for Skye. I sort of started with measurements roughly the same size as my S-2 7.9's rudder, as the whole point was to do a practice run, before making the S-2's primary rudder. If I were making the rudder specifically for Skye, the cut-back would be further up the blade, so there wasn't that awkward-looking gap at the bottom of the cassette box.

That said, this setup steered Skye in 15 knots of wind and some decent seas for a couple of hours - George and crew tried it out, even had the primary rudder tied off, 15 deg. off of centered.

AlanH

12-27-2019, 08:00 PM

Ants, I want to have the rudder and cassette ready to show off at the race, but I don't think I'll have the boat up there.

I'm doing this whole project with backyard technology and tools.... no fancy carbon anything, no vacuum bagging, no nuthin'. I hope this proves to others that they can make a solid rudder in their garage!

AlanH

12-28-2019, 07:46 PM

AlanH

12-30-2019, 12:17 AM

It's un-tented today, late afternoon and it's tight but wow...sticky! The cold weather means the epoxy takes a LONG time to cure. It's now in the garage, where it will be plenty cold tonight, but probably 10 degrees warmer than outside.

It's kicked off....the rudder looks really good, there' s tight bonding over the entire surface. This will be ~Strong~.

AlanH

12-30-2019, 08:31 PM

I cut off the flash today. Some of the epoxy still hasn't kicked so it's staying in the garage. However, the blade now weighs 22.2 pounds. That will change a little bit, as I'm cutting off some of the stock to add balance and adding some 6 ounce glass and epoxy to seal the back edge and the cut-back. However, "a little bit" is pretty surely only about a pound +/- .

i finally spent some money on this project... $13.77 at Home Depot for a 1/4 sheet of exterior glue ACX plywood.

The basic "box" for the cassette is made. It's blocks cut from free scrap doug fir 2 x 4's from the local lumberyard, 3/8 th's plywood and a bunch of the leftover s.s. exterior deck screws from building the deck on the back of the house a few years ago.

4980

4979

AlanH

12-31-2019, 06:22 PM

This morning I tried the fit of the rudder into the cassette. Oops. The plywood has a little bend to it, and the rudder wouldn't go in. So I took all the deck screws out of one side, and cut roughly 1/4-inch strips from the same 2 x 4 to add to make it a little bit wider. That got cut, glue'd with TiteBond wood glue, and stuck in place with a couple of brads, and then the cassette was screwed back together again. I then rounded off the edges with the sander and generally smoothed things up. The outer corners at the top and bottom of the cassette were rounded off a bit, as I'll be wrapping 4-inch glass tape 'round the entire box.

I mixed up some microballoons in epoxy and made a "fairing" spooge.

4982

I'm not sure that "fairing" is really the right term, but "smoothing" it is, for sure. I mixed it up until the stuff was about the consistency of cool peanut butter and then used a flexible nylon spatula to distribute it over the underwater part of the blade. This is the first side, the other side will get done in a couple of days. The goal here is to fill in any little holes in the weave, smooth over the worst of the bumps, and call it good. It'll get a cursory sanding with 120 grit, and that's enough for an emergency rudder. There's no point in fairing the stuff that will be inside the cassette, so I didn't.

AlanH

12-31-2019, 06:44 PM

The 2 x 4 that the lumberyard gave me sat out in the rain for a few weeks, so it's wet. -- Really wet, and it weighs a ton. The cassette, right now is heavier than the rudder. I bet it'll lose 5 pounds when it really dries out. To help that along, I'm putting the cassette inside the house, tonight....in my bathroom, which is the warmest room in the house.

AlanH

01-01-2020, 05:59 PM

Today started off with sanding down the side I slathered with microballoons in epoxy, yesterday. Truth is, I should have waited another day for the epoxy to harden some more, but I did what I could.

The next order of business was to get out the circular saw and cut back the leading edge of the blade, the part that sits in the cassette.

4988

Measure twice, cut once!...I measured about four times! I wanted 1 1/2 inches of cutback, which is half of one of the boards that make up the core.

4989

Next was to trim the very top of the rudder, flush. Easy peasy. Oh, that's the "before I cut it" photo....

AlanH

01-01-2020, 06:17 PM

Now I flipped the rudder over and mixed up more microballoons in epoxy and slathered that all over the parts of the blade that will be underwater.

4990

As I write this, it's catalyzing outside, hopefully it will be firm enough for me to bring inside, around 6:30..

I got the itch to see if the cassette and rudder play nice together. Since I added that little shim strip, I figured that everything would fit, now... Drum Roll, please! TA-DAAAA!

4991

Here it is, pushed forward in the cassette. The cutback is exactly the same as the thickness of the forward piece of solid wood in the cassette, so the leading edge of the underwater blade is right in line with the front of the cassette. The gudgeons will place the axis of rotation of the system about an inch forward of that, which is not ideal, but it's not that different from, say a J-27 or J-29/J-30 rudder. If I hadn't cut back the upper part of the blade, the leading edge would be 2 1/2 inches behind the axis of rotation. Can you say "unbalanced"? The very first emergency rudder that I made was like that, and it steered the Ranger 29 I had at the time, but Damn that thing was hard to move.

4992

The plywood for the cassette has a bit of warp to it, so the box is smaller in the middle and a scooch wider at the aft end. That means the rudder, as it sits right now, would have some slop to it, inside the cassette. I need to get fiberglass around the aft edge of the blade in the upper part, anyway, I'll just just use leftover heavy triaxial, instead of the lightweight 6 ounce I have lying around. That will add a bit of thickness back there, and tighten up the fit.

That empty space in the cassette at the back end of the rudder is where the "jammer" will go, to push the rudder forward in the cassette.

AlanH

01-03-2020, 06:09 PM

Today I rounded off the edges of the cassette...the top four inches, the bottom four inches and a four-inch wide area in the middle. The cassette got wrapped with 4-inch glass tape, 3x around at the top and bottom and 2x around in the middle. I wet out the wood, first...as I did for the rudder, and then laid on the tape. Pics as soon as my cell phone charges up.

This thing is bombproof.

I'm almost out of epoxy... It's sitting outside under a "tent" again, as the weatherman says there's a 50% chance of rain, tonight.

AlanH

01-03-2020, 06:49 PM

the BEFORE pic...

5004

As you can see, I didn't put down a sheet of plastic on the ground under the sawhorses....and sure enough, I knocked the cassette off, twice, no less, while I was fiberglassing. You'd think I'd learn, but NOOOooooo. That's where the dirt came from.

It'll still be very strong, but gaaaaa...

5005

AlanH

01-04-2020, 10:20 PM

Today was spent on two things...

1.) getting the upper part of the blade "wrapped" on the front and back edges, and

2.) making the gudgeons for the cassette and attaching them

Starting with #1... two days ago I went up to TAP Plastics in San Mateo and got plenty of 4-inch fiberglass tape. That went 'round the front edge. Do you remember that I needed to thicken the aft edge, that goes into the cassette, because the cassette plywood has a bit of a warp to it? I used a layer of 24 ounce triaxial cloth....had some left over from covering the body of the rudder with it... with the glass tape over that to cover most (not all) of the aft edge. The back 2 inches of the rudder will be 1/4 inch thicker, now. This was all covered with wax paper (epoxy doesn't bond to wax paper) and then clamped to make sure the glass went 'round the hard corners.

5006
That's a motley assortment of clamps. The thick boards on the bottom of that photo (which is the aft edge) are leftovers of the redwood used to make the body of the rudder from.

Oh, I got a few scraps of 6 ounce cloth onto the very bottom of the blade, just to help protect it, and water-seal it. It'll need sanding.

AlanH

01-04-2020, 10:35 PM

#2...making the gudgeons...

I made these out of the same douglas fir that the cassette pieces are made from. This sat in my study, just below the heater in the ceiling so it dried out a little. You can see the shape pencilled in. The holes are for short lengths of s.s. thick-wall tubing that will be what the pintle pins go through. I got one of them a little off center, so I trimmed the piece a bit. It's now about 1/4 inch narrower than the other one, so that will be the top gudgeon.

5009

Here they are, trimmed, sanded and stuck on the cassette with epoxy. The distance between the bottom surfaces has to be 504 m.m. I know because I have the class rudder in my garage, and measured that. I must have checked that 504 m.m. distance fifteen times.

5010

The gudgeon edges/corners where it meets the cassette have now been faired a bit with epoxy and wood dough. It's been tabbed in with pieces of 1-inch glass tape. When the epoxy kicks off, they'll be pretty solidly attached....nowhere near solid enough to take a rudder load, but solid enough that a random knock won't dislodge them.

The wood gudgeons are 1 1/8 inch thick. Actually the top one is 1 1/8. The bottom one is 1 1/4. Yeah, well...my table saw isn't the most accurate tool in the whole world. The thicker, wider gudgeon will be on the bottom.

The piece of aluminum is just a sighting guide to help me eyeball that everything is straight and lined up.

AlanH

01-04-2020, 10:40 PM

Finally, here's a view of my sophisticated workshop.

5013

I'm out of epoxy, darnit. Allan Steel has been closed for the holidays so I couldn't get the s.s. pipe. Ah, well... I can make another run to TAP Plastics and Allan Steel this week, and there will be an essentially complete system ready to view for the E-Rudder seminar.

There won't be a tiller, or tiller brackets, there will still probably be a few bits of glassing to do, and it won't be painted yet, but folks will be able to see exactly what I did.

AlanH

01-06-2020, 12:15 PM

I went by Allan Steel this morning and got the s.s. thick-walled pipe inserts that will be attached to the gudgeons and slip around the pintle pins. I have some plastic material that I know fits nicely over the pintle pins on the Wildcat, I'm using it for pintle bushings right now on the "regular" rudder. These sections of s.s. pipe have just big enough an inside diameter that the plastic slips inside, so I can use a couple of inches of this stuff for bushings on the E-rudder. The holes I drilled in the wood will be enlarged....they're probably about 1/8th of an inch too small (on purpose)...with a rasp and my Dremel, and then I'll epoxy the inserts in there, and the plastic bushings into the inserts.

AlanH

01-07-2020, 05:09 PM

I set things in place, traced lines and so on, this morning. whooiiie...the s.s. pipe inserts are big-gish. I'll have to place them a little further "out" on the wood gudgeons than I might have liked, due to their size. That's all right, They'll be wrapped 2x with fiberglass and 6x with unidirectional carbon fiber.

AlanH

01-09-2020, 12:09 PM

35 minutes with a hand saw, rasp attachment on my drill, and the rotary tool, and the inserts fit as planned.

5028

I picked up a nice straight 3/4 inch hardwood dowel and some JB Weld at the hardware store today. I'll "weld" the inserts into the gudgeon wood tonight, and use the dowel....which fits inside the inserts, to keep them lined up just right.. JB Weld is an epoxy product which is preposterously expensive, per volume. It's an epoxy paste mix reinforced with steel. They claim a 5,000 lb fully set strength, and it bonds to both wood and metal. Considering as I used a patch 2 inches x 2 inches to affix a steel loop/patch to a 300 pound stone for the Highland Games a few years ago, and a whole lot of brutishly strong guys have carried that stone hither thither and yon without the JB Weld failing, I think it's pretty strong.

One layer of fiberglass tape will go over the s.s. inserts, and then a 4, 5, 6 of layers of unidirectional carbon straps will go on top of that. A couple of the straps will go around the whole cassette. Since I'm out of epoxy and don't really have time to get to TAP plastics before Saturday, This is what y'all will see on Saturday at the seminar.

AlanH

01-10-2020, 12:28 PM

This morning the s.s. inserts were bedded in a goodly supply of JB Weld steel-reinforced epoxy, with 3/4 inch dowel running between the two inserts to keep them lined up. That will kick off by tonight and should be solid by tomorrow morning. JB Weld is so preposterously strong that I could probably sail with it, like that, but ah...no.

AlanH

01-11-2020, 09:07 PM

After the emergency steering get-together today I'm feeling a little bit of angst about the weight of my cassette. It's strong as $%^&* but heavy!

AlanH

01-12-2020, 12:33 PM

After picking up Taz! 's e-rudder and blade, I'm seriously considering building a wrapped 'glass and carbon cassette for this rudder. I'll finish what I've got here 'cause it's almost done and it will surely work really well. It's actually not as heavy as I thought it was. I just weighed it on my digital bathroom scale and that says 13.1 pounds. Hmmmmmm. I bet I can cut at least 6-8 of those out, with minimal loss of strength. I'm happy with the blade, though. It's 22 pounds. This will probably be sometime in the future as I need to finish this up and move on to other things. I'll be going to Hawaii in 2022, not 2020 so I have plenty of time. Anyway, the point of this thread was to show people who don't have a ton of $$ but have access to basic tools, that they can build a strong, serviceable E-rudder for up to a 25 -30 foot boat.

The Wildcat is 26 feet and 4200 pounds. I'm pretty sure that this rudder would steer an Olson 30 or a Wilderness 30...Hawkfarm, Express 27, Olson 25 and so on. The same basic technology can be increased in size by 15-20% to steer an Olson 911-S, Catalina 30, Yankee 30...things like that. That's proven with the earlier rudder I built with essentially the same technology, that steers Skye, which is a Capo 30 and will be their emergency rudder setup for the next Pac Cup. Going up from there, I don't know....out of my area of expertise!

If you vacuum-bag and use a lot of carbon, you can save a lot of weight.....but at a lot of expense.

AlanH

01-26-2020, 07:56 PM

Not much has happened since the get-together on the 11th, but today I wrapped the gudgeons with fiberglass tape and linear carbon fiber. You can't put carbon fiber straight on stainless steel, you get corrosion thattaway. Well, the metal inserts are epoxied into the wood cutouts with JB Weld, which is sillystrong. I mixed up some epoxy and wood dust and made some spooge to goosh in around the edges of the metal/wood interface to make things smoother. Then I laid on two layers of 1.5 inch wide fiberglass tape in epoxy. The fiberglass tape isolates the s.s. from the carbon fiber. That got covered by 6 layers of linear carbon fiber, cut into 1.5 inch -wide tapes.... two of which were long enough to wrap the whole box. Here is is, clamped down to ensure good contact and kicking off with wax paper used as a release layer.

5070

Close-up. I clamped, squeezed, pushed...clamped and walked away...came back to squeeze some more. There's good bonding between the carbon layers, and the fiberglass that wraps the cassette.

5071

When the epoxy kicks off, this will be preposterously strong. I'll un-clamp and pull off the wax paper in the morning.

AlanH

01-28-2020, 12:41 PM

OK, it's un-clamped and un-wax-papered. bonding over the top of the steel insert is solid. It will need some trimming and grinding with a little wheel on the rotary tool. some of the strapping on the lower gudgeon, down on the box is not well bonded to the cassette. I think I will cut a couple of 1-inch wide straps, maybe about 18 inches long and apply them to the lower gudgeon. This time I'll clamp a piece of plywood over the strap to keep even pressure over the whole thing. Not that it's not strong...it is, but what the heck.

AlanH

02-09-2020, 10:11 PM

Today, two more layers of carbon fiber went on the lower gudgeon and wrapped around the back. They're clamped onto the cassette to ensure good bonding.

The last bits of "thickening" biaxial glass went on the upper part of the blade. After that kicks off and there's a little bit of sanding, it's all more-or-less ready for paint. The end is in sight.

AlanH

02-09-2020, 10:25 PM

Since mobility is important for us, I've sometimes looked at kayaking lifejackets...

https://www.seakayakermag.com/best-kayak-life-jackets/

AlanH

03-09-2020, 07:31 AM

I think I'm turning this into the Getting Ready for SHTP 2022 thread.

The rudder blade got a coat of paint, and the cassette, as well, this weekend. The blade got the last of my West Marine white glossy polyurethane. The cassette got flat, ugly battleship gray latex, that I used to use on cabersl. Beauty is not the point, here...protection from water and UV is the point. So except for the tiller brackets, the E-rudder is now done.

ON TO THE NEXT PROJECT...

Yesterday I made some progress on the hatch cover/hood.

5184

I made the cover for the Santana 3030 I had in 2004, and it's a tich' too small for the Wildcat. It's been sitting my garage, or Max's all these years. It's constructed from a sandwich of pink home insulation foam epoxied between doorskins. The doorskin's plywood was delaminating in a few places and needed to be re-glued or replaced. DONE. I needed to make the base wider to fit on the Wildcats companionway. Those are the plywood flanges along the bottom. I'd always wanted to make the back rim, across the top stronger, to be able to withstand a good hit from the boom, so I did that, as well.

Now it need some more epoxy/wood dough fillets at the end of the cover/flange, and some 4-inch fiberglass tape to strengthen that joint. When that cures, I'll flip it over, sand down/round off the inside edge of the flange and get a strip of 4-inch tape on that, as well. The 60 pound bag of concrete is there to hold the hood down, solidly on the flanges.

The acrylic windows are sealed with silicon, and there are bolts, washers and nuts that hold it on to the cover. The bare end of those bolts had a history of gouging scratches in the top of my head, so I took the grinder to 'em and ground them down flat with the nuts.

The final bit will be a coat of paint, and it'll be ready to go on the Wildcat. This thing is not glamorous. It's not a pro-job, but it's surprisingly strong and surprisingly light.

I need to make a hatchboard cover to go in front of this hood, as well. That will be laminated up from 3 layers of doorskins and bent slightly over a frame, so that it's not completely flat.

AlanH

03-09-2020, 08:31 AM

I plan to make Jan Alkema's "RHM" Rudder Head Mount pendulum oar, which you can read about, here:

http://www.windautopilot.de/docs/alkema/RHM-USD.pdf

I'll combine that with his "USD" UpSide Down windvane, as modified by Mister Vee, and re-modified by me. That needs to be in place and tested before next summers LongPac.

AlanH

03-09-2020, 09:04 AM

Hey, thanks SSS forum admin, for changing the name of the thread!

AlanH

03-09-2020, 09:23 AM

I cannot sing the praises of PL Premium, enough.

http://www.loctite-consumer.com.au/en/products/construction-adhesives/PLPremium.html

The stuff sets up way faster than epoxy. I won't touch an epoxy bond without it sitting overnight, but PL Premium will set up and be workable in 7-8 hours, depending on temperature. Full strength is 24 hours, pretty much without fail, and the stuff is ~strong~.

It's very similar to 3M 4200, just in "tan" color rather than white/black.

https://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/show_product.do?pid=2004

$20 for a 10 ounce cartridge tube. PL Premium is available at any hardware store for $7 a tube.

AlanH

03-10-2020, 05:12 PM

This morning, the bonding on the hatch cover and the flanges is solid as a rock, so I don't think I'll bother glassing the inside. I'll just sand down some of the PL100 "sags", finish the epoxy/wood filleting at the ends and lay pieces of 3-inch tape along it. Then paint. That's plenty strong enough.

I just picked up a used AIS receiver from Blue Pelican for cheap. If I have to isolate myself from work, I can load up Open CPN and a mess of charts onto my little subnotebook, and hook up the AIS as well, and watch the traffic on the Bay.

so the current projects are:

1. companionway cover
2. hatch cover scabbard
3. get s.s. tiller cheeks on the primary rudder, move the currently-in-use aluminum ones to the e-rudder
4. replace the BIOS battery in my subnotebook (got it already) and load on Open CPN, the GPS hockey-puck software and the AIS software

On the horizon...

get Leading Edge to stitch up my heavy weather jib.. $150
buy/install Simrad autopilot .. $450
get Leading Edge to install heavy-duty cunningham point in the dacron mainsail .. $150
build/make stern pushpit ... I have the fittings, just need the tubing. ???

build USD Windvane and RHM pendulum oar. ...which will be more-or-less free, so it might get done before some of the more pricey items. However, having a working autopilot is sort of required for me to play in the Spinnaker PHRF class in the SSS, so that is going to the top of the list as soon as this companionway cover goes on.

and of course there's the Piper list.

1. make the boom......
2. Finish cleaning the inside of the hull
3. make the watertight bulkhead that will close off the bow area of the boat, and 'glass it in.
4. Paint the inside of the boat.

AntsUiga

03-11-2020, 08:36 AM

AlanH

03-16-2020, 11:42 AM

The rain has brought progress...the last steps.... on the companionway cover to a halt. I think I'm going to bring it inside tonight and put it in front of a little space heater to dry out.

The Pelagic autopilot has been removed, and I'm sending it to Ants. I hope he has better luck with it than I ever had. A Simrad TP22 will take it's place pretty soon. I need to get out to the boat again and take some measurements.

I bought an AIS receiver at Blue Pelican over e-bay last week, and went to the store to pick it up. While there, I grabbed a VHF antenne for $10 and a few bits of jewelry for the Pipers boom, which I will be able to cut out from the old skerry mast extrusion, pretty soon. Seeing as starting tomorrow, Stanford wants me to work at home, I should have some extra time.

AlanH

03-18-2020, 08:56 PM

Now I'm working from home, as Stanford has sent everybody but "essential services" home. It's really quiet, I can work for two hours, then do something else for an hour or two...work for an hour, etc. through the day. Today I managed to finish the last of the fiberglassing on the companionway cover. Tomorrow, if it's not raining, I'll get a coat of white latex paint on it.

I'm wrestling with the fact that my old laptop with Win 7 on it doesn't list COM ports. The USB "Hockey Puck" GPS receiver that I have needs to talk to Open CPN through a com port. Hm... Not sure how to solve this.

breezetrees

03-19-2020, 02:52 PM

If you open "device manager" in windows 7 it will list the com ports and numbers for hardware and USB devices. The easiest way to find it is to click on the start button and type "device manager" otherwise it's buried in the control panel options. If you are missing a USB-serial driver the GPS will show up under USB devices with an ! to show it isn't working but should give you a name to google for the driver, that's usually the issue if the com port isn't showing up.

AlanH

03-26-2020, 09:57 AM

AlanH

03-27-2020, 10:08 PM

AlanH

03-28-2020, 05:11 PM

Work started yesterday on the RHM Pendulum Oar and USD windvane. The WindVane will be mounted on the stern pulpit, using a 4 1/2 foot length of fiberglass pole that I have lying around. It was formerly part of a Highland Games Weight-Over-Bar crossbar ie...it was free. IN fact, it this whole thing works, I might re-make the entire structure from these fiberglass poles, as I have a bunch of this stuff. It's remarkably strong, pretty light, and totally corrosion-free. Rough it up a bit, and it bonds really well with epoxy and fiberglass tape.

Anyway, I need to make a bracket with thumb screws that will allow the wind paddle to be spun 'round on that pole and aligned to the wind. This aluminum triangle is part of the bracket system. Ditto for the bent piece of aluminum stock. The triangle is just hacksawed out of this random piece of aluminum stock that I had lying round, and then I used JB Weld to stick it all together.

5221

AlanH

03-28-2020, 05:20 PM

So for this attempt, everything is going to be made out of that scrap redwood that I've been using for practically everything. Why? It's free. I wonder if I can make this whole windvane getup for < $30. I bet I can. If it works, I'll make a sexier version out of aluminum and fiberglass poles.

Anyway, here's the pendulum oar, glue'd up with PL Premium. It's 6 feet long and got a 5-inch chord. It's an inch thick. That will be a pretty chubby foil shape, but that's OK.

5222
I happen to have two dinghy pintles for 1-inch thick rudders, so I'll use them to hang the oar off the oar carrier, which you can see glue'd up and clamped, to the left of the oar.

AlanH

03-28-2020, 05:27 PM

The RHM pendulum oar system mounts to a "hinge" which is affixed to the top of the outboard rudder. The hinge supports the pendulum oar carrier. Here you can see the wood piece that I'm going to bolt to the top of the rudder, and the part that hinges with it, which will be attached to the pendulum oar carrier.

5223

I actually have a couple of fairly substantial pieces of aluminum plate in my garage, and I'm tempted to make the part that bolts to the top of the rudder from that stuff. It would be a good excuse to buy a MAPP torch and some Muggyweld rods and try silver-soldering the aluminum.

If this all works, and I build the "upgrade" I will actually keep the Wind Vane part, and I will keep the pendulum oar. It's the oar carrier and the hingey-bits that would get rebuilt.

AlanH

04-01-2020, 10:25 AM

Many years ago I built a windvane based on a bunch of Walt Murrays designs. Walt passed away in 2005 I believe but the Mister Vee website maintains a large proportion of Walt's design work, which is wonderful. That windvane never worked. The VANE worked, it was the pendulum oar that didn't. I remember motoring out of Coyote Point on my Santana 3030-with the framework temporary bolted/lashed to the back of the boat and the pendulum oar swung out to one side. It didn't work at all and I gave up on it.

I've been thinking about that, and it occurred to me that the oar itself was buoyant. I mean, I made it out of 1x pine. that means that once it's pulled even a little bit out of completely vertical, the buoyancy is going to force it to the surface. That's the exact opposite of what you want, so I'm going to be adding some lead to the bottom of this pendulum oar, to try to pull it back down to vertical, and even things out.

I've realized that $6 of thick, but not crazy-thick aluminum angle, some JB Weld and four machine bolts combined with a piece of aluminum I already have, will make a MASSIVELY stronger base for this whole contraption than the piece of wood I've got in that photograph above. I think I'll go by Alan Steel today or tomorrow.

WBChristie

04-01-2020, 02:53 PM

My friend Lee built a servo pendulum from a design by Bill Belcher. It works really well and has steered his boat all over the Pacific

AlanH

04-01-2020, 05:22 PM

My friend Lee built a servo pendulum from a design by Bill Belcher. It works really well and has steered his boat all over the Pacific

There are several DIY windvane designs out there. I have Bill Belchers book, too.

The Hebridean is about as low-tech as it gets. It's essentially all wood.

This woman..."girl in a gale"...scoped out an Auto-Helm and built her own knockoff, back in 2011. The windvane part is pretty good, but the auxiliary rudder and trim tab is as crude as you can imagine....but it worked!

http://www.girlinagale.com/2010/11/cvane-self-made-wind-vane-steering.html

The Holland windvane kit...
http://www.hollandwindvane.com/self-steering/

I could build a trim tab for the Wildcats primary rudder, and go that route but I hate to mess with the rudder that I spent so much time building. Since the Wildcat has a transom-mounted rudder, having the whole pendulum oar assembly NOT sticking out too much further behind the rudder is nice, thus the RHM concept. However, if it doesn't work, it's not terribly difficult to cut some more parts and build a simple servo-pendulum, driven by the wind vane I'll be building anyway. Honestly, one of the nice things about the RHM concept is that you drill fewer holes in the boat!

AlanH

04-01-2020, 08:38 PM

Today I cut out and glued up the air blade. I followed Walt Murrays dimensions, just that I didn't happen to have any 1/4 inch plywood. I had my last piece of doorskin....so I improvised. Here's a graphic from Walt's page, now hosted by the Mister Vee website, with a note added by me.

5234

Here it is, doorskins, clamps and Elmers wood glue, on the tonneau cover of my truck.

5235

I might add a little strip of unidirectional carbon fiber down the middle, length-wise, we'll see. That will get sanded and then a coat of epoxy on each side.

AlanH

04-01-2020, 09:09 PM

So far I haven't spent a nickel on this project. Everything is just stuff I had lying around, or left over from other projects, like the emergency rudder. That will end soon, though. I'm going to need some s.s. nuts and bolts and wood screws, as well as two little pieces of 1 1/2 inch long, medium aluminum L-angle stock. I might spend ten bucks...

AlanH

04-02-2020, 04:23 PM

I just blew up my budget at the metal warehouse and hardware store, on aluminum stock and s.s. nuts, bolts and screws. $14 for the stock, $54 for the s.s. bits and bobs. OUCH! ...but kind of had to do it.

AlanH

04-04-2020, 10:52 PM

OK, today I spent most of the day on the windvane. I did the following...

1. cut the angles at the top of the wind blade and got a piece of 4-inch glass tape in epoxy folded over the bottom of it.
2. painted a layer of epoxy on the wind blade, and laid on a 1-inch wide strip of unidirectional carbon fiber on each side for stiffening.
3. discovered that I had another, longer piece of the lime green fiberglass pole stuff, that I'm using for the mast. Nice...
4. drilled, cut, glue'd and assembled the main wind blade carrier.
5. laid out some funky duct tape on the garage floor in the appropriate angle, sort of put everything into alignment, and checked to make sure it will all fit....it will!

5252

Wind Blade Carrier....still life with tools and laundry basket...

5253

....and 6. wrapped the lime green pole stuff in a couple layers of wax paper, and used some leftover lightweight fiberglass cloth to wrap around it, for the moveable part that the wind blade carrier will ride on. Once I got all the cloth on there (3 layers) I wrapped it again in wax paper, and then wound duct tape around the whole thing, really tightly. We'll see how this comes out.

AlanH

04-05-2020, 09:22 PM

Except for a nice 45-minute walk with Joan when the rain let up, I worked on the vane all day, today. Most of this work is cutting out or drilling or gluing little fiddly-bits. Joan mentioned that whatever I was making sure had a lot of parts, and she is right.

So today I took off the fiberglass tube that I made around the green fiberglass pipe that will be the windvane mast. I laid it up yesterday and let it kick off all night. This tube is what the wind vane carrier assembly will be attached to. It needs to fit pretty snugly to the vane mast. Well, the epoxy soaked through the wax paper a little bit, so sadly I had to split the tube to get it off. No big deal, I was going to wrap it with more glass anyway. I was shocked at how well it came out, actually. Anyway, I got it off, cleaned up the mast tube, and wrapped the mast tube with a double layer of cling-wrap...household plastic wrap. That should seal it! Three wraps of wax paper went over that and then I slipped the fiberglass tube I made over that. It got multiple wraps of light fiberglass....scraps I had left over, in epoxy and the top got several wraps of my last bit of 4-inch glass tape. That is where the clamp that holds the windvane carrier will go.

That got wrapped up with 3 wraps of wax paper around the outside and then I used tightly wound duct tape to keep everything compressed. It was pretty cool today, down in the 50's for most of the day so I warmed the rod with the heat gun a few times to help with getting the epoxy to set.. This is what it looks like...truly an exciting photograph!

5254

I made a couple more parts...warmed the wind blade a few times with a heat gun to get the epoxy to kick off, and assembled everything on the garage floor. Before I cut the 3/8 aluminum rod that is the axis of rotation of the wind blade, and which the carrier spins on I wanted to make dropdead sure that everything lined up. Jan Alkema and Walt Murray recommend 30 deg. incline with the USD vane. Two other guys who have made them suggest less, more like 15 degrees. Other vanes (not USD) vary from no incline at a;; to almost 40 degrees. I decided on 25 degrees. 90 - 25 = 65. So with the rod that is the axis of rotation of the blade at 65 degrees from the mast, does everything fit together?

I clamped everything to a piece of wood, used a paint can for a counterbalance, and set it all up. Son of a gun!

Damn, I'm good!

5256

AlanH

04-06-2020, 02:47 PM

Since it didn't smell like epoxy, being all wrapped up with duct tape 'n all, I put the wrapped vane mast in my study under the ceiling heater vent last night. Today, during a break from work, I pulled off the duct tape and here we are...

5257

Why did I do this? In fact, why use a fiberglass mast at all? Answer: because I saw that the Mister Vee vane uses a fiberglass mast, and I had it. I know how tough the stuff is, so why not? Anyway, why make the sleeve? Because it's a course-setting system. The whole vane carrier has to rotate on the mast so you can align the course with the prevailing wind, right? Well, that sleeve fits very closely around the mast, enough to not wobble at all, but not so closely that it won't spin easily.

AlanH

04-08-2020, 08:37 PM

I've improvised a remarkably successful plastic bushing thingamabob at the lower end of the vane carrier and the end result is that the vane rotation is almost frictionless. YAY, me. Today was spent doing little stuff...figuring out the exact sizes of parts, dry-fitting and thickening the base of the wind blade.

AlanH

04-09-2020, 08:13 PM

I'm going to keep writing this for myself, even though I expect nobody is paying any attention....no worries.

Today I put the counterweight in the pendulum oar.

When I made a windvane back around 2006, I tried it out on my Santana 3030. I well remember the day, chugging out of the harbor, with the pendulum oar rammed hard over to one side. I could not ever get it to center. The WINDvane part worked great. It was almost bit-for-bit a version of one of Walk Murrays vanes. However, the pendulum oar just would not work. I finally gave up on it.

As I was contemplating this windvane, I got to thinking about that issue and it occurred to me that I made the pendulum oar out of 1 x 5 pine. That floats, right? When the oar is straight up and down, the force of the "floating" is straight up. But the moment that pendulum oar moves even a couple of degrees out of exactly vertical, it's going to float to the surface, which means sticking way the heck off, out to the side. How to fix this?

Well....how about adding some weight to the bottom of the pendulum oar?

I was out for a walk the other day, and I came across a steel contracters stake, lying in the street. I grabbed it, knowing that I needed both this counterweight and the counterweight on the windvane. Today I flew by the seat of my pants, and hacksawed out what I thought might be enough weight for the windvane counterweight, from that stake. I eyeballed it, weighed it in my hands and made a vague, wild guess about how much weight might keep the oar more or less neutrally buoyant. I knew that the weight had to be in line with the axis of rotation of the oar. If it was significantly off from that axis, when the oar was out to the side, the weight would tend to make the oar rotate, and keep it working hard on the rudder, even when the course was corrected. So in fact this piece of rod is very close to the axis of rotation, maybe the center is 1/4 inch behind it.

5265

AlanH

04-09-2020, 08:18 PM

There's nothing scientific about this...I didn't measure anything, I just guessed. I figure if it's not right, I'll make another oar.

Anyway, the piece of steel was wirebrushed to clean it up, and I hit it with a file and sandpaper to really get the rust off. I packed it in there with sawdust/wood dough in epoxy.

5266

It's all clamped together on my high-end workbench, here. The wax paper is there so the epoxy doesn't stick to the wood I'm using to keep it flat. Hmmmm...maybe I should have folded it over so there were two layers.

5267

AlanH

04-09-2020, 09:00 PM

I ordered the autopilot almost two weeks ago. It's been 8 days since Defender shipped it. I hope it arrives tomorrow.

AntsUiga

04-09-2020, 10:06 PM

I wonder if these posts would be as informative and entertaining if a fully equipped heating shop was used. Idle speculation at this point in time.

I am waiting on completion and test sail, of course.

Ants

AlanH

04-10-2020, 11:00 AM

Thanks for commenting, Ants. I look at the photographs that the guys on the Wooden Boat Forum put up, and I marvel at their shops. Most are complete with multiple antique heavy cast iron planers and band saws, and overhead air filtration systems. Me? I put my tabletop mini-table-saw on the driveway, and have my sawhorses out in the front yard. Little stuff gets done on the recycling bins. I wish I had a tabletop drill press. Of everything, that one tool would increase my accuracy by a significant margin over hand-holding a drill.

Oh, and a vise...a vise on a really solid table. I wish I had a really solid table I could mount a vise on.

BobJ

04-10-2020, 11:29 AM

We usually direct our resources to the things that are important to us.

Build or buy a solid table and get a vise. If there's no room in the garage, make room.

I'm sorry, I really don't understand.

AlanH

04-10-2020, 10:19 PM

We usually direct our resources to the things that are important to us.

Build or buy a solid table and get a vise. If there's no room in the garage, make room.

I'm sorry, I really don't understand.

You should see some of these shops, Bob. They're impressive, they're not just garages!

AlanH

04-11-2020, 06:24 PM

Yesterday I sanded the epoxy/wood mix that locks the counterweight inside the pendulum oar, and put on some microballoons/epoxy-spooge to fair it. More progress today; I fiberglassed the pendulum oar. I had a bit of unidirectional carbon fiber left over, and figured I'd use it to stiffen up the oar. Those black strips are not one single piece, though everything below the waterline is one piece. The longest part is about 3 1/2 feet long. Then there are two, approximately 1 foot pieces above that overlapped by a couple inches, to carry the carbon fiber to above where the lower pintle will be. It's not optimal, I'd rather have one continuous piece, but I used what I had and the overlaps are significant.

The fiberglass is all one piece, 8 ounce stuff.

5269

I'm wearing Tyvek forearm protectors, you just can't see 'em. The oar is supported at the ends by deck screws driven into the ends of the oar, and then balanced on the ends of the sawhorses.

I clamped the trailing edge of the 'glass below the waterline to at least attempt to get a really fine edge on it. There was one spot where the glass just would NOT lie down, so I have an extra layer of wax paper there, and it's smashed flat with clamps and boards. I also compressed the sides of the oar above the waterline just to make sure I got really good bonding.

5270

AlanH

04-11-2020, 09:02 PM

About 6 months ago, in the throes of a bit of an emergency, I rushed into Target and bought the cheapest Tracfone they had. I HAD to make a phone call...it's a long story. Anyway, I got the cheapest one-month plan they had, which has long-since expired. It's been sitting in my desk.

Last night it occurred to me that it's an Android device, and it should work just fine on wireless, without any phone plan at all. Indeed, it does. It has a GPS in it. So I downloaded Open CPN...it took a while to figure stuff out on the little screen, but I now have a handheld navigation device that reports my lat-long and puts my position on nautical charts. Now, I can't get the AIS to talk to it, but little steps, little steps.

AlanH

04-12-2020, 06:52 PM

I pulled the clamps and wax paper off the rudder today. Hmmm...Most of it was good, but there were a few too many spots where it didn't bond well. The worst was one side where the blade transitions from foil (below the waterline) to rectangular (above the waterline). I got to it while the epoxy was still a little soft so I cut off the flash, slathered fresh epoxy into a few place and clamped it again. There were a few bubbles...not horrible, so they got cut out and got a layer of epoxy with a mess of glass fiber mushed into it. Anyway, It wasn't BAD, it just wasn't quite as pretty as I'd hoped. Anyway, it's still on the sawhorses in the front yard, catalyzing away again, with a mess of wax paper and clamps on it.

I also taped off part of the wind blade and it got a coat of paint. Some of the flash from the oar, and extra epoxy got re-purposed to further beef up the middle of the fiberglass tube that will hold the actual wind-vane. That thing will be bomb-proof.

...and Joan and I went for a 21 mile bike ride today after "online" church.

Here's a screen capture of Jan Alkemea's "final" version of his system....USD windvane and RHM pendulum oar.

http://forum.woodenboat.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=57255&d=1586731535

Dazzler

04-12-2020, 07:29 PM

Alan,
If you wonder, there are lots of us following your thread(s) and impressed by your creativity. Please keep posting.

AlanH

04-12-2020, 11:11 PM

Alan,
If you wonder, there are lots of us following your thread(s) and impressed by your creativity. Please keep posting.

Thanks.

I took the emergency rudder to the E-rudder seminar and nobody seemed much interested. That's OK, there were lots of things going on that day, so no biggie. I have to wonder though, if anybody pays any attention to this stuff I throw in here, so thank you for posting.

Remember folks, an online FORUM..is a FORUM. The word "FORUM" implies INTERACTION. If there's no interaction, if it's the same 8 people posting to themselves and each other all the time, at some point those eight folks get tired of the sound of their own voices. Then the whole thing just dies. If you're watching a topic, post something in the thread now and then. Without participation, this stuff just dies out.

Wylieguy

04-12-2020, 11:42 PM

Alan, If this makes it to your screen, it's. rare example from me. I've responded to several of your posts, but my post just disappears. I "see" it go and it looks like it's been posted, but when I come back later it's gone. Anyway, I follow your posts. Remember I depend on that unbalanced E.R. to save my bacon if the rudder falls off. Pat B/.

Intermission

04-13-2020, 10:22 AM

Alan,
I eagerly await your next post, and in fact, I was semi seriously thinking about a general post, asking all that do post, to write faster and post more often.
You and Bob have done a pretty good job of it, but many of our regular posters, (you know who you are), have been sporadic.

I haven't seen my boat in over a month, and I miss her something fierce. This forum has been the closest to her and salt water as I've been able to get.
The warming weather this week may push me over the edge to go see "my other girl"; brush her hull and run the engine in gear for at least 30 minutes.
Brad

AntsUiga

04-13-2020, 11:27 AM

This might instill some jealousy with your trash barrels, but have you considered something like this folding workbench with built in clamp. This version is probably decades old, and the newer version have more plastic to keep them lighter for job to job carrying. Just a suggestion. The rear board moves to three location for various clamping widths.

Ants

5279

AlanH

04-13-2020, 02:01 PM

I actually have a table in my garage....Bob's post struck a nerve. I need to clean it off and beef it up. It's strong enough, it's probably holding 150 pounds of "stuff" right now, but an hours re-organization would open up some significant workspace. Then, the judicious application of some scrounged plywood would probably stiffen it considerably.

You all see that I have a couple of sawhorses. I could easily make two more from junk wood that's around the neighborhood.

I just went outside and pulled the clamps and wax paper off of the pendulum rudder. Yesterdays attempts at fixing the un-bonded bits worked a treat. I have a good solid 'glassing job now, if not the ultimate in resin/glass ratio.

Thanks for posting, Pat and Ants...

BobJ

04-13-2020, 02:57 PM

My response was from personal experience.

When we bought this house in 1995, it had a decent workbench built in along one wall in the garage. But I'd piled it high when we moved in. When I wanted to do a project, I'd shift the crap around to make a little work space. And I often wanted a better way to hold stuff I was working on. I'd move the car out and set up a card table, to which I'd clamp the part down with a C-clamp or something. I made a lot of sloppy saw cuts and inaccurate holes.

Twenty(!) years later I finally cleaned off the workbench completely, drove over to Sears in Concord and bought a vise. It cost less than a hundred bucks.

That's what flashed through my head when you posted about wanting a vise. I was yelling at myself for having waited so long.

AlanH

04-13-2020, 06:04 PM

I see a solid looking (probably made in China) vise at Home Depot for $46. I can do that!

Alan

AlanH

04-14-2020, 01:00 PM

I just snagged one of these...https://www.ebay.com/itm/Seco-Larm-Enforcer-Xenon-Strobe-Light-12VDC-Clear-Lens-SL-126Q-C/121730212506?epid=1700131448&hash=item1c57afa29a:g:EDoAAOSwrPZcvsm5:sc:USPSFirs tClass!94025!US!-1

https://www.homecontrols.com/homecontrols/images-sca/SESL1301BAQx_media-Clear-570.jpg?resizeid=2&resizeh=500&resizew=500

Greg Nelson pointed out something very much like this many years ago and I've had them on both my Santana 3030 and on the Santa Cruz 27. Seal the lens threads with silicon and they're waterproof.

AlanH

04-15-2020, 01:24 PM

Today I'm just fairing the pendulum oar blade, with 95% of the fairing effort spent below the waterline. I also grabbed a couple of little s.s. bolts and locknuts from the hardware store when I went in for some plumbing pieces, and now the wind vane blade is attached to the carrier. That will be worth a photograph, once I get the counterweight on.

Oh, and maybe some painting, today. Work is slow.

AlanH

04-16-2020, 10:39 AM

Here's a first look at the Vane assembly, actually on the pole.
5288

It's by no means completed, but it's far enough along to get an actual look at how it will appear on the boat, so I clamped it to my sawhorse and snapped that shot.

AlanH

04-18-2020, 04:16 PM

I see that my thread title has been changed to 2021! LOL.... I'll be having that talk with Joan this week!

AlanH

04-18-2020, 10:17 PM

OK, after doing nothing yesterday, and not much on Friday, I had two hours to get some stuff done today. I measured, and put the pendulum oar on the table saw, and cut the balance cut-back today. I actually probably should have cut back another 1/4 inch, but we'll see how this works. I also glassed the raw, front edge, and smeared epoxy on the now-bare, trimmed-off top edge to seal it.

5304

I trimmed the bottom and got some glass on it. I'm somewhat concerned that the foil is not as symmetrical as I thought it was. This could mess up everything.

5305

AlanH

04-18-2020, 10:28 PM

When I set up the windvane mast and the vane assembly the other day, I left it up for about 8 hours, clamped to one of my sawhorses. Come to find out that the weight of the wind blade, the carrier, and the counterweight was too much for the single-screw and lockwasher that I had used to attach it to the little aluminum "triangle" that I made. I needed something stronger. ...something that wouldn't "sag" and change the angle of the pivot rod.

So I measured stuff and eyeballed carefully, and marked up a piece of aluminum stock that I've had forever. Then, since I haven't gotten the workbench cleaned off yet, I' clamped it to the fence and hacksawed out this piece.

It's rock solid, and will NOT move from the 20 degrees I designed it at!

5306

5307

WIN!

AlanH

04-19-2020, 08:33 PM

I puttered for about 4 hours but just did little stuff today...JB-welded an aluminum gusset onto the crosspiece that carries the cables. Once that's set up and back on the vane, it should make the push-pull of the cables more solid...less slop. I drilled that crosspiece as well...

wire brushed, primed and painted the counterweight.

PL-Premium'ed wood blocks on the pendulum oar carrier to screw the gudgeons into. We are getting close to painting-time for the oar carrier. Nothing here is worth taking a picture of!

I also knocked a wedge into my emergency rudder cassette, as when the wood dried, it shrank and the plywood sides bowed in a bit. It was impossible to get the rudder more than halfway into it! I'll leave this wedge in there for a week, then take it out and knock it into the other end. That should open things up. I also epoxied the bushings into the gudgeons; a two-minute job that took me three months to do!

AlanH

04-21-2020, 07:40 PM

Today was a low motivation day. I painted some bits...stared at the dinghy pintles and decided that I blew it, I made the the rudder too thick for them, so I need to either buy new ones or make some, and hacksawed the corners off of some other bits.

AlanH

04-22-2020, 03:44 PM

Yesterday I had a motivational crisis LOL...so between yesterday and the day before all I did was:

1. prime, then paint the oar carrier
2. dip the counterweight in a can of marine enamel to get it really thickly coated.
3. Hacksaw, and round some of the aluminum bits that the hinge on top of the oar will ride on
4. epoxied the vane carrier assembly to the tube that goes around the mast.
5. put the piece of redwood that the cable ends will go on, on the belt sander and true'd up some angles, got rid of some saw gouges.

Today, so far I blew up the budget at the bike shop on ten feet of teflon-lined cable housing, ferrules, and stainless steel brake cable. This was something like 30 bucks.

no pictures....this is not terribly photogenic stuff.

I measured the thickness of the pendulum oar and it's 7/8 th's of an inch thick. My free pintles are for a 3/4 inch rudder. I can cram it on there, but I can't shove it all the way on without cutting through the glass and carbon. With it 80% of the way on, the pin is way out in front of the leading edge, and while I can get both of the through-bolts on them, the axis of rotation is going to be pushed forward...what I DON'T want. So today I bought two 1/4 inch bolts, and I will cut the threads off and bury them in redwood and fiberglass, to make DIY pintles which sit very close to the leading edge of the pendulum oar cutback. THAT is photograph worthy!

AlanH

04-23-2020, 09:30 AM

This lousy picture shows the triangular gusset I made to support and increase leverage on the aluminum piece to which the linkage cables are attached. The triangular piece is edge-glued to the main carrier with JB Weld and then I slapped on a couple of gussets to reinforce the attachment, also with JB Weld. It's somewhat less than glamorous, but it will work. I use JB Weld a lot when I'm working with metal, as I don't have welding or silver-soldering/propane brazing capabilities....though I probably should get the relatively inexpensive kit to be able to silver-solder/braze aluminum.

5320

BLARG!!!!... @#$%^&*()_!!! ... the gudgeons are bigger than 1/4 inch. OK, so they'll have, what we'll call..."bushings" made out of PL Premium. Yesterday I put some redwood on the table saw and VERY carefully, using pusher sticks to keep my fingers away, cut small angled pieces to hold the bolts. I used my Dremel-clone rotary tool to grind grooves in it. Then I hacksawed the threads off of two 1/4 inch stainless steel bolts. I put them on my grinder and rounded off the bottoms, then filed 'em smooth at the bottom. One is about 1/4 inch longer than the other. I scratched up the top inch of the bolt with a hacksaw and then used JB Weld steel-reinforced epoxy to lay them into the grooves I cut in the wood.

5321

The wood will be epoxied to the leading edge of the rudder, in the cutback area, and then attached with 3-4 straps of 1.25-inch wide glass cloth in epoxy. I wish I had some linear carbon fiber left, but 'glass will be strong enough for this.

AlanH

04-25-2020, 08:06 PM

Today was a fun day. After some paint and sanding...drilling out the "bushings" I have in the oar carrier gudgeons, I screwed the gudgeons to the oar carrier and...wow....put the pieces together.5338

That's a 6-foot tall garden ladder, except that it's more like about 5' 10". The pendulum oar is about 2 inches off the ground. It's got two coats of gloss exterior latex on it. Anything above the waterline on the pendulum oar is hella strong and also hella UGLY. If it all works, I might hit the upper half of the oar with paint stripper, then add a fairing compound to prettify it. Or not.

Right now the oar is a little tight, but I'll waggle it back and forth a whole lot over the next couple of weeks and see if it eases up.

I also made these two little thingamabobs, the function of which you'll just have to wait and see!

5339

5340

AlanH

04-26-2020, 10:41 PM

In which we discover what the deal is with those donuts.

Today I took a deep breath and epoxied/tabbed a mess of stuff onto the fiberglass tube that I made. I bent some aluminum bits, drilled them, and threaded on the bicycle brake cable housing stops. Then I eyeballed like crazy, drilled some holes and voila, they're ON the wood block that is supposed to hold them....and pretty darned well, too. When I look through the holes in the cable stops I see the bolts/nuts where the cable will terminate. With some work with the round wood rasp and sandpaper, one of yesterdays donuts was made ready..

Everything is now aligned, epoxied and tabbed to the fiberglass tube.

5351

5352

...and here's one of those donuts, from yesterday...

5353

AlanH

04-27-2020, 07:51 PM

Aaaaand, the purpose of the donuts is revealed. The windvane part of the system is Done...except for some paint! All the bits and bobs are made and glued/screwed in place. I am stoked!

5356

5357

How to set the course? At the top of the green "mast" is fiberglassed one of those wood doughuts. At the bottom of the fiberglass tube that I made to fit around the "mast" is another one of the wood doughnuts. The weight of the whole assembly rests on those two doughnuts. The entire thing rotates around the mast.

How to lock the thing down, on course? Easy.

5358

..and actually, if that doesn't work, I have a second option...

AlanH

04-27-2020, 08:45 PM

https://youtu.be/rLclQ5Ovsf0

AlanH

04-29-2020, 10:36 AM

I am getting close! I went to Alan Steel in San Carlos yesterday to get some aluminum bits, but they were closed, I assume because of COVD-19. OK, so I'm saving money by making what I need out of wood, fiberglass, epoxy and PL Premium polyurethane.

Pendulum Oar tiller arms.

5363

The linkage "bicycle brake" cable housings have to terminate on the oar carrier somewhere, but I realized yesterday that I can't just screw some aluminum bits to the main oar carrier shaft, the angle will be wrong, which will add friction. So I inset these blocks about 1/8th of an inch into the arms and glued 'em down with a generous quantity of PL Premium. they'll get painted to match, probably tomorrow.

5364

AntsUiga

04-29-2020, 05:39 PM

It seems it is getting close to the"Aha" moment for me, when the water and wind sections are connected in proximity. I am patient and can easily wait ............

All things will be obvious - eventually.

Ants

AlanH

04-30-2020, 08:11 PM

A little bit of paint, a little more fiberglass...some drilling, some aluminum bending, and all the last bits are on, to test in real wind to see if the wind vane will turn the oar. Maybe tomorrow, and for sure on Sunday, down at the Port of RWC, I'll clamp everything to a ladder, attach the cables, and we shall see!

AlanH

05-01-2020, 09:02 PM

https://youtu.be/z_Nc2Rn54dY

FAIL

There was a pretty good breeze in the front yard today so I set up the entire shebang, to try it out. In the video, the cables have been disconnected, and you can see that the windvane moves very well in response to maybe 5-8 knots of breeze that wafts in from various directions. I greased the gudgeons and pintles of the pendulum oar, and it's very smooth now. But when I hooked up the bicycle cables and housing....nothing moved. A few tweaks on the pendulum oar, moving it from side to side revealed that...sadly...there's a huge amount of friction in the system. It's really stiff, way, way too stiff to work.

Now, that might be improved by using less cable and housing, and a straighter "run" to the pendulum oar, but when I have this actually on the boat, I'm going to need about as much cable and housing as I have pictured, here.

SO this is a great big flop....a $40 flop, I might add, *ouch*! though Jan Alkema linked up his with steel cable, so maybe I can use the cable, at least. If not, 12 feet of 1/8th inch dyneema is about four bucks, so I'll use that.

Hmph! Well, I've been harboring this idea for ten, twelve years, it's about time I tested it out.

BobJ

05-01-2020, 11:14 PM

Chuck Warren just donated Antipodiste to the RYC Foundation. Pretty sure it has a Navik on the stern...

AlanH

05-01-2020, 11:42 PM

Chuck Warren just donated Antipodiste to the RYC Foundation. Pretty sure it has a Navik on the stern...

I saw her on CL for $2500. What would make sense is to just buy the whole boat.

BobJ

05-02-2020, 08:58 AM

I think someone did, yesterday. But I'll keep my ear to the ground if you like.

Despite it's condition, this was one of the most frequently-sailed boats at RYC.

AlanH

05-02-2020, 10:06 AM

I think someone did, yesterday. But I'll keep my ear to the ground if you like.

Despite it's condition, this was one of the most frequently-sailed boats at RYC.

I've looked it over, very hard more than once. The cockpit was a bit cluttered and broken up, and it had running backstays. Aside from that, it always seemed a very sensible boat, to me.

There's no way I can convince Joan to swap boats, now....and if I DID "swap" boats, there's a Wilderness 30 on my dock that hasn't moved in two years. The lifeline gate has been clipped open for two years...nobody has even been on board in all that time. A Wilderness 30 has been on my "short list" of boats I kinda always wanted for almost 20 years. Olson 911-S...Wilderness 30...and a couple others.

I'm committed to doing this in the Wildcat, now.

AlanH

05-02-2020, 10:14 AM

After being very grumpy all night over yesterdays FAIL, and after looking VERY hard, for quite a while at Jan's vane, I see how he gets around the problem of the changing length of the distance that the cables cover, as he changes the heading. To replicate that, I'll have to make two more large-ish pieces and a mounting bracket....all do-able of course... but it make the basic premise of the vane carrier assembly "sleeving" over the mast, irrelevant.. I rather like the notion of the whole thing sleeving over the "mast" and I want to stick with it. It's super simple and rather light-weight.

I may have to go to a central push/pull rod linkage (I can use a carbon fiber kite rod, or some old fiberglass tent poles that I have.), linked by a bell crank to a "bent rod" actuator kind of system as per Walt Muray's work, or any of several commercial systems. THAT, I might have to do. We'll see. Before I do that, I think I'm going to spend $20 for ten feet of ptfe housing. PTFE = "Teflon" and you can buy flexible tubing made of the stuff. Running heavy monofilament (basically weed-whacker cable) though that, well slicked with Tri-Flow should be awfully slippery.

Before that, though, I'm taking the whole thing down to the port, tomorrow, with my 8 foot ladder, a mess of clamps, some grease and a pair of cable cutters. I will set the whole thing up in the closest geometric alignment to how it will actually be on the boat, and we'll see if changing the amount of cable housing and the amount of curvature of the cable, cuts the friction, substantially. It might not....or it might. We'll just see, tomorrow.

AlanH

05-02-2020, 08:21 PM

More study of Jan Alkema's setup revealed something that I hadn't realized before. It's hard to explain but what it means is that the final turn of the control lines is centered over the axis of rotation of the rudder. THAT means that from that point..the final turn of the control lines, the distance to the pendulum oar "tiller" stays constant as the rudder moves. However, if you move that final turning point off of that axis, the distance DOES change...which is something I was trying to get around with the brake cable housings.

If I align the mast of the windvane right over the axis of rotation of the rudder, that simplifies things. It also means that today, I reduced the amount of brake cable...and brake cable housing by half. There's a transition from s.s. cable to a piece of inexpensive polypro line right now. I'll change that over to light dyneema, if this all works out. This has helped with the friction issue. So has grinding the ends of the housing totally flat and reaming them out to make SURE there are no burrs or protrusions to rub against the cable.

I might be at a point where a good breeze and a larger wind paddle could make this work.

Intermission

05-02-2020, 08:41 PM

Did you grease the cables too?

AlanH

05-03-2020, 12:00 AM

Did you grease the cables too?

You bet...good old waterproof Phil Woods green stuff...and it made it WORSE...MORE friction. So I wiped it off and shot more TriFlow down in the housing and soaked the cable with it really well. The more I move it around, the smoother it gets, BTW.

Intermission

05-03-2020, 09:28 AM

You bet...good old waterproof Phil Woods green stuff...and it made it WORSE...MORE friction. So I wiped it off and shot more TriFlow down in the housing and soaked the cable with it really well. The more I move it around, the smoother it gets, BTW.

I have a long Phil Wood story that I typed up here once, but then lost somehow.

What time will you be in RWC today?

tiger beetle

05-03-2020, 11:48 AM

This morning I got up and went reading about what you are constructing - that's a fascinating design, solves a problem in a clever way, and looks like it can be made to work.

My suspicion is that you're fighting friction and mass in the build. You want the air vane to transmit small amounts of movement to the water pendulum, and any friction in the system is bad. Any loss of movement in the cabling is also bad. Bowden cables are great for some things (primarily transferring tension) but have a lot of slop and friction as compared with rigid rods or tensioned cables on pulleys. Jan's notes mentioned using ball bearing blocks and wire to move forces from the air vane to the water pendulum - that might be worth trying with thin spectra line.

Is there any way to re-work the various bearing points (pintles, pivots) to use delrin bushings or ball bearings?

On the mass side of things, the less mass the air vane has to move the easier it should be to move that mass. In theory the lighter the air vane is the more sensitive it becomes while the forces it can transmit remain the same. Similiarly for the water pendulum - minimizing mass would make it easier to rotate/steer.

This is a really clever project - do keep going with the updates. As regards reducing friction, avoid high viscosity grease/oil and go with spray-on Teflon (e.g. McClube) or powdered graphite (e.g., ground up pencil lead or lock lubricant graphite). Anything to minimize viscosity, not trap dirt, and minimize friction.

- rob/beetle

AlanH

05-03-2020, 03:19 PM

Well, I took the contraption down to the Port, where there was a solid 15+ knots of wind oscillating through about 15-20 degrees. I'm sad to say, that the brake cable linkage friction almost completely prevented the system from functioning at all. It would "move"...when the blade was practically perpendicular to the wind, if you waited 10, 20 seconds for it to finally slip and GO. The wind vane itself is phenomenal. It's extremely sensitive and I think significantly more powerful than the old vane on my Naviks. However, the cable friction...no.

Not acceptable. OK, so that's the end of experimentation with the bicycle brake cables. Now I have extra cables and housing for my bike. **eyeroll**

I was down there from 1:00 - 2:00

5368

This iteration of the linkage uses half the cable housing of what I had originally concocted, but that wasn't enough. I was right in guesstimating the amount I wanted, to allow for rotating the vane though 360 degrees without binding the cables, but it didn't matter.

5369

Next up...PTFE cable housing liberally sprized with Tri-Flow teflon, with .080 in wede-whacker monofilament running in it. There are two, 6 foot bits of it hanging on 15 pound weights in my garage right now, to "assist" them in "forgetting" the tightness of the spool they were sold in.

AlanH

05-03-2020, 03:55 PM

So, adding up all the bits and bobs, this "brake cable idea" is about a $50 FAIL. On the other hand, I've been nursing this idea for almost 15 years, since I attempted my first windvane in 2005 and it's good to finally know the answer!

AlanH

05-03-2020, 08:11 PM

PTFE tubing...

https://fluorostore.com/products/ptfe-awg-spaghetti-tubing

I got size 8, ID of 0.12 to 0.14 inches, standard wall.
The weed whacker monofilament is .08 inches thick ....that should fit. I got ten feet, just in case this happens to be SO slick that I can go back to the full-length cable/housing setup that I originally wanted.

AlanH

05-04-2020, 11:22 AM

I went down to the boat yesterday to check the fit on the companionway cover from the Santana 3030, that I adapted. Nailed it.

....though this is one of those jobs that serves the function, and looks good from 20 feet away, but don't get too close. Next up, get some 1/8th plywood and make the hatch scabbard, which will be in front of this cover.

5370

5371

I will need to replace the companionway board-retaining boards, to allow the companionway boards to be pulled out. The cover "leans back" a bit at the aft end, which limits the movement of the boards, coming out. This is fine, I've been meaning to replace them with aluminum ones, anyway.

Finally the cover is out of my front yard! sheesh...it's been WEEKS.

AntsUiga

05-05-2020, 08:04 AM

AlanH

05-05-2020, 10:25 AM

Aha! This entire assembly seems to act as a wind steered trim tab. What happens with the tiller? Is it locked in a neutral position?

The trim tab would have to have some well balanced sails.

Onward.....

Ants

No, Ants, it's not a trim tab. It's a pendulum oar, but the way it acts on the rudder is completely different from how a more "usual" pendulum oar system, like a Monitor, works. A "usual" pendulum oar system is mounted on a framework on the back of the boat. The mast that holds the actual wind blade can be on the centerline, or slightly off from the centerline...or even quite a bit off from the centerline, but the pendulum oar is on the centerline (usually!...). In the usual configuration, the rotation of the pendulum oar is transferred to the tiller through low-stretch control lines.

In this vane, the pendulum oar is mounted on the head of the rudder, in a hinge, and it swings, just like a usual pendulum oar. However the pendulum oar is locked in place with lines to the stern quarters. It can still turn under direction of the wind blade, so that it gets pushed to an angle off from the direction of water flow, and generate a sideways force, but it doesn't swing. The geometry of Jan Alkemas system transfers the sideways force directly to the top of the rudder, causing it to turn, via that hinge mounting. There are no lines in the cockpit.

You have to read Jan's paper, and stare at it for a while for it to make sense...

WBChristie

05-05-2020, 10:27 AM

That looks great!

I went down to the boat yesterday to check the fit on the companionway cover from the Santana 3030, that I adapted. Nailed it.

....though this is one of those jobs that serves the function, and looks good from 20 feet away, but don't get too close. Next up, get some 1/8th plywood and make the hatch scabbard, which will be in front of this cover.

5370

5371

breezetrees

05-05-2020, 11:52 AM

I'm working from home and it's just not that busy. Also, now I have more weekends free. Joan wants to go hiking a lot, which is good but I still have time to make "boat stuff". In light of that, I'm starting on the next project, which I didn't think I would get to for months....a windvane.

I'm going to be making a variant on Jan Alkema's USD windvane, combined with his RHM pendulum. Mister Vee uses the USD concept, (USD = UpSide Down) but I don't know of any commercial enterprise that makes a RHM pendulum. "RHM" stands for Rudder Head Mount, and it's a servo-pendulum specifically designed for transom-mounted rudders. You can read about the system here: http://www.windautopilot.de/docs/alkema/RHM-USD.pdf

Jans own prototype, which he used on a boat not THAT different from the Wildcat, was a plywood job, though he changed over to welded stainless after a few years. I'm building ver. 1.0 in redwood and fiberglass/epoxy. Today I cut out the redwood bits for the actual mount and would have cut out the parts for the oar, but I ran out of time.

I've been enjoying the progress! I have never been on a boat with a windvane and only vaguely understand the mechanics and was also wondering if it is a trim tab. I went back to look for the paper, fig 5 helps. It's complex and I hope you keep posting your results! I think: Vane pivots in the wind, cables make pendulum oar pivot on its pintles, this makes oar pivot on point P held by line, so the rudder head moves opposite the oar blade, and since the head has moved it also has turned the rudder? Is that close??
-Mike

AlanH

05-05-2020, 12:53 PM

You got it, Mike!

AlanH

05-05-2020, 12:57 PM

Hey, electronics cognoscenti....

Lookie here. https://www.sfbaysss.org/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=5371&d=1588616382

See the compass on the starboard cockpit bulkhead? Now...see the plastic panel below that, which covers up a very old bulkhead cutout? If I put my depth sounder readout in that plastic panel, will that wreak havoc with my compass?

tiger beetle

05-05-2020, 01:37 PM

If I put my depth sounder readout in that plastic panel, will that wreak havoc with my compass?

That will entirely depend upon the depth sounder readout display. Can you tell us what you're planning to put in the cutout?

On the other hand, if you treat an SSS TransPacific race boat as an Italian sports car, the first thing you should do upon starting is rip out the depth sounder and toss it overboard behind you - where you're going the sounder won't measure depth! (Italian sports car drivers do this to their rear view mirrors - at the speed they are traveling the only interesting thing is in front, never behind).

Could the compass be moved to port side into the other cutout?

- rob/beetle

AlanH

05-05-2020, 03:40 PM

That will entirely depend upon the depth sounder readout display. Can you tell us what you're planning to put in the cutout?

On the other hand, if you treat an SSS TransPacific race boat as an Italian sports car, the first thing you should do upon starting is rip out the depth sounder and toss it overboard behind you - where you're going the sounder won't measure depth! (Italian sports car drivers do this to their rear view mirrors - at the speed they are traveling the only interesting thing is in front, never behind).

Could the compass be moved to port side into the other cutout?

- rob/beetle

It's a RayMarine i40 Dept readout which happens to be....rectangular.

5372

I know, right? As soon as I'm past Point Bonita, who needs a depth sounder? But the SSS "outside the gate" racing rules say you must have a depth sounder, so I bought one...quite a while ago....and I'm going to get around to installing it here, pretty soon.

Yeah, I could move the compass, but my laptop and the AIS receiver were...in theory....going to live not far from there. However, the compass sort of ~has to~ work, so....

BobJ

05-05-2020, 03:44 PM

Before you mount it, can you plug it in and move a hand-bearing compass around it just to see?
.

AlanH

05-05-2020, 06:47 PM

Before you mount it, can you plug it in and move a handing-bearing compass around it just to see?

Huh....sure I can. I never thought of that.

tiger beetle

05-05-2020, 07:25 PM

Raymarine specifies the minimum compass safe distance as 9" between the i40 display and the magnetic compass. It's in the i40 manual section 3.5...

https://www.raymarine.com/view/index-id=4870.html

- rob

AlanH

05-07-2020, 08:35 AM

Looking over the SHTP rules, I see that I need a knotmeter. Will the speed function on a GPS suffice, or does it need to be a separate, dedicated knotmeter? If it has to be a separate knotmeter, that's gonna hurt because almost nobody makes one any more. The Raymarine i40 is $250, but it will require me to haul out again for a day, which will be another $350 or more. Humminbird used to market a $99 knotmeter and a $99 depth sounder, but no more.

BobJ

05-07-2020, 10:05 AM

AlanH

05-07-2020, 11:40 AM

I don't know what the SHTP requires. IMO it depends if you're getting ready for one two-week race to Hawaii, or you're planning to race the boat for awhile. When racing on the Bay, I like to see how SOG and boat speed compare so I know how the current is affecting me.

If you decide you want to see boat speed but don't want another hole in the hull, consider an ultrasonic transducer. You might even build one yourself.

I know about doing the SOG and STW thing to figure out current effects, but realistically, will I use it? I might. If the Wildcat were coming home from Hawaii with me, then it'd be a no-brainer, but she's not. It makes no sense to pay $10,000 to ship a $6,000 boat back from Hawaii. So I'd be buying a $250 knotmeter to do...

Possibly the WestPoint Regatta, this summer, if it's held.
Half Moon Bay SSS race, 2020.
An offshore 400 mile qualifier in September
Vallejo 1-2, 2020

Maybe the 3BF in January 2021
Round the Rocks SSS, 2021
Corinthian race SSS 2021
Singlehanded Farallones, SSS 2021

and then the 20201 SHTP... That's nine events, for which I have to spend $250 for the knotmeter and probably $350 for the haulout to install it.

Now....ARE there "ultrasonic" knotmeters? If there are, I can't make one, my expertise is with wood, epoxy and string, not circuity!

BobJ

05-07-2020, 11:48 AM

Just trying to help, Alan.

everydaysailor

05-07-2020, 12:12 PM

It just says "knotmeter" whereas the depth sounder rule reads "permanently installed".
Maybe just buy a Knotstick and call it good.
http://knotstick.com/

AlanH

05-07-2020, 05:19 PM

Just trying to help, Alan.

I know!! But seriously, do you know of a speedo / knotmeter that doesn't NOT require a through hull fitting? 'cause I'm all over it, if you do! There are plenty of transom-mount ones of course, but...ahhh..

AlanH

05-07-2020, 05:20 PM

It just says "knotmeter" whereas the depth sounder rule reads "permanently installed".
Maybe just buy a Knotstick and call it good.
http://knotstick.com/

I totally forgot about the knotstick. I had one years ago and it was reasonably accurate, if you towed it for a couple minutes and glanced over 5-6 times and took an average.

sleddog

05-08-2020, 08:24 AM

I totally forgot about the knotstick. I had one years ago and it was reasonably accurate, if you towed it for a couple minutes and glanced over 5-6 times and took an average.

WILDFLOWER never had a knotmeter, which I consider fragile, foulable, even dangerous, as they are another thru-hull unless you are towing a Walker Log, like I did in the first SHTP. Current US Sailing Safety Equipment Regs (SER's) 4.13 require a knotmeter, or "distance measuring instrument."

When inspected by the Chief Inspector for a past Hawaii Race on WILDFLOWER, he asked to see my speed measuring device. I gave him an orange that had written on it how to take an orange peel, drop it from the bow, time its passage to the stern, compute the speed, then eat the orange. Chuck shook his head, said that's what he used to do, and passed the "device." Not saying that would be accepted in these days of electronic safety requirements. But worked for me.

Oceanslogic

05-08-2020, 10:53 AM

You can find these second hand for cheap...would check the 4.13 box....
http://www.knotstick.com

AlanH

05-08-2020, 11:18 AM

You can find these second hand for cheap...would check the 4.13 box....
http://www.knotstick.com

I'm all over it! Low tech. I love low tech. It doesn't need electricity. There are no holes in the boat....Huge plus. Knotstick, magnetic compass, paper charts, sextant, worksheet, tables and a cheap digital watch, and if I have to, I can find my way close enough to Hawaii to get into at least one island. I'll have something like four GPS's on the boat, only one of which will depend in any way on the boats electrical system.

AlanH

05-08-2020, 08:25 PM

This afternoon, work was incredibly slow so I played hookey and laid up the doorskins for the companionway hatch scabbard...

5391

The S2 7.9 doesn't have a scabbard, and I'm not comfortable doing out there without one, so..... It'll kick off tonight and I'll take it to the boat tomorrow for final measurements and trimming.

AlanH

05-09-2020, 09:18 PM

Today was one of those days at the boat where somehow I didn't waste a lot of time, but after 6 1/2 hours I don't have a whole lot to show for it. I DID get the old wood block that supported the autopilot pin off the deck. The 3M 4200 lifted the gel goat. Seriously, I bedded that block with 4200, and I cut through as much of it as I could get to with a utility knife, and then pried it off. It came off, all right...along with about two dime-sized slabs of gel coat.

So that got a coat of epoxy today, and will get sanded and painted, soon...and THEN the new block will go on.

AlanH

05-12-2020, 05:53 PM

The PTFE tubing is taking FOR-BLUIDY-EVER to get here. So I'm waiting for that. On Saturday I realized that there was no power cord for the i40 Depth Display, in the box. So I went up on ebay and found an adpater cord...SeaTalk1 to SeaTalkNS (or whatever it is) which will work. I have to clip off the SeaTalkNS fitting, strip the wires back a bit and link the appropriate colors to enough wire to get to the breaker panel. However, it's going to take a few days for that to get here, too.

So meanwhile, I remembered what Tom from Constellation and Pt. Richmond Canvas sewed up for me, back in 2008, for a covering for my Autohelms. I got out some old Sunbrella, left over from the project where I made a cover for the skerry. I went down to the hardware store and bought 1 yard of heavy, clear vinyl, and I made a "not waterproof, but rather water-resistant" cover for the Autohelm 2000. The thread is leftover outdoor polyester...UV-resistant. I cut the vinyl to make a window so I can see the buttons and course display. The stitching is in no way waterproof, but it's not terrible.

5403

It's open at the back, where the pin and the power cord emerge. The sleeve over the pushrod is open at the bottom, it's more of a "hood" than a sleeve. I need to put about 9 inches of extender on the end of the pushrod.

5404

AlanH

05-13-2020, 04:15 PM

The PTFE tubing arrived today, so I set it all up....no luck, still too much friction, and I liberally doused the inside of that tubing with Tri-Flow. It's slicker than....than......right..

so I have two options.

1. Build a rotating base, which will work for moving the vane in relation to the wind, and keep the cables, which will not be in cable housings at all, directly in line with the axis of the mast. This is basically what Jan did. It's a lot more structure and work to build. If I do t his, I ditch the entire notion of the rotation sleeve on the mast, being the course-setting mechanism....which rather sucks.

2. Give up on a cable linkage, entirely, and move to a pushrod linkage. This would probably mean abandoning the RHM idea and going to a "regular" pendulum oar. This will also require a lot more structure to be built on the boat, however, I could stay with the rotating sleeve on the mast being the course-setting mechanism.

Frustrated.....but it was worth trying anyway. I suspect that a significant amount of the binding is not in the monofilament/housing, but rather in the aluminum ends.

Tchoupitoulas

05-13-2020, 06:27 PM

Nice plein air workshop. Hey, what's a scabbard?

AlanH

05-13-2020, 10:33 PM

Nice plein air workshop. Hey, what's a scabbard?

So, think about the top of the cabin on most sailboats. There's a companionway opening, and you close off the front of it with hatchboards, right? Over the top is a sliding hatch. A scabbard is a curved sheet of wood/fiberglass that the sliding hatch slides under.

Here's a Cal 20. Look at the sliding companionway hatch. It slides fore and aft but it doesn't slide INTO anything. So if you take a WHOLE lot of green water on deck, an awful lot of that can work it's way under that hatch and wind up in the cabin.

5415

Here's a picture of a nice dodger. Do you see how the hatch, which on this boat is wood...slides INTO the raised structure on the deck, under the traveler?

5416

...that's a hatch scabbard. Back when I was going to do my first SHTP, it was required that companionway hatches be covered. I remember being slightly scandalized when Terry McKelvey had a CANVAS "scabbard" made for her Cal 2-27. It just snapped down onto snaps set into the deck. I don't think that would keep much water out.

BobJ

05-13-2020, 10:42 PM

We've always called it a sea hood. Googling it confirms such.

Tchoupitoulas

05-14-2020, 09:49 AM

Ah a sea hood. My Santana 22 had one. I think all Santanas did. Most removed long ago to allow the cleat bar.

AlanH

05-14-2020, 10:02 AM

I've seen "Sea Hood" as well. Chalk the use of the word "scabbard" up to my Ren Faire background!

AlanH

05-14-2020, 08:56 PM

After looking at this photo of the Auto Helm again...

5417

and thinking that maybe those bicycle brake ferrules were part of the problem, I took them and their brackets off, and made these from some aluminum roof flashing.

5418

The thinking was to get something as similar to the Auto Helm as possible.

FAIL. Still too much friction. The monofilament is entering and leaving the PTFE tubing in dead-straight lines, there are no hard kinks in the tubing, only the very gentlest of curves. And still....it take 8-10 pounds of force to move the cable. I don't get it, but I think I'm at the point of diminishing returns.

Time to try another approach.

Daydreamer

05-15-2020, 03:33 PM

I'm wondering if there might be a leverage problem rather than friction.

Have you tried a longer arm on the oar?

Maybe 2:1 purchase on the lines to the oar.

Of course I don't know how far the foil on the oar needs to rotate to be effective.

AlanH

05-15-2020, 04:40 PM

I tried this, the other day...

5424

See the temporary, clamped-on midline tiller on the pendulum oar? ...and the spreader, with the little blocks to redirect the tiller line? That's exactly how Jan Alkema had his vane set up, down at the pendulum oar end.

Didn't fix the problem.

AlanH

05-16-2020, 08:01 PM

Cockpit cover is on. The stern light wood base has a fresh coat of paint, which is drying on a piece of plastic under the cockpit cover. I replaced the wood block that holds the autpilot pin, today, after the Pelagic spun the boat through 270 degrees for no reason going up to the City before the last SSS race....and ripped the pin block apart in the process of falling into the cockpit. Anyway, the new block is in, drilled for the bronze pin holder, and it got paint.... though of course, the last thing I did on the boat before I left today was put my elbow on it and spoil the finish.

If it rains tomorrow, I have three projects I can do in the garage. If it doesn't rain, I'll go by West Marine in the AM and get the wire I need to finish the autopilot installation.

AlanH

05-17-2020, 10:38 AM

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF.........

Yesterday as I was packing the truck to head up to Coyote Point, I threw in a couple of things to install the depth sounder transducer, just in case I had the time. I was pretty sure that S2 built solid glass hulls and cored decks, but then I remembered that the transom was cored. I found that out when I lowered the outboard motor bracket. So I went online and double checked.

Nope. Balsa cored hull. The Airmar in-hull transducer won't ping through a cored hull. So I will HAVE to get a haulout before SHTP 2021, so I can VERY CAREFULLY cut through the inner skin and the core, fill in with glass and epoxy, and install. I'll do this, probably about 6-8 weeks before, so the depth sounder is in for my inspection.

AlanH

05-17-2020, 08:08 PM

Autohelm 2000 is in, is on it's own line, with a 10 amp fuse and a switch in-line. It's low-class but it works, for now. Come to find out that Raymarine has slightly changed the plug and receptacle from 2008. I had one from the last SHTP that I did and accidentally installed that one instead of the one that shipped with the new one. Nope. No fit. So the old one can go in the trash. I can calibrate it next weekend and then sail one day with it before going around the Rocks on the 30th.

AlanH

05-25-2020, 08:29 AM

We have autopilot; calibrated and tested on a four hour sail, yesterday. I even learned how to use the auto-tack feature. Works a treat. Also, the old, old, OLD dacron genoa, while the shape is well blown back in the sails, sets better than I remember it.

This dacron mainsail didn't have a cunningham, so last night I swept out the floor of the open space in the garage, cut out three patches in what's probably 5 ounce dacron and went at it with the sewing machine. Incredibly, it worked. Now I need Joe at Leading Edge or Synthia to stitch in some webbing, to anchor a ring in it. This is a very old, cut-down, used main, and the draft is blown out, so it's not worth dropping a mess of money into it. The battens are extremely heavy and the sail would benefit mightily from a full-length, tapered batten at the top.

What to do for SHTP?? This sail has two reefs, but an awful shape. The still-good kevlar triradial sail still has a good shape but only has one reef. I'm not bringing the boat back with me. Should I use the almost-ready-to-go dacron main for the SHTP, or get a second reef put in the kevlar main? I might, actually carry both mains on board, the second main for an emergency backup.....maybe.

solosailor

05-25-2020, 04:15 PM

If a new main is not in the works I would go the "backup" main plan and carry both.

AlanH

05-25-2020, 08:24 PM

If a new main is not in the works I would go the "backup" main plan and carry both.

I think so, too.

....

i spent a very hot day wood butchering the forward end of the sea hood. This took me HOURS, but then it's got three complex curves in it. One was done with a hand saw, mallet and chisel, with a surform plane at the end to smooth things out. Crude, slow, but effective.

AlanH

05-27-2020, 02:06 PM

The sea hood / hatch scabbard is finished. I just need to screw it down on the hatch rails. Hopefully I can zoom up to Coyote Point and do this tonight after work.

5466

I really should quit using sawdust to make fillets. They're plenty strong enough but wow, are they rough-looking.

AlanH

05-28-2020, 09:26 PM

All done. It's one of those jobs that looks better from 20 feet away than close-up but it's strong and I'm going to appreciate it!

5470

Check that one off the list!

solosailor

05-29-2020, 03:39 PM

Nice work Alan.

AlanH

05-31-2020, 08:35 PM

Thanks, Greg!...now I have to decide if I want to move the cabintop winches, or not!

AlanH

05-31-2020, 08:44 PM

Lessons learned this weekend...

1.) This mainsail sets nicer with a reef in it than it does full-hoist!

2.) autohelm 2000 worked a treat....

3.) Open CPN on Android, running on my unused Tracfone cell phone is NOT to be trusted.

4.) most of the "tracking" messages my SPOT sends out, never go out. However, if I push the "I'm OK" button, they ALL go out. I'm somewhat less than overwhelmed by this product.

5.) I have to move the position of the autopilot plug. It's where it is, because there was already a hole put there by a previous owner. Instead of drilling into actual hull, I drilled a hole in the plastic cover that was over the hole. OK, so I know that the autopilot can control the boat, now. It's time to relocate the plug so I won't kick it out, which I did three times during the weekend.

6.) replace the stern light...which I just did, four months ago but something has gone kaflooie. It's getting juice, so the connection to the LED board has gotten messed up.

Intermission

06-01-2020, 09:30 AM

Lessons learned this weekend...

It's time to relocate the plug so I won't kick it out, which I did three times during the weekend.

I hate it when I do that.
Does the new design of plug not have a threaded locking ring?

BobJ

06-01-2020, 10:13 AM

Alan and I were headed out to the Farallones one year when he realized I had turned around. My Raymarine drive had broken clear in half at the seal and fallen on the cockpit floor. The plug was fine however.

AlanH

06-01-2020, 03:15 PM

This is why I want a windvane. I have a deep-seated mistrust of electronic gizmos, on the water. I use 'em, but I don't trust 'em.

BobJ

06-01-2020, 07:06 PM

I think there's some middle ground in there.

Windvanes are pretty useless if you're racing to Hawaii with a spinnaker, especially on lighter boats like yours. They ARE very effective for making you round down as the boat accelerates, like when surfing down a wave.

The self-contained Raymarine cockpit drives (ST1000, ST2000) are good for hoisting sails while powering and light upwind work. That's about it.

I never had a bit of trouble with the Pelagic drive on Ragtime! - none whatsoever. On Rags the Pelagic drive worked better with the Raymarine computer and controller than with the Pelagic computer/controller. I would race to Hawaii without hesitation with Raymarine's EV-100 and the original Pelagic cockpit drive on a boat like yours or the J/92.

AlanH

06-01-2020, 09:35 PM

So here's the thing, Bob...you and I sail differently, which is why you win races and I place mid-fleet!

I will fly a spinnaker when I'm awake, and driving, like for 3-4 hours at a time, probably . The rest of the time I'll probably put a reef in the main (because it's so big, relatively speaking) and wing out a jib. I MIGHT actually make a really heavy 120% nylon high-clew runner. I have no intention of flying a spinnaker at night, or while I'm sleeping.

On my Ranger 29, a Navik windvane steered the boat, more or less nonstop to Hawaii in 16 days and change.
On the SC 27, the Navik pendulum oar self-destructed, or hit something and blew up, on about day five, so I used an ST1000 to get most of the rest of the way to Hawaii. it died about three days out, and the backup ST2000 got me the rest of the way there. 17 days. Actually, in 2008 it was so light the first couple of days that I used the ST1000 and it drove the SC27 just fine.

I think it would be foolhardy to go out there with one Raymarine autopilot. It might be foolhardy to go out there with TWO Raymarine autopilots and nothing else. But THREE self-steering devices, I'm less worried.

You know, look back at the archives...back in '98, what did people use to get to Hawaii?

https://www.latitude38.com/features/sss1998.htm

http://www.josephoster.com/sss/transpac98/entries.html ... some of these list the self steering setups they had.

Mike Dranganis, Ericson 30+ Steering: primary: Monitor windvane; secondary: Navico autopilot.
John Guzzwell used a Hydrovane... you'll remember this image: https://www.sfbaysss.net/archive-shtp-websites/transpac2002/images/sendangered_species.jpg

The General, Ken Roper on his Finn Flyer 31 -Steering: primary: Autohelm 4000 (he has three!); secondary: Navico 5500, 300C and 2500. Those Navico pilots are directly comparable to the Simrad and ST2000

Bruce Nesbit, Olsen 34... Steering: primary: Sailomat 601 windvane; secondary: Autohelm 2000, Tillerpilot 2500

In 2000, you can review the skippers and their equipment here: https://www.sfbaysss.net/archive-shtp-websites/transpac2000/biography/index.html

Let's review boats that on on the same size range as the Wildcat...
Terry McKelvey, Cal 2-27... Steering: split equally between Monitor windvane ("an antique one that's been to Hawaii three times now so it sure knows the way") and two Autohelm 2000 autopilots.

GW Grigg, SC 27 "Steering: self (50%), Navico TP300 (50%) and "strings and bungie cord" if all else fails. "...the Navico TP300 is now the Simrad TP35, a typical self-contaned tiller pilot

Ben Mewes on his Black Soo..Steering: primary: self; secondary: Three Navico 4000 autopilots.
and so on. The Navico 4000 is a much beefier animal than the st2000, for sure.

Mark Deppe, who won in 2002, had a monitor on his J-120

Here's a photograph of some guy we both know, going out the Gate on his boat in 2008, and I do believe that's a windvane on the back of his boat!

https://www.sfbaysss.org/archive-shtp-websites/transpac2008/race_entries/wildflower.jpg

AlanH

06-01-2020, 09:41 PM

You know what draws me to autopilots is the redundancy. I want my boat to get me to Hawaii when the entire electrical system goes tits-up. TOTAL failure of the electrical system...

....but the handheld, battery powered GPS's aren't linked to the electrical system.
the autopilots fail, but that windvane keeps working.
the running lights fail, but that blinking strobe halfway up the backstay is wired to a big 12v lantern battery in a plastic bag.
The two cabin lights that run on AA batteries don't fail.

The whole flippin electrrical system can up and DIE and I will still get there in decent time.

I've had a shorted out alternator drain my electrical system. I really liked that windvane.

Philpott

06-01-2020, 10:06 PM

I haven't ever seen that photo of Skip under the bridge. It is wonderful! Who took it?

and Alan? Regarding electronics and the windvane? DM and I aren't going across that ocean, but we are in agreement about everything you said there.

BobJ

06-01-2020, 10:24 PM

AlanH

06-02-2020, 08:47 AM

Maybe Skip will chip in here and let us know how much he used the windvane compared to the electric autopilot he also had aboard in 2008. He's double-handed in that photo so that was probably an earlier Pacific Cup.

I raced against Mark in 2006 and 2008 and I recall him saying the Monitor was pretty ineffective in the light, downwind conditions we had. He used a belowdecks electric pilot. I think he had the Monitor mostly for the cruising he did and as a means to use the M-Rud, which was his emergency steering of choice.
.

I think you're right about Marks primary self steering being the autopilot. I don't know what kind of pilot Mark used, but when I talked to him, he told me he had the windvane "in case". In some of those races in '96, '98 and so on, there were some bigger 37-40 foot cruising boats, and they seemed to consider their windvane to be their primary self-steering mechanism. Now, a Baltic 38 or a Pretorian 35 is a way different boat from the Wildcat. So is a J-120. And I'm sure not going to contend that a windvane is anywhere near as fast as a really good autopilot. But when the doo-doo fails, and I have an EV-100 controller driving a Pelagic ram with a SeaTalk N connection to a wind monitor I'll be poring through electronics installation manuals trying to figure out if the fault is in the NMEA2000 bus, or something.. If the windvane fails, I'll have a crescent wrench and a screwdriver, with some nuts and bolts or plywood in my lap. I MUCH, MUCH prefer the nuts, bolts and plywood!

Mind y'all, I wouldn't COMPLAIN about having a working Pelagic on board, but the one I spent $800 on, never even came close to working, I wouldn't complain about having an EV-100 below-decks pilot, Just that it's $1400 - $1600

https://www.westmarine.com/buy/raymarine--evolution-ev-100-tiller-sail-autopilot--14907745

https://www.defender.com/product.jsp?id=3727805

and I'm just not up for trying to figure out how to wire this and configure that and get out the voltmeter and the soldering iron to get the EV-100 head to drive the Pelagic ram, and besides.....I sold the Pelagic to Ants for $100 and now he has some spare parts.

If I have to read the manual for more than about 20 minutes...if I have to figure out how to get various pieces of electronics to talk to each other by changing half a dozen settings, if I have to do a whole lot more than just Plug It In....I don't really want it on the boat, 'cause when it stops working at O-Dark-Thirty in 30 knots of wind, I'm NOT going to be able to figure it out.

--------------

Yeah, that's a Pac Cup photo of Skip and Wildflower, for sure. Must have been a windy day, too, with that little dinky jib up front!

AlanH

06-02-2020, 08:57 AM

The other thing abut the pic of Skip and Wildflower is that I bet that's a storm trysail bagged and lashed down by the mast! The main has three reef points!

sleddog

06-02-2020, 02:47 PM

https://www.sfbaysss.org/archive-shtp-websites/transpac2008/race_entries/wildflower.jpg

That's WILDFLOWER at the start of the 2000 Pacific Cup..Crew is Viola Nungary, a Moore-24 skipper from Tahoe and still a best friend.

Just visible on the port side of the mast, in a white bag, is the working staysail hanked to a removable staysail stay that could be quickly taken forward, secured, and hoisted. Also visible just aft of the starboard chainplates is a removable running backstay held away from the mast with shockcord.

The upper shrouds (V1's) had 7' PVC rollers which eliminated chafe on the jib sheets and speeded tacking by helping both the overlapping jib and its sheets to smoothly pass around.

In WF's first ocean race, the '77 SH Farallones Race, we went to windward in 30-35 from the Gate out to the Farallones with the working staysail and a double reef only. Coming home with single reef, I set the #2 (117%) hanked on the headstay, and reached home with double head rig, winning on corrected time. MERLIN, with Bill Lee at the helm for 7 odd hours, was F2F in this, her first race also.

Visible in above photo is "that hanky" the #4, 75% jib, used upwind any time the TWS was > 18. I'd chainsawed off 3 inches of WF's lead keel, and we had a rather stumpy rig for offshore work.

Visible on the starboard side of the mast in the orange bag is a Pete Sutter trysail attached with slides to its own track that went to the spreaders. To set the trysail required lowering the main, switching the main halyard to the trysail, and hoist away. Less than a minute.

The bags on the front end of the black boom hold the 1&2 reef outhaul tails. The #3 reef had a tracer line from the clew of the #1 reef, and the #1 reef clew line was untied and used for the #3 reef

By my right knee is the AH-2000. On the transom, above the stern step, is the Sail-O-Mat windvane. In the first SHTP in 1978, the Sail-O-Mat oar broke off on Day 3 due to a faulty factory weld. We (the boat and me) carried on with a Tillermaster autopilot, which at one point was washed overboard, and dragged astern on its electrical cord until retrieved. The Tillermaster was awesomely slow, but better than nothing when the boat was balanced and rest was required.

That's one of WF's 2 solar panels. Just to its side is the flip down transom ladder. The ladder can be released by a person in the water with a tripline. This ladder and the Lifesling ending up saving a life when rescuing a skipper overboard and separated from his Moore-24 in a 2002 race off Santa Cruz.

The only varnish is the laminated Kauri tiller, a pleasure to grip with its big diameter.

Singlehanded, offshore, I would use the windvane 90%, almost exclusively when the TWS was >10 knots. In <10 knots I would use the tillerpilot or handsteer. Neither could steer this IOR "lead dog" hull shape under spinnaker in TWS >18, which was fine with me, as we'd already reached our max. speed, 7.5 knots average, with the 6,000+ pound displacement hull. The windvane drag was likely .1 knot, acceptable when singlehanding.

WF made 7 passages to Hawaii, winning the Pac Cup in 2002 and SHTP in 2008. We were denied entry into the Los Angeles to Honolulu Transpac. "Too slow," they told me, despite TPYC's first attempt at encouraging doublehanding.

The engine, installed in 1981, was seldom, if ever, run for charging. It could be hand cranked to start. I prefer the quiet sound of the sea hissing past the hull rather than the "whir/whar" of the AP and diesel exhaust while charging the battery. That said, the boat was set up to sail with whatever steering device would get the best speed for the conditions. Singlehanded was more restful than Double Handed, where we hand steered, watch and watch, under spinnaker. Exhausting

And no, the boat was not a Hawkfarm, but preceded that San Francisco Bay one design class. WF had a full length skeg, a solid laminate glass hull and many other custom features including a keel window and streamlined mast steps to the spreaders. When I was building the boat I was often quizzed "why are you building it so heavy?"

"I'm going into ice," was my reply. Which we did. But that's another story.

AlanH

06-02-2020, 05:31 PM

Thanks, for that, Skip!

Can you explain the relationship between Wildflower and the Hawkfarms? Are the hull and deck from the same mold, but you "did it your way" when you built Wildflower? I remember that your rig was significantly shorter than the Hawkfarm rig.

AntsUiga

06-05-2020, 09:07 AM

I was thinking of your progress getting ready for 2021 while stopping at the Kennedy Meadows general store in our local mountains. Here's a digital toast to your progress!

The Scottish style amber ale was brewed in AZ, so who knows if there are any cultural ties. The name leads to all kinds of inappropriate comments, so I will defer. Maybe Caber Lifter would have been a more cultural name.
5483

AlanH

06-05-2020, 12:15 PM

I saw that the Kennedy Meadows store was open! Kilt Lifter ale, oh yeah....I've knocked off many a bottle! You could do a lot worse!

AlanH

06-05-2020, 12:16 PM

Here's a small but vital post in the thread. Joan and I had The Talk. It's a "go". SHTP 2021 is ON.

AntsUiga

06-07-2020, 12:16 PM

Here's a small but vital post in the thread. Joan and I had The Talk. It's a "go". SHTP 2021 is ON.

A fine milestone to achieve.

I guess it is back to the Kennedy Meadows Store to mark the occasion with more Kilt Lifter!!

By the way, there are two Kennedy Meadows stores. The closer one is in Tulare County and generally marks the transition from 700 miles of desert hikes to the beginning of the high Sierra travels. The other is in the mid-Sierra's, but since I haven't been there, I am bad source for information.

Cheers to solid preparations!

Ants

Daydreamer

06-07-2020, 06:41 PM

By the way, there are two Kennedy Meadows stores. The closer one is in Tulare County and generally marks the transition from 700 miles of desert hikes to the beginning of the high Sierra travels. The other is in the mid-Sierra's, but since I haven't been there, I am bad source for information.

Cheers to solid preparations!

Ants

The Kennedy Meadows Resort & Packstation is located in the Stanislaus National Forest about 60 miles East of Sonora, Ca. and 10 miles West of the Highway 108 junction with the Pacific Crest Trail.

They offer a free shuttle from the PCT to the resort, but charge to get you back to the trail.
We enjoyed their hot showers and had a nice meal in the restaurant while waiting for our ride home after hiking from Hiway 4 via PCT.
Busy place Labor Day weekend!

Alan, congrats on the green light for the bug light!

AZ Sailor

06-09-2020, 02:39 PM

Alan, congrats on the green light for the bug light!

Congrats, indeed. No small thing. And great turn of a phrase, Greg. There should be T-shirts.

AlanH

06-09-2020, 09:05 PM

Having hiked out of Kennedy Meadows many times, en route to the northern Emigrant Wilderness, it's one of my favorite places in the Sierra!

I think Joan approved because I gave up on my earlier notion of doing the SHTP, leaving the boat in Honolulu, and then coming back in October to take 3 months to sail through Micronesia, to Guam. "Just " a SHTP seems so tame in comparison!

AlanH

06-09-2020, 09:11 PM

In todays news, the original, old 130% dacron genoa that I got with the boat, that never set very well, has headed up to Leading Edge sails. I cut it down to make a 23-foot hoist heavy air jib, but it needs work that I can't do. Joe will remove the little battens and re-cut the leech with some hollow. He'll finish the foot with some hollow as well, and drive rings into the corners. Also, a row of grommets will go up the leading edge, in the outside chance that the rolling furling self-destructs and I have to put the sail on with 75-pound zip ties.

AlanH

06-11-2020, 01:30 PM

Lasst night, I set the credit card on fire. OK, it's a little fire, compared to some of you, but I can still smell the smoke of burning plastic.

I've learned that both Defender.com and Fisheries Supply are usually 10-30% less expensive than West Marine. Example; a three-loop teak handrail for the cabintop on the Wildcat.

Fisheries Supply -- $30.66 each

https://www.fisheriessupply.com/whitecap-industries-teak-handrails

Defender: Sea Teak 3-loop handrail by Sea Teak (different manufacturer than the above product) $23.99

https://www.defender.com/product.jsp?id=1759290#

West Marine: 3-loop teak handrail $44.99

https://www.westmarine.com/buy/whitecap--teak-handrails--P012482600

Over and over again, West Marine just costs a lot more. Now, they have brick and mortar stores, but the cold-hard truth is that unless what I want is, say...electrical wire, a lifejacket, s.s. nuts and bolts, clothes, or electronics, odds are at least 50/50 that the San Carlos store won't have it in stock. They have to transfer it from another store or from Watsonville, and that takes 2-3 days. I used to dislike West Marine for driving so many local Chandleries out of business, but AT LEAST they were less expensive. Now, they're not even that.

I will credit the San Carlos store for having a reasonably decent selection of Harken and Ronstan sailing jewelry. However, the rope/line selection is pathetic.

So I'll be doing most of my big purchases of STHP gear, either used from SSS members, or from Defender.com or Fisheries supply.

AlanH

06-12-2020, 06:56 PM

Though I have to ask...or wonder....if what's left of Svendsens sells retail online? I would like to support them, but driving to Richmond every time I need something just isn't going to happen.

EDIT: Hullo? There's a walk-in store in Alameda, now?

https://www.svendsens.com/

Intermission

06-12-2020, 07:14 PM

Since West Marine, aka "the Borg", has returned to price matching, it seems best to check shipping costs, versus CA sales tax first. Depending on weight and price, the Borg can be cheaper, using the price matching.
Shipping time from Watsonville to your favorite outlet can take less time as well.

Sven's in Alameda has been open all through SIP, since they carry so much hardware in the new "costco style" location.

AlanH

06-12-2020, 07:57 PM

----Sven's in Alameda has been open all through SIP, since they carry so much hardware in the new "costco style" location.----

How did I not know about this???? GAAAAAA!!!!!!

Intermission

06-12-2020, 08:10 PM

Take food and water, you're going to be there a while the first few times...

AlanH

06-13-2020, 07:58 PM

I went for a sail, today, figuring it was forecast to be light-ish wind (11-13) in the South Bay. I could get in some spinnaker practice. Well, it was NOT 11-13.

And this happened...

5499

fortunately I had my backup tiller and a couple of crescent wrenches, so I got the bolt out between the cheeks, and duct-taped the e-rudder in there.

5500

i got back just fine, obviously. I just tucked in a reef, rolled up the jib and hobbled home. However, I think my next tiller will be hardwood and have aluminum cheek plates! Also, while I know in my head...wow, busted tiller, not good....having it actually happen has made me think that you know, before Hawaii, maybe I'll have two emergency tillers.

AlanH

06-15-2020, 09:35 AM

DaveH

06-15-2020, 10:18 AM

Glad you're ok.

Black Jack

06-15-2020, 07:29 PM

Had a little setback last night... was rear ended driving over vasco road coming back from working on the Piper. Busted out the back window of the truck with the back of my head but just had a little cut. I’m fine but the truck is totaled. The woman who hit me didn’t stop, but she didn’t make it far. Looks like it’s truck/car shopping time.

Give yourself time. if your truck was hit that hard - you are most likely going to suffer soft tissue damage. treat yourself kindly for the next weeks, months.

Intermission

06-15-2020, 08:56 PM

Give yourself time. if your truck was hit that hard - you are most likely going to suffer soft tissue damage. treat yourself kindly for the next weeks, months.

A pound of Epsom salts in a warm bath is our friend.

BobJ

06-15-2020, 09:00 PM

And go get checked out.

No, seriously. Especially before you sign the claim release.

AlanH

06-16-2020, 12:04 PM

You guys...sheesh. Nothing hurts at all. No aches....no Tylenol, No Advil, no issues. I'm as coherent as I ever have been (whether I'm coherent or not is debatable, I know!)...no vision issues, no coordination issues, no balance, cognition, sensation issues at all. It's been two mornings now, and nothing aches. I slept just fine, the last two nights.

I've taken harder hits, just year before last, doing Scottish Backhold Wrestling. I've taken hits this hard, standing up under a table, or inside the Piper, working up under the foredeck. It was a good crash but no worse than a hundred other I've experienced.

And in other news...

Thanks to the SSS forum, I now have a Garmin Explorer. I need to learn how to use this thing!

Wylieguy

06-16-2020, 12:14 PM

1) Okay, another voice. Do get checked out. If your head broke the window your skull took a sudden stop while your brain kept moving. Do it.
2) Tiller: Laminated is stronger than solid. I think you have the knowledge and tools to do that. Good to have 2 wrenches in the kit.
3) Which Garmin did you buy?
Pat B.

AlanH

06-18-2020, 08:40 PM

Yesterday I was pretty sore, so I scheduled a "video visit"..since they're not doing walk-in visits, with my PCP. I also had an eye exam. New glasses.

And..

I glued most of the bits of the old tiller back together again tonight, I'll slip a mess of oak splines into it and I bet it'll be as strong as new... AND, epoxied a couple of layers of red oak into a new tiller "blank"...which is kicking off outside in the work area, even as I type. So now I'll have two backup tillers.

AlanH

06-28-2020, 02:22 PM

I couldn't put Joan off forever...

"Honey, who knows if or when the Singlehanded Farallones and the Round the Rocks races will be rescheduled!! We can't plan ANY-thing this summer!"

We scheduled a camping trip, WEEKS ago. So instead of racing around the rockpile, I did this....four days hiking out of various trailheads along Highway 108; Carson-Iceberg Wilderness, the Lyell Meadows trailhead and Kennedy Meadows.

5560

5561

5562

brianb

06-28-2020, 04:16 PM

5564

Were you to the South of Sonora Pk ( a summit photo from Friday a week ago for reference)

AlanH

06-28-2020, 04:37 PM

5564

Were you to the South of Sonora Pk ( a summit photo from Friday a week ago for reference)

Nice!

Yes, we thought about going up to Sonora Pass and following the PCT south a bit for one afternoons hike, but we had two really good thunderstorms in the afternoons and evenings. These weren't your regular afternoon 3-hour local things, either. The Thursday storm dropped marble-sized hail at 7,000 feet and didn't let up until about 2:00 AM. Not much dinner got cooked that night!. We hiked up the Clark Fork of the Stanislaus one day, then drove over Sonora Pass to Lyell Meadows the second day. The third day (Thursday) was another hike out of the Clark Fork area...which is when it hailed like nobody's business. We decided that even though it was beautiful on Friday, we'd opt for hiking out of Kennedy Meadows, instead.

brianb

06-28-2020, 05:08 PM

I will have to get your advice on trails. I have only climbed back along the ridge to the north and the south line of the summit. Hitting the peaks along there. I have a moderate goal to go from Sonora pass to Carson Pass, not on the JMT.

AlanH

07-04-2020, 08:53 PM

After a couple of weeks of not really making progress, i got into West Marine and dropped a bundle on s.s. hardware. Today, a bunch of it got used.

I now have port and starboard teak cabintop handholds, all done though the plugs will get three coats of polyurethane, tomorrow. I bought the "three loop", 36-inch long handholds, but honestly the 4-loop would have looked better. These do the job, though. I'm gonna appreciate these at oh-dark-thirty when I have to go forward and do stuff at the base of the mast, or slither forward to pull up fenders, after leaving the marina.

On the way up to The City a few weeks ago for the "Sneak Farallones Cruise", my stern light just quit. OK, well...so I bought another one off of ebay "Perko Style" though it's got LEDs on the inside. It matches the forward lights, so that's kind of nice. The light was just $15, maybe this winter I'll replace the OEM incandescent ones on the bow with matching green/red light. I decided to test the old light while I was sitting in the cabin, with a couple of wires straight from the battery, JUST in case. It lit right up. So that started a little project to trace the wires from the stern light, up on deck, back to the panel. I was just about to tie a string to the wires and pull them forward, to replace them when I thought....."I wonder"... so I went back to the transom, clipped off the old terminal fittings ans stripped back another 3/8ths inch of wire. Sure enough....black wire in there. It's not corroded, it's just coated with "schtuff" from the slowly decomposing insulation. I cleaned up the stripped off end, and sure enough; light! So I pressed on new fittings, came up with a clever way to get everything to go together and mounted the new light on the old wood block that held the old/new/still-works-darn-it light, which I'm now saving for the Piper.

I ran the battery charger from about 1:00 to 7:00 nonstop and the charger kept saying it was dumping 10 amps into the battery. That ain't right. I think the battery has finally given up the ghost. It was on the boat when I bought it, had served the boat for the previous owners cruise through Mexico, and then sat for four years in the yard in Moss Landing, until I bought it, four years ago. That battery is probably almost 10 years old and went without a charge for four years, so it's no surprise.

I have come to the conclusion that I really can't go any further with the windvane until I get the stern pushpit on. Besides, I need the pushpit to mount the solar panels on. I may not have a working windvane by the September qualifying run, so I'll need a second autopilot, solar and two solid deep cycle batteries. Anyway I got two of the stanchion bases on, today, leaving two more for tomorrow, and one run to West Marine or the hardware store to replace/swap the 1/4 inch bolt that I accidentally got, instead of the #12, like the other 15 I picked out of the bin.

In the process of messing with the wiring, I turned on the radio and for the first time really LOOKED at the display. This radio has DSC and GPS, which I knew but I'd never really paid attention to the display. Well, dang. It's giving me my latitude, longitude course and speed (zero in the slip). So, heck.... There's another GPS on the boat. I have..1.) the radio 2.) the Tracphone 3.) the Garmin Inreach 4.) my ancient old Magellan from 2008 which takes forever to get a fix, but will, sooner or later pull one down.

I finally measured the angle of the backstay vs. the waterline, it's 70 degrees so now I can get to work making the little mount and platform that will go on the backstay, that will hold the strobe. Should it be gimballed? Hmm..

AlanH

07-05-2020, 09:56 AM

WHAT DO I NEED TO DO BEFORE SEPTEMBER?

1. Replace the stern light...hopefully $15..ordered 6/10 - $20.70 free shipping ebay. Installed 7/4

2. Buy second 12v wet cell battery…. $160. Interstate. SRM-31 .. 98 amp hours. Hook it up...turns out I need two new batteries

3. Install both batteries, in boxes, on plywood platform, which is bolted down to the old engine stringers. Trim the top of the stringers.

4. Half-Inch bolt through daggerboard case.

4. U-bolt/strap installed below companionway.. ordered 6/10 Defender, got it

6. s.s. eyes installed on each hatch board for lanyard. Make backup plywood hatch boards.

7. Inside handle on hatch

8. replace hose on manual bilge pump. Install electric bilge pump. Test

9. shorten jacklines, use those beefy shackles. Have Leading Edge Sew them

10. re-make long tether with leftover jackline webbing. optional

11. handhold bars on each side of cabintop – ordered 6/10 Defender..installed 7/4/20

12. two used GPS receivers. Maybe one? Radio has GPS, tracphone has GPS

13. Print coastal paper charts Pt Sur to Pt Arena

14. buy/make radar reflector... Ordered, with mounting bracket, 6/10..at the house

15. heavy weather jib from Leading Edge 6/10/2020..in progress, Joe has the old sail

16. rebuild cabintop winch or replace

17. either get a complete backup autopilot system OR finish the windvane and test it.

18. swap cheeks on rudder...replace the current ones with stainless steel, move the current ones to the e-rudder.

19. Garmin InReach, test it ..bought it, 6/20/20m will start subscription second week in July

20. stern pushpit, in progress, 7/4/20

21. at least one solar panel and charge controller installed.

And rent the liferaft, of course.

AlanH

07-05-2020, 11:28 AM

I just bought this...$10.89

https://www.ebay.com/itm/201728579933

It's four waterproof LED strips, five LED's per strip in red and green in waterproof casings. Combined, it's ten red and ten green LED's which is a lot of light. I figure I can find two scrap pieces of plywood in the garage, screw these strips to the plywood, add on about ten feet of hardware store wire to each, drill the plywood for a couple of cable ties and have backup p/s navigation lights. It's a project I can do in the garage on an evening when I can't get to the boat and do something else and will hardly cost anything..

I have a fundamental mistrust of boat electrical systems, and I like to set the boat up so that I can get to Hawaii, with a smile on my face, even if the entire electrical system totally dies on the way over. A couple of 12-volt lantern batteries will power these, and a spare LED stern light, and the strobe, for days on end. I have AA-battery powered cabin lights, and have one GPS that runs on AA batteries. The Garmin InReach can be fired up twice a day to send in positions and confirm the lat/long and turned off the rest of the time, and the charge should last a very long time.

In light of that, I've been thinking for a while about going to Alan Steel and picking up 3 sections of 3-inch aluminum tube, about 6 1/2 feet long. If, God Forbid, the mast comes down (I remember Sparky!) I can assemble and put up a 19.5-foot mast with that, and the three tubes can be duct taped together and left up in the forepeak where they're out of the way. If I put the mast up where the current mast is, and it's on the cabintop, that will result in a 22 foot long headstay, to which I can cable-tie or lash the heavy-weather jib. I'd rig a triangular stay-setup with a headstay and two back-leading stays to the toerail. Stays would be cheap Home Depot galvanized wire rope. This is a Winter project, if I even do it at all.

AlanH

07-06-2020, 12:32 AM

It was a busy weekend, I made good progress on getting a stern pushpit set up...checked off a couple things on my list, but I won't bore everyone with that. I'll just show you a picture of my pretty new, varnished handrails.

5601

AlanH

07-08-2020, 11:59 AM

cha-chinggggg....

$200 worth of stainless steel for rudders, tiller and the stern pushpit, plus one 8-inch bit of aluminum tubing to repair dads old trekking pole that I busted on a day hike two weeks ago are sitting on my front porch!

I have....new 1/4 inch thick s.s. plates for the tiller cheeks for both the main rudder and the backup rudder. I had aluminum ones (still have them) and they worked for a couple of years but they are distorted. The bolt pattern of the aluminum ones, which were on the rudder, is replicate on both sets of the new ones, so everything is interchangeable.

I have new 1/8th inch tiller reinforcement plates, 6.5 inches long, which I will bolt to the sides of each tiller; the primary and the first backup tiller. I figure that I can take off the second backup tiller cheeks, if the tiller self-destructs, and put them on the second backup tiller, if I have to. There's only so much stainless steel...aka "weight" I need to carry on the boat.

I have four, .065 stainless tubing for the stanchions for the pushpit. Once those are all assembled, I will cut a 1" length of PVC pipe into 5 foot lengths and fill them with sand. I duct tape off the ends.Then I fill the pipe with sand....heat with a heat gun, and gently bend around a 6-inch radius form to create the model to take to Chris at Svendsens.

How to bend PVC.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYTFDkX7s24

AlanH

07-13-2020, 09:02 AM

We are now the owners of a 2013 Subaru Outback. I wanted a truck but Joan seriously did not like the single post-design-makeover-of-2015 GMC Canyon/Chevy Colorado I could find for <$20,000. I had to admit, it was bluidy expensive for what you got, the "glance-over-your-shoulder-when-changing-lanes" visibility was awful, and it had more miles, for the year/model than I was happy with. So an Outback wagon, it is, at $6k less than the truck. I'll be getting a trailer hitch put on it, and will build up one of the little $300 Harbor Freight 4 x 4 trailers to haul tools, paint and the generator. It'll pull the Piper around the yard, when the day comes, which is good enough. This little 4-WD Outback actually has a towing limit of 2700 pounds. That's a lot more than my old '99 Chevy S-10 4-cylinder.

Progress is happening on the stern pushpit. Last week I bought the s.s. for the stanchions...the upright supports you see in this picture. The heavy stainless "joints", I've had for several years. Today I took some PVC pipe down there, filled with sand. I heated it and bent it, with middling success around a form, to make a model of the upright railing that I'll have Chris at Svendsens bend for me.

5621

I thought about whether to take off the "handhold rings" that are currently on the boat, but decided that they're pretty darned strong and I can just attach the pulpit to the rings. Welding would be nice but I'll probably wind up with some 1" s.s. hardware.

AlanH

07-13-2020, 10:44 AM

Merry Christmas in July from a buddy on the Wooden Boat forum. OK, knotmeter requirement, checked off!

5624

AlanH

07-15-2020, 10:02 PM

One 150 Ah deep cycle AGM battery, or two 75 AH deep cycle batteries? If I buy two, I'll have to replace the main switch. If I go with one, the charging questions are easier...the charge controller is cheaper. But if I get two, one can fail and I still have a significant amount of battery capacity. One battery is easier to put together right now, and I'm starting to feel the crunch of time. Two months to go, to the qualifier.

AlanH

07-16-2020, 12:09 PM

The PVC models got taken to Svendsens metal shop yesterday, and an orange dry bag with shoulder straps, which I will line with flat foam for both flotation and protection of the contents, has been ordered for a ditch bag. I'm slowly working away on the list. I suspect that I will not have a windvane in September, but we'll see.

AlanH

07-17-2020, 10:21 AM

Greg Nelson convinced me to look at the flexible Sunpower 50W panels, and I'm convinced. Two have been ordered. Reading through some threads here on the forum, I'm also convinced that an MPPT charge regulator is the way to go, so now to find a simple MPPT, dual-battery regulator.

I'm gonna have questions for all you experts here, when it comes time to set them up.

AlanH

07-17-2020, 09:17 PM

Tonights "after work but before dinner" project.

5626

Now I have to do the same thing for the plates I got for the "primary backup tiller" which is the epoxied-together bits of my former primary tiller.

solosailor

07-18-2020, 08:50 AM

Haven't seen a dual battery MPPT solar controller from the usual brands. Usually people get two controllers or since they will be in roughly the same location you could get away with one but lose a bit of efficiency. I still favor the Victron Energy models.

Those panels need to go on a twin-wall polycarbonate panel to aid in cooling and preferably something stiffer behind that.

AlanH

07-18-2020, 09:24 AM

AlanH

07-18-2020, 10:17 PM

The tillers are taking forever....meanwhile, nothing else gets done.

There's no way I will have the windvane working by Sept.

Ordered the MPPT charge controller, and a 100 AH deep cycle AGM battery. That should work for September.

AlanH

07-19-2020, 03:22 PM

Item #6 on the list...check!

5633

I gave them a quick sand and a coat of satin exterior polyurethane, too. The "backup" hatchboard is on the sawhorses, drying from two coats of exterior latex. The one I just cut out replaces the bottom two, originals. There's a really thick, clear acrylic board which is a duplicate of board #3, so with that, plus the new one I made today, I can mostly close off the companionway, even if I lose the other boards, overboard. Maybe I should put a Wildcat decal on it!

AlanH

07-19-2020, 11:26 PM

Tiller stuff....new primary tiller. Here are the side plates, still need to get them punched for the hinge bolt.

5636

Here's the pad for the attachment of the autopilot pin. I'll drill into the center of the metal plates/red oak "sandwich" (which is epoxied together - I scratched up the metal first) and drop the ST 2000 pin in there, with some JB Weld.

5637

AlanH

07-22-2020, 10:49 AM

The ditch bag/dry bag in shocking orange, with shoulder straps is here. It stinks of vinyl, so it's airing out in the garage. whoooieee, it came with a shocking orange phone protection dry bag. I can wear this like a backpack if I ever want an extremely visible day pack to wear in the rain.

Hatchboard retainer strap made, this morning. It's funny how some items take dozens, 20-40+ hours to finish and some take twenty minutes!

Item #7 done!

I sold my life to Google, and bought an inexpensive 9" Android mini-tablet on ebay the other day fr $65.. Of course, I had one a couple of years ago and I revolted at running Google's OS, but the damn things are so handy as navigation tools, with the built-in GPS that I relented. I'll load Open CPN on it. It will be a ton easier to read than my now-unused Android based Tracphone. I'll take the tracphone, too but this will be much easier to read. I have a waterproof USB keyboard at work, I think....if I didn't finally pitch it. I wonder if that will plug into the tablet. Hmm.

EDIT: and the solar panels just arrived. They're bigger than I thought they'd be, but not too bad. The charge controller arrived earlier today.

I think that's ~it~ for updating this for a while. Maybe I'll put another post in after I get the whole pushpit/solar/battery thing completed.

AlanH

07-23-2020, 08:35 PM

Garmin's website has been having big issues communicating with their customer database since last week, and now their website is down.

There has been progress but instead of putting every little thing in here, I'll wait until the big energy project is done and take some pictures. The Wildcat of Loch Awe has an extremely substantial tiller installed, now. The panels to support the solar panels are ~almost~ done, including some holes to allow airflow behind the panel. The new battery arrived yesterday, and the last set of brackets for the pushpit also showed up. I thought the pushpit project would be about $200. I put $250 in the budget. It's more like a $500 project.

I need to find my volt-ammeter. It's in the garage, somewhere...

AlanH

08-10-2020, 02:47 PM

Back from a week of backpacking with Joan in the Desolation Wilderness. We hiked out of Wrights Lake and over Rockbound Pass (elevation 8650) and down into Rockbound Valley. It was six days of peace and exorbitant sweat. The mosquitos weren't bad, even.

Back to prep!

The solar panel cables are here. They are THICK. In the past I've used 16 gauge (?? +/-) for the solar panel connections but this stuff is 8 gauge and pretty stiff. How to get four strands of this stuff through the deck?

WARNING do not buy a table from the budget/cheapo ebay retailer XGODY. I ordered a 32 gigbyte Android tablet with GPS. They sent a 16 gigabyte tablet that didn't have a GPS in it. So far, their tech support appears to be utterly unaware of what GPS is, as they've e-mailed me back twice, trying to convince me that GPS won't work without a network connection. We'll see how this return and refund process goes.

AlanH

08-12-2020, 10:31 AM

Spent 2 hours this morning synch'ing the InReach and starting to figure it out. Downloaded the North American topo maps, in case I ever take it backpacking.

Intermission

08-12-2020, 11:47 AM

Spent 2 hours this morning synch'ing the InReach and starting to figure it out. Downloaded the North American topo maps, in case I ever take it backpacking.

I just acquired an older model from a neighbor. I've got it sort of set up, and bought a month, but it is still a steep learning curve.
After you figure it out, can I hire you as a tutor?

AlanH

08-13-2020, 10:13 AM

There's kind of a lot to figure out. I just changed the pre-set messages and the quick-messages...sent a test message to the unit, downloaded the north american topo map database, and confirmed that the GPS works. Another 2-3 hours and I might have this thing figured out.

I'm starting to run low on motivation and energy, I'm afraid. I need to ramp it up again. Today I return the stupid XGODY Android tablet, which the truly incompetent company members can not figure out, isn't the tablet i bought, as it's 16 gb and no GPS, while they advertised a 32 gb with GPS. Isn't that an efficient use of time? I doubt I'll get my money back.

Maybe if I get really motivated I can bolt the solar panels to the panel supports. wooo.

jamesmcn

08-13-2020, 11:01 AM

AlanH

08-13-2020, 01:11 PM

Were you able to find a cheap android tablet that has an actual GPS and doesn't just rely network approximated location services?

I have a few USB GPS units that are reporting location reliably to my Linux box. If I can't find a good cheap tablet with GPS, I may build a charplotter server out of a Raspberry Pi and just use the tablet for display. Not a great solution because Pis are power hungry and produce a lot of heat. I suspect they won't last long in a SF Bay racer.

I've had one before...just that I abhor Google in every way and believe it or not, I didn't grok that Android = Google at the time. It was a Samsung, I believe and it had a GPS in it and I sold it to Max Crittenden for about 40% off of what I paid for it. I will probably try to find another one, but WHATEVER you do...

do NOT buy one from ebay suppliers for XGODY. These people are idiots.

My tentative plan is to use the tablet running Android for the SHTP, and then when I get back, wipe it and try to install some form of linux. Firefox also, at one time, developed a tablet OS, and successors to that effort are still out there.

Philpott

08-14-2020, 07:52 AM

Alan, you can borrow my RCA tablet for a backup. Just in case.

AlanH

08-15-2020, 08:52 PM

Awww, thanks Jackie!

=================

It was hot today but many, many weeks of work all came together today. The pushpit railing is done...the railings drilled/dimpled for the set screws in the fittings, and everything attached with a liberal supply of 3M 5200. The solar panels and their support panels, which allow for air circulation behind the panel, have been finished for a while. This morning I attached the solar panels to their supports, threw them in the back of the OutBack, and ta-daaa.

5713

I might actually be ready by the second week of September. Tomorrow, wiring up the panels to the charge controller, and thence to the battery.

5714

AlanH

08-16-2020, 09:10 PM

Everything is wired up...the two panels wires go to a bus bar, and smaller wire goes to the MPPT controller. The controller is wired to the battery and spent 2-3 hours today trying to float my toasted battery. That one comes out and the new one goes in, this week.

I also figured out what the heck was going on with the bilge pump hoses. It's kookaburra! ...but sortable.

AlanH

08-18-2020, 09:48 PM

I mounted the radar relfector on it's pole today, and make the little epoxied-on shelf for the strobe light.

The air quality is NASTY...really bad from the lightning-firest in the Santa Cruz mountains.

AlanH

08-19-2020, 08:55 PM

I picked up the heavy weather jib from Leading Edge sails, today. It's a heavily cut down working jib that came with the boat. Hoist is about 22 feet, on a 31 foot headstay. The clew is really high, about 6 feet, so seeing under it is easy. LP is probably 6 feet +/- on a J of 7.5 feet. This is probably about 50%, maybe 60% of the foretriangle. I sewed on the corner patches but my machine can't handle the edges, so I took it to Joe. The foot and leech are hollowed a couple of inches, so there should be no flutter. The sail originally had battens....those are gone, though parts of the pockets remain, there's no reason to rip them out. The sail has a #6 luff tape and 7 grommets behind the tape ~just in case~ I have to wire-tie it to the forestay.

I'm reserving one full weekend to SAIL and try everything out before I go. I think I will buy some inexpensive 3/16th galvanized wire rope and put eyes in it, so that it's ~Exactly~ the same length as the luff. Then I can hoist the whole thing on a halyard, with the tack on a loop between the two bow cleats and I can try the "backed storm jib inside the working jib" system for sheet-to-tiller self steering. It would be nice if it worked, as I don't have a self steering backup for the ST2000 yet.

AND...I printed 7 charts, covering the coast from Pt Arena to Pt Concepcion. Ouch. Paper charts are expensive. Seven charts = $300. The guy printed a couple of them oversize, which cost more but then I got through it quicker...I was at FedEx for almost two hours between waiting in line and paper jams. The paper quality is *meh* but hopefully only one of those charts (SF Bay Entrance) will ever come out of the roll-tube. This saved me a trip to WayPoint, though I like those folks. Readability is good.

AlanH

08-21-2020, 11:13 AM

I like to run a flashing strobe light at night when I'm more than about 20 miles offshore. Technically, a strobe is a distress signal, but I keep the radio on at night, so if a ship sees the strobe and calls out, I can tell them ..."everything is fine, please don't hit me!" I well remember my first LongPac, wow..1996 or so, when it was getting towards midnight. I was about 20 miles from the turnaround point and hadn't seen another boat all day. Lo and behold, I spotted about three strobes going off, two north of me and one, south. They had to be a couple of miles away from me, but WOW...visible. I was an instant convert.

Anyway, the higher up the rig the strobe is, the further away it's visible, of course. However, I also like to have the strobe completely independent of the boats electrical system. That way, if the electrical system fails and I have no running lights, I still have the strobe, alerting other vessels to my presence. It's a LOT of wire, to set it up that way, with the strobe at the top of the mast, so I've usually set up some gizmo where it's mounted about 8-10 feet up the backstay. This time I decided to mount it on the radar reflector pole. It's not ideal, as any ship directly forward of me might not see the strobe, as the sails will be in the way, but I'll live with the compromise.

5733

I cut out the plywood pieces for the strobes' "shelf" from 1/4 inch plywood and set them all up with clamps and epoxy on the pole itself. So I sort of "built it in place" and eyeballed the angles. Ooops....not quite level. Ah well, the boat will almost never be level anyway, it doesn't really matter. The wires will go to a 6-volt lantern battery in a plastic bag, lashed to the pushpit. I can run that strobe for DAYS on one 6V lantern battery. It's crude, but unless the pushpit gets torn off, it's pretty idiot-proof. The fiberglass pole is a section of high-jump or pole vault pole, which we use in the highland games as a crossbar for the weight-over-bar event. I have a mess of 4-8 foot bits of this stuff around. It's the same stuff I made the windvane pole out of.

DaveH

08-21-2020, 11:33 AM

Any concern that the strobe may effectively blind you from that position?
DH

AlanH

08-21-2020, 01:16 PM

Any concern that the strobe may effectively blind you from that position?
DH

Yeah, I've thought about that. The post is about 6 feet tall, the strobe is at about 5 feet up. The bottom of the post will be about 8-9 inches off the deck, so the strobe will be something l;ike about 7 feet above cockpit floor level. I'm going to fit it to the boat this weekend and eyeball it. If I think it's going to be a problem, I'll glass on another 2-3 feet of the fiberglass tubing and get it up a bit higher. I have a mess of the stuff.

AlanH

08-21-2020, 08:30 PM

What the heck, it's easy to do. I just added 2 feet to the height of the pole by glassing on another length to the bottom. That will get the strobe well above my sight line, and 2 more feet height on the radar reflector can't hurt.. I've got a piece of bamboo inside the tube to hold it in line, and then wrapped the two poles, butted up next to each other, with a couple random 3 x 3 scraps of glass right over the join, and 3 wraps of 10-inch wide, 6 oz. glass cloth. It's all wrapped with waxpaper, and then I've got blue painters tape wrapping the whole thing very tightly, to make a really strong bond. The lower piece is a different color from the top, but hey...whatever.

AlanH

08-22-2020, 11:53 PM

The radar reflector / strobe pole is on.

5738

It's funny, the previous post in here was about me making it longer. I set it up quick 'n dirty on the boat and it was way too "floppy", because it was so long. So I just sawed off the piece I fiberglassed on last night! Oh well.:rolleyes:

It would be nice if the wood bits had paint on them, but this just has to get me through the September run. I will probably re-do some of what you're seeing here for Hawaii, if I can get the windvane to work. If that happens, then the radar reflector will go somewhere else.

I am on track...which is a miracle. What you can't see in that photograph is that the electric bilge pump, which had been totally disconnected for what??? The four years I've owned the boat, is now connected to an outlet. THAT was a project, I had to saw off part of the fitting on the back of the boat so I could get a 90-degree PVC fitting on it. Whoever put that fitting on obviously put it on from the outside without think about the inside of the boat. There was NO room...none between the end of the barb and the fiberglass that forms the structure of the cockpit seat side. Thus, half an hour with the saw attachment on the multi-tool. The 90 degree PVC fitting is glued on with 3M 5200 sealant/glue, so once it sets up, it's NOT coming off. That leads to some 3/4 inch PVC that I heated up and bent, and now the electric bilge pump home actually will discharge overboard.

I found out last weekend that the manual bilge pump exit hose was fine, but the intake hose just went to the old engine compartment bulkhead, and was CUT OFF right there!! It didn't go anywhere! So today I drilled out the goop, plywood mix that was left over from sealing that hole, and ran 10 more feet of bilge pump hose down from the bottom of the old engine compartment (where the batteries are, now) back up to the bilge pump. VOILA! ....One days work and I have two functioning bilge pumps, now!

AND...

The charge controller is telling me that the solar panels are "floating" the old battery. Hot Damn! It's NOT dead! So once I drop the second battery in there, I have, like 200 Amp Hours of battery life. ..or something like that anyway.

The replacement Samsung tablet arrived today.
I'm successfully messaging friends and family with the InReach. I took it out for a walk today and it tracked me every 10 min for an hour, and updated the shared map.

Tomorrow I rebuild the starboard cabintop winch and install a second autopilot plug.

Next weekend? SAIL...and clean the boat, it's flippin' mess right now. ...and SAIL. ~Finally~

AlanH

08-23-2020, 01:02 PM

With the new pushpit in, the lifelines are now about 5" too short. I thought about getting some swaged wire "extenders' but I can't find my swaging tool. So I made these from stuff I ordered from sailrite.

5739

solosailor

08-23-2020, 03:38 PM

The charge controller is telling me that the solar panels are "floating" the old battery. Hot Damn! It's NOT dead! So once I drop the second battery in there, I have, like 200 Amp Hours of battery lifeThat doesn't mean the battery is good. You should put a similar load on it like you will when you race.... so at least 5A and let it run it's course. You don't want greatly diminished capacity because a battery "might" seem OK.

AlanH

08-25-2020, 10:55 AM

Hmmm.... might have to go get a battery load tester from HD.

The little 8-inch refurbed Samsung Android tablet arrived. It DOES have an internal GPS in it, and now has GPS Test and Open CPN along with a mess of California charts, installed on it. It's tremedously more readable than my phone.

Intermission

08-25-2020, 01:03 PM

[QUOTE=AlanH;27282]Hmmm.... might have to go get a battery load tester from HD.[QUOTE]

Some parts stores loan them.

AlanH

08-27-2020, 11:53 AM

[QUOTE=AlanH;27282]Hmmm.... might have to go get a battery load tester from HD.[QUOTE]

Some parts stores loan them.

Will be taking the old battery into my car shop this afternoon for some testing!

All the tillers are done. I've beefed them up, considerably and last night I got the steel plates on the last one. I added some bits to the e-rudder cassette so that it fits to a T, now. Once the battery situation is sorted and I CLEAN THE BOAT...it's a mess. I'm ready.

I'm actually addressing the other UnThinKabLE issues....dismasting. I know people will think this is crazy but I'm going to get three, 6-foot lengths of 3-inch, 0.065 aluminum tubing and get them ready to sleeve. I'm putting four hefty eye straps at the top, which will be filled with a plug of douglas fir. The headstay/mainhalyard straps will be through-bolted to each other with s.s. threaded rod. The two eye straps for the shrouds will be fastened into the wood with long screws. There will be a doug fir base, drilled to take a bolt that goes through the mast base that will extend the total height to about 18' 9".

As set up like this, I should have a forestay about 22 feet long. I so-happen to have a trasher jib around, that I bought for $40 for the Piper that so happens to have a reefpoint in it. When reefed, the luff length is 21' 7". The foot is 10 feet. It needs some sewing but it's light-ish dacron, so I can do it on my home sewing machine. I've already cut off the un-needed bottom four feet. Eight of these...
5759

and I can attach it to the wire headstay. That's easy. IF I have time, I'll make a "mainsail" out of a white polyester tarp. I've made them before. The "boom" is a spinnaker pole (I have two) They die in the sun after a couple of months, but if I cut out the shape, add reinforced corners and drive in some grommets, it'll do to get the Wildcat home. IF I have time.

AlanH

08-27-2020, 07:45 PM

I knocked out an "emergency orange" ripstop sailbag for the fixed-up heavy weather jib, this afternoon. The battery is at my car guys place. We'll see what he says in the morning. Since I had the sewing machine out, I fixed the leech on the cheapo sail I got for the Piper off of Craigslist. My home machine will actually sew through 3-4 layers of this cloth. I'm amazed.

AntsUiga

08-27-2020, 09:08 PM

AlanH

08-28-2020, 10:08 AM

All these preparations are pretty amazing and cover most contingencies. The puzzle to me is that I don't know Alan or his prior experience. Is there a history of ocean going problems that reinforce the desire to have all these backups in place?

Some preparation is required by the rules. The rules generally cover the minimum needs.

Charge onward. I am enjoying the posts.

Cheers,

Ants

Ants, I've always been a little more conservative than most SSS sailors. I also am a little slower to learn my lessons, than most SSS sailors. That's probably why I only do middlin' well at the racing. You see, I did the SHTP in 2008, and that was the year that Ruben Gabriel took "Sparky", his Pearson Electra across. Sparky dismasted about 800 miles from Hawaii. Ruben recovered some of the rig, and managed to get something up to set up some seriously-butchered headsails to get him to Hawaii.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnbC5WQn8XU

I don't want that to be me, if I can help it.

I tend to think about this whole SHTP thing in two ways, which may at first seem at odds with each other.

Priorities.
1. Don't die.
2. Get to Hawaii
3. Get to Hawaii with a smile on my face
4. Don't be DFL in the fleet.

And this.
If the hull doesn't get a hole in it, and
the rudder doesn't fall off, and
the keel doesn't fall off, and
the mast doesn't fall down, and
you don't fall off the boat...

You'll get to Hawaii. That's basically true, in this day and age of GPS. If you take enough food and water, you'll get there. so it makes really good sense to make sure that either those things don't happen, or if they DO happen, you have a ready-to-go solution on hand to fix it.

Holes in the hull: Well, The Wildcat only has two through-hulls, now that the inboard engine has been removed. They're the cockpit drains, and the join between hull and "tube"...which leads to the hose that links up the drains, is very stoutly fiberglassed by the builders. The hoses on my boat are in good shape, so I'm starting the trip with no extra holes in the boat. Even the sink drains into the bilge (I might pull it out before the SHTP, or I might leave it in, and use the 3 gallon water tank to count towards my water requirement). I will carry a couple of 1 ft X 1 ft squares of triaxial fiberglass and underwater epoxy on the SHTP, ~just in case~. I have real doubts about being able to deploy and fix a hole bashed into the boat below the waterline, so I suppose this is just a risk that I accept.... but I'm guessing that the more-likely scenario is getting the lower rudder pintle ripped out of the transom after hitting something. THAT, I think I could fix....and yes, I will fabricate and carry a backup pintle and a square of 3/8 plywood and a hand saw.

The rudder falling off....well, we all prepare emergency rudders. I've made a substantial one, in fact maybe the cassette is a bit TOO "substantial" but I have confidence in the rudder, itself. For that matter, I have confidence in the cassette, too, it's just awfully heavy.

AlanH

08-28-2020, 10:16 AM

The Keel doesn't fall off: I'm sure you'll all think I'm crazy but I consciously just accepted the fact that I couldn't really do anything about this issue when I took Ankle Biter over in 2008. Ankle Biter was a Santa Cruz 27 and has a bolt-on keel. I could drop the keel in the yard and inspect the top parts of the bolts, but the truth was that there's no way to know what's going on inside the lead. I figured that the keel wasn't wobbling when I sailed the boat, it had been there since 1978 with no issues, it probably wasn't going anywhere.

In 1996 when I tagged along with the fleet, I sailed a Ranger 29, which has a molded keel/hull and internal ballast. This whole "keel fall off" issue is a powerful reason, IMHO to consider boats like this.

The Wildcat has ballast in two places. 1. There's 600 pounds of internal ballast; lead poured into the keel that sits below the saloon floor, and 2. a 600 pound daggerboard. The daggerboard is tapered and the daggerboard slot is tapered such that without a major breach of the hull structure, the board can NOT fall out the bottom of the boat. So that's reassuring....there's nothing to corrode, here. However, in the unlikely chance of a roll-over the board can fall out the TOP of the slot/case. The s.s. plate that's there, with the block on it that guides the board hoisting line down to the top of the board is held in with 8 s.s. screws sunk about an inch into the fiberglass. That's fine for holding the plate in place for the expected loads but I don't think it's going to stop a 600 pound board plunging from full-drop position. So in fact, a couple of weeks ago, I drilled a hole through the daggerboard case, about a foot above the waterline, and put a stout 1/2 inch bolt through it. Now the board CAN'T fall out the top of the case.

AlanH

08-28-2020, 10:32 AM

Don't Fall Off The Boat: .. We all worry about this, thus the discussions about jacklines and lifejackets and etriers. I have the usual things as required by the rules, and now the back of the boat is enclosed by a 24 inch high pushpit. That will make deploying and removing the outboard a PITA, but what's more important? I put a nice, strong Wichard U-bolt through the bulkhead right below the companionway. One tether lives on that u-bolt when I'm at sea, where I cannot possibly NOT see it.. I don't put two feet outside that companionway without hooking up to it. I just don't. Not EVER.

Sure the washboard tethers hook to that u-bolt as well, but most important is that tether. None of what I do is anything special, we all do this stuff.

AlanH

08-28-2020, 10:44 AM

The mast doesn't fall down: ... again, I'm sure you all think that I'm crazy, and I worry too much, and I load the boat down with unnecessary junk, but I just think about Sparky, and I watch videos like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-jqwkNXMIY

and this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64l29uncetY

and the video of the Coco Mini doing the Trans At for normal boats, dismasted in the middle of the Atlantic, no way to retrieve any part of the rig, and nothing on board to put up a new one. NOT ME.

Three, six foot lengths of 3" 0.065 aluminum tubing, with sleeves... through-bolted pad eyes attached, and a couple of extra blocks already shackled to it...three lengths of 1/8 stainless wire with loops swaged into the ends, can make an 18 foot mast and doesn't weigh that much. A lot of guys/gals would consider that extra weight, but you know what? I sleep better knowing that I have it. I can use a spinnaker pole for a boom. Since I have two spinnaker poles, I can pole out that extra genoa, and get going at a couple of knots downwind, I can make some progress upwind...slow, but progress.

It's worth the $$, prep time and weight, to me.

Part of the question when figuring this out, is "how much mast can I actually push up, on the boat?" I mean, if you could carry a 30 foot mast on the boat, pretend it's carbon fiber so it only weighs 10 pounds, wouldn't it be great to be able to put up a 30 foot stick if you had to?

I remember pushing up my Cal 20 mast, with the boat at the dock and that was tough....and I was 25 years younger. Also, as you all know, I compete at the Scottish Highland Games. One of the events is the Sheaf toss, where you spear a bag of hay with a pitchfork, and heave it over a bar. The higher the bar, the harder it is. The vertical pole that are braced and support the crossbar for sheaf, usually go up to 30 feet. They're usually made out of steel or 2-inch electrical conduit, which is heavy. It takes about 6-8 guys to push those things up to vertical, with other people holding the supporting guy wires out to the sides.

I thin it would be POSSIBLE to raise a 30-foot mast by yourself, keeping in mind that if your boat is smaller than 40 feet, half of the mast will be hanging off one end of the boat, while you prepare it, but even on a flush-deck boat where you can rig up side-stays directly in line with the pivot point at the base of the mast, it's going to be a very dicey proposition. If you have 4-5-6 crew, then maybe it's do-able. Alone? I don't think I could do it.

AlanH

08-28-2020, 11:46 AM

After pushing up 2/3rds of my clubs sheaf apparatus the other day, I realized that 20 feet is really the outer limit of what I could possibly do, myself.

Side-to-side stability during the hoist is important. If you are using a four-point rigging system, a forestay, backstay and two side-shrouds, then things are a little bit simplified. The key is to set up the side shrouds such that their base is directly in line, and outboard of the mast base...the pivot point of the mast. On a flush-deck boat, this is not a problem. There might be a chainplate there, already, or a "backup" chainplate/u-bolt/eye bolt arrangement can be set up beforehand. On a boat with a cabin trunk, clever use of the toerail and lines and probably get the side-shroud attachment points pretty close to in-line with the base of the mast.

Why is this important? Because you want the side shrouds to be pretty taut as you push the mast up from behind, or forward. That will keep the mast from wobbling side-to-side. If you pre-set either of the fore-and-aft stays...backstay or headstay, then you just get under the mast and push it up until that stay is tight. Lead the other fore-and-aft stay to it's anchoring point on the boat, lash it down and there you are. You can also have a spinnaker pole fitting on the mast, and use the spinny pole as a gin pole, and then winch the mast upright.

THINK, though...when you set this up. Is the distance between your mast base and the bow pulpit longer than the distance between the mast base and the transom? Probably not. You'll want to assemble the parts of the mast on the boat where you have the most deck space to work from. For most of us, that will mean that the backup mast will be assembled AFT of the mast base, and a few feet of it will extend over the stern, before it's raised.

AlanH

08-28-2020, 12:24 PM

Another thing to think about is shroud angle. Our masts have spreaders, right? That's because the masts are really tall, to get a higher-aspect sail. That means they have to be built, basically like a truss, with spreaders, to take the loads. To get a sail up a mast that has spreaders, means you need some sort of sail track. You can't just have grommets in the leading edge of the sail, and lash loops around the mast. How do you get those loops past the spreaders? So if possible, you want to raise a mast that doesn't need spreaders, so you can use mast loops or hoops, like an old gaff-rigged boat..

OK, so there are lots of opinions on this next point, and I'm not a rigger, but my reading-around-the-internet suggests that 15 degrees is a pretty good angle for where shrouds intersect the mast. It shouldn't be less than 10 degrees. You can measure your 'base"...from mast base to toerail (eyeball it, if you have a boat with the mast on the cabintop), and do a little trigonometry. if the beam of your boat is 6 feet at the mast base, then the "base" of your shroud triangle is three feet. If your beam is 8 feet, then your shroud base is 4 feet. Keeping in mind that 10-15 degree guideline, how tall can your mast be? I'll spare you the trigonometry, but read what Eric Sponberg has to say here:
https://www.boatdesign.net/threads/aspect-ratio-on-headsail-vs-shroud-angle.39379/

Here's a picture of what I'm talking about. In this picture, we're looking at the boat from directly behind the transom.

5765

AlanH

08-28-2020, 12:42 PM

OK, I used an online trigonometry calculator...here: http://www.carbidedepot.com/formulas-trigright.asp

to figure out lengths and angles. Since the Wildcat is more like about a 7 foot beam at the base of the mast, I re-did the calculation for a shroud base of 3.5 feet. With that, I get a mast height of 19.8 feet and a shroud length of 20.15 feet.

Well, the cabin top of the Wildcat is 1.5 feet above the deck, so if I make an 18 foot mast, put those together and I get a stick with a height almost exactly the maximum height I can use and still have acceptable shroud angles.

IF I do that, I get a headstay length of 21.7 feet, using a J of 9.5 feet, which is the J of the S2 7.9. If I make it just a couple of inches longer, I can use that genoa that I got for the Piper, as an emergency headsail. It's very light, probably 4 oz cloth.

So in other words, an 18 foot stick is about the maximum length I can have for a "no spreader" mast, and it's also about the maximum length that I think I can push up by myself. BINGO! Also, it so happens that my v-berth is 6' 6" in length along the hull. So three, 6-foot sections, plus the 1 -foot splines I'd use to join them, will fit nicely in the v-berth, all gorilla-taped together , and the wire bits attached as well. The S2 7.9 boom is 12.25 feet long, and ends a couple of feet in front of the transom. So once the whole thing is assembled and in place to be hoisted, only about 3-4 feet of the e-mast will hang off the back end of the boat.

Cost? 3 sections of 3" 0.065 wall plain old non-anodized aluminum tubing at Alan Steel...$86. (half of what it cost to buy it online, and no shipping)
two, 1 ft. sleeves to join them together $10

Three 1/8th inch (breaking strength 1800 lbs, working 900-1,000 lbs), 20 foot long s.s. 7 x 19 cable, 20 feet long, plus swage sleeves and thimble eyes, including four Ronstan s.s. pad eyes, and some long screws for a couple of the pad eyes...$82.

Riveting tool, and box of 5/32 aluminum rivets - $35

Shackles and blocks.....got 'em already.

AlanH

08-28-2020, 01:06 PM

More information than anybody ever wanted to read.

Hopefully, it'll never get deployed and I'll get the stuff back to SF somehow after the SHTP, and the sail will get used on the Piper, which is what I bought it for.

The aluminum and s.s. cable will make a dandy, if a bit overkill, mast for the Caravelle Dinghy, for which I have plans from AZsailor.

AlanH

08-28-2020, 01:23 PM

aaaaannndddd.. word from the shop is that the old battery is still good. woooo!

AntsUiga

08-28-2020, 09:31 PM

AlanH

08-28-2020, 09:44 PM

Thanks for the additional comments. It is always nicer to read them directly rather than speculate.

With regard to the contingency mast / sail holder, a mast step of some sort make mast raising easier. The Moore 24 and Mair 28 (with a deck stepped express 27 spar), both had hinged mast steps. If you bought one from Ballenger Spars the budget would be impacted.

The Mair mast went down forward because the daggerboard extended a foot or so through cabin top when the boat was on trailer. When dry sailed, the daggerboard was always going up and down. Thank goodness for multiple part block and tackle and winch for 900 pound daggerboard.

The Moore mast drops rearward.

In both instances, a restrained mast step is a key.

Absolutely. My plan is to embed a 2.85 inch radius cylindrical hunk of wood in the bottom of the lowermost section, cleverly round off the back of it and drill it to take the bolt that goes through the mast step. Oh...and have an extra bolt, just in case. If the mast step itself is completely destroyed, then I'm gonna have a problem. I could get a simple hinged mast step fabricated, but there are limits, here.

The Lightning had a bottom stepped mast, so even though mast was lighter and shorter, the effort to hold it vertical (especially with any breeze), made the operation dicey.

All my observations are based on a parking lot that doesn't move. Not the case with the Pacific Ocean.

Ants

Absolutely. If the seas are up, the plan is to retrieve everything possible from the wreckage, lash it down on deck and cut away the rest. Then I close the hatch and go below and wait for things to quiet down a bit. I remember hand-holding and pushing up the Cal 20 mast at the dock. A Cal 20 mast is about 24 feet tall. It was NOT easy.

But all of this is hypothetical. I have the rigging wires made, now. I'm sailing all weekend FINALLY...testing the emergency rudder and testing the backed- heavy-weather-jib-to-tiller-counterbalanced-by-surgical-tubing self steering as advocated by Andrew Evans. I haven't sailed in two and a half months, I've just been working on the boat. Now I test everything and remember how to do it!

I start watching NOAA offshore weather Wednesday or Thursday. It's been very light out there.

Intermission

08-29-2020, 08:29 AM

If the mast step itself is completely destroyed, then I'm gonna have a problem.

I'm wondering if a masthead knot could be used on the butt end of the mast in that eventuality?

AlanH

08-30-2020, 01:29 AM

I cleaned and organized for hours today, but finally got out on the water about 5:45 PM. I successfully deployed and used the emergency rudder. There is video, but i shot it on my iphone and I have no way to edit it, or upload it to anything that anybody else can see. This crap used to be so easy....not any more. I hate Apple.

Maybe tomorrow, with the Android.

AlanH

08-30-2020, 09:23 PM

A lot of today was spent running back and forth to West Marine, who miraculously, actually had what I needed. There were THREE trips because of course, problem #2 doesn't surface until you did the shopping trip for problem #1, and problem #3 doesn't appear until you did the shopping trip for problem #2. So anyway, the second battery is in, the autopilot wiring has been double checked, new 10A fuses are on board and blccch... the port cockpit locker hasp has been replaced. Don't ask. Anyway, I got out for about 2 1/2 hours of sailing, all done with the emergency rudder. Conditions varied from benign beam reaching to moderate close reaching to about 35-40 minutes to windward in 15+ knots with a moderate south bay chop. The Autohelm ST2000 drove it just fine.

5772

I also tried the "storm jib backed to tiller, counterbalanced by surgical tubing" system as promulgated by Andrew Evans. What I set up today is shown about 42 seconds in...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PY1qx3PfUS0&t=213s

He's not the only one who shows this method.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C54DCC5EPwM&t=181s

I don't have a storm jib, so I set up the 60% heavy weather jib on it's own wire, and hoisted that right behind the furling drum. This is a fiddly system, it will take time to get it right but even what I had managed to steer the boat in about 10-12 knots and a little bit of chop, on a slightly-higher-than-beam reach for about 20-25 minutes. I'm reasonably confident that if I had to, I could set this up (if it wasn't blowing the tops off the waves) and get it to steer the boat long enough to get a meal, or get a half-hour nap or two.

Everything seems solid.