Getting Ready for SHTP 2021

[AlanH]

I'm working on the assy pole mount, today. The carbon fiber ring is done. I took a good look at the front of the boat the other day and I've cut the basic mount shape out of a high quality fir 2 x 4. The sides are getting two layers of 6 ounce glass in epoxy right now. It's sitting under a 25 pound lead brick, with plastic between the sticky side and the cement...and the upper sticky side, and the brick, to keep it all from becoming One with the Driveway..

[AlanH]

I'm working on the assy pole mount, today. The carbon fiber ring is done. I took a good look at the front of the boat the other day and I've cut the basic mount shape out of a high quality fir 2 x 4. The sides are getting two layers of 6 ounce glass in epoxy right now. It's sitting under a 25 pound lead brick, with plastic between the sticky side and the cement...and the upper sticky side, and the brick, to keep it all from becoming One with the Driveway..

Here's a first look at the assy pole bracket. It's not assembled yet, it's just the two pieces sitting on each other. I'm 99% sure that one of the hold down bolts will have to be buried inside the body of the bracket. There isn't room to have one on each end. The little "ledge" on the left is for one bolt. I'm betting that the other one will be at the bottom of the curve in the wood.



AND...it's Windvane Installation Day!

[AZ Sailor]

. . . first look at the assy pole bracket.

That looks great. Did you prepare line drawings or schematics of what the system will look like installed on the Wildcat? If you posted them previously on this thread I missed it.

[AlanH]

That looks great. Did you prepare line drawings or schematics of what the system will look like installed on the Wildcat? If you posted them previously on this thread I missed it.

See my next post!

[AlanH]

I spent the day on the boat, fussing. I really need to clean up down below! Anyway, I laid out the assy pole with the bracket taped together and just eyeballed everything. I can't get the pole right on centerline, so I'm going to have it on the starboard side, seeing as I'll be flying off to port, most of the way to Hawaii!



With a deck-mounted pole, you have to figure out ways around "things"...like not blocking the navigation lights and retaining access to the cleats.. Ah, if only the lights were up on the bow pulpit, like the Catalina 275 Sport that's on my dock. In the end, though, I'm going to get about 6 inches more extension than the Catalina gets with it's stock Selden system, for what looks like the same length pole. I had the carbon fiber ring in backwards, so in fact that picture shows about 4 more inches extension that I'll actually have.

[AlanH]

The Windvane Is Installed!





The bits of wood it's mounted to need some paint! If it all works the way it should, I'll take the upper part off, take it home and paint it. The point where the red control lines go through the little blocks and then out to the "spreaders" on the rudder, is almost exactly right over the axis of rotation of the rudder. It's maybe half an inch in front, which is right about where I wanted it. That half-inch will provide a little bit of damping.

[AlanH]

There's still a bit more friction in the system than I would wish but it's MUCH better than the pre-trim-tab setup I put together.

[AlanH]

It's "reckoning" time. ...today is the day I tot up everything I've spent on the SHTP during the year. I kept a tally through the Qualifier, and was shocked to see that I was only 2% over budget. I did one update in mid-November, but $$ have been going out the door for every little thing for the windvane this month. I just finished the spreadsheet. It's a lot but not budget-busting.

[BobJ]

I'm only into it 150 bucks.

It's all about choosing when to start counting, and I keep saying "I would have done <that> anyway."

Rationalization - it works for me.

[AlanH]

I'm only into it 150 bucks.

It's all about choosing when to start counting, and I keep saying "I would have done <that> anyway."

Rationalization - it works for me.

This post needs a "LIKE" button!