Kaimusailing
s/v Kaimu Wharram Catamaran
| Vessel Name: | Kaimu |
| Vessel Make/Model: | Wharram Custom |
| Hailing Port: | Norwalk, CT |
| Crew: | Andy and the Kaimu Crew |
| About: | Sailors in the Baltimore, Annapolis, DC area. |
17 April 2024 | St Marys, GA
Dinghy Skeg
I was suffering with what seemed like a cold and also had allergy symptoms. I awoke and felt fine. The green pollen that was coating everything was gone. Maybe it will return.
07 April 2024 | St. Marys, GA
Clammy Hands
Items came in from TEMU, the Chinese cut rate retailer. One was a nice little drone that cost about twelve and a half dollars. It looked like an easy thing to play with while I coughed and sneezed. I was fighting a summer cold, even though it is not summer elsewhere, it seems like it here. A nice [...]
02 April 2024 | St. Marys, GA
Sun Doggie
After laminating the cedar strips onto the gunwales of the dinghy I found the screws I used wouldn’t come out. The epoxy had seized them. The screw heads were stripped so I cut a straight slot in the heads with the cut off wheel. The cedar smoked when the screw heads got red hot. I could remove [...]
21 March 2024 | St. Marys, GA
Just Add Water
The rainy weekend started off with overcast and fog but no rain. It looked like I might be able to get something done on the D4 dinghy. I wanted to change the bow seat which is really the bow deck. The sailing option uses the deck to hold the freestanding mast. I didn’t like how the deck looked, [...]
01 March 2024 | St. Marys, GA
D4 Dinghy Alternative Seats
The rain event was more wind than rain, strong winds with gusts up to 44 mph. We drove into town to see what the harbor was like. There was a small sailboat that had dragged anchor and was sitting close to shore. The tide was out. We left and played with Bleu at Notter’s Pond.
23 February 2024 | St. Marys, GA
D4 Inside Seams
Day two of the dinghy build started out with me finishing wiring the hull bottoms together on the centerline of the bottom panels. This was much easier than the wiring of the chine edges of the bottom panels and the side panels.
Main Halyard Repair and a Shock
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I dug around in an old rope locker and found a nice piece of rope similar to the main halyard, same color and type, and it was 90 feet long.
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Next the cobbed together halyard and topping lift were made up on the new (old) blocks. They were hoisted along with the electric bos’un’s chair line to the masthead. The spinnaker halyard was the hoist and the genoa halyard would be the safety line. After all was prepared, I went up the mast using the electric bos’un’s chair.
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When I got to the top it was difficult to get high enough to work on the old broken double block. I had brought a pail with plenty of tools and some water for my thirst. I took off the old block by removing its shackle, then shackled the new (old) block in place with the new main halyard already reaved. The block was mounted on a 1/2“ bolt that passed through the aluminum top of the mast. I removed the locknut from the end of the bolt and replaced it with an eye-nut, spring washer, and loctited them into place. The new topping lift block and line were shackled to the eye nut.
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I saw something peculiar with the genoa halyard. It’s block was also damaged and the line was chafed, not yet failed, and the block was still together. It was the same brand and model block as the failed one for the main halyard. And I was using it for the safety line! Now I will have to make another trip up the mast to replace that block.
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I had my cell phone with me to take a few pictures while I was up there. The view was spectacular, but I was so shocked at what I saw with the damaged blocks, I didn’t take any pictures.
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Here is a picture of the damaged double block.
