Measure Once Sew Twice?
19 July 2015 | Bodkin Inlet/Chesapeake Bay
Capn Andy/Very Hot and Humid
There are two large Wharrams for sale and the big surprise is they haven't sold yet. Number one is hull #1 of Tiki 46's, Peace IV, a famous boat sailed by Ann and Neville Clement. They are retiring from their cruising life. They are offering the boat at about half what they had been offered a few years ago when they had no plans to quit cruising. The price is actually less than cost of materials and this is not a badly built boat or a boat not built to plans. Number two is Wakataitea, also a Tiki 46, not built exactly to plan, but also a beautiful boat with some excellent modifications. Either boat would be acceptable to someone contemplating building as an alternative. All the work has been done and the boats are proven voyagers, ready to go again.
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It seems that the sailboat market is still depressed as far as used boats. Small keelboats are available for free, and some are large enough to be considered for extended cruising. A Crusader, similar to the Bahama Islander 24 we sailed early in the summer is available free, just about a mile from our dock. There are several larger boats for less than $1000 scattered around the bay. Someone recently said to me, “Wait till Fall, that's when you can get a good deal.” If that's the case, I wonder what will be available about 3 months from now.
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The boom was lifted using the main halyard and pinned to the gooseneck. It was a good time to flush the boom. While this isn't on most boat's task list, birds had found a way into the end of the boom, set up housekeeping, and only stopped when I jammed a piece of tarpaulin in the hole. Now I left the clew end of the boom down near the aft beam, ran a garden hose up the end of the boom, and turned on the water. An unbelievable amount of debris came out and fortunately spilled into the Bodkin, did not blacken the water any more than it already was. The boom was then hoisted up to its normal position with the piece of tarpaulin back in place to keep the birds out.
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The 10 foot pieces of 1/2” PVC pipe were spliced together to make two 20 foot pieces and then they were jammed into the new sail cover batten pockets. One went in almost all the way, then jammed when the union that was joining the two pieces of pipe jammed in the batten pocket. It would work OK by cutting both ends to length in place. The other pipe jammed as soon as the union tried to fit into the batten pocket. Time was spent trying to pick apart the threads of one margin of the batten pocket until futility forced another try. I ground down the union with the belt sander, but it came loose from one of the pipe sections. I found a bolt that would fit the inside of the pipe and I threaded it into one pipe, cut off the unthreaded portion, and threaded the other pipe onto the rest of the bolt. It made a nice junction without the large diameter of the pipe union. Now the pipe was run almost all the way and jammed again about 2 feet from the end of the pocket. Silicone spray didn't help. Picking at the threads worked but was very tedious and I gave up. It was heat warning weather and I was at the end of my rope.
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The instructions from Sailrite make the batten pocket with a 2 inch width, but take up 1/8” of that with an additional seam stitched right at the edge of the pocket. The 1/2” PVC pipe seems to have a diameter about 7/8” and that computes to a 2 3/4” circumference, so the batten pocket should take the 1/2” pipe with an inch of circumference to spare. I must have deviated in my sewing. When I measured the seam it was off by 1/2”, exactly. This made the pocket exactly the circumference of the batten and where the seam might vary a bit closer, too tight.
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I picked at the threads diligently and opened enough of the seam to finish jamming the batten in. The excess of the 20 foot batten was cut off. I quit early, feeling the effects of the heat. When I checked later the heat index was 116 and climbing.