Winches not Wenches
18 June 2018 | st marys, ga
Capn Andy/100 degrees F.
One of the lazy jacks had parted up on the mast, probably due to tension while working on the gooseneck end of the boom. I had to go up the mast to reattach it as well as address the problem with the steaming light fixture. The fixture wasn't latched onto its Quick Fit bracket and could be lifted off by the halyards, there was a gap on either side of the fixture where it didn't match the curvature of the mast.
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My temporary solution to the problem was to use Gorilla tape to close off that gap, plus it would keep the light fixture from being lifted off its bracket.
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The afternoon thunderstorms had come through and it was now 10 degrees less hot, so I quickly rigged the electric bosun's chair and safety harness and went up the mast with the end of the lazy jack tied onto the chair's bridle and a bag of tools, razor knife, Gorilla tape, bottle of water, and a rigging knife. The light fixture was quickly taped and the lazy jack tied onto a spreader.
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After returning to deck I quickly stowed the bosun's chair and the safety harness because rain clouds were approaching, it looked like more thunderstorms.
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I had used the genoa halyard to hoist the bosun's chair, now I used it to measure the dimensions of the genoa, which still has to be purchased. I knotted the ends of the halyard together, then hoisted it up until the knot was at the halyard block, then marked the halyard at the headstay bridle where the genoa tack would be attached. I measured the length of line as I brought the knot down to deck. 43' 6". Then I did the same measuring to the lead block on the genoa track with the block at its furthest aft position. 41'. Then I measured from the tack at the bridle to the lead block. 25'. This calculates to around 500 sq ft, but the sail can be smaller, these are the maximum dimensions.
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The old staysail will become a 300 sq ft self tending jib. This type of rig with both a large genoa and small 100% jib on stays very close together is called a solent rig. It was a French invention for easier to handle and efficient to sail rig in varying wind conditions. In our case it will provide twin headsails for sailing downwind, kind of like an 800 sq ft spinnaker. Self tending means the sail is set on a boom and a single sheet controls the sail, just like the mainsail. My boom is a carbon fiber windsurfing mast. It is very light and strong. The mast base is designed to attach to a windsurfer, of course, with what looks like an 8mm bolt. I had used this arrangement when Kaimu was first rigged up with just a main and jib. I drilled a hole in a bracket on the bow crosstube and mounted a windsurfing mast there. At the other end a kind of webbing mast cap covered the tip of the mast and had a piece of line to attach to the clew of the sail. I will have to make a new cap. Because the windsurfing mast has to be able to fit several sizes of windsurfing sails, it is adjustable and can be perfectly adjusted to the jib sail.
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I made the mast cap out of heavy duty webbing, the same webbing I use for jacklines. I cut two small strips, one that goes around the tip of the mast, and the other that forms 2 loops that droop on either side of the mast. The strips are pop riveted together and the end result fits over the tip of the mast and has two loops to attach a line to the jib's clew. It took about a half hour to fabricate.
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I had picked up a pair of Barient 22 winches and started installing them as genoa sheet winches. This job turned into humid hell. It was so hot that the stifling heat outside felt cool. First the winches were serviced, then they were positioned on the cabin tops so that there was room to sit in front of them, but not have them too close to the turning blocks. The bolt holes were marked and drilled, then installation began. I was using what I had on hand, 5/16" carriage bolts. It would have been better to use flat headed machine screws of the correct length to just fit through to the interior backing plates. The hardware store is a Christian business and not open on Sunday. The carriage bolts were about 5 or 6 inches long. I was putting nylock nuts on them, so I needed to hold them while I started the nut. I put vice grips on the little square flats under the head of the bolt and ran the nut up with a 3/8" ratchet and 1/2" socket. When the socket wouldn't drive the nut anymore, I removed the vice grips, bedded the bolt head with Bed-It tape, jammed it down into position, then while gripping the threaded end of the bolt continued driving the nut with an open end wrench. It was a slow agonizing process. When I had trouble remembering what to do next I took a break either below the bridge deck in the shade or over in the wood shop where a large fan was available.
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This was the hockey style work ethic, put in a stint as long as you can, then take a 15 minute break.
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After the first winch was done I could see that a thunderstorm was approaching from the west. It made no sense to drill holes in the second cabin top if we were going to get inundated. I packed everything up and put tarps over the tools. I had made some progress and now could get a shower, a burger, and a cold beer.
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The next day I installed the second winch in similar conditions, then I attacked two more winches, small, on the aft edges of the cabin tops, running backstay winches. I think they are Barlow #10 single speed, chromed bronze. They are about half the size of the sheet winches I just installed. The procedure is the same and maybe even harder because these little winches have 6 bolts while the sheet winches only had 5 bolts.
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First we had to clean the gunk off the insides of the winches. I scraped it off with dental tools, then dunked the parts in a carburettor cleaning pail, the kind that has a basket to hold small parts. After cleaning, the winch bases were put in position on the aft cabin tops and holes were drilled for the bolts. It took quite a while to round up fender washers and nylock nuts for these 1/4-20 stainless bolts. Now it was the heat of the day and I had to take breaks, but the work went on until late afternoon and things started to cool down to about 85. Finally the drums were installed on the bases and I could try the winches out. Another step forward to the launch, now a week and a half away.
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I had decided to donate the Miata, the car was very worn out, although the engine was running fine. Col. Bill Johnson asked if he could buy it, so I took $300 form him when he offered $500. He's going to need that extra $200 and then some. We were going to co-drive the car for the time being until I launched and left. Now he has come across a problem and the car's starter won't turn the engine over. It's not like an intermittent problem that needed attention, it just happened after Bill washed the car and had run an errand in town. Now I will need to beg a ride to get groceries.
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There was a comment about the last painting I featured on the blog and I can see how some might not think much of it, but it caught my eye which may prove that my artistic taste is no good. The image is from saatchiart.com and is titled Harbour Stow1, by Cliff Moppett of the UK.