Cheeky blocks

by Chuck February 12, 2005

I headed into Everett today to pick up new blocks for the top of the mast. I needed two cheek blocks, one for the main halyard and one for the topping lift, and a standard block for the jib halyard.

The original blocks were undersized and very old and worn out. I picked up a couple of Schaefer cheek blocks with sheaves about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Those are about half again as big as the originals.

I picked up a Harken bullet block for the jib halyard. It has delrin bearings, which makes it spin remarkably well.

It'll be interesting to see how the new blocks will improve sail handling. I'm hoping that the new main halyard block will make it easier to hoist the main all the way to the top of the mast track. Because the halyard block is out of line with the mast track, as the sail reaches the top of the mast it starts to bind in the track and stops going up. With the new blocks I hope that the friction in the blocks will be enough lower that the hoist will be higher before it binds.

Anyway. Next I need to learn how to attach the cheek blocks with rivets. I bought a rivet setter and stainless steel rivets to put the blocks on with. I need to get some Tefgel or something like that to keep the two dissimilar metals from reacting and causing corrosion.

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Sailing

Wisdom of the Web

by Chuck February 12, 2005

When I re-rigged Odyssey a couple years ago, I used an assortment of wire rings and cottor pins to secure the clevis pins on the turnbuckles. I figured one must be better than the other, so I asked on the SailNet Pacific Northwest Sailing mailing list. There is more experience and more opinions on that list than just about any where else.

In this case, however, they were pretty much in agreement. Use the cottor pins.

So I will.

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Sailing

Mastless in Monroe

by Chuck February 11, 2005

Tonight after work I started my project to replace the halyard blocks at the top of Odyssey's mast. The first step is to unship the mast and move it to my work area.

On any other sailboat, "unship the mast" would mean a huge undertaking, involving cranes, great big mast bolts, and probably a team of professionals to make sure nothing went wrong. On Odyssey I just undid the turnbuckles for the backstay and the side stays and slid it over her side and onto the ground. Yet another advantage of a trailerable sailboat.

After I had the mast off the boat, Dana came out and helped me carry it down to the barn. The 26-foot mast takes up an impressive amount of space in the barn alley. I laid it on the floor to start with, but when I work on it I lift the part I'm working on up to a sawhorse.

The first order of business was to remove the old blocks for the main halyard, the jib halyard, and the topping lift. While I was there, I went ahead and took off the block that is shackled on for a spinnaker halyard, since it will be a few more years before I can afford to buy a 'chute.

The spinnaker halyard block came of the easiest. It was attached to a padeye on the mast with a clevis pin. I just removed the split ring and the clevis pin slipped out and so did the block. The block is in pretty good shape, so I'll keep it around for a while and see if I can put it to use.

The jib halyard block was next. The bolt that holds the forestay to the mast went through a hole in the block, so all I had to do was undo the lock nut, slip the bolt out of the block, and re-tighten the lock nut. Again, simple, once I'd found the right tools. It took me longer to find my 7/16 socket than it did to take the block off.

Finally, I removed the cheek blocks for the main halyard and topping lift. I had to drill out the rivets that hold them in place. Not hard, the rivet heads popped right off, but the rivets remaind proud of the mast body and I can't figure out how to get them the rest of the way off. I figure I'll post on the Cascadia list, someone there will know.

All told it took about half an hour to get the old blocks off. Tomorrow I'm off to Harbor Marine, Popeye's and West Marine to find replacement blocks.

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Sailing

Once more into the boat show

by Chuck January 16, 2005

Father-in-law Ron and I headed in to the Seattle boat show again this year. I tried to get him to take someone else, 'cause we gave him tickets to the show for Christmas and I felt bad having him use his extra ticket on me, but he insisted, so...

Just inside the North entrance was the highlight of the show for us. A 28-foot Stancraft wooden runabout built in Post Falls, Idaho. Man that was beautiful. No price listed, but I guess if you have to ask, you can't afford the upkeep on a boat like that.

In the sailboat corner (much larger this year), I liked the new Hunter 27 quite a bit. Nice size for our family, not too big to afford the moorage, and pretty to boot. Now if only I had a spare $80,000 to spend. I also spent a good 15 minutes crawling over the West Wight Potter 19 they had on display. Every book and Web site about trailerable sailboats sings the praises of the Potter, and I'd never seen one. Pretty little boat, and quite reasonable in price (for the base price, anyway). The one they had on display was quite dolled up I must say.

Had an intersting conversation witht he folks at Nexxus Marine. Instead of the usual $250,000 24-foot dream boat they usually show, they had a 16-foot dory that started at $5,700. Nancy said they were interested in building boats for "real people" again, and David said the people that buy the expensive boats "treat them like the kitchen help." I can't imagine treating a craftsman like David like kitchen help, but then I can't afford a $250,000 boat, either.

Only spent a little money this year. Bought another dock line from TopKnot. Bought a pair of gloves from Popeye's. Spent some time complaining to Cap't Jack's that they aren't printing their tide book.

And of course we ogled lots of boats. Big boats. Little boats. Wood boats, aluminum boats, plastic boats. Boats. Boats. Boats...

Sorry. Have to go lie down now...

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Sailing

Cascadia Everett Crawl-In

by Chuck November 21, 2004

I decided it would be interesting to meet some of the people that post regularly to Sailnet's Pacific Northwest mailing list, a group that formed a virtual society called the Cascadia Association of Sailors. I headed in to Everett, cleverly timing my arrival at the restaurant so that the others would have already arrived.

It was a little odd at first, because no one at the table really knew who I was. Once I explained that I was mostly a lurker, they were more comfortable with me there. And I was able to start a couple of conversations, which always helped.

It was interesting to see how many things the sailors at the table had in common. Two of the guys were bicyclists, two others had done really long (2100 and 2600 mile) rides. There were kids, and dogs, and of course sail boats.

Afterwards I went with Ron and Greg down to Allegro, Ron's boat moored at the marina. Ron treated me to a beer, and the three of us talked for another hour about getting by, making a living, and, of course, sailing.

I had a good time meeting the other folks from the Cascadia list, and look forward to getting together with them again.

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Sailing

Drowning on dry land

by Chuck November 6, 2004

We call our farm "Puddlehaven1" because dealing with rain water and the runoff during the rainy season is takes up most of our time in the fall and winter around here. Some day I'll get my small farm Web site up and running, and you can read about the joy of shoveling 46 yards of hog fuel every fall.

Anyway, I put a tarp over Odyssey this fall to try to keep some of the detritus of the winter off. Unfortunately there was a puddle of water trapped in the tarp after every rain storm. The tarp would sag down between the mast and the lifelines, creating a well that held about 40 gallons.

After taking an inadverdent shower after the last rainstorm, I decided the best way to avoid another ice cold shower was to take the lifeline stanchions out of their sockets.

It's amazing how easy it is to keep water from ponding up when you don't block it from running downhill. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go dig a ditch to keep the water moving downhill from the paddock out behind the barn...

1We used to call it Puddlehaven. Now we call it Brambly Hill. An altogether better name.

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Sailing

Why do they ask?

by Chuck August 4, 2004

My son's birthday party was yesterday, a grand affair that included cake, ice cream, and presents. And water balloons. And a bouncy house.

Anyway, when one of the parents came to pick up his kids, he saw Odyssey sitting there, and he asked me,

So, when's the last time you went sailing?

Oooooo, I hate that question. It implies that owning a boat is a waste of money, that I'd be better off without it 'cause, you know, I really never get to go sailing.

Blegga

I've decided the right answer is "Often enough." That way I don't have to tell them I've only sailed once this year (see the whole series of log entries about the rudder mishap), and it implies that if I wanted to sail more, darn it, I would.

Which I would.

If only life didn't keep getting in the way.

And there's that whole pesky rudder thing.

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Sailing

Catching crabs

by Chuck August 1, 2004

Ron and Sue spent the last part of their vacation on Salty Lady at Cap Sante Marina in Anacortes. At night they would sit at the dock and play cards, during the day they would head out to the channel east of Guemas Island and crab.

We spent the day with them, throwing the crab rings overboard and then pulling them up 10 minutes later. We'd check for keepers, then, most often, throw them all back and try again.

By the end of the day, Joe was pulling a crab ring all by himself, hauling it in and then throwing it back out again. Katie kept a running total of the crab we caught, the final tally was 11 keepers, 183 thrown back.

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Sailing

A day of success

by Chuck July 25, 2004

The stars aligned for me yesterday, and I was finally able to finish some of those fussy little projects that have been hanging around on the boat.

Friday I stopped at the hardware store and bought the nuts and bolts I needed to finish installing the new cam cleats and fender hangers. It was murderously hot, over 95 degrees, and my brains were leaking out my ears after having cooked inside my motorcycle helmet all the way from work, so it only took me two tries in the store to buy the right set of nuts and bolts, but I finally managed.

I also grabbed the power plane and the palm sander and took about an 1/8-inch off the end of my rudder stock so the tiller can slip over. Just a little quality time with a varnish brush and the tiller will be ready to go.

It was a pleasant way to spend an evening. One of my co-workers reminded me last week that it can be just as enjoyable to spend an evening working on the boat as it is to spend the evening sailing. In this case, she was right.

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Sailing

Frustrated? Who, me?

by Chuck July 22, 2004

Ever have one of those days? I had one yesterday.

First, Ron brought my new rudder out. I'd left it at his house so he could put a few more coats of polyurethane on. It looked great, 'til I tried to put the tiller on. The tiller don't fit. The new rudder is about 1/8 thicker than the old one, and the tiller won't slip over it. I need to sand down the end of the rudder so the tiller will fit, and then refinish that end.

No problems, I thought. I'll just do some of the other little projects I have for Odyssey. So I decided to put the bumper hangers I bought back in January on. I originally planned to put them on the deck, but as I stood and looked I realized they would work better on the cabin side. I should note at this point that I thought about through-bolting the hangers, but then decided just deck mounting them would be fine. Except the cabin side in only half an inch thick, and I had three-quarter inch screws. Which I found out after driving the first one through the side into the cabin. Looks like they're going to be through-bolted after all. I'd just run to the hardware store and pick up some bolts, washers and nuts, except the hardware store closed 10 minutes ago.

Well, what about the new cam cleats for the jib sheets? I marked the location, drilled the holes, put the bolts (carefully measured from the original cam cleats) in, then went below to put the bolts on. What bolts? They just barely reached the bottom of the hole. 'Nother thing to add to the list when I go to the hardware store.

So I didn't really get anything done, but I did get a chance to play with the boat. And how bad is that, really?

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