A couple of Jobs

No sailing this weekend but it did provide the opportunity to complete a couple of modifications that I should have done during the winter, as well as adding the fittings for the new sails, which should arrive this week.

To hold the canvas doorway cover down, we decided to add two additional fasteners to the bottom. This should stop it lifting while sailing.

 

The second job was to add a cam cleat for the centreboard control. This should be easier to use. The wooded supporting block was quite a complex shape, as it needed to be shaped to fit around the starboard pump. We are also considering changing the rope for a slightly thinner piece, as the current rope can roll off the top of the drum, when lowering the centreboard. The block is held in place by two screws and a plate from the inside of the bridge deck, this does mean the need for two people to fit it in place.

Ice on the decks !

Three days of excellent weather but with wonderful clear skies at night, I woke up to find ice had formed on the deck, which meant the step onto the pontoon was taken with care. Friday and Saturday gave some excellent sailing. However, on the Sunday the wind go up to force 5, which gave a more exciting sail, with the main and jib both reefed I still needed to let the mainsheet out at times.

 

The Lugger is owned by another club member, who had come down for a sail.

The weekend was a Dinghy Cruising Association meeting, which brought some interesting boats and their owners to the club for the weekend. The Coaster seemed luxury, when compared to cramped space for sleeping on board under canvas, which several of DCA members did.

http://www.dinghycruising.org.uk/

Two further developments on Kathleen was another doorway cover but with a mesh panel to keep some ventilation but not allowing any midges etc. in (hopefully). I intend to add a length of shock cord along the bottom of the doorway to hold the canvas cover down, if needed while sailing.

The plastic tarp has had some modification, with it being cut along the ridge, so it wraps around the hood, also a short piece of plastic tube has been added to hold the sides out at the rear. The end of the cut was reinforced to help prevent it from tearing.

Four Days at Coniston

This was the first sail of the year and the weather ranged from warm sunshine and a light breeze through to snow on the hills, gale force winds and even some ice on the deck of the boat. We'd made a few small modifications to the boat and look forward to the arrival of the new High Peak mainsail from R&J.

As always the first sail of the season was a chance to see if everything worked and what had been forgotten. It also gave a chance to catch up with some other Drascombe sailors, including the Association's webmaster, Jol, who I met in a near by pub. A good website and journal are essential for any organisation and the DA is fortunate to have both. His obvious successful contribution to both of these means there is good communication between the membership.

 

Tesco's had Corned Beef Hash on special offer - so I couldn't resist!

 

Crew's Birthday Present!

... a new name

Amazing what can be done with some CAD software and vinyl cutter, at last Kathleen has a name. The start of the new season looks near now and so some jobs need completing, which include servicing the outboard (which seems to have gone well), making a new weather board and also changing the rig to accept the new high peak mainsail that has been ordered from R&J sails.

Several other minor jobs have already been completed, such as repainting the inside of the lockers and rudder. This year things are much easier, after much effort over last winter.

Winter Maintenance

There are not as many jobs to do this winter. The outboard mount and top of centre board case both need some attention, as do the spars. The outboard mount had suffered where the clamps had marked the wood, some glass fibre was used to build this area up.

Both pieces were stripped back to the bare wood, before using Deks Olje D1. I made the mistake of applying the D2 too soon and this took several days before it dried fully. It is recommended that there is a gap of 3 days before the D2 is applied, I think this may be a minimum time and suggest leaving it longer for the D1 to fully dry. The bottom end of the mizzen mast, inboard end of the bumpkin and gaff, all needed a good rub down before new coats of the D2 could be applied.

There were a number of small chips and old fitting holes on the deck moulding which needed to be filled. I was pleased to find Honnor Marine could supply some gel coat that matched remarkably well and certainly helped enhance the finish of the boat.

The real development is the decision to order a new set of sails from R&J sails. The jib is a straight replacement but I have decided to change the mainsail for a high peak variation. This should improve the performance of the boat and also  allows the mainsail to be "scantalised", a traditionally useful method for de-powering the rig. However, it does need some additional rigging, which will need to be planned and fitted before the new main sail can be used.

Coniston Sailing Club - Bart's Bash

 

Friday evening light and no wind

 

A new jib stick made from a length of plastic tube, fine for light winds.

The weather remained fine for the weekend and a gentle NE breeze enabled us to have an enjoyable time on the water. On Saturday evening the club held an auction to raise money for the club house to be extended, to include new toilets and changing rooms. The event proved to be a great success, with over £3000 being raised.

On Sunday the club took part in the Bart's Bash, this is a sailing race run by sailing clubs all around the world on behalf of the charity, the Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation. The club had around 35 boats taking part, which did prove to be quite exciting, as they ranged from Toppers to cruisers of 25 feet in length. It also confirmed to me, that although Drascombes are great to sail, they are no racing machine, which was actually quite pleasing.

Deks Olje - One Year On

Last year we decided to strip the old varnish off all the wood on the boat. However, the decision about what type of finish to use was one that took some time. Reading various reviews, Deks Olje seems to be one of those "Marmite" products - you either love it or hate it, but did seem to provide a quality solution to protecting and enhancing the small amounts of wood that are on the boat.

http://www.deksolje.com/

Deks Olje comes in two parts: D1 which is an oil and D2 which is similar to varnish. Both products are very "fluid" and run very easily, so keeping a rag to hand to wipe any drips is very important, as I was to find out. The varnish dries very hard and is difficult to remove once dry.

Over the year the woodwork has worn very well and have been very impressed with the product. The finish seems very hard wearing, which is ideal for the gunwales and it also gives a high gloss. To keep things looking good, I recently used some wet n dry paper to give a good key and then rubbed in some of the D1 oil. Letting this dry for a day, I then gave two coats of the D2 to finish. There seems no reason to do any more work on the gunwales. Some say that a gloss finish can become slippery when wet but I have not found this a problem on the gunwales.

The wood grating in the cockpit floor has been treated just with the D1 oil, this being reapplied once during the year. The one area that that has been cause for concern, is the floorboard just inside the cabin doorway. This can become wet and I have felt the potential for a slip as I step down into the cabin and perhaps some non slip material here may be useful. The top of the centreboard case does have an area of non slip material on it and this has proved to be essential at times.

Once the season is over the spars and oars will need some attention. These only received a light sanding and a couple of coats of varnish last winter, with some areas which were worn having some additional coats. Perhaps more thought and effort will need to be applied to these.