Author Archives: Mike
New Day, New Life
“A beginning is the time for taking the most delicate care that the balances are correct.” – Frank Herbert, Dune series This morning we are off. Heading out of the Derwent River, with no intention of returning. In many ways we “went” when we left the marina 2 weeks ago for Bellerive, but many people … Continue reading
Greenmarine
Matt is a Marine electrical specialist, based in Kettering. Of all the professionals I have talked to about marine DC systems (he doesn’t do AC) he is the most knowledgable, and for the courteousness, good humor and professionalism, he’s very reasonable on his prices. Our voyages couldn’t have proceeded without him. If you are ever … Continue reading
Renée
The crew of Renée are a lovely family living aboard the big blue motor sailer. And she’s big, a good 55ft long is my guess, aft cabin, pilot house, ketch rig. They have been homeschooling their two boys right up until they started Yr 11 at Rosny. Living aboard for 10 years, they still had … Continue reading
What a day!
Big day today! We achieved the following: Put the blades on the wind jennie Drilled and fitted the mounts on tiller and boat for the autopilot Got the autopilot working Installed the masthead anemometer Oiled the blocks Bent on the sails, reeved the reefing lines and installed the sail ties. Installed the trip lines on … Continue reading
Now they point straight up!
The masts are back in! In a rising gale as darkness fell, we managed to get masts back into position. We then tensioned them enough to stand on there own against the building storm conditions and went and enjoyed a steak dinner at the nearby pub. Many thanks to Rod and Brenda of State of … Continue reading
How white is my pole?
We put the top coat on the masts today! White masts! No more red oxide primer making them look very second-hand. Dad and I finished and tested all the electrical wiring on both masts today (tip for those that don’t know: festoon LED bulbs are polarity sensitive). We fitted the wind generator to its bracket … Continue reading
Getting there…
The booms now have a few coats of thinned varnish and their first coat of unthinned. All the wiring in the masts has been pulled through, and I even left the mouse in there as an endless loop. Not much room left in the 32mm conduit we riveted in there, though. The wind generator mast … Continue reading
Don’t step in it!
And by 2pm on the second day, we most verily got all the crap out of the mast. Look at the pile of it!
Rats in the rigging
Some if you know of the dramas I have had trying to run anything down the inside of the main mast. The theory was that there was some two part foam in there. This was based on the crunching sound achieved when you dropped a lead weight, with a mousing line attached, down the mast. … Continue reading