Go Figure

• Oil prices had their biggest gains ever on Friday, jumping nearly $11 to a new record above $138 a barrel according to the International Herald Tribune . Here in Vancouver gas is around 1.40 a litre and isn’t planning on going anywhere but up. Meanwhile, GM’s closing a truck plant in Oshawa, despite the fact the plant was the pilot site to build a new hybrid truck for GM . CAW boss Buzz Hargrove, on CBC’s As It Happens, says GM told him they’ll only be able to sell 3 or 4 thousand new hybrid trucks a year, so they’ll built them in Mexico.
• Syphoning gas, popular when I was a teenager, is back.
• CBC declines to renew the Hockey Night in Canada theme, launches contest in partnership with Nettwerk to find new theme.
• Ed McMahon can’t afford to pay his mortgage - he’s behind $ 644,000 in mortgage payments and can’t seem to sell is 6.2 million dollar Beverly Hills mansion. Wife says they could have planned a bit better..
• A new report says the Writers Guild of America strike pushed California into a recession and cost the state 2.1 billion dollars.
• I guess the rabbits were right…pine bark is good for you.
• Personal drug use may be unconstitutional in Argentina.
• Meanwhile, civic leader in Port Coquitlam off meds and drunk, one way to make headlines.
• Drivers in Cypress are being asked not to leave their cars while still in motion.

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Mast Conduit and Primed

One last thing to do before I can paint Madsu’s mast, and that’s installing conduit for wiring inside the mast.

Madsu had no steaming or anchor light, and last season I got by with a portable LED that I’d hoist when needed. It worked ok but wasn’t great. When I redid the electrical system last month I installed enough circuits to incude a steaming light and masthead anchor light.

I debated whether it was worth the trouble of running conduit up the mast - but figure if I don’t I’ll be regretting it the first night an anchor as the wires clang away inside the mast.

I opted for 3/4 inch PVC conduit that will have more than enough room for the 3 wires I need to run - plus room for VHF coaxial should I decide to add a masthead antennae later. I got a laugh when I saw the label on the conduit - C22 for a C22. Nice.

Of course the conduit has to be secured, or it will bang around. This is easier said than done.

The conduit is riveted in place using a technique I read about online somewhere. Starting at the base of the mast I was able to hold the conduit in place while I drilled a hole in the mast and the conduit and popped in a rivet.

From there it’s a matter of drilling a hole 6 inches or so along, using a small Allen key to hook the conduit through the hole (in order to hold it in place), then drill another hole a further six inches along and pop a rivet in. After I was done, I filled all the extra holes and was ready to etch, condition and prime.

The mast got it’s first layer of base coat this afternoon - the boom got it’s 3rd and final coat of base. I should be able to get a couple more coats of base on the mast tomorrow, then on to the topcoat in a couple of days, assuming the weather holds.

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Naked Boom Gets Primed

I sanded Madsu’s boom down to bare metal yesterday as I get ready to paint it.

After removing all the hardware I sited all the new/changed hardware and drilled and tapped the holes. I’ll use stainless machine screws instead of the self-tapping screws the previous owner loved. I’ve filled all the old holes with Star Brite aluminum epoxy.

The spar’s in great shape. I used a rotary sander to get the mast stripped down then use my Makita sander with 220 paper to prep it.

I used PPG DX 533 to etch the boom, then quickly followed up with PPG DX 503 conditioner. I got both at my local Lordco auto parts store - way cheaper than trying to find the marine version of same.

Once the DX 503 was rinsed and the boom dried, I immediately got the first coat of primer on. You can’t let the aluminum sit for any length of time after treatment because of oxidization (so I’m told).

I’ve opted for the tried-but-true-but-messy-and-smelly 2 part primer.

The Interlux 2 part is a lot more trouble - it’s really 3 part because even after you mix the 404 base with the 413 reactor, you still have to thin it 20 to 25%.

I wasn’t really sure how to work with the base - it’s the consistency of pudding - and you can’t pour it. I just stuck a mixing stick into the can and pulled it out, about an ounce or so stuck to the stick and I was able to use this ‘honey stick’ method to measure out what I needed.

I first tired a small foam roller - that was useless. Next I tried a disposable foam brush - that worked better. But a regular paint brush works best of all - the paint is thick and spreads beautifully, and there’s no worry about brush strokes showing up.

(boom after 1st coat of primer)

I left it overnight and sanded with 220 paper and got a 2nd coat on this morning. The weather’s been cold and I’d prefer it was a bit warmer to make sure the primer is really baked - I’ll give it a couple of days then do a 3rd base coat.

Now that I’m confident with is all going to work (!), I’ll strip the mast and get it primed, then I’ll topcoat both the boom and the main at the same time. I’m using Interlux Perfection, another 2 part, for the topcoat.

A quick survey of my mast hardware turned up a few issues. I was hoping to replace the spreader brackets, so last fall I ordered a stainless set from Catalina Direct.

Turns out my spreaders are 1 1/8th inch in diameter but the new brackets are 1 inch. Ugh. I’m thinking I’ll either leave the old brackets (which Catalina Direct claims are prone to unexpected breakage) or visit my new best friends at the metal store and pick up some 1 inch aluminum tubing and make my own ‘new’ spreaders.

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Outhaul Exit Tweak

I’ve finally finished tweaking Madsu’s boom for the new internal outhaul system I mentioned a few days ago.

In order to make sure the outhaul doesn’t bind when pulling on the main, I figure I have to get the exit block at the end of the boom up as high as possible - which actually means mounting it in the sail track.

So the challenge here was how to mount the Harken thru-deck turning block in what is essentially the sail track. I also want the block to be rock-solid.

Working on the farm with my dad and uncles, they’d often have to tweak some piece of machinery - and in French they’d call that tweak a “patent”. Cleary, that’s what’s called for here.

All I really want to do is bolt the block in place, but there isn’t room for me to get a lock nut on the forward end of the block. I probably could rivet it in place, but I’m not convinced that’s going to work.

So, I figured I’d make an aluminum plate that will slide inside track, under the block. I’ll drill and tap for fasteners and it should all work ! The photo below shows how I want the block to sit, tight up against the slot in the boom.

I’m not really equipped to be machining parts, but I figured with my jig saw and a bench grinder, I should be able to make something that would work.

It isn’t pretty, but it’ll be out of sight anyway. Not the simplest thing to cut with a jig saw, I’ll say that much…

Here’s my “patent” when I slide it into the sail track.

The idea is that the thru-deck block is now sandwiched between my “patent” and the top of the sail track.

All I need to do now is drop in a stainless steel machine screw, tighten it up, and my exit thru-deck block is rock solid (I’ve left off the block cover so you can see the detail a bit better).

This was the last bit of detail I needed to finish on the boom before painting.

I’ve now drilled and tapped holes for all the boom hardware, including cheek-blocks for reefing lines, the outhaul exit block and cleat, and a few more bits of hardware for line management.

I’ve opted to simplify the reefing system quite a bit, just going to use a hook at the tack. For the clew, I’ll just use a single line attached to boom, up through the through the ‘new’ clew, down to a cheek-block on the other side of the boom, and forward to a cleat near the front of the boom.

Last season I was using a single line reefing system, with the line brought back to the cockpit. This was the set-up from the previous owner, and it was a nuisance.

For one, I was always going to the mast to lower the main halyard anyway, so having the reefing line in the cockpit was unhelpful. When not in use, the long line was always getting in the way no matter how often I stowed it, and when we dropped the main, it was even more in the way.

My new North Sails main has 2 reef points, so I’ve got 2 identical lines set up at the clew end. From their cheeck blocks they go forward along the boom, lead through beckets to the cleat.

The boom is stripped of all the hardware now, all the holes are drilled and tapped, so if the weather improved a bit I’ll try etching and painting the boom in the next few days

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Madsu Boom Mod

I’m getting set to paint the mast and boom on Madsu before putting her in the water this year.

But before I get there, I’ve got a few modifications to make, so I’ve commandeered the picnic table and set up for some serious mucking-about-time.

I started with the boom, stripping all the hardware so I can replace the self-tapping screws with tapped versions.

I’m also fixing the outhaul - the previous owner seemed to think a piece of line wrapped around a becket at the end of the boom was a proper outhaul. It drove me crazy last season, but since the main was pretty bagged, I put up with it.

Since I’ve got a brand new North Sail main for this season, and I was stripping the boom down anyway, I thought it was worth the trouble of making an internal outhaul system based on Gene Ferguson’s excellent 1997 design. Using Gene’s diagram, I ad-libbed a bit, using Harken 225 and 226 microblocks and New England V-100 1/4″ braid and sticking with wire for the 2nd block and exit out the thru-deck at the aft end of the boom to the clew.

Since the exit at the boom-end is wire, the thru-deck block is nice and small, and through the magic of the Dremel tool I’ve managed to cut a nice slot for the block. It sits in the foot channel and is just big enough to reach into the main section of the boom where the guts of the outhaul are hidden. Having a swaging tool makes working with wire a breeze - I picked up a hand tool at West Marine last year and have used it a lot more than I thought I would.

I’ll have more pictures soon - the outhaul is rigged and sitting in my cupboard with the new sail.

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Madsu’s New Andersen Winches

Madsu’s still on the trailer in the driveway. It puts a crimp on sailing, but is handy for doing upgrades.

I’ve just finished replacing the electrical I didn’t get to last year, pics on that soon.

Today I finally got the new self-tailing winches installed. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I pulled the old Lewmar winches off the cowling along with the cleat -

I managed to get the fiberglass fairly clean, filled the old holes, and drilled six new holes for the new Andersen winches -

I picked up some 1/4 inch aluminum plate from Express Metal supply in Burnaby and cut & drilled some backing plates -

With some help from Garnet and Matthew, bolted the new winches down, and they look downright lovely - even if they are on a boat in the front yard !

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New Winches for Madsu

As I blogged about last year, I picked up 2 new Andersen winches for Madsu, and they’ve been in their nice boxes since I bought them at Steveston Marine.

I spent most of this afternoon removing the old Lewmar winches and jam cleats from Madsu’s cockpit coaming. The Lewmars were attached with 4 bolts, and I was by myself so it was a bit of challenge.

Getting the bolts out meant having to crawl into the cockpit lockers to clamp a pair of locking pliers to the nut, jam it up against the hull, then back up into the cockpit to unscrew the bolt until the nut dropped off.

Its not exactly roomy in there so each trip was a bit of a contortionist act. By the time I got the starboard winch off I came up with a better plan for port side; 4 pairs of locking pliers, one for each bolt, reducing the number of tight squeeze tricks to one.

I’ll fill the old holes, clean up the coaming, and site the new winches over the next couple of days.

The old Lewmars still have some life in them, so I’m going to service them and see if anyone wants to buy them. I don’t know how old they are, but they’ve been around a while. For their size their really well made and that English steel must be a fairly high grade as they still look pretty good. You can see from the picture of the coaming that the old winch and cleat have been on for a good long time.

The Andersen winches really are gorgeous. Sitting on the kitchen counter next to the Lewmar you can see the added heft of the Andersen winch, the larger drum will make a big difference when hauling in the 150 - I can’t wait to get them on the boat. Having the self-tailers is going to make a huge difference for me since I’m solo sailing a lot of the time. And the cockpit will be a little neater too, I never did like the placement of the cleat.

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