The last job...

I always get a little excited with the prospect of a new project.   Usually I've thought about the next project for a while before hand, so I embark upon the new task like a puppy dog on speed.  Our fridge was no exception.

From the out set let me make absolutely clear this is not the last job Ruth or I have to do.  But it is the last job that I have to start whilst in America.

Why ? 

Insulation. The better our insulation the better our fridge will perform. We have chosen what we would refer to in England as Celotex (a brand name) its r value (if you are in to these technicalities) is around 7 per inch.  We have gone with the recommended dimension of six inches around the fridge with a lesser amount around the top.

Despite the heat, and need for insulation in homes here in Texas, insulation thicker than ½'' is hard to come by.   Ivan, as always, had done the research for this in advance, having sourced a supplier where we could purchase thick insulation.  A kindly offer of a lift there saw us collecting insulation before the true heat of the day was upon us.

 

Having collected the insulative board, we drove back discussing the merits of the respective designs we had conceived.  Also the insanity of it.  Though substantial boats, in the grand scheme of things our boats are tiny; onboard our 38 feet must go everything we have, from tools to provisions.  Yet when we consider how much insulation to have, we opt for six inches.  This, we fear, is a far cry from the insulation in a typical household fridge; or for that matter within the walls of houses here.  Why?  The reason, of course is energy.  We will have to make all the electricity used by the fridge, so despite the space we have on board in comparison to a house; energy efficieny drives our decisions.

 

The process of fitting the insulation is a laborious one.  Measuring the size for one face, cutting an apropriate piece then repeating until the desired thickness is achieved.  It gives me time to wonder whether fridges with six inch insulation would ever catch on in households...  

Our First Sail!

The day that was planned came and went due to weather and not quite being ready...











A few tears and disagreements were had in front of our friends, but they understood.

Then the day really did come...

We borrowed our friends fancy rig tension tool and tightened ourselves up.  After the thunder storms had cleared again, we headed out.





I can only say sorry, it wasn't a very picturesque day, but it was very very very special for us.

There was breeze around 10 to 12 knots where we sailed happily and steadily on three different courses from and to the wind and then it died.  So we had to motor home.  She's a beauty though.  

All performed wonderfully and we got up to 6 knots on a close haul, as though it could have been any other way...






This is that same bridge we were videoed going over on the truck, there's definitely plenty of clearance but it didn't look like it...

Raising a mast...

'Its up', said the bishop to the actress; phew...  

Generally all went well; well...i mean, it went up.  I remember pushing Star Shells' mast up with a bear of a friend of mine once. It went up too, but god know's how.

So our principle problem was that we'd prepared the mast the wrong way round, front to back.  Easily resolved by turning the mast through 180 degrees.  








This roll Ruth found most alarming, not being yet accustomed to our mast bending so much, since all the weight was being taken in one place.  

Now done, the ropes for steadying the mast whilst it was to be lowered were the wrong way round.   As were the ropes for securing once in place, as, was for that matter, everything! 

I had spent hours detailing this little assortment of lines to avoid the snakes picnic that ensued.  Let it be known that in this yard masts are suspended from the fore; that means the choker loops around the mainsail track. Even if its been flown from England and looks so beautiful that one wouldn't be naturally inclined to load the masts' entire weight upon one portion of it.

Problem one surmounted; turn through 180 degrees.  The next wee deposit of strife was our copper sulphate solution; wood preserver.  

This poured out of the lower portion when the mast was upright. We'd poured it in a week prior and had been rotating the mast periodically to encourage it to soak around.  We had not however anticipated that it would still be present and would pour out all over poor Jose' as we moved the mast.  It got out through a gap next to the wire conduit and accounts for any green splatters you may see on any subsequent photos.

We walked it across the yard with our willing helpers along with the crane without incident and then...

Does the mast fit in the hole?  Regardless of its propensity to ooze green goo everywhere... Not quite.  We had padded the mast too well.  Like a fat father Christmas we had to shed a layer before the mast would slip down its proverbial chimney.  So slide down it did, the base located easily and did NOT destroy anything in its path.  Now to secure....

The mast coming indoors to stay...



Ok this is an opinion, but here in the States things cost by the hour or multiples there of.  So if; like us, you think you'll use an hour, thats cool, right???  Not quite, they get bored quick and then give you looks like 'shouldn't this have only taken twenty minutes.... '  

No is our perceived wisdom as we scatter around our boat picking up the pieces of Medussa's ultimate bad hair day... remember our mast is new, as are our wires. The only way to be sure of the length is to cut the length in place.  We were reasonably confident of our maths but did not want to be wrong...

So the crane guys were itching to go and as soon as enough ropes had been secured sufficiently, we de-craned the mast.  We wanted not to be hurried when it came to wire chopping time.  All is good; it stays up! 

The next trick is to remove the crane from the mast.  We'd originally put a rope on the crane hook and the choker for just this problem however during the move someone had seen fit to remove these.  A ladder came in handy for this but a less rusty one that did not jump would have been preferable.

With the crane gone we could relax a little.  Thats' code for 'time for a beer'.   The mechanical ends went on in only slightly more time than all the ropes were tensioned.  Angle grinders whirring and sparks flying.

Before long my third beer soothed the final application of hi-mod fittings and we were ready to move.  Remember beers here are small; we're talking less than a proper pint (for all three).  Those of you who know Ruth and I will appreciate, that's quick.

Oh I forgot there was a third problem, or was it fourth.. the roller furling slipped off the forestay during the lifting process despite being supposedly secured with a rope.  Actually this was a blessing.  We were then able to tweak the length of the roller furling more accurately once we had a definite length for the forestay and it wasn't too bigger deal to fit it retrospectively. 

This is our homemade high tech bosuns' chair complete with lots of tool retaining strings.

Finally, Ruth having gallantly scaled the mast three times (she actually likes it!) we have roller furling and all stays and shrouds. 

What we also have is a beautiful mast.  Really beautiful.

Yeah Baby...

Last Blog before the mast goes up... We hope!

When I was young there was a childrens' program called Mr Benn about a man; Mr Benn who would walk into a fancy dress shop and try on a costume.  When Mr Benn walked out of the changing room he would walk in to another time and place. The time and place of the costume in fact, and have an adventure.

We have felt a little like Mr Benn at times; not that we have been time travelling; but that we keep having glimpses of other lives. From metal worker, painter, hauliers, Fibre glasser, plumber, carpenter, the list goes on. Our current foray has been into the life of a rigger; like so many trades there are really cool toys to play with.

We opted to have mechanical fittings for our rigging wire and chose hi-mod. Once the wire was cut to the desired length using a thin cutting blade on our angle grinder, the wire is un-wound exposing the inner twist of wire, a former is placed over this and the wire is twisted up again, a crown is fitted to order the wire ends and the end is screwed on. It couldn't be simpler.  The most difficult part is to get the wire to twist appart as our wire is 5/16".  We've a few offcuts of leather to help us along and Ruth finds it helpful to use monkey or molegrips with this.

There has been a long list of jobs to be done before the mast goes up and we have been methodically plodding through them. We have assembled the new roller furling system that came with the boat which fitted together beautifully.

The crosstrees are now bolted on to the mast complete with copper sheaves for the shrouds.

One unrelated task has been gluing teak veneer to the the navigation station and installing some of the electrics; a task in which we found use for all of our now two lengths' of chain.  Who needs fancy clamps?

 

 

Not all carriage bolts are created equal and our quick job of 'just' bolting on the chainplates has turned into a few days saga. I had cut all the square holes for the carriage bolts using our old stainless bolts as a gauge for size. Turns out our bronze bolts are bigger but we only realised once we'd got one stuck, threaded it and had to cut it out; all in a confined area.   Argh! The chainplates in the head are particularly awkward to tighten the nuts on, Ruth was sick of sweating away over them and coming out with scraped fingers so in the end I unbolted some of the plumbing to make it easier, mindful that this could easily have become a new can of worms it worked out.

 

We are sealing the chainplates with butyl tape.  We are so pleased to have been recommended this stuff by Ivan as it's so much easier to work with than any caulking we've used before.  The clean up is simply trim the edges and pull it off rather than sticky messy chaos for hours!  We've no experience of it so lets hope it works.



Whilst completing these sizeable milestones, in particular the chainplates, which we had never thought would need replacing until we saw the cracks they had. We have had other smaller though also integral to the mast going up work to be completed. The collar which needs to be solid enough to have chock's drifted in between it and the mast at deck level has needed to be modified and have some means of attaching a water proof gasket to it. The deck has also needed enlarging; though the overall dimensions of the mast are the same the radius' are different. The old mast heel had to be replaced with the new one and new bolt holes drilled to accomadate it. Even the coins which will be placed under the mast have been chosen.

 

Of course as is so often the way, to do these jobs, lockers have to be emptied and the contents put somewhere. The saloon resembles a kind of perfect chaos currently, at first glance it looks like clothes, tools and books have been emptied in to it and then a path pushed through the middle, upon closer inspection one realises that each pile was once the content of some locker or another.

Finally, we have almost everything sorted and fitted.  We have dressed the mast short of a few extra halyards that will go on tomorrow.  We need one more run to Blackburns for a few odds and sods then we are in business.  The crane has been booked for three with the understanding that we will probably sit in the dock for most of tomorrow evening as we cut the wires to the correct length and attach the mechanical ends.  This should not be a problem as there was a holiday today, (Monday) the yard is quiet, everyone aiming to be on their boats for the holiday.  The extra time (delay) has given us some time to run some wires whilst the cupboards were empty  It is now our luxury to have two fans in our fo'c'sle; I woke up one morning last week with my ear full of water; it took a few moments to realise that this was sweat!  Texas weather is gaining on us!  So if all goes well tomorrow we will have the windscoop up which will make the cabin much more bearable.

Jazz Sundays

One Sunday several years ago I remember going to visit a friend who lived on a boat. We popped over to their then neighbour, who lived on an old Dutch Tjalk. He was listening to Stefan Grapelli and Django Reinhardt. I couldn't stay long, as I had a ticket to see Humphry Lyttleton at the Malbourgh Jazz Festival. He was brillant; as are Grapelli, Reinheart and living on a boat.

 

 

That weekend Jazz Sundays were born. That Sunday to be precise.

Life has been chaotic here; Jazz Sundays have struggled. Before the boat went in the water there were a hundred jobs that needed to be done. Since we have been in the water the chaos has persued. However, now the mast is at least within a few hunded feet of its home we managed to fit in a proper Jazz Sunday.

Jazz Sunday actually starts with the Archers Omnibus, and a lesiurly breakfast. 'The Archers' is a long running Bristish Radio Program. My Mother recounts whenever she hears the theme tune that she remembers dancing around her grandmothers living room as a child; its been going a while ( i know everyone in England knows this, just being inclusive!). Today we actually caught up. There was a point prior to Impetuous being launched that we were a month behind. Nothing like listening to the Shrove Tuesday episode During April fools.

 

So like an athelete capturing their stride after a tall hurdle we had a proper Jazz Sunday. Archers Omnimbus whilst i prepared breakfast then set the music machine to random Jazz and let it shuffle sublime. Topped with beer at lunch time. Perfick!!!

This week has seen us prepare the mast and, as we have already posted, move it. Now moved, the focus is upon getting the mast up. We're both very aware that once up, our things to do list shrinks to a 'things to do on our boat in exotic places list'. Lets face it; Texas is not exotic! The main track is on, as are the spreader boxes. The deck fitting piece has been made today. The cap rails with slots for chainplates are complete, on one side, almost... Soon, very soon we will start unravelling the enormous roll of wire and embark upon the rigging; but thats another day because today was Jazz Sunday.

Mast Deck Fitting re-shaped.

Mast Progress

Today we got our mast moved to the yard!

It was a bit of a surprise as we'd just finished readying the mast back in Dickinson where we built it. We called in on the rigger who has a suitable trailer yesterday and despite being very busy he jumped straight to the challenge and sent Brian and Travis to solve our problems.

 

 

 

 

Our first problem to tackle was attempted solo. Stix n Rign's trailer is 53' long and the mast was tucked away next to Roger's shop. This was therefore not so accessible by the trailer and truck totalling 70ft. The riggers requested that we make the mast as near to the road as possible and somewhere it would be easy for the trailer to be pulled alongside it.

We embarked upon our challenge Egyptian style around lunch time. We used wooden rollers (cut up broom handle we still had handy after moving 'Pip' the engine in all those years ago) and long timbers balanced upon the trestle tables. We simply rolled the mast to a more accessible position; inch by inch over the quite uneven terain. There was a lot of stopping and moving the rollers, trestles and timbers but the force needed to shift the mast along was pretty minimal.

We had no sooner finished moving when the cavalry arrived. Before long we had lifted the mast on to the trailer. Five sets of hands didn't quite make light work of it, but by pivoting it across, it was manageable and not too stressful.   Once strapped down, we were delighted to see Brian do a second walk around and double checking the straps... we relayed the story of our boat moving disasters with the formula 1 truck driver, and we were off.

A reversal of the procedure at the yard saw our beautiful mast laid upon the saw horses just a few yards away from the crane that shall soon lift it on the Impetuous.

All our rigging components have now arrived. We bought a VHF antennae this morning; possibly our first and only ever purchase from West Marine (Super expensive Marine Superstore full of Bling). As we were following the Mast down the road Blackburns (our marine wholesaler) called to say our wire had arrived; we have a 500ft spool to play with. We have an industrious few days ahead of us; then the mast can go up.