I have filled all the holes in the deck which awaits sanding prior to a light layer of glass. The glass will go under the cockpit coamings to protect the deck from winch handles which are stored there during racing.
Not being in the mood for sanding I turned my attention to the cockpit coamings. Dudley has changed the arrangement of the lockers and coamings in a subtle way which made the forward openings too narrow for my chubby hands so I widened the openings a little and made them all equal height which is ever so slightly different but equally attractive.
Unlike Passion X where the coamings are parallel to the deck on the new one the coamings increase in height and are just a couple of millimetres away from level with the waterline. As a result the panels twist ever so slightly so great care was required to set them out precisely. As in the last build the coamings have been glued up and then removed to the workshop for the doublers and winch base mounting.
The 12 mm doublers had to be held against the slight twist of the panels and 160 kg of lead ingots did a fabulous job of keeping the glue joins nice and tight.
The next job was to cut out the 24 mm of ply where the prefabricated winch mounts will fit. A saber or reciprocating saw was ideal for the task.
The edges of the openings were then chamfered to allow for the epoxy glass which will bond on the top side.
Winch bases which I had made previously were then trimmed to equal dimensions and aligned on the coamings which were temporarily reunited with the hull.
The final task was to bog the bases to the 24 mm plywood and apply a layer of glass to keep everything stable while the coamings are returned to the workshop.
While it has taken a week to get to this stage I am happy with the progress considering I have had a cold which has slowed me down and we had one day of unworkable weather conditions. I did use that wet day to measure up all of the remaining doublers for the deck fittings and have marked up the ply ready for a spare fine day for cutting.
In other news the steel case for the keel bulb has arrived at the foundry and should have the 2000 kg of lead poured in tomorrow.
On the sailing front there is not much to report. For the past three weeks the wind had been from the South East which limits the course options. Small changes in the wind angles has made the three weeks slightly different and last Wednesday there were some incredible wind shifts where we were going in the same direction on opposite tacks. We had our share of luck but not so much in the last race where we languished in Humbug on the way out. It was a night for the back markers who had a long overdue return to the winners circle.
My rotator cuff injury has slowed down the boat building because planing and sanding is particularly painful. At the same time the weather has been very good for boatbuilding with days of fine warm conditions. These ideal conditions has allowed me to finish installing the gunwhale capping all the way to the bow and with the aid of some painkiller I have been able to plane and torture board the capping down to the final profile.
When I say final I mean until I have a second and third look at it and get the torture board working overtime. After the planing and sanding I have filled all the screw holes on the gunwales and most of the deck but the final part of the deck has been delayed due to a return of wintery conditions.
One satisfying piece of work was trimming the top of the bow to match the 45 degree angle of the gunwale capping. This took a bit of width off the appearance at the bow and it looks positively handsome now.
Today it was bitterly cold on the building site so I retreated to the garage and fabricated a jig so that I could mass produce some stringer doublers. These are small plywood elements that go over the bulkheads where the stringers pass through. The other option is to fillet the stringers but I find this difficult and a straight fillet between the plywood doublers looks neater and takes about the same time.
The doubler production was so efficient that I used 9 of them on the bulkhead B join to the deck.
Filling the screw holes in the deck prior to glassing the deck has been time consuming and to get a break from the bending over I retreated to the transom where I could work standing upright. Here I sanded the primary epoxy coat, filleted the inside corners and once cured routered the inside edge. This was topped off with a second coat of epoxy making sure that the end grain of the plywood was thoroughly saturated.
The weather is not worrying me with respect to the completion time as there are plenty of inside and outside jobs to match the conditions and today’s several hours fitting doublers to the stringers on bulkhead B was a cosy job inside the hull.
On the sailing front we have had a couple of good results with Passion X in the Greenwich Flying Squadron twilight series. The first of these a week ago was a favourable series of lifts on the windward work to Goat Island which kept us near the front of the fleet and the second this week was the added weight on the rail which improved our windward speed. Our handicap is now the same as one of the J112E yachts so we will have to work hard for anymore good handicap wins.
It seems like not a lot has happend over the past three weeks. We has a week off sailing between the Winter series and the Spring Twilight series but Laser sailing has started so there is something on three days a week.
Also slowing down progress is a repetitive strain injury which has meant working at a less vigerous rate so this post will be an update on the progress on the new Passion XI.
Another reason for the less frequent post is the poor quality of the internet in our district. Uploads in particular are painfully slow and many fail which means repeating the process until it works. To finish this post I had to use the mobile hot spot from my phone.
My priority is to get some glass over the deck so that the cockpit coamings can be installed over the glass. That means finishing all the deck elements including the gunwhale trim. Eighty percent of the gunwale capping is installed. This meant trimming back the excess plywood from the deck and fairing the gunwales and adding a 12 mm ply capping. Next the capping has to be planed back level with the plywood deck and sides and about this stage the repetitive strain injury took hold.
From here the search was for jobs that did not involve planing or hand sanding and while there a lots of these the appearance of progress is not so dramatic.
On one cold wet Monday I climbed under the gas bottle locker and glassed the two ply joins with two layers of 420 gsm double bias all covered with peel ply. Next I sanded the rudder port area, and applied generous coats of neat epoxy and a first coat of epoxy primer. I will finish off this area before completing the painting under the gas bottle locker as the painted surface is much more boat builder friendly than the raw epoxy glass.
Last Friday I picked up the chainplates and immediately drilled the holes for the forestay chainplate and did a first fit. The next day I completed the fit and routered a few millimetres off from the backing plate area so that the 200 mm bolts had enough thread showing for the nylock nuts. Then came the process of saturating the timber with neat epoxy and painting the anchor locker with four coats of epoxy.
It is hard to believe that it takes a week to install a forestay chainplate, paint the anchor locker, install the doublers and deck and after curing cut the anchor locker lid.
At different times I applied left over epoxy primer to various bare parts like the chart table area and at other times I prepared and painted area like the locker at the bow under the anchor locker. These all required painful feats of contortion and there is more to do.
The glimmer of hope for the RANSA Winter Wednesday series grew a bit brighter with the forecast of a brisk North West wind. For several days before the last race the forecast showed the North West wind direction ahead of a strong southerly change for the Thursday. The RANSA course for the prevailing wind is a broard reach to the heads and a tight reach back to Steele Point with works to Point Piper and from Shark Island home. Reaching in a strong breeze is one of the strong points of the Dudley Dix designed Passion X so my mood for the series was growing brighter.
On the day the breeze was gusting to 25 knots so we set the No 3 jib and full hoist main. We were further encouraged when our main rival, Alibi, also set a small jib so that if the breeze did die we would be in different boats but in the same situation.
With the gusty winds we were late at the start with only Amante and Britannia up on the line. Britannia was up and planing away from the fleet while we tailed Amante all the way to the heads.
The tight reach back to Steele Point was good for us as we caught Amante but could not get clear ahead and so rounded the Rose Bay mark in their dirty air. The work to Point Piper looked to be a single board but a late header sent Amante and us into the shore where we had to tack away.
The reefed Joli was lurking close behind with the reefed Allegro further back. Our rival Alibi was not to be seen and Agrovation was unusually back in the fleet.
From Point Piper we chased Britannia who was chasing Amante.
Amante had the jib nicley poled out to starboard while we stayed on port with the jib flying to windward and delayed out gybe until we were clear of the wind shadow. We just failed to clear Britannia but after the rounding went low and through their lee.
Out in front Amante was extending her lead while we were inching away from Britannia and watching Joli creep up on both of us. Allegro was a few minutes further back but Alibi and Agrovation had disappeared from view.
Over the radio we heard that Alibi had retired but with such a small fleet were unsure if we had enough points in the bag.
After the race we celebrated our second fastest with two bottles of sparkling wine and motored around looking for our divison finishers of whom there were few.
Back at Greenwich we heard the sad tale of the collision between Alibi and Agrovation and saw first hand the damage and then the results came out.
We had managed to get enough seconds in front of Britannia to beat them on handicap for second place which sealed the series for us.
It was a relief after many weeks of long beating courses to have a reaching one that suited Passion X.
A big thanks to the crew who have kept us in the race all season.
Back on the new Passion XI project, the Dudley Dix designed Didi 120, it has been a bit of an anticlimax after the excitement of getting the engine installed on the day it arrived. There is a lot to do and so much that I had stopped doing lists.
I had left the cabin front off until the engine was installed so that we had the extra exit if needed. Now that the engine was sitting on the bearers I was able to do the two layers of 6 mm ply in a single session and leave the laminated ply for a few days to cure well.
A heatwave had hit Sydney but the transom was under a tarpaulin and so it was a pleasant area work and a lot of work was needed. I like the big picture projects where acres of plywood can be glued down in a day but the transom is the opposite of that. Small infill pieces need to be glued between the stringers and then the inner 6 mm layer of ply glued in place. Next a 12 mm capping piece goes over all the fiddly bits to seal the stringer end grain and all the infill glue joins. To ensure a neat fit I made up some dummy capping pieces and covered them with masking tape and then used these to ensure that all the small infill pieces were in perfect alignment.
In the process all the bare timber had to be epoxy sealed including the inside of the 6 mm ply inner skin.
As an extra insurance policy I added a second layer of 6 mm ply to the inside curve. The transom step on Passion XI is so narrow that the inside curve at the transom is a small triangle of plywood and an extra 6 mm layer a tiny addition of weight for long term peace of mind.
In the hot weather and looking for small tasks I tackled the third stub floor under the kingplank forward of the mast. The first two went well but this third one was at the narrow end and had very restricted access. After removing a slot for the stub floor to pass through the web I thought I might have missed my calling in life as it seemed much like dentistry including the sound of the multipurpose tool. All three are done and done so well.
Tomorrow is another day and I might start work on the cabin top joinery where there are fore and aft stringers to be added. These will capture the cabin top hatch and provide good handholds for the crew climbing across the cabin top. That leads back to the companionway hatch and as the engine is in I can complete that. So many jobs to choose from.
Our race on the 6th September was a forgettable one. Out problems started when Alibi on port refused to tack until dead in our tracks. It was Gold medal racing at its finest and my only regret is that we did not have an international judge waving flags for penalty infringements. Maybe they did get around in time and maybe they did go to a close hauled course before pinching up but for our amateur crew the action was too fast to get a crew down to release the genoa so we went to a hove to position on port in the line of oncoming starboard tackers.
From there it got worse as we were now deep in the starboard tacking fleet and the only option was to take a few sterns and get away from the chaos. From here we were not going to win any prizes and to make matters worse a Div 2 boat who was left lots of room to tack for the mark insisted on putting us about before they reached down to the mark. This was pretty senseless as we reached over them on the next leg anyway.
Boat wise we were satisfied with boat speed and put our misfortune down to choosing a start position with too much traffic to cross.
Our result was another drop and a third drop in four races where the only result we carried was a seventh.
Our race result on the 13th was entirely our own doing as we were amongs the leaders half way up the first work. We tacked away from Allegro as we entered a light patch while they carried on for another 100 metres into a nice shift lifting all the way to the top mark. Joli very astutely tacked to the Steel Point shore even further into the progressive shift and came away with a good result.
We were in good breeze and on a progressive lift and based on the forecast were confident that the breeze would oscillate. Poor deluded fools that we were, we gave up hope as we approached the lay line and tacked away into a header when if we had gone well past the lay line we would have reached in with good breeze.
In the small fleet and with the tail becoming becalmed we managed to salvage a sixth place and only drop a further two places behind Alibi who were on duty.
That leaves us three places adrift of first place but with a big handicap disadvantage to overcome. Still miracles do happen and we hope for one in the last race this coming Wednesday.
Away from the race track progress has been more rewarding with the cabin top two layers of 6 mm ply laminated in place and the hatch and window openings cut out. Inside the engine bed area has been epoxy primed with three coats of high build and the seacocks for the engine intake and galley outlet installed.
To make installing the engine more comfortable I added an additional support under the transom area, which I did before going under the hull to install the seacocks, and cut, epoxy primed and installed additional flooring.
While epoxy priming the engine bed area I mixed up extra paint to touch up the V berth area, the chart table and the deck underside in a couple of lockers. It does make quite a difference having the extra white areas and less bare plywood.
At 10:30 am today the engine arrived and as I had a couple of crew primed to help I made the calls and it was all go go.
While waiting for help to arrive I drove the engine which had been delivered onto the top of my trailer, around to the back of the house and backed the trailer up to the transom of the hull. I then prepared the lifting gear and took a deep breath waiting for help to arrive.
With great care we lifted the engine on two chain blocks and by repositioning the chain blocks we manouvered the engine into the hull. The last step was to install cross beams through the window openings and to relift the engine with one chain block and then swing it onto the engine mountings.
All went to plan and the engine is bolted down to the engine beds waiting for the galley furniture to be built around it.
With that out of the way I could remove the flat top from my Laser trailer and put the Laser back on ready for the weekend sailing.
The last three weeks results at RANSA have all been discards so our position at the top of the leader board is under threat. It does not help our prospects having to give time to the three closest yachts in the contest.
We have a reason for the week before last when we won the run to the heads by a good margin but gave it away with a tear in the leech of the genoa which caught on every tack and got progressively longer and more difficult all the way home. It should have been a good result but for the rip.
Last week was more routine but we did get the geno sheets jammed in the windward block and could not get it sheeted in consistently. That was a minor issue and our tacking angles from the chartplotter were pretty special so the rest of the fleet must have been more special.
On the boat project I laminated up two layers of 6 mm ply to the shape of the cabin top and cut the doublers from these laminated and curves sections. By careful trimming I was able to get the doublers to a friction fit in the spaces and glue them to the first layer of 6 mm ply when that was installed. As of 1st Sept all the first layer of 6 mm ply is glued to the cabin top and all the 12 mm doublers are installed. At this stage I need to install the first layer of the sloping front of the cabin and then do the second 6 mm layer.
The other big job for the week was to glass in the engine beds to the hull. This calls for four layers of 420 gsm double bias on the corners and intersection with frame G where the engine beds join. Aft of frame G the beds run parallel and close to the cabin walls for the head and the quarter berth. That called for some very patient fibreglassing.
After glassing in the engine beds I decided to reinforce the strongback with three layers of 425 gsm double bias to give some cross grain reinforcement. the stern tube was already covered with three layers so it was a straightforward process to extend the laminates fore and aft for extra durability in these hard to access areas.
Shaping the front of the cabin is quite time consuming as clamps have to be built up from layers of plywood and then shaped to the cabin front slope after the glue is well cured. The timber stingers that tie the sloping cabin front to the 12 mm ply sided require careful fitting for an exposed timber finish and I counted five different surfaces that had to be fitted to the cabin top and all with fine glue lines.
While waiting for the glue on the cabin front stringers to cure I have cleaned up the glass around the engine beds ready for the epoxy paint and marked out the cabin side portlights so I can get better ventilation while applying the epoxy.
In two weeks of racing at RANSA we have gone from a first place to a twelfth place due to a combination of a poor start, a flat spot in the breeze around Shark Island and a more challenging handicap. Even the twelfth place did not give any handicap repreive so we will have to be on our very best form for the next races. Agrovation and Foreign Affairs have significantly tougher handicap while the occasional starter Meridian also has a tough one but then it is line ball with Amante and from there on we have to give time to everyone.
On Scratch Foreign Affairs leads the field from Amante and then Allegro and Passion X tied for third. This good position is due to Allegro and Passion X being consistent starters and this having four drops to count. It might have been different if Allegro had not managed to get through the wind shadow of Shark Island and into the new breeze to overtake Passion X on the way home last week but them’s the breaks.
We did have a win on handicap in the West Harbour Winter Series last Sunday despite the crew being just two young men and Elaine and I. We were helped by the wind angle which did not disadvantage us too much for not setting spinnakers and we did get a favourable gust along the Hunters Hill shore on the final leg. It was one very pleasant Sunday on the water and a first on handicap was the icing on the cake.
Between sailing and yacht audits at GFS I have managed reasonable progress on Passion XI. My progress has been helped by the careful cutting of templates for the cabin sides and by a lot of care in setting up the cabin top beams. The old saying measure twice and cut once has become measure many times and double check. Only then cut a template and check again. The angle of the plywood against the sloping deck sides has been carefully prepared in the workshop and the ply panels trial fitted several times. Only then was I prepared to do the scarf join in the ply on a 8:1 angle. The joins have been clamped together on the hull with final trimming after the first sheet is fastened and the second has another trial fit.
The scarf joins have been made in the workshop after trial fitting the adjacent panels and have needed only minimal adjustment on the hull.
As of tonigt the two cabin sides are glued in place and the front clamp on the deck is glued in place waiting for final shaping. I am debating with myself pushing ahead with the cabin top or epoxy coating all the timber that will be exposed after completion. Also I have a lot of doublers to cut out while I can get an accurate measurement off the cabin beams.
We made another good start to the Winter Wednesday racing at RANSA today and set for a long beat up the harbour for the forecast North West wind.
Five minutes before the start the breeze shifted to the East making the boat end favoured so we started towards the boat but out of trouble. We were progressively lifted so that we were pinned down by the yachts lifting from behind but took the first opportunity to tack away right at the north shore. After a brief port tack we tacked back on the next shift to the left under the fleet but well to the lead. Ten minutes later the shift to the left had increased and it turned out to be a persistent shift all the way to the mark. There was not much to do but hang in there waiting for a shift back but it never came. What eventuated was a shift so extreme that we made the top mark on the second starboard tack of the day and the yachts above who were closer to the land ran out of wind or had to reach down to the mark.
At the top we were in a close group of five yachts and elected to run wide while the yachts closer in to the shore seemed to have better breeze. We did manage to run past Allegro and were hot on the heels of Meidian but Foreigh Affairs, Agrovation and Crosshaven had drawn away. The run to Point Piper was very square depending on the shift in the breeze so a gybe was needed. Somewhere in there we passed Crosshaven and managed to keep just ahead of Allegro. Around the island and all the way home we ran alongside Meridian but were unable to pass them. While we battled side by side with Meridian we could see Amante making a late charge together with Allegro, Crosshaven and Britannia but we had enough gap to take the handicap honours by 4 seconds from Foreign Affairs and 11 seconds from Crosshaven. This result moved us a little further ahead on the leader board.
Back home it has been full steam ahead gluing plywood panels in place so that last night all but one 6 mm panel have been glued in place. At the bow I had to install a temporary stringer over the anchor hatch space to get a fair curve so the front section was formed up from two layers of 6 mm ply but not glued to the hull so that once cured it could be lifted and the temporary support removed. I won’t glue this in place until the forestay chainplate is made and installed.
Work will slow down for a while as Passion X has to be slipped for annual maintance.
We have been defending our first place on the progress score table at RANSA for the past two weeks while Alibi and Britannia have made big moves up and Allegro is lurking just behind.
Last week we had a bit of breeze and set the No 1 heavy genoa. Perhaps we should call this our No 2 genoa or is it a 1.5? From the running start we reached towards the top mark keeping pace with Agrovation and Love Byte but when the wind freed we tried to pole out the genoa without any success. In the process we lost a few boat lengths on these tow but managed to hold off the rest of the fleet. At the top mark Love Byte went deeper and perhaps deeper than allowed while we lifted well inside and stayed on Agrovations line. At Steele Point Love Byte took advantage of a knock to tack back on starboard and we were forced to go behind. Alibi was just on our shoulder and preventing us tacking but then she tacked away giving us options for our next move. On out tack back we had gained half a minute on Alibi.
The next move came around Shark Island when we gybed in a lull while Amante came through with the following gust. From there to home it was follow the leader with Agrovation a clear first and fastest leader from Amante and ourselves. Alibi did themselves a service with a fourth fastest and third on handicap. We managed 6th on handicap while Allegro had a drop and were caught on the leader board by Alibi. We were pleased with our third fastest and felt we managed the rig well in the conditions.
This week was a much lighter affair with a long work to windward for the first leg. We started on the pin and managed to keep ahead of the fleet for a few minutes until Britannia showed good boat speed and passed us to windward. Once clear to tack we waited for the first knock and found ourselves well clear of all the fleet except Britannia who were deeper into the lift. The shift put us up with the tail of the Division 1S where we found ourselves crossing tacks with Marloo. Looking behind we saw that Meridian had taken our stern and gone further North to takd advantage of the next shift and get a big gain on the fleet.
We made some good choices going to the mark but could not match the boat speed of Agrovation, Britannia, Foreign Affairs and Meridian. Crosshaven also caught us at the mark but we managed to get this back on the run to Steele Point.
The shortened course gave little chance for gains and we managed to hold onto our fifth fastest from Crosshaven, a fast finishing Allegro and Alibi. Amante was an uncharacteristic tenth. On handicap the front runners took the first four places, Crosshaven leapfrogged us into fifth while Alibi was seventh and Allegro eighth alloowing us to pull ahead one point but the big move was Britannia with a first place and dropping a 13th to be second on the leader board.
Now while we have not had any great places the handicapper has nevertheless seen fit to make life harder each week and it will be interesting to see how much harder he makes it this week.
Boatbuilding has been progressing at a steady rate with some assistance from the crew and Elaine. Ten days ago I had allmost all the deck sheets cut and trial fitted. Since then I have been busy cutting doublers for the fittings and for butt joins in the long sides of the 12 mm ply sheets. These are best done before the deck is fitted as the shapes can be marked off the stringers and the fits made very precisely. Almost all the 14 doublers have been cut and some fitted. The edges are chamfered at 45 degrees to make a neat fit to the single 12 mm thickness. I have to confess to getting the chamfers around the wrong way more than once but fortunately the two sides are mirror images so that has saved the doubler from the trash can more than once.
As of tonight all the 12 mm ply on the deck is glued in place as are a lot of the doublers. Tomorrow I will move to the 6 mm sheets on the foredeck and complete the doublers on the 12 mm section.
There is more to life than boatbuidling and so we enjoyed our time in Queensland with our family including a Christmas in July where all the families pitched in for a traditional Christmas feast. We had a surprise with the price of local prawns plummeting just in time for our contribution to the festivities. We are blessed that all the family are well and could get together for the event.
By coincidence the South Pacific Laser Masters were being held at Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron starting on the day we had planned to drive home so we trailed the Laser all the way to Queensland for the event. It was a great event with a good attendance of New South Welshmen. The highlight for me was a 6th place in the final race we sailed and the first over 75 year old for that race. So strong is the competition in our age group it was only good enough for a 4th but it was good to get some time on the water ahead of the Worlds in Adelaide this coming February.
We arrived back home in time for the Winter Wednesday race at RANSA aboard Passion X. The race was sailed into a 8 knot sea breeze which was a pleasant surprise for this early in the season. Our start was impeded by a competitor crossing our bow to get back behind the line and causing us to take avoiding action. This put us behind the eight ball right off the line. Our closest rival in the handicap series, Allegro had trouble of their own costing them time with an unscheduled tack so we maintained contact in the fleet.
Up the windward work there were wins and losses where we made up some ground on the last two tacks into the top mark but on rounding the wind died and let the likes of Meridian, Allegro, Crosshaven and Amante float away while the fleet caught us from behind. Eventually the wind came down the course and we recovered our position in time for the reach from Steele Point into Rose Bay. Around the point we went wide keeping a close tail on Allegro and to our surprise we ran up to Meridian. Foreign Affairs was having nothing to do with the fleet having disappeared into another dimension but the rest of us were having a great tussle.
Allegro was not going to let us get away and tailed us to Point Piper. On the work around Shark Island they pinched up so that we could not tack. Eventually I created some distance so we could tack behind them and as We tacked so did they. We had let the main right out to get behid them and so their tack was most difficult for us but we recovered and in our turn gained bit or width going in the mark. As the breeze tightened at the mark they pinched and slowed so that we rounded ahead again and held that lead all the way home.
Now we reached up to Meridian again and followed her home never more than two boat lenghts apart.
In the concentration on Allegro and Meridian we missed what happened to Amante and Crosshaven but we presume they went in too close to Steele Point again.
Our fifth place on handicap increased our lead by two points but it is still very tight and a lot of races still to go.
Now that we are home I can insert some photos of the progress since the hull was turned.
So after a good break from boatbuilding we returned to finish the deck structure at the bow and two solid days or planing the gunwales. The Makita power planer is not the quietest tool in the shed and it created a lot of sawdust in the process so by Saturday it was back to hand planing.
Fortunately Elaine put in many hours vacuuming the sawdust over the last two days and that let me get on with the task of cutting and fitting deck panels. Don came around on Saturday and helped to shift the larger 6 mm sheet into position for marking and cutting and Elaine helped today with the full size 12 mm sheets so that for the last four days the progress looks impressive.
The trial fit of the panels has identified the need for some temporary support in the anchor locker to get the two sides to match as the hatch side is missing a stringer by design. Thinking thinking! Also it is an opportunity to check all the stringer angles for some last minute planing.
Tomorrow all the large panels will be fitted but before gluing them in place I will mark and cut all the doubles as it is easier to mark and fit them from above.
In the meantime what plywood is temporarily screwed to the deck is providing good support for the tarpaulins as the rain has returned.
Where has all the time gone since the rollover party?
On the sailing front the next race at RANSA was frustrating as we sailed well n the drifting conditions only to miss the finish time cut off by less than 30 seconds. Only Foreign Affairs and Amante escaped the guillotine and Amante was just in front of Passion X.
The rest of the fleet was becalmed way off in the distance but we scored the same.
The following week we set the No1 heavy when the prestart conditions were brisk only to have the wind die. Despite the handicap we sailed well to keep in touch with Allegro and Amante but slipped one place on Allegro to be tied at the top of the ladder. In the drifting conditions a backstay flicker would be a great advantage but I am saving that expense fot the new yacht.
This week Kevin and I are at Brisbane for the SPLM at RQ and the crew is boing boat duty for a certain 4th place.
Back at the new project the list of jobs changes with the weather but in essence I am working from both ends to waterproof the exposed hull as the task of pulling tarpaulins on and off detracts from my building time.
At the stern the boarding platform has been glassed, the gas locker panels cut, fitted, bogged to the hull and glassed internally. The cockpit cross support 35 by 35 laminated beam has been finished in clear epoxy and glued to the underside of the deck and the cockpit toe rails have been cut and installed. After a good clean up the cockpit floor was glassed.
Along the way the exposed top shelves in the lockers have been filleted to the skin so that these are waterproof.
At the bow the anchor locker was similarly filleted to the skin and a protecting layer of 435 gsm double bias epoxied in place. The two 50 by 22 laminated beams were constructed and glued in place plus the 35 by 22 central stringer.
Inside the hull the V berth tops have been installed and had a single coat of epoxy. The saloon starboard floor has also been cut and epoxied so that movement inside the hull is less hazardous.
Yesterday we had a great celebration of the rollover of the new hull. Many crew and supporters came to help with the work and help Elaine and I celebrate this milestone in the build. Supporters started arriving from 10 am and we were straight into the process of putting some tension in the slings and then removing all the supports.
I had rigged the slings on Tuesday in preparation and while it took just 90 minutes of physical activity there had been a lot of mental preparation and reviewing of the photos from the last hull turn.
Wednesday was race day at RANSA where we won on handicap due to a crew of ten on the rail. Our ORCi default weight for crew was 750 kg which we have never achieved so it was a first for us to have so many crew in a fresh breeze. We missed out on fastest by 14 seconds and that made for an exciting race. The fresh westery breeze was in our favour for the run to the heads and with the No3 jib set we were well in control. Allegro with a larger headsail kept up with on the down wind leg but we managed to round first and give them dirty air on the work back to Steele Point. They made up ground on the work from Shark Island to the finish when they had clear air and once they were to windward and on starboard they ensured that we could not tack to take their stern. The handicap win took us to the top of the rankings for the season and we retain our third on fastest times too.
So the crew were still excited with out success when they arrived on Thursday for the hull turn. After a quick morning coffee we were under the hull removing coach bolts and screws. We worked from the stern to the bow and cut the last two supports at frame A as the screws were difficult to access. Immediately the hull was free from the building frame and we started the process of lifting one side.
By 1330 hours we had the hull on edge and paused to rig a restraining line so that we could control the descent. As Kevin controlled the descent I took pictures from the ladder. After all the work it was the first opportunity to view the lenght of the hull and appreciate all the primer that has already been applied.
With the hull around and level we called it a day and had afternoon tea to celebrate the milestone. Lunch had been a sandwich on the run or a hot pie with the supporters feeding us whenever we appeared from under the hull so it was time for a breather.
With the supporters sent on their way it was time to install the supports and let down the slings using the chain blocks.
The hull settled a metre too far back and the bow was too low but it was stable for the night so we called it a day.
Today’s task was to position the hull over the supports at the strong frames D and H and make sure it was level. The process of repositioning the slings on the hull and relifting was very effecient but getting it on the centreline of the building frame was more complex and required a bit more science rather than brute force.
With a bit of patience the hull was settled fore and aft and athwarthship. The Laser level confirmed the spirit level reading that the hull was as level as the instruments can measure.
Back on the boatbuilding I applied epoxy fillets to the transom as I want to get this area completed and epoxy coated while the weather is dry.
For the record a few of the boatbuilding tasks completed on the past two weeks.
Another ten days has slipped away with the seemingly endless task of sanding. On the 23rd May after a long sanding session I washed the hull down and took a few photos of the undercoat. The sides and the radius chine look very fair but I was still unhappy with the finish in the bottom particularly at the bow. After more sanding I rolled and brushed another coat of Interprotect over the bottom at the bow and was still not happy. In some areas I had overfilled with filler and more sanding was needed. Much of the problem was due to the light conditions so I applied sanding guide to the whole bow area and to selected patches on the bottom where I had previously applied filler. The sanding guide was a great aid to improving the bottom finish and after another coat of Interprotect sprayed over the whole bottom I am happy with the finish.
In the next few days I will sand any rough patches and apply another coat of Interprotect and leave the bottom until the hull goes to the dock for launching. There I will have a final two coats sprayed both for added protection and for the tie coat to the antifouling.
Inside there has been much sanding of the unpainted bottom from the bow to the stern. Working from the two ends towards the middle the bow to the mast step is primed as is the stern to the cabin top. The bow area has also had the primer sanded ready for the second coat so some progress is being made.
Between strenuous sanding and tedious painting I have been looking for less taxing tasks so little wood working tasks have been added to the job list. A little filleting of furniture to the hull here and there and a few doublers where hinges will be screwed all add to the progress in detail if not in visual impact.
This last ten days have been good for boatbuilding with dry conditions and mostly light winds and the forcast for the next few days look promising to complete the bottom painting.
On the sailing front we have had a couple of very light air races. Last Wednesday we worked the breeze up the middle and seemed to be working out from under the fleet when the breeze came across the course from the opposite side. We had to sit and wait for the breeze to get to us by which time seven yachts had passed us by from the windy side of the course. On the run home we made up some ground and negotiated a larger wind shadow to finish 7th fastest and 7th on handicap. This was a good result considering the ground we lost waiting for the wind to arrive.
Today I studied the tide charts and decided we needed to stay out of the incoming tide. Despite the boat end being to leeward of the fleet it was well out of the tide and had a hotter angle away from the line. Allegro started lowest but at the hottest angle and Joli seemed to follow suite but I wanted to lowest position on the course out of the tide.
Britannia and Monkey Magic had the same idea with Monkey Magic the most aggressive gybing back to the slow tide area. Unfortunately they zigged out of the wind when they should have zagged and waited for a very long time for the wind to return.
Ourselves and Britannia had the best selection of wind and tide and as a result ran away from the fleet. Britannia was first and fastest and we were second and second fastest.
Motoring home from the finish line we were able to see how much of a lead we had established over the field.
What little wind there was up near the heads soon died so we towed Britannia back to RANSA. After detour we could see the fleet in the distance still trying to finish.
Apart from picking a good line up the course we had the crew camped on the bow and to leeward, a very light line on the genoa clew and the backstay on tight to flatten the main and let the wind exhaust from the sail.
After today’s result we are back up to second in the series just one point behind Allegro.
In the ten days since the last post I have made steady progress helped by a few crew who devoted several hours to sanding both inside and outside the hull.
Before that the furniture in the galley and quarter berth ante room had been fitted and the filleting of the bulkheads to the skin completed.
An unexpected task was to extend the gussets on the rudder port out another 200 mm each side and fix in with four layers of 450 gram double bias epoxy glass. This was a change Dudley had advised back in September 2002 but which had slipped my mind until Dudly gently reminded me via a request for an updated photo. I promptly did the change and sent out the photo but it took the best part of two days to fit the gussets and then glass them in place in the upside down position. Once the hull is turned I will add more glass around the port and the strongback for appearance sake and to tidy up the finish on the glass.
Last Wednesday was another steady result on the water with Passion X. We won the race on the run to the top mark by an inside overlap on Allegro but an override on the mainsheet winch stopped us following the fleet inshore where they picked a big lift. Despite dropping a few positions we sailed well to make up ground and finish with a 4th place on handicap. It was another good result in strong winds with a reef in the main and the No 3 jib.
This coming week looks like a complete change to a drift but there is still a few days to go.
After the crew assistance with sanding I decided to get a little more aggressive with the torture board on the last four coats of epoxy primer to remove the remaining uneveness in the bottom panels. I had roller coated the bottom due to the wind conditions and that needed more sanding than the sprayed sides. Also I had overlapped the four sprayed coats from the sides with the four coats on the bottom around the radius chine so on the radius chine I had a lot of paint to help with the fairing.
On the bottom the design has three layers of 450 gram double bias glass along the centre line and each layer is wider than the next to achieve a taper from the glassed section to the unglassed section. Now the glass is 1.5 mm thick as a minimum and the taper was not over a wide enough area to remove the appearance of a hollow along the keel line. While this was by design I decided to use the opportunity of an aggressive torture boarding to take off the glass high spots and fill the long hollows. Three days later the bottom is bogged up ready for a final fairing and another two coats of epoxy primer hopefully in more favourable wind conditions.
We had a lovely time sailing to Newcastle and Port Stephens for Sail Port Stephens, a good regatta and a pleasant transit back home via an overnight stop in Pittwater. Along with preparing Passion X for the trip with an engine service and provisioning the event took up two weeks.
This year’s Newcastle to Port Stephens race was our best result on ORCi club since launch. I have removed the Code Zero from the rating and that helped a little and we were pleased to finish mid fleet. On Scratch we were tenth and just a few seconds behind the J111 Black Sheep and a couple of minutes in front of the Farr 30 Nocleks. The reaching leg suited Passion X and we were unable to repeat the performance in the regatta at Port Stephens. We were however mightly pleased with our fifth place.
One day back and the RANSA Winter Wednesday started. With a strong north westely breeze the course had two long reaching legs which again suited Passion X. Initally the two sports boats blasted away for a sizeable lead at the top mark while we rounded with Amante. The positions held up to the turn in Rose Bay when we started beating to windward. Amante leapt ahead but we performed well in the conditons with the No3 jib and a reef in the mainsail. Before long we had overtaken the over powered sports boats and maintained our break on the fleet. The second fastest to Amante and first on handicap was a pleasing result but the handicapper penalised us a full percentage which came into play this week.
This week the breeze was a more traditional West South West with a broader reach up and a work all the way back. After a good start we lost the wind out wide and never fully recovered . We did manage to round the top mark with Allegro, Crosshaven and Amante. Love Byte and Alibi were also in the mix making the rounding very tricky.
We worked back doggerdly picking up yachts as we could and were pleased to pass the Sydney 38 and the First 40 and make up ground on Monkey Magic but at the finish we were seventh fastest and last of a group of four who finished within one minute. Indeed we were on corrected time only a minute and two seconds off of third place.
Well done Foreign Affairs and Meridian for leading the fleet home.
Including today I have had only 8 working days in three weeks so it is no wonder progress seems slow sdo what have we done.
The transom boarding platform was closed off on 14th April. Then I started on the galley furniture completing the panels for the fridge and oven compartments and then started on the chart table. We then left the chart table skeleton while we enjoyed Sail Port Stephens.
On return I reworked the supports for the hull after the turnover. To accommodate the wider hull the supports had to be reshaped and the reworked support surface reglassed to the plywood frame. That is mostly done and sitting next to the building jig.
The skeleton of the chart table was causing me some headaches and I mean that literally as I hit my head on the sharp edges so I was highly motivated to complete the structure and round all the appropriate surfaces. That I did but not before destroying a router bit and taking a small nick out of the plywood. It is all repaired and complete except for the lid on the table and the top of the navigator’s seat.
A lot of painting later the components of the galley and quarter berth lockers are double coated and ready to install. That I am hoping to do tomorrow so that I will have something to show for my efforts.
Coating both sides of the locker fronts takes a minimum of three days as while I can do both sides in a day the coating is not hard enough to sand the following day so they have to be left the extra day to harden. Mix that up with wet weather and other obligations and it seems like time is standing still.
Not wanting to waste any mixed epoxy I have a large area of the V berth primed and sanded ready to take a second coat in the event any paint is unused but sadly the paint is running out on the jobs at hand and the V beths are still in their first coat state.
There are miriad tasks to complete before the hull can be turned. All the joins in the hull have been inspected and any gaps filled with thickened epoxy. All the ply joins have been double glassed and most of the hull to bulkhead joins have been filleted. Just the deck locker and transom area have to have the filleting completed. Once this is done I will finish priming the interior so that after turning it will be protected from any adverse weather events.
