I like Hammocks.

[No Idea]

Er.....

I know what I forgot....

Trying to get that pigging mast up.

It was making me nuts... er... more nuts than usual.

You are supposed to get your crew to stand on one end of it, assuming you have crew with you...

Then you lift the other end and keep pushing until its upright.

All 26 ft of it.

Then you carefully pick it up - making sure not to let the wind catch it and dump it on any nearby cars....

You have to lift it high enough to get it over the side of the boat, and then at full stretch, you lower it onto its step in the middle of the boat.

I need to be at least 2 ft taller, with muscles like Shcwartsnigger and at least some sense of balance....

Eventually, I reached the stage where I had had enough and decided to fix it.

 

[Robbi]

brilliant Idea !

 

[No Idea]

First go....

I stood it on this bit of 2x3 and pulled it.

That wasnt The most successful Idea Ive had.

The mast sort of lurched forward, the wood collapsed and the end of the mast went straight through the boat.

So....

One week of fibreglassing later....

 

[No Idea]

I decided I needed a cradle to lift it and it needed to lift from the floor here.

and up to here...

The angles on it were a real pig to get right.

 

[No Idea]

This was what I wanted to try next.

Well, it sort of looked like it might work...

Famous last words....

 

[No Idea]

So....

with some trepidation....

I strapped on the mast...

It still looked like it might work...

Time to put it on the boat..

 

[No Idea]

I stood a piece of 2x3 on top of it and tied the trailer winch over it and down to the top of the mast.

Sort of..

Winding on the mast handle did this....

Nearly there

It hit the bulkhead and needed shuffling a bit, but it looked workable.

It didnt feel that stable, but anything was better than how it was supposed to be done.

Tried it with more mast under the bottom of the lifter...

This was better, but needed playing with to find the right place.

Having got it this far, a good yank on the winch cable and it went in.

Its on its metal runner - the mast step.

 

[No Idea]

Nervously, the very next day....

It worked!

Brilliant!

Except for the fact the lifter was too wide to fit in the car.

Balls.

Back to the drawing board -

After going sailing, of course

 

[No Idea]

I took the whole thing to bits and started again with two bits to go along the mast, bolted together, so I could strip it down to put it in the car.

I made the build a bit tidier this time too.

I drilled a hole in the two bits for the pin the boom sits on to go through the lifter so its easy to set its height.

The pole stuck out the front takes a wire thats allready on the mast from the spinnaker so fitting the winch cable was simplified.

A bolt held the pole on the lifter.

Easy.

It was a nightmare to design and a real pig to build with all those angles to get the mast to lift between the centreboard handle and the bulkhead, while standing on the floor...

I dont think I would have continued sailing without it though.

Thats it.

Just need to fit the straps..

Then this boat is ready for its next adventure!

 

[No Idea]

I dont remember if I posted why I sail....

My apologies if I did.

22nd October2010

[video=youtube;9XXPXna6E7U]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XXPXna6E7U[/video]

Somehow, you seem to leave all the stress you feel on the beach when you go out, and assuming you dont manage to have a disaster, you come back feeling a hell of a lot better.

Ive No Idea why this should be, but for me it works.

This video was also taken in October 2010, a few days before the previous one.

[video=youtube;kIkAiR0QQuU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIkAiR0QQuU[/video]

 

[No Idea]

Er.....

Potato Thing.

Time for another go....

 

[No Idea]

Another piece of pipe...

I bought two more rubbish pieces - rather than risk the nice ones Ive been given...

Just as well...

This one kinked and Ive messed up by running the vertical down the outside, instead of through the middle.

No Idea how Im going to do it how I need it.

Still....

Another squiggly piece of scrap.

Irritating at £5 per go....

 

[No Idea]

Grrrr.....

Done it wrong AGAIN !

 

[No Idea]

No more potato thing until I work out how to bend the pipe properly

I think I need to make some type of former that will bend it tight enough and also stop it kinking.

I vaguelly remember seeing another pipe bender that might be smaller in a shop somewhere....

Need to go find it.

 

[No Idea]

...In th emeantime....

We built this....

Struggling with it as it sort of warped...

So we went borrowing xmas pressies....

Well, actually, we were delivering them.

Tempting though.

 

[No Idea]

Cerefaul planning requires a nice sharp pencil...

only one of Santas helpers ran off with the sharpener - and probably ate it.

Still, this does work.

 

[No Idea]

Some careful axe work later....

It was still a bit twisted....

 

[No Idea]

Some spacers....

Not altogether sure that classes as bushcraft axework, but the thought was there.

 

[No Idea]

Then of course, it had to be carefully tested to make sure it fitted with current Health and Safety Guidelines.

It passed!

Not sure about the Elf though.

 

[ScotchDave]

NI, I've just caught up on this thread, you're by far the most interesting person I've read about in a long time.

Dave