Evanston: sprited
Evanston: sprited
I had to place the saddle farther aft than I wanted because of a deck plate for a cowl vent, which was on GANNET when I bought her, and to reach the balsa cored sandwich construction. The triangle forward of that is only one thin layer of fiberglass. I have pushed the ⅓ unsupported to ⅔ supported rule to get the forward end even this far beyond the bow. Whether the sprit is worth the complication and expense, I do not yet know.
The installation required me to drill six more holes in the deck and cut one 1¾” diameter. In these, as all the previous holes I’ve drilled to install winches and solar panels, I have found the balsa core pristine and dry. Steve, the previous owner, did an excellent job recoring much of the deck, for which I thank him.
There isn’t much clearance between the pulpit and the headstay and I am going to have to put some kind of protection around the sprit there.
We spent the night on board and, after going over to put the Maine license plate on the trailer the next morning, went for a brief sail. While at the trailer, I inspected the tires and found cracks in three. I assume there are some in the fourth as well, and will buy four new ones, though I’m not certain how I’ll get them on the trailer or the trailer to them.
Saturday was a lovely sunny day, but with little wind and we didn’t get far enough offshore to try out the asymmetrical on the sprit.
We also failed to calibrate the Signet tiller pilot. Twice we went through the process, but most of the time we couldn’t even get the obstinate thing to enter calibration mode.
I once had a Simrad chartplotter on THE HAWKE OF TUONELA, which was the most unintuitive electronic device I have ever owned. I was glad when it finally failed and I replaced it with a much less expensive and much better Navman unit.
I am considering selling the Simrad TP 10 on eBay and buying another Autohelm.
I may add Simrad to Facnor as firms whose products I will never buy again. Facnor for their deplorable customer service in the U.S.
In order for us to sleep on the v-berth, I reorganized the interior.
GANNET now has a designated galley duffle bag and another for clothes. Many other things have come to have their assigned places, although I have yet to decide where to put the Silva compass. Most of what I would still like to do is in the way of replacement--mast, boom, maybe rudder and depthsounder--and cosmetic--painting deck and topsides--rather than addition. I continue to be undecided about a self-steering vane, which would solve some problems, while creating others, such as reinforcing the transom, weight aft, drag, conflict with the backstay, and relocating the outboard mount. Although I have used vanes on many boats, my inclination is not to put one on GANNET.
The little boat is coming together.
Sunday, August 19, 2012