A sad summer

Well, it's been a while since I posted here.

Stored the boat here on the front lawn for the winter and when I checked her in the spring I found that the chain plates were all loose. There was about a quarter inch travel up and down in their slots. Not good. I was going to fix all that over the summer but too many other projects came up that had to be done so there she sat. I did buy the stainless steel to make new chain plates in the middle of the summer. Last week I finally had time to design the new look. Today I took them into the machine shop at my school and the shop teacher helped me CNC machine the new chain plates. I will then through-bolt these new plates onto the outside of the hull with backing plates that will be glassed onto the inside of the hull to give them more structural integrity. The old chain plates will also be left in place to add to the rigidity of the new setup.

 The old chain plate still on the boat.  This will be cut down and then epoxied over.

The blanks for the new chain plates and backing plates ready to be milled.

In the CNC milling machine.  The bottom end has a nice fleur de lis on it.  

Last Summer Sail

Yesterday I took Alain out for the sail I owed him for thinking up the name Winded for the boat.  We sailed out of Bronte Harbour and headed south toward Hamilton because they were calling for winds out of the S that day.  They ended up staying out of the NE all day.  We got back pretty late.  Still it was a nice sail through the fog.

The bimini

So today I set up the bimini and dodger to see what it looks like.  

 

 Not Bad, eh?
They just forgot one thing...

They forgot to make a way for the backstay bridle to pass through.
Can't quite get the back piece on this way.

It makes for a nice tent on the back of the boat though.  I don't think I'd sail her like this.

First Pictures on Winded

Took the boat up to the cottage and moored her on Gull lake for a few days.  We got one half-decent sailing day in on Thursday.  These are the pictures that Sue took aboard and a couple I took of her moored.

Winded is now ready to go back into the water.

Well, today I put Winded back on her trailer. I also cleaned up most of the wiring and tucked it away neatly with surface mounted plastic wire conduit. Looks much better than having it pop in and out of the molding. I also wired in the depth finder and hooked up the connectors for the VHF antenna. Unfortunately the knotmeter is toast. I just can't seem to get it working again. Guess I'll just have to use the GPS to tell me how fast I'm going. Now I can go sailing again.  Of course that has to wait now because Thursday we're going on a canoe trip to Algonquin and then Sunday we're heading to the cottage for a week.  Maybe I'll take it along to the cottage and sail her a day or two on Gull Lake.

Guides are in!

Well, I've finished installing the keel guides and re-glassed the trunk to make it water tight again. Yesterday the centreboard went back in.  The new guides work really well.  The centreboard slides easily and there is now very little play either front to back or side to side. Now to finish the electrical and then I can go sailing again. WOOOHOOOO!

Guides ready to go in

Well the guides are now ready to go back in the boat.  I've attached some picks of the guides with the plastic lining. I wrecked my knee over the weekend so now I have to let that heal up before I can squat enough to get them back into place. Really, I'm hoping to get the boat back in the water before the end of the summer.