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.

The guides are coming along.

So, today I worked on the new keel guides some more.  I've decided to go with metal 1.5" square tubing in which I milled a 5/8" slot on one side.  A friend of mine managed to get me some ( I think they're teflon) 2" wide by 1/4" thick strips of a plastic (teflon?) that they use as the slides for truck trailer axles.  I cut them to 2 pieces 47" long and 1" wide and 4 pieces 1/4" wide to line the inside of the metal pieces.  Today I got as far as drilling and tapping all the holes and priming the metal bits. It's a much slower process than I originally thought it would be but I really don't want to have to do this again within the next decade or two so I'm going to take my time and do it right. Of course, I'd much rather be sailing.  :)

Great Sailing but Oh! that *&#@$%^&* daggerboard

So had a great sail Thursday and Friday.  Took the kids out and had a nice gentle breeze to get used to the boat.  Ben had a hand at the tiller a number of times while set sails and adjusted the rigging.  During one lull Ben wanted to fish and so I let him throw the line out the back and a minute later he had a 14" small mouth which we kept for dinner.  Then on Friday as we returned I went to crank up the daggerboard and it stuck...but good.  Seems the guides were in worse condition than I thought so after sitting in the water for two days they got really soft and the daggerboard just dug in and stuck at the front.  My brother and I tried everything to get it back up but nothing worked. We even removed the stop bolt to see if that might be the problem.  Of course then it leaked.  So I motored over to the marina and he met me there with the trailer. I ended up having to cut the forward guide and pull it out.  Then on lifting the daggerboard, it cut into the truck and busted the fibreglass which meant I now had a fountain inside the boat.  I shoved a piece of plywood under the pulley header to support it, split the front of the trunk to allow the daggerboard to come up and then cranked.  Up it came and we quickly winched it onto the trailer and hauled it out.  WHEW!  Now it's at home and I have to redo the guides.  My brother's Matilda has steel guides so I'm thinking that might be a better way to go. Then I'll never have to worry about it again. Good thing I'm handy with glass work cause I also need to rebuild the trunk that I destroyed in the process.