During the IMA National Championships at Swords, Ireland, in September, we were down working on the 600, near to the club house, building a set of Spectra/Dynema shrouds to replace the damaged metal ones. Before anyone says anything, yes we know they aren’t class legal but… Predictably this generated a lot of interest, given spectra is banned in rigging for … Read More
RS600 – Sailing on the 17th of October
It was a very gusty day at Swords, wind ranging from sat on the side, too flat out wiring and back again. Usually quick rapidly. Here is a short video. Top speed for the day was 14.2 knots.
RS600 – Sail Comparison very old vs brand new
Our shiny new sail arrived today, many thanks to a good friend who brought it over for us. Obviously the first thing we wanted to do was compare it with our existing crisp packet… sorry sail. So we decided to share what we saw. To be clear, our old sail is very old, so it has shrunk over the years, … Read More
RS600 – The project block and rope equipment list
A breakdown of the fittings and cordage used for the RS600 refit.
RS600- Iterate and optimise the controls
We’ve had a good number of outings on the boat now, and it’s given us the opportunity to fine tune the initial systems. Nothing to major, but more about making the boat as easy to sail as possible. But first lessons learnt to date, firstly the boat is so much easier to sail than the International 14. The boat is … Read More
I14 & RS600- Unpacking our shiny new tiller extensions (Ok they have a matt finish)
The problem with carbon or glass tiller extensions is they are notoriously fragile if you fall over the side! A stronger solution is a kevlar/carbon composite, kevlar being a super tough material. Hence they make bullet proof jackets out of it. But it is also very difficult to effectively laminate together, its hard to get the resin penetration. Enter our … Read More
RS600 – Fitting out the main control systems, new mainsheet and bridles
Big day, the weather was great in Ireland, despite a bad forecast, we had sunshine and light winds, so decided to hit the RS600 hard.
RS600 – Tidying up the racks, add the take up systems for the controls
If you are thing this might the wrong way around, you would normally be right. Instead of keeping the mass of metal saddles, rings.
RS600 – Mast rebuild, some new rigging & cleaned up fittings
After a few days of curing the we took the mast out of the shed and rebuilt it. Did something I haven’t done in years… used a rivet gun.
RS600 – Varnishing The Mast, Takes Time And Patience
We are using Epifanes 2 part polyurethane varnish for the new coating. We are using polyurethane instead of epoxy because it is more flexible and hard wearing.
RS600 – Sanding the Mast, just need to be careful
Been sanding the Mast in the evenings. The picture above is actually of the starboard side of the mast before we started rather than after.
Finalising the 14 and continue to strip the RS600 down
First job was to finish the 14, the old Pole Sock has reached the end of its life, so Phillip Watson of Watson Sails in Kinsealy made us a new one.
RS600 – Breakdown, clean and make the job list
We got the boat home, yes she is neglected, but it looks like she is fundamentally sound. First we had to take all of the not permanently attached kit off the boat. We are going to strip the boat all the way down, wings off the whole lot, just to be sure there is no hidden damage. While we are … Read More
We had a crash – now to fix it! Pt 2
With the hull sanded back to the laminate, we needed to prepare the hull for laminating. First thing to do was to mask the painted hull, so we didn’t contaminant the hull any more than we had. The real risk with doing this is you can end up causing impact as you sand and repair by impacting the surrounding area.
A new project – RS600
With lockdown in Ireland we’ve been banned from sailing the 14 as both of us are outside of the 5km boundary. Also its not exactly subtle to turn up to a club with an International 14! Getting hold of any single handers in Ireland has been next to impossible, more so for trapeze single handers. However fate decided to intervene … Read More
Revarnishing the Bowsprit, oh joy more sanding.
When we refitted the boat, we decided that the bowsprit and boom were in ok shape, not brilliant but ok. The pole in particular has started to take a bit of a battering, and the resin coating was flaking off. As we are stuck in a hard lockdown in Ireland and no sailing is likely for a while, T-Bear decreed … Read More
Linking the lowers to the rake.
In practice this didn’t work so we reverted back to the previous system. More thought required. On faceplate we follow articles by Thomson Boat Works who customise 505s and noticed this one about an auto-adjusting mast ram: Thomson Boat Works As we are suffering from Covid Lockdown boredom and the fact the pole is finished we decided to see if … Read More
We had a crash – now to fix it! Pt 1
We were sailing in after a good day’s sail, last year, in light conditions, but with gusts coming over the top of Howth Harbour wall. In fairness we had switched off a bit, came out of a tack heeled over, were bearing away to avoid a metal nav mark when a gust hit the top of the rig. We were … Read More