We are finally at that point where we’ve done the sanding, done the test coats and now we have to do the first coat. Being honest we were quite nervous as we’ve never worked with AWLWood before and not worked with wood in a very long time. But The time was upon us to walk the walk. Preparation Proper, Preparation, … Read More
Classic I14 – Test varnishing the hull
Because we’ve never used AWLWood and we aren’t going down to bare wood, if we can avoid it, this is all a bit of an experiment. So we decided to a couple of test runs on different parts of the hull to make sure that everything works as expected. For AWLWood going over existing varnish you have to sand down … Read More
Classic I14 – Stage 1 – Sanding the hull
The first stage, as ever, involves a lot of sanding, the boat has been varnished on a regular basis so in order to put the new AWLWood on it we need make sure we have a solid foundation. It is also an opportunity to fair the hull and work the deeper dents out. Because the boat is wooden and we … Read More
Classic I14 – Stage 1 and the plan
We’ve started work on “Freebooter” while we are going to modernise the boat, we also want to retain its provenance. Overall the hull is in great condition and has been well looked after, having been regularly varnished. This means that we can focus on fairing and revarnishing the hull. In terms of fittings, they all work and in on the … Read More
Classic International 14 – Our new project
Our last three projects have all been relatively modern boats, ranging from our all carbon fibre modern I14 to the polyester/glass Wildcat F18. In the back of our minds there has always been the memory of a plot we had with Nick Harvey when the National Maritime Museum was auctioning off its collection of classic/historic dinghies. Nick was keen to … 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.
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.
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
14 REFIT STAGE 11 – Iterate & Improve 2
When we designed the rig tensioning system we accidentally over powered the system. In trying to cut the power, we realised that there was an opportunity to cut a little bit of windage, so we changed down to an initial 2:1 purchase, from a 3:1, which brought the total power down to a more reasonable 48:1. As the load is … Read More
Sanding and Varnishing the Bowsprit.
This a republish of a series of Faceplant posts, so may not run together well. February 28 · As the weather improves, so does the motivation to go sailing! Sadly with Ireland so far behind the UK with vaccines, it doesn’t look like we are going sailing for a while yet, so the next Lock Down project is sort out the pole, which … Read More
14 REFIT STAGE 10 – Iterate and improve
No system is perfect from the get go, so we’ve been steadily iterating and improving the systems on the boat. For example we accidentally, well T-Bear got his maths wrong on the shroud tensioning system which ended up very over powered and almost impossible to ease under normal sailing loads. Nice and easy to pull on though. When we originally … Read More
14 REFIT STAGE 9 – Rig Controls
With the control deck and forward block plate fitted, we could move on to fitting the primary rig controls; Forestay, Shrouds and jib halyard. They all will have their tackle systems up in the bow area and needed to be efficiently lead back to the front of the cockpit. The objective was to create powerful systems but to keep the … Read More
14 REFIT STAGE 8 – Forward Block Plate
When we weighed the boat before taking her apart, we found that the boat was over weight by about 5 kilos. Not particularly significant in terms of performance, but it is aways worth making the boat as light as possible. Areas where we could make weight savings includes the deck gear and layouts. We took 10 Kilos of deck gear, … Read More
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