Truth be told, this weather is Old Hat for the Sorg WILLOW, which was built in Detroit and spent most of her life in St. Clair, Michigan. And the Alcort Catfish SMEDLEY spent a great deal of time in Schenectady, NY. They are probably much happier with this weather than the wilting Florida heat.
The temp dropped from 60F to 30F, we got close to 4 inches of rain over 24 hours, but only the last bit of precipitation froze. Our max wind gust was 13.6. I think we like this, thanks Frida.
More prep for the move, lowered the mast on SMEDLEY. I wanted to see if I could lower it myself, so we tied a line side to side and also around the wing strut to keep the base of the mast from flying off. There is an eyestrap on the forward base of the mast, not sure why it is there, maybe for stepping and unstepping the mast?
Tied the mainsheet to the forestay, then led that line over the mast crutch on the forward part of the trailer. That made a little better angle to lower the mast. Once the shrouds got loose the mast moved off to one side, but not too far. The base popped loose once the mast was bout 3/4 of the way down but it did not go too far.
Hauled SMEDLEY up to our trailer guy Eddie so he can cut a foot off of the tongue to make the trailer 15 feet long total. We had him make it way too long, and now the trailer can fit inside the Pod. The mast will ride inside a 26 foot UHaul.
Skipper back from her successful "peaker" cruise on our Alcort Catfish SMEDLEY. As part of My Peak Challenge she pledged to sail a catamaran, something she had not done before 2018. She also had to build her sailing muscles as part of being able to handle SMEDLEY's 130 sguare foot sail. SMEDLEY had a good time and we want to thank all the folks who helped get her back out seat, esp Scott, Susan, Jack and Eddie's crew.
My Peak Challenge is a fundraiser as well as a comprehensive monthly workout and nutrition program. This year, My Peak Challenge supports the great organizations Bloodwise and Marie Curie. We are happy to be part of the community and are looking forward to the next pledge.
We stepped the mast on SMEDLEY, adjusted the side stays, rigged the sail, downhaul, mainsheet and rudder.
Launched SMEDLEY and Skipper for Sea Trials and they both did great. SMEDLEY moved smartly in light winds, the sail set great and SMEDLEY tacked and gybed with ease. The deck was comfortable and there was lots of room to move around, the twin rudders were super cool. Our thanks to everyone, especially Capn Scott, for helping find her and get her back on the water.
Now we prep for her debut at Juana's Good Time Regatta in September.
Rigged the centerboard uphaul with 3/16th inch StaSet.
We had some new side stays made and based on the tang pin size the rigger suggested bumping them up from 3/16th inch diameter to 1/4. We'll get it set up and see how we like it, it just looks different now with thicker stays, but we imagine after a few days we won't notice. Certainly won't hurt to have the extra strength.
The 3/4 inch polyester resin bearings on either side of the pivoting centerboards were broken off. They ride in channels on either side of the centerboard trunk and are used to position the centerboard and provide a pivot point.
We decided to make new bearings out of a 3/4 inch oak dowel. We cut the dowel just a little long and rounded the ends with a 3/4 inch roundover bit on a compact trim router. We held the work piece with vise grips to keep our fingers clear of the router bit.
The old bearings were held in with rusty nails, Skipper used an awl to chip away bits of the damaged fiberglass and start a new hole for the dowel.
Rounded out the dowel hole to just over 3/4 inch with a rat tail file and a rounded diamond grit tile file.
We made the hole just over 3/4 so we could bed the new oak bearing in TotalBoat THIXO thickened epoxy, that epoxy coating helped seal up the raw fiberglass.
Test fit.
Added a small strip of 4 oz fiberglass along the front edge of the board by the bearing, wet out with TotalBoat Low Viscosity THIXO. This will help protect the centerboard should it swing forward of vertical and strike the forward edge of the trunk.
We also used THIXO to build back a damaged area on the tip of the starboard centerboard.
Line for our Alcort Catfish SMEDLEY. On the left is some 5/32d Dyneema that we might use for a temporary side stay and also use for the centerboard uphauls. We also bought New England Rope StaSet, 3/16th for the halyard, bow line, downhaul and outhaul and 5/16th for the sheet. And picked up drain plugs for the transom.
