Today we have added the diagonal supports to our boat cradle to stop any chance of the new legs bending sideways towards the narrower part of the hull.
We have used 6mm dyneema with locking brummel eye splices lined with stainless thimbles.
Coarse length adjustment is with a 2.5mm dyneema lashing. Fine adjustment uses the original turnbuckles from the mizzen mast.
Jane did the 8 eye splices in about 3 hours.
Today we have removed 8 stanchions and their bases (timing due to someone else wanting the bases for their boat). Clearly been a source of leaks.
We have drilled each bolt hole and countersunk from above and below. Now filling hourglass shape with slightly thickened epoxy.
The places where the diagonal braces for the gate were attached by 2 screws had 4 holes so filling these too.
We have kept the starboard gate stanchions for the moment as they make it much easier to get on and off the ladder.
Preparing for new carbon fiber stanchions (see old “Tula’s Endless Summer” video below for technique)
Today this has arrived
A 5000kg crane scale. Now we can test our rigging by measuring both the input (the tension we apply to the end of the lashing) and the output (how much tension is in the actual shroud or chainplate loop).
But I hadn’t realised that a 5000kg scale would be so much larger than the 1000kg scale we have used so far!
I haven’t been posting much here as I’ve mostly been working on our YouTube channel, however, I thought I would show some pictures of the new mizzen mast foot support work.
I am also adding some fibreglass tape to increase strength where we have cut away the starboard bulkhead to provide access to our “pullman” style double bed.
While doing this work in the aft cabin we have also finished (at last) the chainplate backing plates in the aft cabin. They were the first we did and we over complicated things with a full length plywood backing plate, plus a shorter plywood backing plate for the 3 shroud attachment points. Anyway the FR4 plates have been added and so that part of epoxy work in the aft cabin has been completed.
We have also been working in the lazarette on supports for the solar panel frames. As part of that work we found and fixed a void in the stern at the hull/deck joint and the damage caused by the davits that had been fitted without backing plates.
Now back to the video editing that will show all this.
Been a bit slow updating the blog, we have several new videos and this evening I have bought a new-to-us mainsail (from a Westerly Fulmar). We will probably have to add a very small extra reef point as the default setting point because it is very slightly too large but for £200 it will be a lot better than what we have. That significantly reduces the amount of work to do on sails (just new soft webbing hanks on the foresails).
We are not at the boat this weekend as we both have Covid and it has laid us up all week.
Anyway on with the videos, quite dramatic changes:
After some discussions on the Rival FaceBook group and further reflection I think some compromises were forced on Peter Brett when drawing the centre cockpit version of the 38. So there wasn’t enough space for a full length v-berth, a watertight bulkhead and a route for the chain that wasn’t through the middle of the berth. They chose a v-berth for kids, a neatly hidden chain but no watertight bulkhead (which the 41 has, not sure about the other models).
Our priorities are different. We want low risk (hence watertight compartments), better anchoring (more and heavier chain below deck, electric windlass, bigger anchor that self stows better – we have a whole load of videos about the new bow roller), maximised sailing performance (hence wanting to store the chain as far aft as possible for better weight distribution). So we are not at all worried that occasional guests will clamber/crawl into either the port side generously sized adult berth or the starboard child sized berth.
We won’t finish this cabin apart from the bulkheads and shoot for the chain until next year but it will be enough for us to fit the windlass and so be able to anchor.
We would really appreciate it if you subscribe to our YouTube channel, it is free. Plus Like and share the videos as it really helps us grow the channel. Especially we welcome your comments on them.
Only 1 month to go and I’ll have 3 months working almost full-time on the boat as I have a work Sabbatical. So there should be lots of progress 🙂
Our latest video has been getting some really helpful comments on YouTube as well as directly. It has also helped us to reach a new milestone 🙂
It definitely seems worth exploring more. Particularly to consider some of practicalities that people have raised including:
We are planning a similar design for attaching a Jordan Series Drogue (JSD), potentially better than our previous idea.
Anyway, thank for the support on YouTube, it is encouraging and YouTube responds by sharing the videos more.
Our next video is available (somewhat delayed because due to a bug in kdenlive I had to render it 3 times and each one takes 12 hours now that we are producing it at 4K resolution).
Hope you enjoy it 🙂
Our next video showing our new chainplate loops being tested is now available (took 9 hours to render because we have prepared it at 4K resolution).
Hopefully this will make the way our chainplates will work far clearer.
See https://youtu.be/Dw0J0Bm5Nd4 for our first video in a Dyneema rigging series. An overview Q&A
Our next video is now on YouTube as we get to dry fit the new Bow Roller (biggest Rival Bow Roller in the world?). We even have Subtitles/Closed Captions this time.
As we create new videos we are basically working at developing three playlists at the moment:
The best way to catch them is to Subscribe to the channel (remember to hit the notification bell).
The best ways to help us improve the videos and keep them coming are to:
Many thanks
Sustainable Sailing 