Sat 1 May, HHN day 18: I’ve been at it most of the day but don’t seem to have too much to show for it. Lots of small bity jobs. And A LOT of time wasted chasing Torlon balls around the deck.
Wow …. May 1st already. Time flies when you are enjoying yourself. Another beautiful day here. I really could get to like the weather here. On the other hand, we have not done a summer or winter in Maryland. Just spring and autumn.
I start by removing the masking tape on the bow thruster screw holes that I filled yesterday. Very pleased with how they have come out. Just a light sanding and they will be ready to get an epoxy primer coat. As I don’t intend to do anything else with the thruster tunnel right now, I temporarily reinstall the 2 props so that I’m not hunting for the nuts, screws and anodes when we return in the autumn. I was tempted to antifoul paint in there, but I’ll do that all at one time, just before we launch.
It’s still a chilly breeze outside, but the tent workshop is perfect. Better make the most of it before the hotter days are coming next week.
First, putting the modified sheaves back into the boom sheave carriage that goes on the end of the outhaul piston. I could have simply purchased 2 new sheaves @$800 but chose instead to repair and modify the existing damaged sheaves in a machine shop in Bucharest, @$180. Have to say I’m pretty pleased with how smooth it all works once reassembled.
Next, and in between other things, I nip down to the ground to spray Zinc Chromate on the gooseneck backing plates. Horrible greeny-yellow colour, but won’t be seen inside the mast. Tomorrow I will install the helical inserts once the paint is dried.
Next job should have been one of those super simple jobs to do and tick off …. But it wasn’t: Adding Torlon balls to the mainsheet traveler. When returning from Cayman last year we had an accidental gybe which knocked the mainsheet traveler end off and broke 2 clutches. I’ve replaced the clutches now, but I still need to add Torlon balls to the mainsheet traveler because we had lost most of them on the gybe.
In the traveler there are 104 of these expensive little balls which allow it to run smoothly on the track, even when under huge load. In the spare parts store that we inherited with Cloudy Bay, there was a short length of mainsheet track. But I could never work out why we would need it, so in one of my rare cleansing sessions I threw it out ☹. I soon realized you need this short piece of track to put in the traveler car (upside down) while you put all the balls in, then simply run the traveler from this dummy track onto the main one. (I was deprived as a child and never had a model train set, otherwise I might have thought about the need for such a track). OK, I’ll get to the point, and the problem.
I got a short new piece of track from HR-Parts, but it is not quite long enough and it’s not the same profile as the actual mainsheet track on Cloudy Bay.
This leads me to spending ALL afternoon filling the traveler with exactly 104 balls, then trying to slide it onto the track and failing, with balls escaping everywhere. Multiply this sequence by 6 or 7 (I lost count) and you can see where the time went. I was pretty patient for the first few attempts, but almost lost it by the end. If the boat was not covered the traveler would have been doing some traveling through the air, and as far away as possible. After the second attempt, I even rigged up a ball catchment area to save time playing hide and seek with them! I’m sure we will be finding the ones that escaped for many months to come!
Another problem was the dorade vent. When we gybed and the traveler shot off the end of the track, it didn’t seem the least bit bothered about the metal protection frame around the nearby dorade vent. But to get the traveler back on the track, that frame is definitely in the way. So, it was head lining down again in the aft cabin to get the nuts off and remove the frame. What a faff!
I finally ended up triumphantly getting the traveler on the track complete with 104 balls, by 7pm. I ended up with a much-modified piece of short track … with 2 x 1ft rulers taped to each side. I’m actually wondering now if HR sent me the wrong track profile on purpose, knowing full well it would end up making a hilarious video of frustration!
But while the traveler is back on the track, the track end stops are not. Both end stops decided they would have the last laugh of the day and striped their threads! Oooph it never rains, but it pours! So, another hour added to drill out the threads and add helical inserts. Could have done that in the morning. But I was not about to go to bed leaving that traveler on its track with no end stops. For certain it would have managed to escape off one end or the other during the night!
By 10pm the “simple” job is done, including putting the vent frame back on and the headlining back up. Now to write the blog and have a shower.
