Happy July to you. We did a bit of work on Ravenswing in June, so here’s a recap.
The daggerboard got the bottom paint for the section that rests below the standing water line.
Griffin and I took it to the boat, and darned if it didn’t get stuck in the case. It’s about a millimeter wrong, so we have a bit of shaving to do for a proper, snug fit. Nuts.
Next up is a set of upgrades to the boom. The outboard end with the turning sheaves for the outhaul and clew reefing lines didn’t do a proper job of separating and fair-leading the lines. Now it will get a proper fitted sheave box:
Under heavy sailing, we’ve had some flex in the boom’s walls, so we’re beefing up the bottom side bridges with carbon uni straps.
The reefing lines for the sail’s clew points were terminating on the boom with clutches and the winch to crank in the reefs. As Jim will tell you, that was a less than ideal set up. We’re now going to bring the mainsail reefing controls back to the cockpit. (Similar to Round Midnight’s setup, Rick). So off comes the custom pads we built a couple years back.
Back on deck, various sail handling details continue. Showing you a new cleat for the reacher sail’s furling gear to explain the new way we’re putting any holes in the deck or cabin sides. Drill oversized, swab the hole with epoxy, and bond in a bit of fiberglass tube whose inside diameter fits the part’s necessary hardware size.
Finally, a note for Arno for his fantastic new Thriller. We’re really happy with these Armstrong deck inspection hatches. They fit and seal really well. But because they don’t have any frame, they’re untethered when removed. I imagined dropping one of these at sea, and ran for the drill and a bit of string. Just a thought, Arno!
Appreciate your sharing the details of your mods, and, yes, tethering inspection hatches obviates the need to keep a spare down below. Dumb question: for mounting hardware, what are the pros/cons of epoxying in a fiberglass tube vs. drilling an oversize hole and filling with epoxy mix and then drilling that out? Presumably you still put in some type of backing plate(?).
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Joe, the tube trick is resulting in a nice clean install. No chance now for air bubbles in the thickened epoxy of an overdrill&fill approach. And it happens faster, mostly because there’s no repainting necessary. With the tube approach you mask the whole area on both sides and loose epoxy is wiped away before it ever touches finished paint. I made a mess each time with the prior method. That was ok in the shop before the boat was painted, but now the tubes are great for all this retrofit stuff.
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Thanks for that, and I’ll give it a try. The tube also resists compression distortion as the fitting hardware is tightened.
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