Monthly Archives: November 2020

Getting those parts ready

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Here’s a quick update on the various bits being made for the next trip to Ravenswing, after Thanksgiving.

The three carbon panels needed for new radar mount. I won’t assemble until on-site to decide how high to mount the intermediate “shelf”; that will house the PA/loudspeaker/foghorn unit.

Top one is the new escape hatch outer panel, lower profile and traced out for exact fit (boat side is not a perfect circle).

These are 6” inspection hatches for the float forward bulkheads. The 3” versions I took last time are too small. Couldn’t get a hand thru to mop up stray water up front! Made these with a couple bucks in materials, vs about $90 to get two Armstrong hatches shipped here. Same design.

Revised outboard motor transom plates for the TacoCat dinghy. Drew, the smaller one has beefed up routed notches top and bottom to lock in place with the tabs on the SS cross bars.

Just some polyurethane clear coat left to do on this handy little shelf that goes where the chartplotter used to be, just inside the companionway. Will help reduce cockpit clutter of binocs, handheld electronics, etc.

This one is a bona fide project. That’s the boat’s second, and better rudder. Here we are taking a mold from the section of the blade that sits in the steering cassette when underway. Recall from when we launched, the very heavy helm because the rudder wasn’t “balanced” with the right ratio of surface area ahead of and behind its pivot axis. I think I built the rudder gudgeons angle of attack to Farrier’s plan spec, so I don’t know where things went a bit haywire. For those wanting more info, go back in time on this site and search on ‘rudder’ or send a comment. Anyway, the original rudder has an ugly wedge adhered to the top 2’, which pushes the head back and the bottom tip forward under the boat. The helm is very well balanced with this revised angle. So four years later I’m finally making a proper wedge to permanently install in the cassette.

We repeated the process to get two shaped sections. They need to be flush together on the lower end, and 1-3/4” apart on the top end. So tonight one side is getting some nice light old dry fir that I’ll shape tomorrow.

The upcoming work trip will also feature a total re-do of the main saloon ports. All the fixed lexan panels will be replaced with three-per-side Vetus opening ports.

Yeah, I’m the weirdo who today took a grand worth of nicely anodized aluminum window frames, scuffed them up, primed and painted black. I really want them to blend in to the big black stripe section of the boat, and was most disappointed to be told by the factory they have suspended making black anno frames during the pandemic. Or at least they won’t promise them within four months. So hopefully our careful spray can job will hold up well enough. I plan to let them cure a week before handling.

And on a Thanksgiving note, Griffin and Taylor drove west (after negative COVID tests) and the new skipper got to see his speedboat for the first time! They love it, and I’m not totally heartbroken the engine isn’t fully sorted. The boat will stay here until spring thaw in CO, so the elder Carters plus Anton & others can do some ripping around soon. Bill at Marine Outboard in Sausalito is about six weeks backlogged with work!

Hope you guys are enjoying the Ravenswing videos. They take a long time to make and at some point I should get decent software. But please do let me know if it’s boring or you want to see different stuff about our H2O travels…