White stern

I chose a terribly hot day to white out the stern sections. Sweat came down in buckets. But it looked good enough after the job was finished. ...Surprising how a little painting can be tiring... I almost called it a day, once finished.

But then I thought better, and considered preparing the rudder blade. After sanding, cutting the lateral ply sheets, vacuum cleaning, I managed to get it all glued up. After curing, the next challenge will be to shape the blade. I'm not sure how I will do it.

Moving test of the rudder

Last week I did the first real full test of the steering, with all parts in place and working. The test was recommended before I glued the upper "table" into place, because this would commit me to the whole assembly. All parts moved nice and smoothly, and the turning ratio was according to my expectations. One turn of the wheel turns the rudder at about 45 degrees, which is the maximum turn.

On the video you still see some slack in the steering lines. this is because the lines are not yet fully tensioned. I will also take great care not to have the lines chafing at any point. But the test was enough to reveal that this will not be a problem.

Since all was right and nice, I glued on the rudder tube and the table. The next step will be to paint the stern sections, and then I will close the rear deck.

Steering tested

There we go. I have now a working steering mechanism. Today I´ve set it up for the first time, and it works like a charm. It takes one turn for a 45 degree rudder turn. Which is just fine, in my opinion.

AC 72 - How it went over, and how it was recovered

Steel works

Today I made a quick trip out to the boat shed, only to receive the work done by Claudio. With his jobs now in hand I can proceed with fixing the internal structure, and closing the rear deck.

Claudio has produced some stainless steel fittings, and done some alterations on existing parts. The steel quadrant required some reinforcement, and an alteration on the blocking of the quadrant on the shaft. It was previously done with a pin. Now I have a "chaveta" wich is much stronger. Don't ask me how this is called in english. See it between the top end of the shaft and the quadrant.

 A steel plat has been produced to fix the upper end of the shaft.

The steering drum, which will receive the steering cables has been fixed and perforated to receive the cables. Now I have all I need for the steering mechanism. Hope it works.

 A strong fixing point has been produced for the fore stay.

 All in all I was happy with his clean job, and quick delivery.

Vestas chasing the world speed record

This video shows impressively how hard it is to keep control over a sailboat going at over 50 knots of speed.

Hard wood fitting for the shrouds

On Friday, yesterday, I met the guy who will finish the rudder quadrant and steering wheel mechanism. I have also asked him to produce the deck fitting for the forestay attachment. While waiting for him, I was thinking about the shroud fittings, which in my mind would have to be stainless steel. But then I remembered, that I might just as well see what Wharram designed to solve the problem of attaching the shrouds. Not totally surprisingly, he didn't work with stainless at all, but rather with a wooden cleat. So I decided to go down this route.

The same day, yesterday, I bought some very hard and resistant wood; Ipê (iron wood). And today I produced the two stout cleats which will hold the shrouds, left and right. These will be glued on and receive through-going bolts, which will go through structural parts of the hull. The cleat will hold a synthetic fiber loop, which will hold the stainless steel wire, which will then actually be the shroud.

For the starboard side I have decided to put it underneath the aka. In case of a failure, the aka itself will hold the stay. And structurally the attachment is sounder.  

On the port side the attachment point will be "traditional". Structural reinforcements are already in place, since I was finishing the inside of the cabin.

Sailing mother

Cariocas, the fine little wooden boat, has always captivated me. Why?  Must be a family thing. For the other day I found this great picture of my mother sailing a Carioca in the 60-ies! I guess this explains many things.

Cariocas were the first boats I sailed on. In the tender age of 1 or 2 my mom and dad would take me along for a sail, sitting in a small chair, which was hooked to the windward rail of a Carioca. Maybe even the very one seen on this picture. The picture was taken a long time before I arrived, though.

Rainy Day movie

Madness sailing

Chesapeake Light Craft has posted on Facebook a few very cool pictures of the yellow proa madness sailing.

Despite the rain

Despite a very rainy day, I managed to get this and that done. At first I had in mind to glue on the rudder tube. However, since I need to still work on the rudder shaft and quadrant, I refrained from gluing. I thought it better to have all parts ready before committing. Imagine if I had to work on the tube for some reason...

 Instead of gluing the rudder tube, I laminated two layers of glass onto the mast partner, at deck level..

 The image below shows the underside of the mast parter.

Rainy day

Mast step continued

Today I had only a short while to work on the boat, but I managed to glue the last layer of the mast step. The last one goes on the underside of the deck, and it effectively bonds the whole thing to the rigid structure underneath the deck. It is this structure which should take any forces, not the deck itself.

 As next step I will laminate the thing with two layers of glass cloth.

Coming days

A couple of holidays will give opportunity to work on the boat.

Nixe - A tortured plywood proa

"Nixe" is an interesting 12 meter proa, being built in Thailand. Alex is advancing rapidly using a construction technique called "Tortured Plywood", which stresses the plywood sheets into a round bilge form. The technique, which was described by the Gougeon Brothers, allows for very quick building times. This is impressively demonstrated by Alex, who in just about a month has his boat already taking shape. His design looks simple and straightforward without loosing points on looks. I'll be very curious to see Nixe sailing. Possibly even before Arpex? 

 I found Nixe on the Proafile, where Alex is sharing his construction photos and experiences in the forum.

To test the construction technique and the proa concept Alex has built a smaller version of his boat - "Kleinnixe" - as seen on the pictures below. He sailed it briefly before going to Thailand the build his big, 12 meter boat. Alex manages to find quite pleasing forms, bringing the effective construction technique to good use.

Sailing magic

Great picture by Gabor T urcsi captures the magic of sailing.

Other recent pictures

Sometimes I'm tempted to think that all it needs it a little bit of paint to have it all ready to go to the water. But of course this is not quite the case. A not unsignificant number of tasks is still on the To-do-list.

As for example:

- Finish the rudder

- Finish the internal rudder structure

- Glue and finish the rear deck

- Finish the mast partner and mast step

- Plan and produce the beck between the hulls

- Plan and produce the support for the engine

- Develop and install the deck fittings

- ... the list goes on, and I haven't even reached the ama, which also needs finishing, the aka attachements...

Mast partner

Apart from picking up the mast for Arpex, and stare at the construction for quite a while, which looks more and more like a real boat, as the details appear and finishing progresses, I have glued the second top layer of the mast partner at deck level. the next step will be to glue another layer at the underside of the deck, and then laminate all with fiberglass.

A mast on top

Yesterday I´ve picked up the mast that Rogerio and Fred have built for Arpex. Since the location of Rogerio's construction is also accessible from the bay, and is also pretty close to my own, I decided to pick it up per boat. Valmir volunteered to join, to help carry the stick.

For the ride, a friendly skipper, Aritana, was kind enough to take Valmir and me to the Clube de S. Cristóvao, wait for a short while for me to get the permit to exit with material, and drive us back.

Once back in the Iate Clube de Ramos, a couple of helping hands were ready to lift it to its  storage location above the boat. The whole operation went very smoothly, and I was happy to see the mast hovering, safely tucked up, above his soon-to-be partner - Arpex.

In my opinion Arpex and its mast look very good together. I am happy, indeed, to have another step of the project concluded. Thanks to Rogerio and Fred for building the stick. They are now a part of this project.

Classe Brasil 40 in peril

This is an S.O.S. call!

A Class Brasil 40, which has been sitting in the Iate Clube de Ramos for a few year now, protected in a shed, waiting for a renovation, has now been put out into the weather. Since the hull is scrapped and open, it won´t last for long, now that it is exposed to the elements. I´m afraid that the clock has started ticking on a terminal countdown.

I hope the owner reverts the situation. Otherwise, I suppose, the only hope is that it finds a new owner, willing to bring the boat back to life. If you are willing I´d be glad to intermediate the contacts.

How to lift a 72 ft boat out of the water...

According to the Oracle AC Team, there are two ways of lifting a 72ft catamaran out of the water. The conventional way is to use a very big crane. The other is to use a ridiculously small foil, and, not to be forgotten, some speed generated by its enormous wingsail. All in all, the second option is much more spectacular, I think. I am amazed at the forces that such a relatively small foil must withstand. And think of the power of a hydrofoil - such small area can lift such a big boat right out of the water... amazing.

T2 proa in Panama

Here is Chris, sailing a T2 proa along the east coast of Central America. This video was taken in Panama, sailing around Bocas del Toro.

Pacific Proa Jzerro in Port Townsend - September 2012