Maintenance day

 Yesterday Arpex had a maintenance day.

First the mooring needed to be checked and the mooring buoy needed to be replaced. The diver, Marivaldo, checked the chain, bridles and the rope, and cleaned off all the barnacles. The rope felt really as if it was way too short. But it turned out, that the heavy barnacle grows was just weighting down on it. So, once all cleaned, and new buoy installed, the arrangement was ok again. Actually the new buoy works much better than the old one, and mooring will become easier now.

I started work producing a template for the netting. And also to try out the arrangement for the new anchor position. But besides this, also another few jobs are stacking up, so that the to do list is becoming longer and longer. Let's take a look:

Preliminary To Do List:
- Repair navigation light and top light
- Repair rear bilge pump
- Shorten reefing lines
- Exchange boom-wang rope
- Sand and recoat wooden external parts
- Sand and recoat outboard support
- Finish and paint the new anchor support
- Paint entrance step
- Sand and repaint seat locker hatch
- Repair backside of entrance hatch
- Install bunk grating support
- Develop and produce portable-cooker support

Dingy:

Time for a review

It has been a while since I have plans for producing a review of Arpex'es use, performance, wear and tear, and document it on video. I will start doing this in the next few weeks. Ideally I would also have finished the production of the trampolins, and new position for the anchor by then.

Yesterday I managed to advance on the production of a template for the tramp for the smaller part. I am still looking into producing the larger portion. 

I actually need to produce a to do list....

Regata - Taca Comodoro 2018

Yesterday I joined the crew of a HPE 30, hull number 04, for a regata around two islands outside of the bay, completing a track of 24 miles. The boat has ample sail area and a deep bulb keel and is has no cabin, worth speaking of. It serves only storage. It sails nibley to windward, but she comes really to life once you hoist the asymmetric spinnaker. Then the sledge ride begins. But you need an experienced crew, as things can go south quite quickly. 

We completed the course of 24 miles in about 3 hours, and sailed at up to 12 knots. 

A very pleasant ride, and I thank Claudio, very dearly, for the noble invitation to join his family crew. 

Maio 2018 com Adri

Sailing with Yann et Patricia 2018

Great set of multihulls, including Atlantic Proa "Lady Godiva"

Easter on Arpex - 2018

Regatejo da AVU 2018

Upcoming event

The construction of Arpex

Since Arpex featured in a video produced by Adriano, from the sailing channel #SAL, some have asked how Arpex came to be. This is a short video which gives an overview of the construction. It has been prduced before the boat was launched. So, it is not conclusive.

Rigging replaced

Using a fixed structure on the Yacht Club, we managed to replace all rigging without removing the mast. The operation took one hour.

Feliz Natal 2017!!!

Splicing Tools

These are the tools I used for splicing. I found, that the bent wire works really well for threading the loose end through the hollow, single braided Colligo Dux Spectra rope. Working this rope, and producing the splice proved to be simple and straight forward. The only hard part is to cut throught the rope! You need a really strong and sharp knife for that!

Brummel Splice - Part 1

Here is a really helpful video, which I used to tutor me through the splicing of my Colligo Dux rope, which will be the next standing rigging on Arpex. The video makes it really easy to produce a good splice. And the rope, is also really easy to handle. The only hard part is to cut through the line. You really do need a strong and very sharp knife!

My thanks go to John Franta, from Colligo Marine, who has helped me all along the way. He helped to sort shipping issues with UPS, and also gave good practical tips with the splicing.

I produced the six splices on my 3 new stays. The idea was to install them today. But unfortunately some light rain hushed away my goof friend Roger, who kindly offered his helping hand. I understand that driving across the city on a motorbike, in drizzle rain, is not a good idea. Never mind. We will find another suitable day for the job.

Arpex saturday

Splicing started

Arpex needs to have its stays replaced. I have the material already. Now I need to produce the splices. While I was going to heve this done for me, I found some videos in the internet, which demonstrated how easy it is to splice single braided rope, without a cover. I made one first test on another rope end, and now I feel qualified to  do the other. Wait and see.

Alexander von Humboldt - Documentary

New standing rigging coming

Arpex needs new standing rigging. The original one, unfortunately, is unreliable. The material, 7mm covered spectra, by german manufacturer Lyros, is just fine. The problem is, that the splicing has not been made properly. I had two failures, which almost cost me the mast. Two times it failed at the splice. My supposition is that since the cover was quite tight, this made the splicing more complicated, which led to a bad result in the end.

I have, therefore changed to the uncovered spectra by Colligo Marine. It is also UV resistant, and specifically recommended for standing rigging. It took me a while to find someone who could bring it from the US. But now I am happy to have it. The next step is to find someone who can make a reliable splicing job on it, and then to install it.