Fitting the cover

Decided to scrap the idea of using PVC piping to support the cover and will use the main mast instead. So I built some cradles for the mast, they have since been sanded, painted and I will add some leather to avoid scratches on the mast and deck.
Then we traced the outline of the hull onto the canvas and added some material for the hem, big enough to allow fitting of cleats to the outwale. Final job of the day was to do the actual sewing. Tomorrow we aim to install the cleats.

Longitudinal seam

The main part of the cover is made up of two pieces of canvass with a seam along the centre line. This is the seam we did today, there was a bit of struggle to get the old singer to cooperate. Got it at a flea market many years ago and it did not come with a manual so we had to experiment....

Measuring the fabric

My mother is visiting and since she is a lot handier with the sewing machine than me we figured we would try to fix the boat cover. Today we measured and cut the canvass. It is really to hot to do any proper work.

Not quite done yet

One more thing before Xiao Feng is properly done.... Paint her name on the transom.

It was a lot easier than I feared, I printed out the characters on a piece of paper, taped it to the transom and traced them with a ball point pen. The pen makes is small indent in the transom paint and all I needed to do was to fill in this outline. Instead of using a paint brush (shaky hands) I got a paint marker called 'POSCA', basically a felt tip marker but with paint inside! I heard about people using it to decorate surfboards so why not boats? I will apply a layer of transparent acrylic on top for abrasion resistance.

Auto release

My auto release cleats was delivered today. I mounted them on the rudder and centreboard downhauls (I have no weight in my fins so they float). Also painted the centreboard cap.

Now I officially consider her to be finished (only some tweaks remain)!!

And since this is a building blog the update frequency will drop dramatically. Will still update when something big happens, like the cover, the tent (winter project?) and bigger adventures.

Thanks for all the feedback!

Sailing !!!!!!!

Same procedure as yesterday only today there was less wind and more importantly less waves. Had a nice 3-4 knots m/s of wind as I rowed out, when I had the sails up it slowly dropped to around one knot m/s. After about an hour the wind stopped completely and I rowed back in.
Despite virtually no wind she sailed nicely, the sail set better than expected and I had no problems coming about.
So all in all a complete success!!! Next we will try with more wind.

Too much again

Left work early to go sailing, had a quick dinner, packed up the boat and left for the ramp. Well there I found there was plenty more wind than forecasted and plenty more than at the house (despite being only 500m from the ramp as the crow flies)!!
Have sailed in a lot worse but I would like a nice steady calm breeze for the first sail in a boat I have never sailed before. So I decided to leave the rig ashore and go rowing instead. There was a cross breeze on the ramp so there was a little more problem launching compared to last time. The wind was blowing straight into the harbour and the waves built a bit as the water shallowed at the entrance. It was great fun for about 40 minutes then I remembered the cross wind on the ramp and decided to turn back to save some strength for wrangling the boat back on the trailer. Had a great ride back downwind!! As suspected I could not get her straight on the trailer but it turns out she is quite easy to move about on the trailer (light weight and a flat bottom). I had built up quite a sweat when I was done.

Only one pic today since I forgot my phone in the car, so only one taken after the trip.

So while I still have not sailed her I have confirmed she is great to row!!!

Too much ....

.... wind for a first sail (15knots gusting up to 25), I want a bit more quiet conditions for testing out the rigging. The forecast for tomorrow looks more promising.
So instead I built the boat cover support (it probably has a more technical term) from PVC drain pipes. It will need some adjustments but I have plenty of pipe.
Finally I made the centre board cap (will extend it after sea trials when I know how far the cb will go).

Modifying rudder

Cut down the rudder yoke and part of the rudder stock so that I can get a 30 degree rudder angle, maybe I need to carve more but will test first.

Reefing etc

A perfect day today blue skies and +25C, the only problem is no wind what so ever.
So I practised reefing, worked fine. I stole the idea from a guy called Max in Germany (there was a post on the Wooden Boat Forum, I will add the link later).

I also discovered that the boomkin interferes withe the rudder which means I can only turn the rudder about 25 degrees. I would like it to be at least 30 degrees so maybe I have to modify the rudder yoke a bit.

Same again

I know it is basically the same picture as yesterday, only with more light. I just can not get enough......
Did the last tweaks on the rig and added the reef gear (not fitted yet in the picture).
With a little luck there will be time to get on the water during the weekend otherwise the first sail will be next week.

Missed one pic...

Dry fitting sails

Busy evening...
I got the canvas for the transportation/storage cover, so now I need to figure out how the sewing machine works.
Cut down the oar lock pads an painted them. Painted the boomkin and added the boomkin brackets to the aft deck. Screwed the main downhaul, sheet and mizzed downhaul to the deck. Finally I got to hoist the sails for the first time!!!!!!

Rainy day

Raining today so I am confined to indoors. I found some of the blocks I was missing so I prepared the main sheet (white & red) and the main downhaul (blue & white). Also cut out the boomkin from a slab of oak.

More rigging

Mainly small stuff, the blocks and stuff I bought in Poland seems to have gone missing in the move so it might be a very low tech rig to start with.
- Main halyard
- Reefing nettles on main
- Halyard, down haul and sheet attachment points on the main spars
- Mizzen is ready for sail

Too windy for a dry run on the boat. Now I will go look for my missing gear.

Bending the main

Bent the main sail to the spars to tonight.

More pix from launch day

Back to share some more from the launch day.

The launch crew

I bought a few small bottles of champagne so that each kid could do their own naming, same name all three times though.

The launch was very undramatic, a small push and she slid into the water.

Despite being two adults and three kids in the boat she was very easy to row and tracked very nicely.

The maiden voyage went to the nereby beach since the kids wanted to go swimming (hot day).

When we were leaving the beach I ran aground (another first for the day), I noticed we did not make any headway and looked over the side and found we were on top of a rock. I left a nice red mark on it but no damage to the boat.

Coming back to port

Getting her out of the water was also easy, my son handled the winch while I took care of the alignment on the trailer.
Now I am keen to get the rig sorted so we can go sailing, just need some rope and a few blocks.

She floats!!!!

Launching day, very pleased..... (more narrative later, now I need a glass!!!)

Ready to go

Top paint

Painted the top of the main red same as the mizzen. If all goes well there will be launching tomorrow!!

Painting the main

Sanded and painted the main. Perfect weather for painting +21C, overcast and a slight breeze. I managed to get three coats on (as mentioned it is quick drying paint).

Glassing sheave

Glassed the dumb sheave, filled a few mistakes and finally glued the main halyard cleat to the mast.

Dumb sheave

Instead of a block or a proper sheave I have decided to do a 'dumb sheave' for the main halyard. This is basically a hole drilled through the mast that has been rounded of so that the halyard runs smoothly. I tried with a file but it took so much time, finally I found a monster bit for my drill in the toolbox. I have no idea what it is intended for (or when I got it) but it cuts through wood like butter (very cold butter). Then I cleaned it up with the dremmel. Thinking of putting a strip of fiber glass in there for abrasion resistance. Finally I sanded the mast with the orbital sander (did a bad job with the plane this time, too lazy to sharpen properly).