Wintertime is not all gloom.
It’s a particularly lovely morning. Wintertime, one of those clear, perfectly still days that we get at this time of year and I’ve just ploughed my way through the mornings chores, and am sitting up...
View ArticleKeeping the phone charged up while away.
With spring just around the corner, warmer weather and the promise to myself that I'm going to be doing a lot more sailing this summer, its time to sort out the small annoyances from last year. One of...
View ArticleHalf a million views!
Wow!I just noticed that this blog has hit half a million page views, thats a lot, a lot lot!In spite of my having been very erratic in my posting for a while, the views keep accumulating, thank you...
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I'm getting more done on Long Steps
With some of my other commitments dealt with and the weather warming a bit, the start of spring being just a week away, I'm getting a bit done on Long Steps. Some friends came and we flipped her over,...
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Masking and filleting the outside of the hull.
Long Steps is coming along.Progress, a little at a time but progress nevertheless. With the hull and most of the internal structure all sorted, its getting down to smaller pieces and the small but...
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I get questions about making a hollow mast, so here's how I go about it.
Mast making. Reinforcing an aluminium tube spar with a birdmouth inner plus solid blocking.I’ve been given a mast blank, a 5m long x 75, od, 5mm wall thickness chunk of T6 temper aluminium tube. It...
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We went sailing last weekend.
Its springtime here, the temperatures at night are still a bit chilly, especially up on the mountain lakes but the daytimes are lovely. We had great weather, the sailing ranged from drifting...
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Repair work
I’ve a boat in for repair. Not my usual thing, but in this case the customer wants his boat ready to go for the nearly upon us summer holiday season, and “boat yards” aren't into doing small repairs...
View ArticlePreparing to go cruising.
Planning to go cruising is one thing, getting ready to go is another. The electrical system in this old ship of mine is now 47 years old and pretty near everything in her is electric. The original...
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Small comforts.
Comfort, and I think I’ve said this before, can be a whole lot of small things that add up to an elimination of all the annoying things that just don’t fit.Kairos helm seat is quite high, it leaves the...
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The heat was on there for a while. Too much of it in the wrong place.
Its been far too long since the last time I had Kairos out of the water for a scrub and antifouling, so she had quite the oyster and barnacle farm under there. The silt laden and often brackish water...
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The month of the pumps
This was supposed to be the “summer of the paintbrush”, and yes, I have got quite a bit of that done but for a while there it was the “month of the pumps”. Kairos has four water pumps that deliver...
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Development of Spooks gaff rig.I’ve been playing with the rig, the sails, and the settings on Spook, each little change has seen a slight improvement in her windward performance, and those little...
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