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Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Progress with ‘Minnow’







All voids in the mast have been filled with epoxy putty and it has been sanded ready for a primer.

I was surprised to find the mast did not fit snugly into vent box. The cross-section did not match the shape of the hole through the deck, nor was the foot shaped correctly. I couldn’t insert the mast fully into the socket at the bottom of the vent box, because a wad of epoxied woven roving was in the way. Remedial work to put it right will not be easy, on account of limited accessibility. Wedges between the deck and the mast can solve the poor fit problem; in fact such an arrangement could be better than having too perfect a fit, because the mast can swell when wet, making it almost impossible to extract. That happened twice with ‘Faith’. An old wooden spoon fits perfectly into the slot aft of the mast, and its handle is useful for levering it out. A thin wedge on the starboard side of the mast will make it fit perfectly.

All I have to do is find a way of removing the wad of epoxied woven roving within the socket for the foot of the mast.

The rudder was difficult to take off because I could not undo two rusty nuts retaining the tiller to the stock. I had to saw them off and lever the tiller away from the stock. The rudder could not be dropped from the lower gudgeon without first removing the tiller. An initial inspection of the hangings did not reveal anything untoward. Both the rudder and the stock would appear to be solid. A washer was missing from the retaining bolt on the starboard side of the rudder. That presented an unfair load which could have damaged the rudder.

If I have a chance tomorrow I shall try sorting out the yuloh rowlocks. Technically, there should be a pin on which the yuloh articulates. A rowlock causes unnecessary friction and it does not allow the yuloh to move freely.

I shall have to work out how to fit an outboard bracket. Having fixed one before to ‘Faith’, I may not find it too difficult, but I think I may first have to remove a large piece of wood from the transom. A bumpkin could be the solution for keeping the sheet clear of the outboard.

4 comments:

  1. Good progress Bill! I too have thought of a bumpkin for the main sheet...but then I thought, " what do I know...I have yet to even sail the boat" and figured I better build it as designed and only then see if I think a change may be beneficial. You on the other hand have much experience already sailing the Paradox. I will be eager to see what you choose to do with the motor setup.

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  2. Hello Bill, you're certainly cracking on with things. I'm in fullest sympathy with your mast slot problem, the lump of glass and epoxy spoiling things. You could try a sharp wood chisel, that and a few judicious whacks with a mallet may help you along the way. Alternatively, you could try a tool like a dremel?
    Do please let us know how you get on?

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  3. Sean,

    The intrusion to Matt's design is the outboard motor. Moving the point of entry for the sheet to the aft deck, close to the cabin trunk on the starboard side does not completely solve the problem of snagging.

    A bumpkin extending to a point directly below the clew end of the boom could well keep the sheet clear of the motor. The fixed end of the sheet should be attached to the bumpkin close to a block for leading the fall of the sheet from a swivel block at the end of the boom towards and into the hole in the transom, as per plan.

    Quite how to fix the bumbkin so that it can easily be removed I do know. Perhaps housing it in a metal socket bolted to the aft deck would do the trick.

    Cheers,
    Bill.

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  4. Richard,

    I would have to have a very long chisel to reach the offending lump. I may have to remove the starboard side panel from the vent box to gain access.

    Cheers,
    Bill.

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