Deck Deck WINCH!

Everyone should have a teen on board who is an ace boat washer

We have begun the final big project in earnest. The former layout of the deck hardware was...it was...well, it was crap. Our lines running into the deck organizers and clutches were just off a straight line just the perfect amount to ensure unnecessary friction. Friction is bad. Not just because it tears up your running rigging but also because it makes me have to work just a bit harder to sail the boat. And then there were the winches. Someone has decided that the original plan Bob Perry came up with was not good and they undersized the genoa winches. This once again means I am having to work harder than I actually have to. Again with the sailing being physical enough as it is, Project Rig It For Slackers is now in full force.

We got new Lewmar Evo 55 winches to handle the genoa sheets. This should make things much easier for me. We aren't so soft as to install electric winches but I am seriously excited about the extra oomph the new winches should provide.

We removed the ridiculously tiny main winches and moved the 44s that were previously handling the genoa sheets into their place. Before we reinstalled them, we sent them out for a bit of cosmetic surgery. They were functioning just fine, but time and the elements were beating them up more than we would like. When you start pricing winches, you understand why its in your best interest to protect what you have against corrosion to extend their life expectancy. We had our old winches rechromed by Speed and Sport Chrome and so far, we are very pleased. $270 for 2 winches and the chrome is thick, even and SHINY! Hopefully this will help keep corrosion at bay.

Now that's a shiny winch!

We are carefully checking our layout before installing and so far, it looks like this project is going to be a HUGE improvement in the functionality of the boat. We've got some cute almost miniature Antal deck organizers to route the lines into our new Lewmar clutches. We went with  Selden deck organizers to handle the lines off the mast. We still need to figure out what we are going to do to make the traveler more functional and we've got to get the rigid boom vang installed but I am getting excited. Once the deck is reorganized, we can put the cabin back together and then it's time to GO SAILING.

Yes, I am more than ready to try out the new deck layout.

So thankful Maura is handy with a boat brush and hose

Now about that rigging...

For those of you who read the last post and though "Get back to the boat already." this post should make you happy. For those of you who who could not care less about the rigging of a sail boat and only read this blog to hear about my jacked up craft projects, you can skip this one. It is by its very nature on the dry and technical side. We try to have something for everyone. ;)

Ceol Mor was either set up to look salty while tied permanently to the docks or she was rigged by a masochist. We've known for quite some time that we need to move just about all of the deck hardware to make it easier to handle the lines and sails. We got confirmation of this fact when we went sailing with Salty Gene who commented that while our boat is a solid, surprisingly nimble boat the hoisting and adjusting of the sails was "just too hard". This is what happens when people buy a boat and don't actually sail it- you get awkward block placement, undersized winches, etc. Fair play to the previous owners though. While the deck layout and rigging might not be conducive to actual sailing they did take immaculate care of the interior teak.

Since Mark and I do sail the boat and we've got a departure date to REALLY sail the boat, we've known for sometime that we would be redoing the entire deck layout. Since we've had so many other issues to address, we moved it down the list and planned to take a hard look at every piece of deck hardware one by one and figure out what's wrong and what we can do to make it right and most importantly- make it easier to sail. We like easy.

The first issue we are addressing is the pain in the butt job that is hauling in the main sheet. Ceol Mor is only a 42 foot boat, it shouldn't be this hard. As it turns out, the main sheet and vang lines are both routed through a double block at the front of the boom. The location of the double block causes the main sheet to draw across the vang fiddle when the lines are under tension. Fantastic. As if the undersized winches weren't providing enough of a work out, now we've got unwanted friction to make things just that much more difficult and to chew through our lines. Good for keeping rope suppliers in business, not so good for us our our wallet or our desire to make things easier.

The long term, permanent solution is to replace the boom vang with a rigid vang, install a new block for the main sheet on the pad eye currently being used for the boom vang fiddle. Then we will route the main sheet directly from this point to a block at the base of the mast and avoid the clash with the vang because the only clash we want on our boat is 'London Calling'.

What we are doing as a temporary fix is to replace the double block with two single blocks to ease the passage of the main sheet across the vang fiddle. We chose Schaefer M100-02 blocks for this. We chose them because they retail for $345 and Mark found them on clearance for $112.  That is one sweet deal. If there had been more than 2 in stock, we would have grabbed all of them. We know the sheets will still rub on the fiddle with this temporary fix, but hopefully much less so than before and the fact that the new blocks are much larger than the old ones should help us to more easily trim the sails into a shape that will make all of the brilliant sail trimmers weep at our lack of finesse.

The blocks attach with soft shackles which you can purchase for around $100 a piece or, if you have been hemorrhaging money like we have you can buy some Amsteel line and jolly well learn to splice it yourself. Mark did a good job for a first attempt, I need a bit more practice (okay a LOT of practice.). The finished shackles aren't perfect but fine for just now until our splicing skill gets a bit better. The blocks aren't going to live where they are just now anyway. I imagine those 2 blocks are going to be moved around quite a bit as we figure out all the ins and outs of the deck layout and what we can do to improve it.

Never mind the soft shackles, look at that beautifully varnished table.

Dyneema Experience Chapter 4- in which we finally get our rigging and explain what all the fuss is about.

Is that not the loveliest thing you have seen in a while? It is to me. That my friends is a box full of the long awaited, much desired Dyneema cored running rigging from New England Ropes. I've worked harder for that rigging than I imagined and am thrilled to finally have it in hand, ready to be rigged.

In the latest Dyneema Experience Challenge, we are supposed to convince you to use Dyneema. Huh. I'm not one for a heavy handed sales pitch for products but in this case, we can tell you honestly why we so wanted Dyneema rigging for our boat. If that convinces you to try Dyneema- great, but truthfully we do believe in the superiority of Dyneema so I am able to write this with out feeling like I've sold out the blog and my dignity( or what's left of my dignity. Learning to sail is great for increasing humility).

There are a whole slew of Dyneema Experience participants who are racers and therefore very familiar with what makes Dyneema such a fantastic product for their application. But I'm not a racer. Never will be, that requires too much hurrying and scurrying and I like to take things easy. I'm most definitely in the cruiser camp and so what qualities Dyneema posesses that we will value are different. Cruisers haven't really embraced Dyneema as much as the racers. I think this is in large part because...well...cruisers  tend to be cheap ( I might be only speaking of us so don't be offended!) and a Dyneema core ups the cost of the line.When you are balancing a budget with the goal of running your boat year round every little bit of extra cash outlayed matters, so that extra expense has to add value.

Mark at the office with some serious Dyneema line.

It is used to anchor the Perdido platform he works
on to the ocean floor. It withstands hurricanes.

They are not playing around...Impressive!

I can truthfully say that had we not won a complete rerigging of our boat, we would have splashed out on Dyneema line at the expense of  some equipment that we would like to have that falls in the "Be Nice" category. The main reason for this is that Dyneema is the strongest fiber available. We want rigging that is strong and so less likely to fail. There are some trade offs we have to make in order to accommodate the increased strength- i.e. shackles and block size, etc. but for our application we want the strength and the increased longevity of the rigging that comes with it. Rigging with a longer life span is definitely added value.

There are some quirks we've noticed on our newly delivered as yet to be installed Sta Set X lines. Namely, this is some pretty slick and slippy rope. I'm not certain how we are going to deal with this but we will figure it out and let you know what we find. I do know that gloves are mandatory with Dyneema lines so if you are dead set against wearing sailing gloves, its probably not the line for you, unless you happen to like shredded hands. I suppose torn up hands would look "salty" and make you look kinda tough ( maybe even salty enough that you could get away with wearing a twee white skipper's cap without being laughed at) but again, I am into being comfortable so gloves it shall be.

One of the things we were most looking forward to was decreasing the diameter of our lines (which you can do with careful research into load capacities because of the strength of Dyneema). Unfortunately, New England Ropes either ignored our carefully researched line order or they just lost it. Either way, we have the manufacturers suggested diameter and not what we requested so we can't tell you if in fact going down in line size affects longevity or performance. I suppose we could send the line back and ask for replacement but I'm pretty sure we'd end up with Maura in college before we get the replacement.

There are many rigging manufacturers who use Dyneema core and if you are going to be paying the extra 

The line trolley Mark made from left over marine plywood is
no longer looking sad and forlorn with no line on it. Please note,
we did not request "green vomit" colored rope. That was
a surprise from our line supplier. :)

dosh for Dyneema, it makes sense to check with the manufacturer's site to find the right line for your  application. Some folks buy the wrong size line and then complain about Dyneema not living up to the manufacturers claims. The fault ddoesn't lie with the rope but with putting the wrong rope in the wrong application, so choose carefully.

We'll have more about the line later. This will be the first time we have ever rigged a boat by ourselves so not only should I have some illuminating information about rigging a boat with Dyneema but with the way I bumble through life I mean sailing it ,should provide some amusement as well. I think I'll make Mark climb the mast though...

Refitting, Researching and Refried beans

I know, I know. I haven't updated the blog in a while. Its not because we aren't making progress. We are- slowly but surely the portlights are being removed, repaired and replaced. I've been remiss in updating because my focus for the past couple of weeks has been on the wee one.

Kitty had what we thought was a cold but as it wasn't improving, we put a call into her pediatrician who suggested we bring her in. We love our pediatrician who thinks the US habit of bringing in a perfectly healthy baby every month is a bit silly. Our last visit was at 6 months for a vaccination and check up where she was pronounced to be small (25-30th percentile for height and weight) but perfectly healthy and "we'll see her again around 12 months. Just keep doing what you are doing". So we kept doing what we were doing although we did start her on solid foods. She was a bit picky and not a big eater but since she was active, going through the dipes and growing, we thought all was well.

Surprise, surprise. When we brought Kitty in to see the doc, we were all shocked to see that while she was still in the 30th percentile for height, her weight had dropped to the 3rd percentile. The term bandied about for being under the bottom 5th percentile is 'Failure to Thrive'. Ouch. What a terribly scary label to stick on a  baby who seems small, but feisty. Neither Mark or I or the doctor freaked out, but we are concerned enough to do a bit more digging into the possible causes. My friend Laureen of SV Excellent Adventure was one step ahead of the doc when she suggested Kitty's issue might be a gluten sensitivity issue causing malabsorption. The doc echoed what Laureen suggested and ordered a series of blood tests to check for deficiencies and sensitivity. Poor Kitty had to endure 3 pokes in order to get the blood drawn for the tests. We should have the results in next week.

In the mean time, while Mark continues work on the portlights I spend my days chasing Kitty around with a spoon full of various foodstuffs in an attempt to get her to eat. My days go something like this- get up, make Kitty a breakfast of fresh fruit, gluten free pancake and scrambled egg. Kitty eats one bite of each and then refuses to eat anymore. Do various household, mom duties and make a second breakfast for Kitty- this time cheese grits made with heavy cream. Kitty will eat 6 bites because she likes grits. Chase baby with fruit, soft cooked veggies, cheese- baby will eat nothing but dry Rice Chex. Make Kitty a whole yogurt and fruit smoothie. Kitty acts as if I am trying to feed her liver. Then its on to two lunches, two dinners all of which are picked at. Kitty will eat cheese grits and refried beans(with LARD! It can be tough to find refied beans with lard in the US, guess we need to head to Mexico). Yes, a paragon of healthy eating but since we are willing to let her have anything she wants so long as she eats something we let her have her favorites and just keep offering fresh fruits and veggies in hopes that eventually they will be welcomed by Miss Picky.

I will say that since cutting out the gluten, she is sleeping much better and is eating twice as much as she was previously. We will have to wait to have her weighed again in a few weeks on the same scale but I am thinking that we might have found the issue and that issue is gluten.

All this time spent in the kitchen is coming at a great time. We are in the midst of figuring out what we want to do as we prepare to refit the galley. Due to the fact that we do not want to have to do this over again, we are really taking our time in figuring out what materials we want to use in the galley. I'm researching refrigeration options, counter top options and purely aesthetic issues. I'm still formulating a plan but I should have my act together and decisions made in time for a late summer galley refit. In the mean time, here's a  before photo of the galley.

So please forgive me for not updating a bit more frequently. It is difficult to type one handed while chasing a toddler around with spoon. We will get this weight thing figured out. Kitty is thanfully healthy, just a bit small. We will find out what the issue is, help her become a roly poly baby once again. In the mean time, we'll continue to offer her love, snuggles and refried beans.

The Rigging Rigamarole

With the completion of chainplate bulkheads ticked off the list, we are moving on to addressing the standing and running rigging. Since we've been so very fortunate to have new Dyneema running rigging coming from New England Ropes we get to use all of our brainpower (skint as that might be) to figuring out what we want to have holding up the rig.

Since this is Capt. Perfecto's boat, we can not just replace what we have without considering every possible type of rigging to ensure that we have "the best" for our purposes. Swaged, swageless, Norseman, Sta-Lok, Hi Mod, metric, imperial- it all begins to sound like a recitation of the Odyssey in the origanl Greek after a bit. Never mind, decisions are being made and parts ordered and I'll regale you with tales of exactly what we went with and why once its all figured out.

Meanwhile, Kitty is just happy to play with the shiny bits. Maura is keeping me on my toes trying tok eep up with the never ending end of school year ramp up of activities- parties, programs, performances, etc. Come to think of it, I think I'd much rather debate the merits of stainless versus chromed bronze fittings.

Technically Speaking....

When I say that we are up to our eyeballs in technical details, I'm not kidding. Some sailors/old salt types kind of wing it when making modifications to their boats. You know the ones of which I speak. They are the MacGyver's of the sailing world and seem to be able to figure out workable, if not elegant solutions to problems presented. While I fall squarely in the MacGyver camp, Mark is Captain Perfecto so any solution must be elegant as well as functional. There can be no winging it for it would break his little Engineer's heart to rerig the boat using duct tape, dental floss and paper clips, which is what would happen if I were left in charge.

Our boat is a Nassau 42. Its the same exact boat as the Tatoosh 42, just imported under a different name. Sort of like the VW Passat/Audi A4- same exact thing, different badge. She was built at the same yard that builds Tayanas and was designed by Bob Perry. One of the nice things about owning a Perry boat (besides knowing that it is a design fit for purpose) is that Bob Perry offers consulting services for those either in the market to purchase one of his designs or those in the process of refitting. Since we love our boat- she sails beautifully, is well balanced and we trust her to take care of us, it only makes sense to trust the designers opinions when you start setting up the rigging, moving deck hardware, adding weight, etc.

We had the opportunity to get a full set of technical drawings for the boat from the Perry office. Talk about making Capt. Perfecto happy. When the tech drawings arrived by post, it was like Christmas morning for Mark.  Details! Specifications! Precise measurements! HURRAY! He was able to see exactly what Mr. Perry designed the deck layout to be instead of the "inefficient tangle created by some previous owning prat". Previous owners had moved things about, removed winches, changed where the sheets and lines ran, etc. We knew that the current set up wasn't ideal but there are so many different ways to skin a cat its hard to know what is the right course to take. Now we know what the designer intended, and its a good idea to" dance with the one that brung ya".

Mark spends what precious little leisure time he has carefully going over all the drawings, doing research on deck hardware, etc. We are in a little bit of fast forward mode here as we are getting ready to have the running rigging replaced with Dyneema lines from New England Ropes and ideally we'd like to have it all planned out so that its pretty straight forward. The tech drawings are invaluable in planning our attack. Besides, tech drawings make Capt. Perfecto very, very happy indeed.

Now armed with the boat's blueprints, its on to figuring out how to improve upon our set up. Currently we have slab reefing and have to go to the mast. The goal is to keep us in the cockpit as much as possible so we're looking over the different options and currently, I'm liking the looks of the Dutchman system. Then we have to sort out the traveler, boom vang, outhaul, topping lift, sheets, lines, etc. I'm actually a bit excited about this because its finally starting to feel a little less like an enormous home improvement project and more like getting a boat ready to sail where ever the winds take us....


Ever her father's daughter, Kitty digs tech drawings too



WOOT! We are on the Dyneema Experience team!!

What's better than entering a contest along with some of your friends and winning? Having your friends win too! We are honored and humbled and ever so grateful to Dyneema for choosing Ceol Mor as member of the 2011 Dyneema experience team along with our good pals SV Majestic , SV Excellent Adventure , and SV Conviva . Its nice to win but its even nicer when your friends win as well.

So thanks to all of you for following us on the Dyneema site, on FB and twitter (SVCeolMor). Your support made all the difference and we are so very, very grateful to you!

Sailors come in a few different types but the two most common subtypes are Racer and Cruiser. Racers not only want their boats to go fast, they are also the first to tryout new technologies and new products  looking for any performance advantage they can find. This is why Dyneema has been well known in the racing community for quite some time. Dyneema made a product that was stronger, lighter and less likely to stretch out of shape and no racer wanted to be left behind, which is why you will find Dyneema on any serious racing sailboat.

Now cruisers are a bit more laid back in their approach to sailing and to technology. They aren't in a hurry to get where they are going, they just want to arrive safely and comfortably. Cruisers tend to like tried and true equipment so are a little less likely to run with the latest advances in equipment until its been proven. Since we definitely fall into the cruiser subgroup, its going to be interesting to see how a high performance product- such as Dyneema works on a heavier cruising sailboat. I have a sneaking suspicion we are going to love it.

Who knows, there's well known overnight offhore race in these parts in October that would be the perfect opportunity to do a shakedown. Maybe with her new spiffy Dyneema rigging, we might just be feeling our oats enough to enter. Now all we need is a racing stripe on the hull to go with our new rigging...

The Dyneema Experience!

UPDATE- The site is STILL accepting crew members. Please sign up to "Follow Me" to help us out. While you are there, you might send some love to the crews of  SV Majestic, SV Excellent Adventure and SV Conviva.

A big thank you to all who have supported us in our bid to win Dyneema rigging for the boat. The winners are announced on the 17th and its too close to say whether or not we will be hurrying up to order a new main sail to go with the new rigging. We have our fingers crossed and are spitting like mad because Dyneema really is the best line available on the market and will goa long way in keeping us safe as we plow through the waters of the Carribbean and Atlantic.

We've had a lot of fun particpating in the competition and loved the opportunity to over think this with our pals the crews of SV Conviva, SV Majestic, and last but certainly not least SV Excellent Adventure. In the immortal words of Cindy, from SV Majestic "its a bit like running for office". It IS like running for office. A ton of work but exciting as well.

Again, a big thank you to all of you for your support and thanks to Dyneema for sponsoring this competition. Now lets keep our fingers crossed because if we win, the next stage begins and will give Mark the opportunity to get all engineery on you all in articles on the structural properties of Dyneema and I know you want to see Mark break it down, Mr. Wizard style for you.

Only you can prevent...

left brain engineers from hand plaiting their own running rigging from Alpacas they have hand raised themselves in order to acheive 'superior strength' in a 'cost effective manner'.

We are entered in the 2011 Dyneema Experience and could really, really use your help. Up for grabs is to have Dyneema rerig the winning boats for FREE and for the team members to write about their experiences. Now I'm not one to ask for much, but I would really appreiciate you helping us out for a few reasons.

First of all, we absolutely have to have the boat rerigged and soon. This is a huge safety issue and until the boat is rerigged we can not safely leave. If Dyneema rigs the boat for us, that's one less task that Mark will do over and over until he is satisfied and we will be able to head out much sooner- probably 3 months sooner. This means better content on this blog, I assure you!

Secondly and most importantly, this is a chance for me to be able to say to Mark that my Blogging isn't a pointless hobby, it is actively contributing to our journey. This means he will have to happily ensure we have internet/sat phone access at all times, but that's beside the point. Nothing would make me happier than have an active hand in getting us out on the ocean sooner rather than later.

So here is my plea. Please follow the link below and sign up to be a crew member. You will have to click on a acceptance link in a confirmation email. Share the link with your friends, post it on Facebook, etc. If I've ever made you laugh, or done something nice for you here is your chance to say "Thanks"! On the other hand, if I've annoyed you this is a handy way to get me out of the States sooner. Either way, your assistance is appreciated.

http://www.dyneemaexperience.com/profile/cidniecarroll.htm

And now, your moment of Zen. Foggy morning on Galveston Bay.