For a variety of reasons, some unexpected, I'm not going to get much sailing this summer. I did get a week or so in July, and took Raasay to Orkney. Two days of this were spent sort of storm-bound (30+ knot forecasts) in Kirkwall, which is a nice place but I wanted to go sailing ...
Here's a video of the wind in Kirkwall:
https://gopro.com/v/eQ99DgaZ1ewMJ
A highlight of the trip was a pod of Orcas that paid me a visit a couple of hours out of Kirkwall. I didn't get great photos, unfortunately:
Raasay is a little unusual in having an aluminium toe rail instead of a wooden or plastic cap on the gunwales.
I don't know if this was an original fitting or a modification. I suspect the latter.
It has some pros and cons. The pros are that it is sturdy and provides a convenient place to tie off halyards back from the mast. And it's surprising how handy it is to have lots of places to clip things on...
There are two cons.
The first is that it sits on top of the hull/deck joint, with a flange down the outside, but no flange down the inside This means that the joint isn't neatly closed. The whole thing is held together with through-bolts at fairly close intervals, which makes it strong but lets the deck molding flange bulge a bit here and there.
The second is that the fairleads that came with the toe rail (and were clearly made for it) are impossible to source. I managed to get a couple of close matches to replace the bow pair (which were damaged), but they aren't an entirely satisfactory fit.
Here are a few illustrative photos:
I've been further investigating the possibility of getting the prop shaft out. The inboard end is easier to access than I though (although I had to remove a chunk of the exhaust to get at it).
The big problem is the hex bolts in the coupling. They are very rusty, and although I've been able to clean out the heads I can't move them. I've tried WD40 and heat, but no luck so far. I could cut them through the slot in the side of the coupling, but starting that would completely commit me to the whole process, so I'm pondering ...
The new bearing has a nice bevel. I had thought I might need to adjust the edge to avoid it being exactly where the ring of pit corrosion is on the prop shaft.
The bearing is a snug fit in the housing, but I can get it in and out by hand. I think I'll ass a couple of retaining screws, to be on the safe side.
The left-hand picture shows the old Cutless bearing removed from the housing. Clearly, the installer had failed to get it the whole way in, and had just cut it off - it was only about two inches long. I suspect this was the same person who installed the propellor (see 'A thought-provoking prop failure...').
A curiosity, and further to the off-centre prop shaft:
The second picture shows that the bearing housing is clearly asymmetrical. This may not be associated with the prop-shaft alignment, of course. But ... ???
Some new/refurbished items. The old locker lid was on the point of failure, and I had this nice piece of mahogany ... The cockpit step is fr...
