Tuesday, 13 August 2024

Bow Light

My bow light packed in on day one of the trip (overnight sail from Portsoy to Clachnaharry). It was a Lalizas FOS 20m LED unit - completely sealed - and it started to flash rather than stay on. It was about four years old.

I've replaced it with a Helas lamp plus an LED bulb - more conventional and more repairable.


It's a bit exposed, so I tried making a cage for it. Not an aesthetic triumph, but it will do for a week or two. I learned from the failure and have a better plan.


Saturday, 10 August 2024

Home Again

From Stroma, we caught the last of the flood round Duncansby head and anchored in Sinclair's Bay. Here is the Duncansby race in calm conditions (4 knts through the water, and 8 over the ground):


From Sinclair's Bay we motored (again) back to Lossiemouth, passing through the Beatrice Field and the Smith Bank wind farm:


Beatrice Field

A nice sailing breeze from the East sprung up as we were putting out the ropes and fenders ...

Stroma

From Thurso Bay, we motored across to Stroma. I had been motoring for much of the way from the Summer Isles - clement weather has its drawbacks.

Entering Stroma harbour was a bit tricky - it's tiny, and there is a considerable eddy current just outside it. We chose to go in an hour or so before high water, and then let the boat dry out.



Stroma


While we were there I got a chance to grease the prop, replace its anode, and check the CopperCoat (which looks pretty good, I think ..)


Stroma



Stroma was abandoned in the early 1960s, just after the harbour was built. Local folklore has it that the wages from building the harbour financed the final exodus ...



Stroma



Stroma

Kinlochbervie to Talmine

Another trip I've done before. Here's a phone video of Cape Wrath - I should have used the GoPro (if it seems a bit long, skip to nearer the end when the cliffs of the North Coast appear):


On other visits to Talmine, I've anchored behind Rabbit Island. This time, I wanted to go ashore, so anchored in the bay:

DSC00934-1

I had to leave earlier than expected - my son was due to join me, but his bus arrived late in Thurso and he missed the connection to Talmine. There were only two buses a week, so far as we could see online.

I decided to head through to Scrabster, where I picked him up late in the evening before anchoring in Thurso bay. (Mean or what?)


Wednesday, 31 July 2024

Handa Island

I've sailed past Handa on many occasions, but never managed to stop and explore. So this time ...

TG536463-1 Handa Island
Handa Island
Handa Island 

 Again, very much enhanced by clement weather ... 

 After Handa, I spent a quick night in Kinlochbervie, getting diesel, water and groceries.

Teetering ... and then Summer Isles

At this stage, I could have gone back South and up the canal. I decided to go North - there were a few things I wanted to explore up there, and it promised to be quicker. And cheaper. (!)

From Kyleakin I visited Loch Carron, where some head-scratching revealed to me that I'd have to get a move on if I wanted to be back in Lossiemouth in time to take some booked appointments in Aberdeen in the week commencing the 29th of July. I started with a sixty-mile hop to the Summer Isles.

The anchorage I went into there reminded me of how vulnerable I felt following the Navionics chart into Loch Beag (at the top of Loch Hourn). I have two tablets, and now keep them both running when I'm in tight spaces ...

The Summer Isles anchorage was magical, and the weather was perfect. I had a small run ashore.

Summer Isles




The Next Loch - Loch Duich

Before stopping in Kyleakin, I spent a night at the top of Loch Duich. A friend asked whether my video had been commissioned by the Scottish Tourism authorities, and I told him that I wouldn't be disciplined by the gods of kitsch:

I saw this evidence of Scotland's somewhat stressed land ownership patterns:

Private Transport, Loch Duich

And here's a sunset from my friend's mooring in Kyleakin, where I left 'Raasay' for a week:

Skye Bridge Sunset

Part 3 - Things Start to Get Better ...

From Eigg, I visited Loch Hourn. Part of the theme of this year's cruise was visiting some of the long sea-lochs I hadn't visited before, and this one was high on the list. It was unequivocally spectacular. I went to the top of the loch, and visited Loch Beig (through a difficult S-shaped channel, that left me dangling by my Navionics tablet for a few tense minutes ...).

I didn't anchor in Loch Beig, because I didn't want to be tide constrained, but anchored at the top of the main loch instead. Photos and videos can't really do it justice, but here are a few:

Cottage, Upper Loch Hourn

DSC00878

Loch Hourn

After Loch Hourn, I spent a few hours anchored off Sandaig, waiting for the tide to help me up the Sound of Sleat.

Tuesday, 30 July 2024

A difficult trip to the West (Part 2) ...

From Strontian, I made a wet trip to Muck. The wind had dropped, but Ardnamurchan was still a bit sloppy. 

I had to spend a week back in Aberdeen in mid trip, and was planning to put the boat in a marina or on a public mooring. Fortunately, a friend had just departed for his annual cruise, and I could use his mooring in Kyleakin. He and his family (and five cats...) were also making a stop in Eigg, so I took the short hop from Muck to Eigg South Bay to meet up with them.




We had a nice wall ashore to the 'Massacre Cave', which has a danger sign at the entrance:



Thursday, 11 July 2024

A difficult trip to the West (Part 1) ...

So.

Raasay was at the Portsoy Boat Show from the 21st to the 23rd of June - we left on Sunday afternoon. I'd been planning to go North, then down the West Coast and up the canal. The weather looked very SW in the West for the next couple of weeks, so I decided to go the other way around, and we entered the canal on Monday morning.

A dribbly nose which I managed to share with a friend I visited in Gairlochy turned out to be Covid (as he kindly explained to me ...). It developed fully between Gairlochy and Corpach. In particular, as I was going down the locks in Banavie...


I had planned to lock out as soon as I had got to the bottom and filled up with fuel and water, but then thought this would be unwise until the delirium and the fever settled a bit. I took my bike to the Coop to get some groceries and must have looked insane as I wobbled about the road, coughing and dribbling.

Anyhow, I felt well enough by Monday to lock out and mooch down Loch Linnhe. And then up Loch Leven - all the way to the top. My plan was to eplore sea lochs, and I hadn't been up this one before. I had about two or three metres of clearance under Ballachulish Bridge.

Ballachulish

There didn't seem to be many secure anchorages in Loch Leven, and I ended up in Poll an Dunain, just inside the bridge. I was tired when I got there, which probably contributed to my losing focus as I came in and clipping the unmarked of the two rocks near the entrance. This brought my mood down.

On Tuesday I explored Loch a Choire. I wanted to go further before stopping, but this is definitely one to keep in mind. It even had a good 4g signal.

I stopped at the marina in Loch Aline. I wanted to do some shoppng and have a quiet night. I also needed to replace an empty gas bottle (the harbour master kindly gave me a lift so that I didn't have to carry the bottle into the village and back).

I had work to do on Thursday, so spent Wednesday checking out Loch Sunart - for shelter and for internet access. I ended up anchoring near the head of the loch, not far from Strontian. I wasn't well sheltered from the Westerly gales that were forecast, but I had good holding and some way to drag if things went wrong. I spent two nights there, riding out Thursday and sitting at my laptop.




Friday, 24 May 2024

Aries in Action

 Aries - Shakedown Video

The repair worked. This is the Aries operating in about 8-9 knots of apparent wind, on a very broad reach - well aft of the beam.

On the same day, it worked right up to a dead run, in equally light winds.

Wednesday, 15 May 2024

Aries - Pin Removal in Situ

 


This was a bit experimental. The vertical bearing was getting sticky again, and I was trying to think of a way of getting at it that didn't involve removing the whole assembly and taking it home. The method worked (just about) but I would probably use a better puller in the future. The hose clip turned out to be a fairly useless way of keeping the legs in place ....

I pushed the pin out in this direction, because I thought pushing it back in from the rear would be easier than pushing it in from this side. I'll need to have room to swing a hammer, and to set up the gear puller around the projecting pin.



This is it about half way. I've used the full extension of the gear puller.


And the pin has moved an inch or two .


So I added a brass drift to push it further.


Once I got to this stage I was having trouble keeping everything aligned while I tightened the puller, so I switched to a longer drift and a hammer to move it the last half inch or so to allow the pendulum structure to fall out (and be caught by the control lines).


I left the pin projecting from the rear part of the frame - I didn't take it right out, because I thought that might make reassembly difficult. I left a bag under it in case it fell out. (Unlikely, but really annoying if it did ...)

I won't know whether or not this is an easier method than taking the whole assembly off and taking it home until I've put everything back in place. There might be some reassembly hitches.

One advantage of doing it this way is that it can be done (with care) on a mooring or alongside. On a calm day.








Monday, 13 May 2024

Disturbing material failure ...?

 


I don't think this should have happened. The long crack in the reinforced heel of the starboard tube resulted in a slow leak. I've managed to seal it with a liquid silicone product, but it will need a patch on the outside as well to strengthen it.

It's a Zodiac dinghy, and this looks like a material failure.

Dinghy on the Coachroof

 


This doesn't quite work. It's hard to get into position, risks snagging the dinghy and the vents, and it fouls the kicking strap

It might be useful if I was motoring some distance and didn't want to deflate the dinghy.

Monday, 8 April 2024

Varnish ...

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 from the same piece, from a few years ago. It's a very useful enhancement & it now looks a bit nicer.

And the companionway steps are looking good in situ. I might need to do some work on the galley, now ...










Sunday, 24 March 2024

Overdue Cosmetics ... ?

 


The companionway steps have been pretty manky for a long time. I took them home to get them sanded and re-varnished - Angus did the work, and substantially exceeded expectations.

The piece of mahogany on top of the table saw bench is a new lid for the stern cockpit locker. The piece on the floor to the right is the 'shelf' I put at the front of the cockpit (like a bridge deck) to create a space for putting things down and under. I think there is a photo of it somewhere in this blog...

Both pieces of mahogany came from the counter in my grandfather's photography shop (now long gone), so definitely recycled. I may get one or two other useful sections out of it, although it has some damage and quite a bit of surface 'patina'. If it was perfect it would just look wrong on Raasay, in any case.


Saturday, 24 February 2024

 



So - I have installed new batteries.

I was up a few days ago, and the mains battery charger started behaving oddly when I switched it on. After a brief investigation, I discovered that the batteries had lost a lot of electrolyte. The tops of the plates were clearly exposed.

I topped them up and tried charging them again. This didn't work. There may be more extreme resuscitation methods I could try, but the original batteries were already a long way through their useful life and I didn't fancy having to rely on semi-dodgy batteries...

I had also been thinking about switching from conventional lead acid to AGM, so this seemed a good time to do it.

I don't really know why the electrolyte was low. I check it fairly regularly. I normally switch the charger off when I'm not on the boat, but did leave it switched on for a couple of weeks by accident recently. I find it hard to believe this was relevant, as I used to leave the charger switched on permanently - up until two or three years ago, when I learned that this might not be a good idea.

The charger is a 25 amp NOCO Genius charger, which should be safe enough to leave permanently on ...

The drop in the electrolyte level did look like the consequence of a boiling event, though.

Anyhow, I now have AGMs. So I don't have to worry about heel angles anymore. Or about topping up.

A small issue:

The Leoch AGMs are rated as '115 ah', and the Trojan batteries I removed are rated at '225 ah'. However, both are rated at 115 ah (or thereabouts) for a ten-hour discharge period. The higher rate for the Trojans is for a twenty-hour discharge. The arithmetic here doesn't quite make sense, because 10 amps over 10 hours is 100 ah, and over 20 hours is 200 ah... I'll need to go back through the specs to understand this.

I should still be able to discharge 10 amps for 10 hours and keep the bank (two batteries) about 50% charge. This looks fine for overnight sailing, for instance.

I have a Sterling Alternator to Battery charger capable of putting 90 amps (alternator maximum) into the batteries during the boost phase of the charge.

I also have a 200w solar panel to deal with lower demands.





Bow Light

My bow light packed in on day one of the trip (overnight sail from Portsoy to Clachnaharry). It was a Lalizas FOS 20m LED unit - completely ...