Portsoy

Anchored off Portsoy, waiting for the tide. Unpromising weather...

R34 vs. R38

Rhum (R34D - a sister ship to Raasay) and Calico Martlet (R38) in Lossiemouth. You get a lot with that extra 4 feet ...

Mainsheet

So. I had this cunning plan.

As R34 owners know, the mainsheet horse is right across the companionway. This is (on the whole) less inconvenient than it sounds, but one of the difficulties it creates is that the sheet itself bears heavily on the sprayhood when your running or reaching.

I thought it might be convenient to have another anchor for the sheet - possibly on the coaming - so that I could keep it away from the sprayhood on a long run or broad reach. I bought a couple of substantial ring bolts, and had been examining some position options. I also had a bit of a problem figuring out which bits of the underside of the port coaming (behind the galley, so less accessible) I could get to.

While doing this, I tried positioning the mainsheet to see what the best position might be - and found there was another problem. While I could keep the mainsheet away from the sprayhood, I couldn't find a position that didn't keep it clear of the top guard wire. My plan wasn't going to work.

The only place I could avoid fouling something was to anchor the mainsheet where it passed outside of everything else - on the edge of the deck, leading it under the guard wires.

Which drew my attention to these U-bolts, installed by a previous owner. I had been trying to figure out what they might be for ...

Moving the Outboard Mount

I wanted to move the outboard mount to the starboard side, because that's the side I normally pull the dinghy up on and because I wanted to get it out of the way of the Aries vane. It used to disturb the air over the vane when I was going upwind on a starboard tack.

The arrangement looks a bit cumbersome - I had to add an extra rail, and make quite a large panel to provide lots of places to put u-bolts.

It's a little more 'shoogly' than the stern rail position, but the lashing sorts that out. I may come up with a tidier arrangement ...

Webasto Heater

For some reason, I've never posted anything about my heater installation. Possibly because it's a bit idiosyncratic.

Other installations I've seen generally put the heater in a cockpit locker. This keeps the heater body outside the living area, but requires long ducting runs and quite a lot of wasted heat. It also takes up valuable locker space ...

After a bit of thought, I decided to install my heater (A small Webasto Airtop) in the back of the wet locker opposite the heads. This was dead space, and very out of the way. It also meant I could run a very short duct into the forward end of the saloon.

The main worries were to do with exhaust leakage and where to put the actual exhaust outlet. In fact, I was able to seal the exhaust joints very effectively, and I put the exhaust outlet fitting in the side of the coachroof. It does get a splash now and again, but I've put a gooseneck in the exhaust pipe and also fitted a drain so that any water that might get in ends up dribbling into the wet locker beneath the heater.

This is the main layout:

This is the exhaust:

And this is the drain in the exhaust elbow:

The loop creates a natural water seal.

I have a CO monitor in the saloon, and it has never shown the presence of any gas. All zeros.

The waste heat keeps the wet locker dry (!) and warms the heads.

A gruesome experience ...

 

I've been doing some rewiring - of which more anon - and had disconnected the electric bilge-pump.

As I struggled with a torch and screwdriver in an awkward place, I heard a trickle of water. At first I thought it must be coming from outside the boat. Then I looked in the bilges ...

It didn't take me long to find its source. The cooling water feed to the engine has a take-off in it - a t-piece - to supply the salt-water tap at the kitchen sink. The little barbed insert was obviously brass, and had rotted away.

I always close all the seacocks when I leave the boat for any length of time. Sometimes it seems excessive.

Sometimes it seems like exactly the right thing to do.

Short Summer Cruise ...

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:

The toe rail, and associated issues ...

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:

Raasay's Toerail

Prop Shaft Removal

 

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 ... 

New Cutless Bearing

 

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.

Cleaning up the Cutless housing

 

The tool and the outcome. I just hope I haven't taken out too much material. I'll know when the new bearing arrives ...