Adrift at Sea —Dan’s blog on dankim.com

I spent most of the weekend working on the Pretty Gee. The three projects I worked on were the boom brake installation, adding a solar-powered ventilator, and the ground tackle system.

Boom Brake Installation

I rigged a tentative boom brake setup, with the line running from the starboard chain plate, to the Dutchman Boom Brrake mounted on the boom, to a ratchet block attached to the port chain plate and then back to the cockpit. The arrangement seems like it will work pretty well.

I still have to figure out how I am going to attach the line and the ratchet blocks to the chain plates. Currently, I could use 3 mm line to lash the ratchet block and the terminal end of the brake line to the chain plates. I will probably make plates to attach shackles to the lower clevis pin of the turnbuckles, as seen here. This will take a little longer, but is probably a better long-term solution.

The Boom Brake unit is attached to the padeye that was used for the forward lazyjack endpoint. I plan on moving one of the two spare boom padeyes forward of the current one and using it for the final installation.

So far, my tests show the boom brake should work fairly well, even without a block and tackle to tension it. The ratchet block is a big part of the reason I don’t need a block and tackle for it. If required, I will add a block on the cockpit rail, to allow me to use the genoa winch to tension the brake line. Once I’ve tested the final installation, I’ll post photos and details of the final setup.

Note: The boom on the Telstar has a track on the underside that has five padeyes along it. Two are fixed in position and in use for the terminal ends of the lazyjacks, one is used for the mainsheet, at the aft end of the boom—two are not fastened in the track and available for use.

Nicro 2000 Ventilator

I am installing the first of the two Nicro 2000 solar ventilators. This ventilator is going to be mounted just to the port side of the companionway sliding hatch. The Nicro mounts into a 4″ stainless steel deck plate ring. Installing the deck ring required cutting a 4.25″ hole in the cabin top. I was a bit hesitant in starting the project, as cutting a hole that size in the pristine cabin top was a bit daunting.

I chose this particular Nicro 2000 ventilator because it uses a screw-in deck plate, not a snap-in. Unlike most of the other ventilators, this one is suitable for heavy weather, as there is a bronze deck plate that can replace the ventilator in the case of heavy weather and breaking seas.

I first drilled an exploratory hole, to see what was under the deck and above the headliner—like wiring. No wiring was in the way, so I drilled a large hole, and then cut the 4.25″ hole using a jigsaw. I also drilled out the holes for the deck plate mounting screws slightly oversized. I then mixed up some thickened epoxy. I coated the edges of the cut hole with thickened epoxy. I filled the screw mounting holes with thickened epoxy. This should prevent any water, that may leak, from penetrating into the deck’s balsa core. The thickened epoxy should also support the compression loads from the bolts I am going to use to attach the deck plate to the cabin top.

I am going ask my friend Roger to make a teak backing block/trim ring for the ventilator. The trim ring design will allow me to mount a screen over the ventilator opening, to prevent insects from getting in via the ventilator.

I’ll post some photos of the installation when it is done. Right now, I am waiting for the epoxy to cure, so I can drill the final mounting holes and mount the deck plate. I am still trying to find a suitable location for the second ventilator.

I’ll also post a photo of the laminate cross-section I cut from the cabin top. I kept the section that I cut out, as a reference to the deck’s structure. It is about 16mm thick—the outer laminate is about 4 mm thick, with about 9 mm of end-grain balsa, and the inner laminate is about 3 mm thick. Several of my friends were surprised at the thickness of the cabin top laminate—I wasn’t.

Ground Tackle System

The most complicated project I have to do is the ground tackle system. After drawing a full-size template a few weeks ago…this morning I removed the starboard bow chock and laid most of the components out on the foredeck.

The first problem I found was the current mounting plate for the bow roller is too short to work. It is about six inches long. I need to make a new one, that is about 14″ long. The current mounting plate doesn’t extend far enough back along the deck—when mounted where it needs to be—to allow bolting through the cored part of the deck. Extending the plate another eight inches will allow me to bolt it more securely and distribute the loads generated by the anchor rode over more of the foredeck.

The second problem I found, is that several of the pieces are going to need to have either mounting blocks or epoxy fairing to build up the deck to level them. Right now, I’m planning on using thickened epoxy to fair mounts for the windlass, bow roller and mooring bitt. I could use teak blocks, but I think that using thickened epoxy is easier—as I am not much of a wood worker—and lower maintenance in the long run.

If the weather holds this week, I hope to get the fairing of the mounting blocks, per the West System, done for the ground tackle system.

While investigating the ground tackle layout, I also found that the wiring for the bicolor bow light was not supported. I went to Lowe’s and got some adhesive cable mounts and cable ties, to properly secure the bicolor bow light wiring.

I used five mounts to hold the bicolor wiring along the starboard edge of the foredeck, inside the anchor locker. While, I was doing this, I also checked the wiring for the white stern light, and secured it in two places—one just aft of the starboard cockpit locker, and the other in the swim platform locker.

Note: ABYC code recommends that all wiring be supported at a minimum of 18″ intervals. This is to help prevent wiring failure due to work hardening of the wire. Marine wiring should be finely stranded and tinned, to help prevent work hardening fatigue and corrosion.