Jib Sheet Tracks and Cleats

Having installed roller reefing / furling on Tra Bhui, it made sense to change the genoa's fixed fairleads for adjustable fairleads and track. 

While it can be argued that these may not be really necessary on a Drascombe, the old fairleads were the original ones and although they had lasted well it made sense from the point of reliability to replace them with a set of sliding fairleads. 

The new fairleads when paired with a set of swivel jib cleats not only allowed the genoa to be properly set when reefed, but which allowed the jib sheets to be fed back to the helm position without creating any sharp bends in them.

Always one for a bargain I sourced a new set of Holt adjustable fairleads with spring loaded pin-stop fairlead cars and plain bearing loop Top Blocks (pulleys).

A strip of marine plywood (20 mm thick) was cut to provide a anchor for the fixing screws

The fairlead track was easily installed by screws through the deck into a strip of marine plywood which I cut to fit the underside.

The fairlead track was simply fixed in place using stainless steel screws driven into the marine plywood which had been placed under the deck - Note the new swivel cam cleat fixed on the center thwart

The old fairleads have been retained for the moment  as in due course they may have a use as the Refurbishment and upgrading of Tra Bhui continues

Cockpit Cover

Prior to the Viking Cruise (Summer 2014) Tra Bhui was treated to a cockpit cover as we would be leaving her in Denmark on her own for 3 or 4 days when we tool the trailer north to Oslo.

The cover was made for Tra Bhui by R&J Sails who made a fantastic job of it. The slight wrinkles that can be seen in the photo are caused by the chart plotter which sits on top of the instrument "pod" at the end of the center board casing. this is normally removed when it is not being used.

The cover is secured in place by shock cord. As can be seen from the picture we need to improve our fitting of the cover to ensure a better tension around the edges.

New Blue Dress!

Boarding Ladder

Climbing back into a boat from the water is something that most sailors must have thought about at some time, whether it is simply getting back on board after a swim or back on board after falling overboard. While climbing back in after a swim is hard enough, climbing back in after falling overboard when fully clothed and after your life jacket has inflated must be neigh on impossible.

Tra Bhui has high sides for a Drascombe. The overhang at the stern precludes the use of the outboard well as a useable footwell, so anyone climbing back in would face a very real, challenge indeed.

For reasons of safety and convenience a ladder of some sort was required. To my mind the only effective ladder is a rigid one and one which can be properly secured to the boat.

While there are numerous “rope” type ladders on the market, none of the ones that I have seen adequately address the issue of the rungs moving under the boat when you try and stand on them. While rope ladders may offer a means of getting back into the boat for a youngster in a swimming costume, they were not a solution that would give me the confidence of being able to get back into the boat myself if I was fully clothed, nor would they really make it any easier if I was recovering someone else.

Ladder Mark 1

A few years ago Douglas Hopwood came up with a design for a collapsible wooden ladder that he had used successfully on his own Drascombe Appuskidu see: -  http://www.hopwood.uk.net/Drascombe%20projects/Boarding%20Ladder.htm

This appeared to be a pretty good solution and one which I thought I could adapt and make work on Tra Bhui.

Cutting the side section out of marine ply

The idea of the ladder is that it folds flat and can be stored on edge just inside the gunwale, between main sheet horse and the stern of the boat. If required the ladder could be reached from the water and lifted into position. The top of the ladder would hook over the Gunwale  and the ladders profile would match that of the hull thus preventing it from swinging under the boat when anyone stood on its lower rungs.

Using some off cut 8 mm plywood I made up some templates of Tra Bhui’s hull as the two legs of the ladder would need to be slightly different if each was to be scribed to fit snuggly against the hull as not only does the hull taper in three dimensions, but the rubbing strip around the hull closes in on itself.

Starting to round the edges

With the templates made I transferred the pattern onto some 20 mm marine ply.  After cutting out the plywood, priming and painting it (yellow to match the hull) I assembled the ladder and tried it on Tra Bhui.

While the ladder fitted well it was not as long as I would have liked (the length is governed by the distance available for storage between the main sheet horse and the stern), it took up a lot of room when stored on deck and made getting into the rear port hatch a bit of a mission and it was hard to reach from the water due to the physical height of Tra Bhui.

It was a solution, but it did not really suit the Gig.  I felt there must be a better solution to the problem of getting back into the boat from the water.

N.B. The ladder I made was not made from Douglas Hopwood’s plans. I am sure Douglas’s ladders work well and no doubt suit certain Drascombes better than others; I simply picked up on his concept and made a larger one for the Gig.

Ladder Mark 2

Mark 2 Ladder 

The solution to the ladder problem was in the end pretty simple. I bought a quality stainless steel  one (Grade 316 stainless) from Germany. This ladder is telescopic and extends to 1.2m. It is hinged allowing it to be stored upside down. Storing it upside down means that it is normally collapsed. By releasing it can be swung vertically through 180 degrees which allows it to fully extend into the water.

Ladder stowed and ready for use

The ladder is simply secured by 4 stainless steel bolts through the hull just below the Gunwale. A teak spacer holds the ladder clear of the rubbing strip. To release it, it is simply a matter of undoing two half hitches. The ladder then simply drops into the water.  By placing the ladder beside the end of the main sheet horse the load on the hull is dispersed on both sides of the boat and the horse provides a handy handhold when using the ladder.

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Electrical Installation

One of the benefits of having an outboard with a 12 V charging system is being able to have a 12 V supply on board to power up equipment such as a VHF radio, a Chart Plotter, and Navigation lights.

Boat instrumentation - summer 2014

The initial system will be extended over the winter of 2014 / 2015 to power up NASA wind instrumentation and a Speed / log repeater. 

Battery Box

The system that I installed is pretty simple. The outboard charges a 12 Volt car battery which is contained in a proprietary batter box. The battery Box has a battery condition indicator (LED type) and a master cut off switch. 

Battery Condition Indicator and Master Switch

From the battery a supply feeds the VHF Radio, Chart plotter and lights via a small fused switch panel set into the top of the instrument "Pod". An additional inline fuse was fitted as double protection for the radio. The switch panel is "marine grade" and is totally waterproof (I hope !)

Switch Panel

One of the biggest challenges was running the cables required for power to the navigation lights and the aerial cable for the VHF as both of these need to be run to the top of the mast.

Hardwood insert in mast covering cable rebate

Because Tra Bhui is rigged with a Lug Sail configuration, any wires or conduit fixed to the outside of the mast would not only look unsightly, but would be potentially damaged by the Sliding Parrel (the metal collar which has a hook and which is used to attach the yard arm to the mast). 

The solution was to cut a rebate for the cables into the mast which would be sealed with a hardwood inset. This would provide a secure cable route without compromising the overall performance of the mast. This will have to be modified to accommodate the cable for the wind instrumentation. Details of the modification to the mast can be found under the post titled “Refurbishment of the Mast and Spars”. A marine quality cable connector was fitted to the front thwart to allow the mast power cable to be disconnected before the mast is lowered.

Conduit to protect electrical cables

To protect the power cables, 18 mm plastic conduit was installed where required and rubber grommets have been inserted into any holes cut through the fiberglass panels to prevent chaffing.

Marine Grade cable

Marine grade electrical cable which has tinned conductors was used for all the wiring, with all joints being soldered and protected by self annealing electrical tape on top of heat shrink sleeves

Cargo Deck

Drascombe Gig

Cargo Deck

To date when we have been away for overnight or for a few days, we have carried our camping gear and kit split between the two rear lockers and 4 plastic storage drums that we bought for the purpose just after taking ownership of Tra Bhui.

While we have managed to carry everything that we need with ease, there are a few drawbacks to this arrangement.

·    The drums while watertight are not secure against theft as they cannot be locked shut.

·    The drums have to be individually tied in to make sure they stay with the boat in the               event of a knock down or capsize

·     We tend to cram too much into the rear lockers adding to the stern weight of the boat           which tends to sit slightly stern heavy anyway.

The solution was therefore to make a Cargo Deck – while this may seem a grand name it simply consists of three plywood covers that encloses the area between the 1^st, 2^nd and 3rd thwarts at the same level as the thwarts, rather like a deck infill.

The deck is lockable and provides us with a surface on which to cook, eat, sleep (although I prefer the space o the floor) and on which we can carry our deflated tender.

This keeps a lot of weight forward and low in the boat which helps with our upwind performance.

Since the pictures below were taken hinges have been added which not only help secure the covers when we are sailing, but make the covers more manageable when they are open.

Deck Hatches cut from 20 mm Marine Ply

Ready for primer and undercoat

Painted to match hull - also nice and visible from above

Fitted to Tra Bhui after teak tread grips added

Extending the Mizzen Mast

During the West Coast Rally in May 2014 and with only a couple of days to go before I planned to tow Tra Bhui out to Denmark for the "Viking Cruise"we tried our new Jib and Mizzen sails for the first time.

Ever since we purchased Tra Bhui the boom for the Mizzen sail had fouled the top of the outboard when the outboard was raised, Our new mizzen sail although the same size as the original one appeared to have a longer Luff as getting tension on it was virtually impossible given the available mast length. The easy solution would have been to simply lower the boom but as it was already striking the outboard, extending the mizzen mast was the only practical solution.

Once we were back home from the West Coast Rally, I decided to add 24" to the mizzen which would also allow me to raise the Mizzen boom approx 9"on the mast thus allowing the boom to clear the outboard. The additional length of mast would be used to accommodate a Red Ensign flag as we would be required to fly an Ensign when we were sailing outside British waters

I planned to form the new mast extension with a slightly square profile at the top rather than taper it into a minimal thickness. This would allow me to mount a HF active antenna at a future date should I ever install NAVTEX or a HF radio on board. 

The extension was formed using a old bit of Scott's pine that I had lying around the workshop. It was not the best piece of timber due to a number of knots, but by selecting where the cuts would be made I managed to get a knot free bit to use.

This was a rush project as it needed to be completed in a morning to allow time for it to be painted / varnished and it to dry (the afternoon) before Tra Bhui was packed for the Viking Cruise.

The photos below show how the mast extension was quickly put together and the mizzen boom raised to it's new position.  Crude but effective!

Cutting back mast to form Scarf Joint

Preparing scrap piece of timber to extend mast

Glue and clamp new and old 

Rough plane of new mast top

Shaping mast top

Shaping mast top

Extended mast

Mizzen boom mocked up in new position

Instrument Consul

One of first projects that I wanted to undertake on Tra Bhui was to fit a permanent VHF radio. The Gig like most of the open Drascombes does not really have anywhere that a radio can be mounted which is readily accessible from the helm. To set the radio into the buoyancy tanks would not be ideal as the radio would then be either on the opposite side of the boat, between the helmsmen’s legs (under him) or behind the helmsman under the tiller.

The solution was to build a small instrument "pod" which would sit on top of the centreboard casing just in front of the helm. The pod would be able to accommodate the radio and a small switch panel (VHF / Chart plotter, anchor lights and running lights). It would also provide an ideal mounting for the Chart plotter.

In keeping with the rest of the woodwork I decided to make the pod out of 20mm thick Iroko. This would then be secured onto the top of the center board housing by stainless steel woodscrews driven upwards into it

Basic "Pod" carcass being glued and screwed together

Side view of Pod  and Standard Horizon Radio

"Pod" oiled and ready for installation 

Front view - radio and switch panel still to be fitted and cleaned!!!

'Pod"installed on Tra Bhui with Chart plotter mounted on top

"Pod
' viewed from above