Commander 147

[Commander 147]

Thanks everyone, I really do appreciate your comments.

This idea originated from one of Ebb's replies to me. So he deserves some of the credit also.

Tony G there is so much going on with your project I just need to sit and study your gallery for a couple of hours one day soon. Problem is I've been running around like a mad man lately and hardly time to do my own projects, but I will make it there soon and check out all your progress.

Mike (mbd) you are not the only one that can't wait to see what Destiny looks like in the pretty her up phase!!!!! I am soooo ready to be there but I have to finish the grunt work first.

Mike (C227) You come up with a lot of "elegant" solutions of your own so I appreciate your comment.

[Commander 147]

Been playing with the layout of Destiny's rig. I'm one of those odd ducks who does not want to lead my halyards aft because in my mind it is so much better to have all the necessary controls all in one place at the base of the mast.

So this is what I have so far. See the attached PDF.

[mbd]

Hey Jerry, why the extra line and attachment point on your boom vang? Just wondering...

[Commander 147]

Mike

I'm doing a cascading vang which doubles the purchase of the vang. So instead of a 4:1 I will have an 8:1 purchase and make it a lot easier to adjust.

[Commander227]

Ya know Jerry I love everything you've done so far...on this...I think you're nuts.
What you want to leave that nice big cockpit for? Why you want to be so far from the tiller while hoisting and dosing. Ever want to single hand? What if you want to reef in big wind and seas?
Run them aft my friend!
Mike
C227

[Commander 147]

Mike

Tell me how you really feel. :-) :-)

You and I do agree A LOT about how we want our boats set up. And the jury was out for quite a while for me on how I wanted to do the halyards. My previous boats had the halyards led aft. I even recored the cabin top in case I decided to mount rope clutches and winches there for halyards led aft. And I single hand about 30% of the time I go out. But I have sailed with and watched my good friend Tom Scott single hand his Morgan 30 which he does 2 or 3 times a week with his halyards terminated at the mast. And I have to say for me the advantages of having them terminate at the mast are more than the drawbacks. There is less friction getting the sails up and down because the halyards are not running through as many blocks, there are no halyards laying in the cockpit getting tangled with sheets or in on the cabin floor in the way of people who go below. And when I do have passengers on board they don't have to keep jumping around the cockpit to stay out of my way while I work with the halyards.

But the single biggest reason I decided to terminate at the mast was one to the things you mentioned. When I have to reef in heavy wind it is much easier when the halyards are terminated at the mast. I have to go to the mast to hook the cringle at the tack anyway and with my setup the reefing lines, halyards and everything I need to touch are right there at the mast. I go there one time get everything set and get back into the cokpit and fall off to start sailing again.

This might be one of those few areas where you and I may need to agree to disagree.

[Chance]

Jerry,
Once again, your attention to detail, craftsmanship, and pioneering solutions to improve / enhance Destiny are remarkable. Question though on your masthead sheave box assembly. From the photos you posted it appears there would be interference problems with the sheave axle pins and the outer wall of the mast extrusion. You mentioned you have chosen Harken sheaves, what type of pin is being used to hold them in that beautiful stainless steal assembly? Are they clevis pins, machined pins of bronze, stainless, do they have a head on one side and a cotter hole on the other? Or, maybe they are pressed in? Just really curious because I see you don't have the sheaves installed yet.

Thanks for the inspiration!

[Commander 147]

Initially I was planning on using sex bolts to hold the sheeve assembly in the stainless bracket. They look like the first picture below. I was going to file a small round area for the head to slide through and that would be that. But it occured to me that to change a sheeve should one fail I would have to remove the bracket to do it. So I decided to just use a couple of 5/16" pieces of round rod with cotter pins which would allow me to remove and replace a sheeve without taking the entire assembly out of the mast.

[ebb]

Jerry, that was (also) a good move. Don't believe those barrel bolts are strong enuf for axle duty.
So the solid rod is way mobetta. And it comes in 316 if you want it. Or bronze for easy drilling.

[Chance]

Jerry,
Thank you for shedding light on my question, now I can see clearly your solution. The photo spread of your custom sheave assembly installed is great! Very nice work in the design and execution. Okay, so have you a friend who is a metal worker and tig welds? Like Ebb said, definately wise not to use sex bolts for that application.

[Commander 147]

Hi Chance

Unfortunately no friend with a tig welder but a custom metal shop in town with reasonable prices for the things they have made me.

[Commander227]

Hi Jerry,
Did you give your metal fab guy a drawing for that masthead doohickey?
If you have one I would love a copy so I can get one made for C157.
Or perhaps you could hook me up with your fab guy.
Thanks,
Mike
C227

[Commander 147]

Here are the drawings I gave him.

I also gave him a full scale profile of the mast section so he could tell how to bend the plates that hold the assembly in the mast. My drawing does not show it but I had him drill and tap for the 6 screws where the two loose plates that lock it into the mast attach to the welded stainless assembly. Tapping the stainless is a lot easier when someone else does it.

BTW I ended up going to a larger diameter sheeve than the Harken one I first bought. I ended up using the Ronstan RF1767 sheeve that has just shy of 2" diameter.

The fabricator I used was a company called Day Metal Products and I dealt with the owner who's name is Bobby Day. The Company is located in Brooksville, FL and the phone number is 352-799-9258.

Tell Bobby that if he does not have enough information in his file to build yours that he can call me and I will bring my parts back to him to use as a sample.

Also one thing I would do differantly if doing it over the plate on the aft side of the mast that locks the assembly into the mast should have longer legs on it to get the screws further away from the slot in the mast. On mine they bottomed out on the welded assembly so I had to add some washers to pull everything tight.

[Commander 147]

But I do have to admit I have not been around here for some time.

Fall has finally come to Florida and the weather is much better for working on Destiny. When the summer temperatures were 95 degrees every day with 95% humidity (the normal Florida summer weather for about 5 months straight) I have a hard time forcing myself out in the heat to work. And my epoxy allergy forces me to cover up which makes the heat even less inviting. But I have 4 or 5 months of good temperatures ahead of me now so it's back to work.

I have made progress on several fronts since I last posted. The deck recore is completely done now (I'll show some pics of that job in a future post) and I have finished something that was a bit of a challenge to my skills (which means I really enjoyed doing it) Destiny's forward hatch. I wanted to build a frame around the hatch to have something to attach the hardware to and to make it look better.

As I started looking at what I would have to do to make the frame I realized all 4 sides of the opening were different. And the only way I could come up with to make the frame fit the ceiling correctly was to make some 1/4" thick strips and spread glue between them in groups of three and clamp them to the bottom side of the deck around the opening. First I did the 2 sides and after taking them down I did the forward and aft sides of the opening.

Now I had the 4 pieces that would make up the frame in a very rough form. I shaped them enough so I could cut mortises where the frame parts came together and used loose tenons to join the 4 pieces together. At this point I had a very rough frame that all 4 sides curved at a different radius. The center of the frame was smaller than the opening in the deck for the hatch which was by design.

I shaped the outside edges of the frame and did some preliminary sanding. Then I glued the frame to the bottom side of the deck with thickened epoxy. After the epoxy dried and I could remove the clamps I ground the inside of the frame flush with the vertical lip of the hatch opening. Because the fiberglass was curved as it transitioned to the vertical lip there was a V shaped area that I had to fill with thickened epoxy. After that dried and I could sand it smooth I glassed in the inside perimeter of the deck opening from the top of the lip to the bottom of the wood. This strengthened the lip area and finished everything off.

Here are a couple of pictures of the completed project.

[Ariel 109]

Hi Jerry, nice to see the progress on Destiny, as always beautiful! Please more pictures.

Ben