Recent additions

Last season a few temporary measures were put in place in order to get DY171 sailing. The use of a cheap lifting engine bracket whilst the original uni parts bracket was being refurbished is one such measure. We also did not use a furler on the genoa as our rig design did not initially include this.

This season we have refitted the original uni parts engine bracket and added a sturdy oak pad. The bracket was kindly stripped, sealed and bought back to life by my father's friend Nigel. The uni parts engine mount is by far the best bit if kit for the job I have seen, but hard to find new or second hand. A recessed well in the transom works great and looks tidy, it is however an expensive job to get done.

The addition of a furler will help ease of rigging and de rigging. It will also come in useful to stop the genoa flapping between races or when alongside. We have used a selden furlex 20s which is the smallest furlex I have ever seen and runs very smoothly in conjunction with a swivel on the head of the genoa.

I look forward to hitting the Exe soon, lets hope it all works as expected.

Happy sailing,
Rich


"Sailing is like standing in a shower fully clothed while ripping up £10 notes" Anon

Back on the water, what a mission.

It has been a very productive 48hrs!

I took the train up to the West Midlands a couple of days ago in order help get the boat back down to Topsham.  My father decided to hire a 4 x 4, I was expecting a Land Rover but we got a Mitsubishi L200 'Barbarian' instead.

It is massive! 

The car even has a rear facing camera so you can watch the boat while towing.

But as amazing as the Mitsubishi is, it is not an ideal car for Topsham. Small roads, tight parking and funny looks made me remember why I bought a Mini for life in Topsham.

The centre board (now fully refurbished) was easily hauled in the pick up section.

The drive down was a long slog taking four and a half hours at 60mph with some traffic delays and a couple of stops. When we eventually landed in Topsham we did a quick tidy up on the antifoul and then went for a well deserved curry. 

A relatively early start today allowed us to get the boat ready to go in at around 1400 (high water). We were very lucky as there were a couple of other Devon Yawls preparing to launch (must be the sunshine that brought us all out). Thanks to some helpful advice from the experienced local Yawl sailors and a kind offer of help to launch, the boat was floating with two masts up, a centre board in place and ready to go by 1430.

In addition to all of the above we managed to add a new furling system to the genoa, which worked really well. I will post some photos as soon as I can.

We look forward to getting some decent sailing this season, lets hope the weather holds up!

Happy sailing,

Rich

 

Back to Topsham

On our way back to topsham!

I will post a full report on our road trip and getting DY171 back on the water tomorrow. Here is a picture if us ready to roll!

Spring is here (almost)

Another coat of paint on the yawl and some new sails for club racing this season!

We are all hoping the British weather sorts its act out soon so we can finish the boat off and get racing. I'm looking forward to trying out the new sails and seeing what difference all our hard work has made to our boat.

Preparations for 2013 season!

We are slowly getting the boat ready for the new season. This winter has been quiet for renovations but the required maintenance has continued. The under side of the hull has been sanded back and the first coats of primer applied.

My dad and his friend Nigel have done sterling work on the centreboard which was in a very bad way. It would appear that money I spent last year to have the board sand blasted and sealed was wasted, on inspection the board was badly rusted and deeply pitted! The moral of the story is If you want a job doing properly....... Don't pay a canal boat yard to do work at over inflated prices while you are out of the UK for three months and can't check the quality of their handy work!

We have decided to use Hempel hard racing white antifoul this season. As a dinghy racer who has always kept my boats ashore, this antifouling malarkey seems a little too much like hard work, it better work!