S/V Perspective

We’ve been meaning to tackle this project for quite some time but never got it done.  We had some sewing mojo/courage after completing the stack pack and decided to finally do this one.  You may be wondering what the said project is, so without further ado…we made a mast boot cover.  Ahhh the suspense is over!  ?

The sunbrella cover protects the tape that stops leaks from the mast to the deck area.  If left uncovered, the tape will succumb to the UV rays and leaks will be knocking on your door…errrr ceiling.

It’s a small project that packed a scary punch (for me).  We had to deal with 2 different circumferences and had to figure out how to make it work.  Brad is the master planner when it comes to these things.  He immediately suggested putting in pleats/darts to solve our problem.  We tried a few practice pleats in the machine and got the technique down.

I cut the fabric to size, hemmed the perimeter and Brad added our pleats.  Before we went any further, I took the cover to the boat to make sure it would fit.  No such luck!       

Not to worry, the fix was simple.  I added an additional panel to each side and sewed the Velcro on to fit.  I made a couple of trips back and forth to the boat until I felt confident to sew the Velcro on.

Now it fits like a glove!

Each project has been a learning experience and I’m happy to be adding sewing to our arsenal of skills. 🙂

Brad took his second climb up the mast and I made my first trip up a few weeks ago.  The idea of going up has always been an intriguing/intimidating prospect for me.  I know it’s completely safe, but I haven’t had much experience with heights before.  So what better way to overcome those anxious feelings than to go up!

Brad had a job to do while he was up- he had to attach hardware to the spreaders to secure our lazyjacks.  My only job was to sit and enjoy the views!  Brad explained the Bosun chair, helped me climb in and clipped me in.  There was no turning back when he started to winch me up.

Let me be honest.  I was a nervous, shaking wreck and my way to cope with the heights was to look straight at the mast in front of me.  Occasionally I would peek down and then look straight at the mast again.  Before I knew it, he had me winched up to the top of our second spreaders. I enjoyed the views at much as possible and managed to snap a few photos!

Overall I am very happy I went up.  I now know that it is safe and the chair is very comfortable.  Having the opportunity to go up at the dock was priceless- better to go there than while out at sea.

We sent Brad up one more time.  Jesper did the winching up, and I released him down.  The feeling of literally having his life in my hands while I let the rope slip through the winch was unnerving.  It’s all a matter of getting comfortable with the process and trusting our new gear, and myself.

For any of you that are curious about going up the mast, you should give it a try.  Just make sure your halyards and hardware are in great shape, your partner understands the process and go for it!

Views from the top!

I’m writing this post with mixed feelings.   We have a HilleRange stove/cooktop in the boat that works great.   I even feel it’s perfectly safe, with redundant shut off systems.   (This is nice, as propane is heavier than air, so it sinks into the bilges and just waits for a spark.)   First, ‘one’ can shut off the tank.   If ‘one’ is too lazy to do that, there is a shutoff in the kitchen.  Sounds great, right?   Not if you are an insurance agent.   They want a third failsafe at the burner to shut off the gas if the flame blows out.   So, let’s dig in the wallet and replace something which works perfectly…

Jesper and I pulled the old stove and cleaned the space.   It’s well designed and lined with stainless steel sheet.   It cleaned up nicely and was ready for the new stove.  Notice how the space is curved in the back;  This is to allow the stove to swing when the boat is heeling (aka falling over).

We made a large dent in my wallet and purchased a Dickinson Mediterranean stove, which was reported to bake evenly (oddly a rare attribute) and was well constructed.  It settled in nicely and works like a champ!

At the end of the day, we have a great stove, and more importantly our insurance will cover us if we go ‘boom’ due to a propane leak.

We’ve gotten way behind in posting our activities. The next few will be out of order as we both catch up and document what we’re doing now.  In summary, the mast is back in, we have all new standing rigging, all new sails–we will tell you all about it soon!

Perspective has 300 feet of 3/8 inch chain, which is great for holding power. Unfortunately our chain is pretty rusted. Rather than spending the $1500 to replace it (~$5/ft), We decided to re-galvanize it ($.75/lb).

Jesper and I tackled that project yesterday, which entailed pulling the anchor and 300 feet of chain. We quietly loaded the 450 pounds of chain into a dock cart, which I’m pretty sure the dockmaster would consider an unapproved use of their flimsy fiberglass carts.  

Jesper then had the brilliant idea to tackle the ramp at high tide, which was the only way our aging bodies would get it up the ramp.

Below is a picture of it loaded in the always handy Home Depot rental truck. As always, I’m very impressed with Home Depot from a cost and simplicity perspective.

In a couple weeks we should have chain that’s good as new!

Thanks as always to Jesper for his expertise and strong back. 

About a year ago Brad and I purchased our Sailrite sewing machine.  Between now and then there have been (many- but who’s counting?!) fabric purchases, remnant ransacking and plenty of seam ripping going on…and successful projects as well.

At first we started out with easy projects- zip up pillow covers and zipper pouches.  Each were a lot of fun to shop for, and great experience.

Brad had just purchased new sails for our boat and the sailmaker had an option to build the stack pack for us.  We would save around $800 to do it ourselves so we thought we would give it our best shot.  Lucky for us, Sailrite has an extensive selection of how to videos and ready to go kits just for the job.

Some of you may be wondering what the heck a stack pack is.  Let me explain.  A stack pack and lazy jacks act as a cradle for the mainsail.  When the mainsail is not flying, it needs to be dropped and covered.  The lazy jacks help contain the sail as it makes its way down the mast and into the stack pack.  Once the sail is completely down, the top of the stack pack zips up providing UV protection for the sail.  Pretty neat, eh?!

Once the sails arrived we were able to get to work.  We set up the mainsail, took measurements and started our project.  The way we had measured called for us to add an additional panel to each port and starboard side.  Little did we know this would be unnecessary, but we learned a fancy new seam trick.

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There was an abundance of long seams and hems to stitch at this stage of the project.  Bonus:  I finally learned how to sew in a straight line and gained some serious confidence behind the machine.  We were working with sunbrella, Dacron, webbing, zippers and serious amounts of basting tape.  Basting tape is a miracle from the sewing gods- also available for purchase at Sailrite!

Brad was the master problem solver/tool man during this project and always found a way to make things work.  Just like I can never have enough fabric, he never have enough tools. ?  The right tools for the job make all the difference.  We found ourselves using our hot knife and soldering iron quite a bit.  

We completed our first attempt and took the finished product to the boat for a fitting.  At this time Brad and our friend Jesper set up the lazy jacks, attached the stack pack and raised/flaked the main.

What we discovered is that we were a little too ambitious during our first measuring attempt.  The cover was much too big!

Feeling a little defeated, but not in total despair, we took the time to reflect on what changes we wanted to make.  Brad had the brilliant idea to pick up some slides for the pack to slide into the boom track.  This would keep the stack pack attached to the boom evenly.

We were short on slides so we headed to a local sail loft to buy a few.  During our visit we were shown a professionally done stack pack that was fully lined with Dacron, fully enclosed and equipped with straps to roll the pack up while you’re out sailing.  We decided not to fully line with Dacron at this time, but did decide to attach the roll up straps to our new and improved pack.

It was back to the drawing board.  We knew the improvements we wanted to add, but needed to figure out exactly how it was all going to work.  Brad completed diagram after diagram until he was satisfied with our new plan.  We cut the bottoms of our panels and started from scratch.  The modifications took one day and we were ready for our second fitting.  We also created our mast boot at this time.  This portion wraps around the mast and attaches to the port/starboard sides of the stack pack via zippers.

Brad and I put the mainsail back on again, reattached the jack lines and hoped for the best.  We raised the main, flaked it into the pack and liked what we saw so far.  The next test would be to zip the pack up.  We hit a slight snag but don’t worry, it closed like a champ!  Next and final test- would the mast boot fit?  Sure enough it did!  I couldn’t help but to admire our work while Brad checked for things to adjust.  At first the project seemed completely overwhelming, but we took it step by step and won!  Here, take a look…you know you want to!

Sew our next sewing projects on the list are lee cloths, a sailbag for our stays’l, mast boot, windlass cover and probably a few more pillow covers, ya know, for good measure!

For those of you who are non-sailors, our mast penetrates the deck and is ‘stepped’ on the keel.  Where the mast penetrates the deck, there is a metal collar to reinforce the area and stabilize the deck. 

Our old mast collar was completely corroded.  The aluminum actually discintigrated when I was trying to remove it.  

We had a new collar fabricated by Benchmark  Welding.  It was both a work of art and very sturdy.  

Sarah and I installed it this weekend.  It began by filling the existing holes as we changed the pattern to bolt into clean fiberglass. I haven’t played with fiberglass since college and had quite a bit of fun. 

We let this cure over night.  

The next morning, sanded and cleaned the area with acetone.  We marked the new hole pattern and began drilling.  The first hole was stressful.  It’s amazing how fast a sharp drillbit will go through 3/4″ fiberglass.  

I applied a good base of 3M 4000UV as bedding material and bolted it all together.  All in all, easier than I though to install. 



That’s right;  no more mast.  

On December 14th I drove the boat to the yard and we pulled the mast.  This was a first and surprisingly easy!   Thanks to Chris Catterton at C. C. Rigging for all the quality work. 

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We have a confirmed date of December 14th to pull the mast!!!   

In preparation for this, we need to remove the sails, disconnect the wiring and any extraneous running rigging.  

I have owned two boats and never needed to remove the sails and both Sarah and I were excited to tackle the project. 

We started with the mainsail.  Perspective was upgraded some time in its past to a furling main via a bolt on behind the mast Foreapar EZ-Furl system.  It had a warped worm drive and we wanted to return to a traditional stack pack main sail.  

We pulled out the main and began inspecting the system. It was relatively intuitive, so down she comes!

  

The main is in great shape, but not usable in the new system.  I’m sure Sarah will find creative uses with her Sail Rite sewing machine. 

The wind picked up and we dropped the staysail and jib the following morning. It was a fun and educational exercise. 

We also pulled all the wiring from the mast.  It’s all due for replacement, so very straight forward.  

We are learning more about the boat every day.  It’s lots of work, but great fun!

I’ve been lazy with postings and finally catching up. 

We completed the head install about 3 weeks ago with the exception of final vent fittings and cosmetic touch up.  

Lesson number 1:  Venting

Venting should not be overlooked.  The original vents for both heads are made from old plastic tubing that became very brittle over 30 years of exposure to holding tank gasses.  They were broken in several places resulting in unsavory smells… All lines need replacement.  We decided to upsize the original 3/8″ line and go with 1/2″ PEX to increase airflow.

This sounds easy, right?   The boat was designed well with all venting leading to the transom.  The theory is that this keeps all holding tank gasses out of the boat and cockpit.  On a 46′ boat, this means you have a vent line running almost 50′.  There is a conduit which was helpful (which was the limiter on ventline ID), however it was in 3 non-contiguous sections.  That means you take apart a lot of the boat to run the lines.  

The line is run and I just need to connect to the holding tank with a new thru hull. 

Lesson #2:  KISS

We went with Lavac toilets as we liked the simple design.  Easy to service and all pumps are based on common components. Rumor has it that the toilet has survived flushing stuffed animals (had to be tiny) through it.  

The plumbing was not so simple.  We created an all new system that included:

• Vented loops on the saltwater inlet and head outlet.  Lavac toilets use vacuum to pull in saltwater for the flush and need a vacuum break.  The head outlet vacuum break stops your boat from sinking if a siphon forms while configured to dump overboard…   this wasn’t needed on the previous toilet.  
• Flexibility in waste management.  Have 4 paths for our poop.  Head to direct overboard (for offshore use), head to holding tank, holding tank to pump out and holding tank to overboard via manual whale MK5 pump.  Two pumps, two Y valves and no power required. 
• Common pumps.  The toilet flushing pump is the same model pump used to pump offboard from holding tank.  Common parts equals less spares.  With the aft head, there will be four in total. 

Note the pvc to hose ‘barbs’. I used SeaLand hose adapters and love them.  Available online or at SeaLand/Dometic dealers  for about 3 bucks, or West Marine for 19.99. 

We are excited to have a working forward head again and can’t wait to start on the aft head. 

Lesson #3: crappy 80’s plastic

During the plumbing project we discovered that the same brittle plastic lines are used for all the cold water lines, water tank vent lines and fuel tank vent lines throughout the boat.   How did we discover this?  We shattered one under the sink in the forward head while pulling sanitation hose.  We also had a mystery puddle after filling the water tanks.  They are all on the replacement list. 

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Stay tuned for more plumbing fun after our next project….Rigging!!