Blog re-named

The blog has been called Spindrift to Firefly.

Since I've finished the restoration and launched her, it doesn't seem appropriate any more, so I'm re-naming the blog Firefly of Victoria.

Sailing

Went for a short sail Tuesday afternoon. Wind was light from the South. Weather was mostly sunny with light cloud cover at times. Here's what I noticed:

• The jib sheets always got hung up on a cleat on the forward side of the mast. The cleat will be replaced by a plastic donut attached with webbing that won't catch anything. I've been using that cleat to secure the ends of the mast-raising wires, which aren't used except for raising and lowering the mast, so can be fairly permanently tied up, thus don't need a cleat.

• The jib sheets aren't lead properly. I put them through the cleats on the gunnels, hoping they'd work well enough, but the leech was flapping, meaning the leads need to be on a more acute angle. I'll try using the handrails since that would be easiest. If the handrails don't work out, I'll use plastic donuts fastened somewhere, possibly to the gunnels, as leads.

• Cleats for both jib and mizzen sheets need to be replaced with cam cleats; as it is, it's too slow to change tacks.

• The mizzen does not hold her bow to windward: the cabin catches as much wind, and she drifts sideways.

• There's still some lee helm. Not much; almost balanced. I'm wondering if she'll make headway without the jib. Taking the jib out of the equation might give the necessary weather helm.

I seemed to be mostly going back and forth, not gaining much ground with each tack. I was thinking as I sailed that I was making ground to windward because of the current. But it could also be that the current was holding me back; it was hard to tell. The tide was coming in, but apparently the currents aren't always going the way one would expect them to. The case for GPS, I guess.

I was nervous, sailing out there for the first time. But everything worked well enough. There was a nice breeze and not much wave action. (She seems to stall in waves.) I'm liking my Oak Bay experience.

Oak Bay!

John towed Firefly to the northern Cattle Point ramp, which is steeper, so we didn't need the trailer extension. I hopped in and started the engine, but it kept dying. I pulled and pulled and pulled the start cord with no ignition and Firefly got blown ashore. Hopping off onto underwater rocks was so automatic I barely remember doing it. John asked me if I'd turned the gas lever to "on". The light bulb went on in my brain, I hopped back in and off we went (Firefly & I—John stayed ashore).

I dropped the mizzen mast in backwards!

Here we are, just off Cattle Point, headed for the marina. I didn't want to bend the sails on without the ballast aboard, so motored all the way.

The new arrival:

Entering the slip was a perfect manoeuvre. No-one was there to catch me, but no-one was needed.

 

Snugged in. I like that I have a whole slip to myself, so I can centre the boat and not need bumpers:

I set up some bumpers with lanyards to suit, just for when I arrive sloppy.

Where's Firefly?

Nice spot.

Tomorrow I sail, last day before the rain starts in on Wednesday.

Boom Tent

The boom tent is almost finished—just need to hem the bottom of the back panel and add some chafe pads where the sides hit the cabin.

It doesn't show too well here. The sides could be a bit longer at the mid-point, but at least the tent overlaps the coamings.

Drove screw eyes into the transom for the aft tie-downs. The forward tie-down goes to the deck cleat and back into the cockpit to the jib sheet cleat. The middle tie-down goes to a little hook fastened under the gunnel and ties to itself. The back flap may get a tie-down or two as needed.

Not elegant, but hopefully functional and durable enough for a few winters.

Anchor roller, mast push, cover sewing

Built an anchor roller that may or may not work. The idea is to, as much as possible, eliminate lifting and awkward positions that might adversely affect the back. I'm going to have to tie a marker to the chain so I won't be bringing the anchor up against the chine.

It's a roller on a tray, basically.

It can be used on either side of the boat. The fir is re-purposed from something that was on the boat. I probably won't paint it.

There will be a lanyard through that hole, with a snap hook or something on its other end to secure it to something under the deck so it won't jump off and float away. The cross piece is a piece of ¾" copper pipe. I need to find a longer plastic tube for the roller itself. The copper pipe and plastic tube came with the boat, possibly were the previous anchor roller that was fastened to the gunnels; I forget.
 

* * *

That mast-raising piece I made awhile back was completely wrong. First of all, it was sized for the boom. And it was too weak. Here's the real thing. The handle is a piece of maple, therefore strong.

The holes were already in it, so I used two of them to pass bolts through, to attach the plywood.

* * *

I'm finally sewing the back triangle onto the boom tent. Building this tent has been an exercise in patience. Fortunately I haven't been in a rush, and the breaks have been useful for figuring how to go about it.

My tendency is to push through and just get it done, but this job required so much forethought as something I hadn't done before, that stopping at the end of each action allowed me to work through the next step in my mind before proceeding (put the outsides together before sewing, so the seam is on the inside!). I used Adobe Illustrator to find the middle of the triangle, which wasn't properly the centre, since the boom is bent. I absolutely had to finish the main tent piece and install it before I could figure out the back triangle and get the measurements more or less right. Fabric is difficult to work with because it's always changing its shape; not like a piece of wood, which only changes shape if I make it do so.

Daggerboard box, cover, marina

I keep forgetting to take photos, but here are some.

I whittled the port board thinner where it was sticking, and widened the trunk as well. The next two photos show my favourite tools. First, the grinder, which I just discovered during this project:

And then, 40-grit paper. I think it may be meant for floor sanders or something. It comes in sheets or rolls (I got pieces from John, so I'm not sure), and it has a very firm backing. It stays together and sharp for ages. It makes a great shaping tool when it's wrapped around a small piece of wood.

This is what I went inside the trunk with. Also, John rigged up a grinder backwards for me, so it would fit in the slot and against the cabin side, and that did the outer side of the box, which was the most warped. My piece of sandpaper was already folded for another reason, so it didn't cover the whole side of the aluminum bar I used. It worked okay anyway.

The photo below shows the hand stitching on the cockpit cover. I used regular whipping thread and a round needle and I measured and marked for each hole except for the Xs on the nylon webbing that I used for the attachment points. (I think the webbing is better than grommets.)

I'm doing a simple boom tent. The shape with the hoops is too complicated for me right now. Maybe I'll figure it out later. Next step is to make a triangular piece to close in the back. I used another tarp to start with, which I realized was not as good quality, so I used it as a pattern, to see if it could come out of the original tarp that I'd already cut, which it did. So I have a pattern now in case I need to make another like this.

About That Marina

It ends up that Hidden Harbour doesn't have a spot for Firefly, so I decided to keep her at Oak Bay. I had to do a mental shift away from the idea that I could just walk along the water and step into my boat. Oak Bay is only 7 km, so I can cycle there once I've got everything straightened away with the boat that needs a car to carry.

Firefly's new berth is B-9. She should be there by the 16th of September.

I realized, after watching Victoria harbour all summer, that it's not the best place to sail, anyway. Oak Bay is way better: it's more interesting, as there are many islands; it's not as choppy, as there's more shelter from the land; and there are more people who actually sail there, people who go out every day, like "Everyday Phil". I didn't see people day-sailing out of Vic harbour.

There's a webcam pointed at this area from Willows Beach, which is the shoreline to the north on this chart. It's at bigwavedave.ca, in "webcams" look for Willows Beach. You might see me out there one day.