New mast step

The original mast step I made for Golightly was a pair of aluminum angle bars that were drilled for a bolt that was to go through a tongue at the bottom of the mast:

The big idea was to be able to cant the mast forward or aft to get the balance right. The big problem with it (aside from what just happened) was getting the bolt through those holes where visibility is extremely limited.

This is why it came apart:

The bottom piece should look like the top piece, with wood from the bottom plank stuck to the whole length of it—but the epoxy obviously didn't stick to more than half of it. I forgot to sand the epoxy into the metal. That bottom piece is the piece that came off with a crack. The top piece I chiseled off.

It's just as well that it came apart, because it was way too much hassle getting the mast set up, and I didn't see a reason to cant the mast, since the balance seems to be just fine. Maybe it would be an issue with a larger triangular sail?

Anyway, I made a sleeve and stuck it to a piece of fibreglass, which I then epoxied to the bottom of the boat:

The dirt on the right is mud from Oak Bay at low tide. Smelly stuff! It's washed off now. The sleeve is too large (John's fault), so I put a bump around the bottom of the mast to make it a snug fit.

She needs paint!

Broke mast step

I took Golightly out for a sail on Tuesday last. The wind was a steady 15 knots, about, with nice gusts on flat water at Oak Bay. When it's from the West, it's offshore there.

The boat sailed really fast across the bay and then I tacked to sail back, and in the next nice gust, the mast step broke with a loud crack—I'll post photos of the pieces when I have them; in the excitement of it all, I've neglected to do any photo documentation. Right now I'm building a new mast step, so Golightly is on top of the car, going back and forth to the shop getting fixed, and Bobber Ann is relaxing in my living room:

On the work bench in the right foreground are some of the things I take sailing or paddling. The black plastic jar is the potty, which sits on top of the duct tape that I take with me in Bobber Ann. On the back right is sun screen. In front of those things is a sailor's knife in a sheath, which I haven't taken with me since Firefly. The small black fanny pack in front of that holds the nuts, bolts and tools to make Golightly into a trimaran. In front of that is a waterproof camera case.

The painting (not mine, but from a photo I took) is a view towards Cortes and Read Islands from Rebecca Spit on Quadra Island. It's an autumn evening around sundown, and the last boat of the day to Cortes is an invisible part of the story.

Post-script: I'm really enjoying the quality of the photos I'm getting with my 10.5" iPad Pro. And the vibrancy of the colours on the screen makes some of the photos look three-dimensional.

Buoyancy tanks installed

My neighbour Vladi gave me some industrial strength hook-and-loop webbing that has the hooks on one side, the loops on the other, and something like nylon webbing in-between. It's super strong, light, white, and requires no fasteners!

The photo shows the Point Ellice (Bay Street) Bridge over the upper harbour.

The horizontal part of the webbing is all one piece that tucks behind the frames; the vertical part is one piece whose ends are captured between the two layers of the overlapping ends of the top piece. Being pulled forward, the buoyancy tank is held in by the inwales, so the webbing is mainly to keep it there. The tank makes a good foot brace.

Below, the new Johnson Street Bridge! This bridge is an excellent design that is a pleasure to use, as a vehicle driver, cyclist or pedestrian; they really did it right.

The very top part on the left is the bascule support tower of the old bridge on the other side of the new bridge. The old bridge is being dismantled this weekend. Most of it is already on the deck of the Dynamic Beast crane barge.