Yacht Capella

Nov 25 2009
Hello Again PDF Print E-mail
Written by Ron   
Wednesday, 25 November 2009
Been quiet for a while, very little sailing and not much enthusiasim either . I've decided to bring Capella's news up to date. The 2009 season started badly and then fell away.
The weather was the worst Gordon and Jim have recorded in 20 years so Capella never got past Inchkieth in fact we never got that far!
It must be said that the skipper was not too hot either, black cloud syndrome being bad enough that I cancelled our cruise, which was to include a visit to The Scottish Traditional Boat Festival at Portsoy in the Moray Firth. It would have been Alan's first visit however both he and David are very understanding of my dodgy brain, after all Capella wouldn't be here if I hadn't had a "manic" episode!
 I did get some useful work done on Capella, Improvements that I'd been thinking about for some time but never got around to implementing.
I've been unhappy with the saloon layout since the begining and have tried several layouts but really wanted arm chairs, mad I know but why should we have to sit on flat benches that are more suited to lying down.

Whilst doing the Speyside way walk I saw ,in a B&B, a grand wee reclining chair so as is my habit I sketched it and made some measurements.
I now looked them back and made two nice open sided armchairs which recline gently as you lean back. There now very popular with the Grumblies. As ever, Anna made the upholstery beautifully using a suede type finish as there was not enough of the original leather left.
There was enough to make a round cushion to finish off the new nav. seat made by John Fulmar. This is a simple post which can be raised and lowered to suit and also unscrewed from the sole to give clear access when necessary.
To go with the new chairs I made a small folding table fro the coffee cups etc. The original table can still be used for "fine dining" which Jim insists on when cruising.

                                                     
The previous nav. stool was used to top a folding stool for the fore cabin which saves having to try and put socks and trousers on whilst standing on one leg (wait till your'e a pensioner).
The gallows have always annoyed me  and although perfectly functional they were rather agricultural in appearence and the wooden rail is beginning to split from being hit by the boom.
            

                                                    
Davey & company of London have been casting and forging bronze fittings for the marine trade since Nelson's time so I purchased at ,great expense,pair of cast bronze gallows brackets. These connect the wooden top rail to the uprights. When fitted correctly they  cause the posts tobe at a 3o angle to the vertical, this stiffens the structure so that there is no need for braces or other unsitely appendages.
I used the existing S>S posts but painted them to look like weathered bronze, cheating I know but it looks good.
The top rail was laminated from  8 layers of Burma teak and the cut outs for the boom leathered. What a difference.

Handling the foresails on Capella is made easy by the furlers but though there is plenty of safe space at the mast the length of the boom and the size of the mainsail make raising and stowing  single handed a big job in any kind of wind. There is also the very real risk ,when gathering the main in over the boom and getting the ties on, of the gaff taking the sail handler over the side as sadly happened to the great Eric Tabarly on Pen Duick.
Getting the ties off and raising the sail causes problems too as it all blows about in the wind until you get up to the mast and start hauling. Likewise when taking in a reef the bight must be tied in with the pennants which takes an age and is carried out in a precarious position with the boom not yet under control, much bad language  and torn nails. Indeed this has caused Capella to be sailed badly by putting off reefing far to long.
Having decided to resolve this problem a  meeting of the"last of the summer wine" design committee was convened. As the others sail plastic boats with "stack pack" systems ( basiclly a bag on the boom supported by lazy jacks into which the sail drops or is pulled by a retreiving line). We decided that this would be the way forward and after much conversation, consideration and calculation could see no reason why it wouldn't work, after all gaffers have been using lazyjacks to control gaffs for centuries.

                                                                     

Anna, the magic canvas lady, was called in to make the bag whilst I was hauled up the mast to fix the cheek blocks for the lazy jacks.
The bag was attached to the top of the boom with a long sail batten and has two others to hold the sides. In theory the bag is lowered while sailing to allow the full area of sail to be exposed .In use however I leave the  it up with no detriment to performance.
Needless to say the bag was perfect right off and once the jacks were adjusted the whole thing looked just right.
Before sail trials I replaced the throat and peak halyard blocks with bigger bearing sheaved wooden ones to ensure nice free running.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

In practise the difference was/is fantastic. Before leaving the pontoon the bag is unzipped, the peak halyard attached and the topsail sheet knotted on. Once at sea  the boom is topped up and sail hoisted out of the bag, easy peasy.
I'm much quicker to reef now which means Capella sails better with less leeway. Top up, take in reef, harden up the halyards, let go the topping lift and the jobs done.Most of the time we don't even stop sailing. The reefed bight of the main lies happily in the bag with no need for pennants and the risks when on the doghouse roof.
When it's time to drop the main the same proceedure is adopted ,but with the peak kept up its weight drops the sail straight into the bag.
The final tidying can then be done at the skipper's leisure, on the way in or when safely tied up .

Having "gone soft" on the sail handling the logical next step was some kind of spray hood sonthat the hatch could be left open in wet weather and provide some protection for the helmsman. I was concerned about the visual effect of this on a gaffer, however the design was again approved by the gang. Keeping the hood narrow to cover just the width of rhe hatch would reduce the impact. I made a garage from teak to house the hatch and allow some bolt rope track to be fitted, this makes a neat connection between the hood and deck.
The hood could not be tensioned  with webbing in the usual way so I fitted small rigging screws between the hoops and cabin top, a nice rigid fixing for the enevitable crewman using it as a handhold.
 
Once again Anna made a superb job of the canvas whilst my tube bending wasn't too bad. Now the helm can sit on the bridge deck in shelter keeping watch while the autohelm gets wet!

So, what next. The bulkhead heater which looks very "boaty" is not the most efficient way to heat the boat and since the arrival of the chairs it kind of gets in the way.
So, answer, hot air of course.
I've been considering this, as is my habit, for some time and was attractedn to the gas powerede version on grounds of cost. THe summer wine boys soon talked me out of that so when I saw by chance an almost new Eberspacher for sale on Ebay I jumped in.
Once Mitch and John had taken it all to bits to see what was inside they declared it unused.
As ever with these jobs there was more than a few hours work required to install it. Jim and I where contorted into the most unsuitable postions for men of our age just to feed the ducting behind tanks and bunks and through bulkheads.This was followed by the cables, insulation,electrics, mounting the heater itself and the exhaust to the fitting on the transom.
 After a week of crawling about theboat John fitted the fuel lines and pump and said "fire it up". After a few goes to get the air out off it went, wonderful hot air in the forecabin and saloon.
Climbing out of a bunk on a freezing summer morning to a cold cabin is now a thing of the past.
What a bunch of softies.
To complete the luxurious life ahead Anna is making a cockpit  tent for which I've just bent the hoops. This will let us dump (hang up neatly) wet gear etc to keep the inside nice and dry. It also provides another living space when the weather is  inclement.
The final luxury will be a refrigerator. I've tried various cool boxes and they really only work if you're somewhere that allows you to "re cool them"
As this will probably mean rebuilding the galley it may be some time in reaching fruition!
Last Updated ( Saturday, 05 December 2009 )
 
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