Archive for September 2016
I have been working to fit in with the variable weather. Saturday was a nice sunny day with little breeze so I gave up my afternoon Laser racing to overcoat the non skid on the cabin top with a second coat of two pack polyurethane and spray an extra coat on the cabin sides. The job did not go to plan as some of the non skid material was displaced with the spray gun air flow and ended up in the gloss coat on the sides. Sunday was a good day of Laser sailing at Middle Harbour Amateurs and Monday was a good day to repair the damage. I removed all the masking to make sure all the loose non skid material was out of the way and applied a second overcoat to the non skid and redid the cabin sides. It is not perfect but it is as good as I am going to get working in the open air.
Tuesday was windy with so much rubbish blowing around that painting and even sanding outside was not practical. I did lots of sanding inside including the anchor locker and applied two pack epoxy in the anchor locker and the bilge area under the locker. It has had a second coat since and so the first metre and a half of the yacht is completed.
On Wednesday it was at last a sunny day and the wind was not blowing the clothes off the line. With all the non painting weather I had quite a bit of boat sanded ready for painting on the inside. I was up at seven drying off the deck and masking up the non skid areas. A quick sand with 240 grit and a second layer of tape later I was ready to apply the first coat of non skid to the deck. That went well and now there is just the boarding platform and cockpit floor to do. The deck still needs a second coat of two pack polyurethane but that will be a quick job. Later in the day I applied the first coat of primer to the cabin sides and then it was time to rest.
Today was also wet so I ran some errands picking up all the fuel lines, some more paint and extra cartridges for the dust and gas mask. As the rain abated the primer on the cabin sides was sanded and a second coat applied. With two coats of primer on the ceiling and cabin sides the cabin is looking much whiter and brighter.
Non skid completed on the cabin top and first coat on the deck
At least the anchor locker is finished.
Lots and lots of epoxy in the bilge area under the anchor locker
Cabin sides with one coat of primer and ceiling with two
The cabin of our Didi 40 Cr is looking white and bright.
Just one coat of undercoat and a top coat to go and I hope the cabin ceiling and sides will be complete.
The forecast is not good for topcoating the non skid on the deck with more two pack polyurethane but there is lots to do whatever the weather.
Passion had a very successful Winter Wednesday series. We won the series with three weeks to go and finished with a handicap about four and a half minutes more than at the start of the series. The only change we made from last year was to take out the 200 kg of lead from under the floor and remove about 100 kg of surplus equipment. Apart from this there were no changes. We did reef down earlier due to the lighter weight and we did get to use the black carbon genoa on more occasions due to the conditions we had. Our final race was a bit of an anticlimax. We did beat Viva. Rainbow and L’Eau Co over the line but the light conditions on the reach home suited the early finishers and the freshening breeze from behind rescued the tail enders. In the circumstances an 11th place was ok and off a handicap much harsher than at the start of the season when we had our last 11th place.
After ten years of sailing Passion there will be mixed feelings entering the new yacht in next years series. I am hoping we can have a year in the same division so that we can see how the new Passion X will fare against the likes of Allegro and Amante.
In the meantime there is much to do to get Passion X launched and gain experience but I am confident enough to book a marina berth at Port Stephens for the regatta next April.
Finally a very big thanks to the loyal crew who fronted up in all the wet conditions. In some respect the good result is a good attendance record because on the miserable days even a place in the second half of the fleet can be a keeper.
Tacking angles look superb due to the outgoing tide. Others did even better.
The top coat of two pack polyurethane paint on the yacht has cured nicely so I have been able to sand the cabin top ready for the non skid. It was all masked out ready when black clouds came over and dumped rain on my work. I retreated inside and masked up more or the cabin timber that will be clear finished and applied more epoxy primer. I did a bit more epoxy filling and faired all of the carlin area ready for primer. With two coats of primer on some of the ceiling panels the cabin is looking lighter and brighter.
I am debating with myself whether or not to cut back the cabin side paint and put on a third coat so I put the portlights in to check the appearance. Still undecided hence time is the enemy of perfection.
Some panels have come up just brilliantly. These are the areas where I had applied two layers of 6 oz cloth with epoxy resin. The extra thickness of the epoxy glass meant I could sand out most imperfections in the plywood. For weight saving I did not cover the cabin sides with epoxy glass so the finish is not as flat. When I apply the non skid to the cabin top there will be a second layer of paint applied over the top so I might give the cabin sides a third coat, because I can.
Meanwhile the mainsail is in production and I am very pleased with the Hydra Net Radial cloth we have selected.
First look at our Didi 40 Cr paint job in daylight.
Trying to make up my mind about a third coat on the cabin sides so I put the portlights in place for a photo.
The top panel of the mainsail showing the modest fat head.
After a weekend of sailing it was back to sanding the undercoat on Monday. We did take time out to get the car serviced and to have coffee but the rest of the day was sand away. Today there was more sanding before applying two coats of two pack polyurethane topcoat to the cabin sides, gunwales, coamings, cockpit seats and transom. The cabin top has a single coat as I could not get to it to do a wet on tacky second coat as I could the rest. The rest of the deck and cockpit floor will have non skid with the pain roller applied and the non skid shaken on. The weather forecast is for another good painting day next Tuesday so I might try and get the undercoat on the topsides that day.
Meanwhile Elaine had bought a nice colour coordinated doona cover to go with the light grey we have selected for the seat and mattress covers. We are thinking of mid grey towels with the yacht name in yellow stitching.
First glimpses of the finish on the cockpit coamings of our Didi 40 Cr
Elaine showing off the colour coordinated Doona cover for the quarter berth of our Didi 40 Cr
It took a day and a bit to sand the first two pack polyurethane undercoat to my satisfaction and half a day to put on the second coat. Painting the deck and cabin is a lot more difficult than painting the hull. For a start the hull was fully fibreglassed and then bogged and filled where required. Then a sandable primer was applied to the round bilges to take our the last fraction of a millimeter bumps. Then there are all the angles and corners to do.
Only the Interprotect two pack epoxy primer has been used on the deck as much of it will be covered in non skid which will hide the small imperfections. Martin says that the high gloss of the finish on the cabin sides will reflect the light and any small deviations will not be noticed. The gunwales which are a pretty solid construction have sanded up well and after two coats of undercoat I am confident that I will be happy with the finish gloss on those bits.
I did a better job of applying the second coat of undercoat but there are still a few runs which will have to be sanded out before I can apply the top coats. The top coats will be a two stage affair with the glossy bits completed first and the non skid areas done one at a time. I will have to let the glossy bits cure enough to take masking tape for the non skid areas. I am keen to get the non skid on the deck for obvious reasons.
To protect the deck from flying debris I raised a second tarpaulin along the long side of the awning and now the hull is protected on three sides. With this added protection finishing the topsides should be easy.
The first coat of undercoat was surprisingly glossy but I did get a lot of runs in it.
The second undercoat used just as much paint but was a better job which took a lot longer to apply.
I am surprised at how glossy the gunwales are and am pretty confident the top coats will be ok
The handicapper did his best to send us to the back of the handicap results with a .9333 multiple but we did particularly well in the conditions to score seventh fastest and seventh on handicap. The seventh place now becomes our second drop as we still have a sixth place drop in reserve.
The wind on the Harbour was almost due North but with plenty of big shifts. It stayed around the 10 to 13 knots with gusts to 17 knots which suited Passion fully powered up with the carbon headsail and a loose backstay.
We opted for a pin start which was the windward side of the course. At start time the breeze freshened so we had clear air and first use of the breeze on a tight reach to the Heads. At least we had clear air after the first light patch which allowed us to sail over the top of the big heavy Viva. After that it was a matter of keeping powered up as the breeze changed from reaching to beating conditions.
By the time we turned at the Heads we had a handy lead over the usual company we keep. Rainbow and Larrikin were threatening and with Larrikin we had a great tussle all the way to the line.
We square ran into Rose Bay with the pole fully extended and then reached to Point Piper.
The beat from Point Piper could have been better executed as we tacked below one of the big first fleet yachts and suffered both a header and disturbed wind. The header probably explains how the leading yachts were able to dominate the handicap results as they has a straight beat to the mark and also a nice patch of breeze for the reach back to the finish line.
The header was a lift for Larrikin and this is where she made up most ground on us. We did however manage to round in front and protect the inside position on the next mark. That kept Larrikin in our dirty air for the tight reach to the last mark. The final broad run to the finish line was Larrikin’s chance to blanket us but the breeze went square enough in time for us to cross with our bow in front.
I don’t know how we got away from our usual company. Perhaps the lead we built up on the first reach was enough to put us in more favourable wind but it is not as if the breeze died. It kept up for the rest of the afternoon and even seemed fresher for the late finishers.
It has been a happy season for us and we wish two of the crew safe travel on their overseas trips next week. The rest of us will front up and see if we can prove worthy of our handicap.
It seems like nothing has been accomplished in the past six days and while I know that is not true there are no new photos to show for the effort.
With help from the crew we have masked the cabin roof beams, sanded the fourth coat of primer and drilled more holes. This time the holes are for the toiled system and somewhere I have the size of backing ply written down and somewhere I have the size of the box I need to fabricate for the holding tank written down.
I have achieved a few things. I have worn out two random orbital sanders and bought a third which I hope will last to the end of the project. Elaine and I have selected a nice light grey covering for the cushions and mattresses. I have taken Martin’s advice and touched up the oversanded areas of the primer with light brush strokes. This worked out better than I anticipated. On the other extreme I have ignored his advice and done a second round of patch filling on the gunwales and given them a second extra coat of primer. The acrylic washboard has been drilled for the lock and the sliding hatch has had a slot routered to match the lock. It looks just like the lock on Passion.
With paint left over from priming the gunwales I have rolled and brushed the first coat of primer on the ceiling in the cabin. Also with paint mixed up for the gunwales I have sprayed the last coat of primer on the deck locker lid and the hatch garage. It would be nice if the boat was under cover and I could spray the lot. The neighbours are taking off for three days tomorrow but the weather is turning wet and the opportunity to spray may go missing. We will see what the morning brings.
Locker lid and hatch garage have been sprayed with primer.
The deck primed last week. Since then it has been spot filled, sanded and the gunwales have had two extra coats of primer.
Tidy tracks to windward but our big move was off the breeze and at Steele Point
Sunshine and a light Nor’easter made for a stunning day on Sydney Harbour. We wanted to be at the boat end at the start but a late knock meant we were below the boat and did not have the speed to make it to the crowded line. Larrikin held back so that they could take the windward edge of the fleet and at first that looked like a good move. Allegro tacked back to the windward side early and she too looked to be in a winning position. Aggrovation was also above us and with the lifts moving further ahead. When the breeze knocked we tacked back to the line of Larrikin and managed to tack back ahead of her . She was now in our dirty air and having trouble breaking through. Izzi a little further back was in clear air and managed to climb above us on the next series of lifts. We tacked back to the shore side of the course on a header that lasted too briefly and rounded well astern of Aggrovation with Izzi in the middle and Larrikin astern.
On the broad reach back to Steele Point we did not fare well. Rainbow came up from astern and Aggrovation and Izzi cleared out. Still Larrikin was close by and Ellipse who normally clears out was not getting away.
At Steele Point it is our normal practice to go wide to avoid the wind shadow. We have gone wide in about 200 races at RANSA and done well. Today the breeze was dropping over the hill quite close into the shore and there were random dead patches to leeward. Coming up with wind and speed we headed high and almost straight into the dead patch next to Aggrovation. We then carried on with momentum until we reached the new wind. This time it was our turn to hold the windward position and stay high until we reached the Rose Bay rounding mark ahead of Aggrovation. We got away with it this time but will probably not try it again for another 200 races. Now we were square running to Point Piper and in the process running down on Izzi and keeping up with Larrikin.
I had forgotten that windward and return legs had been our strong point after several weeks off reaching up and down the course and doing quite well. At the mark we had an inside overlap on Izzi and Larrikin was just clear ahead. Now that Larrikin was in clear air she started to move away on the leg around the island. The last long leg was almost square to the naval buoys and we did relatively well keeping clear air from Izzi. On the windward side of the course we could not make the mark without gybing and rather than try to gyby the big black genoa over we kept on until the line to the mark was tight enough for us to leave the genoa poled out to leeward and then gybed back at the mark with the genoa already poled out. This move gained quite a few seconds on the fleet to the extent that we caught Ellipse and pulled away from Izzi and Aggrovation.
We were happy to beat Izzi and Aggrovation over the line and were content that we had beaten Larrikin on corrected time. The sixth place was a surprise as we just edged out Rainbow by three seconds and Izzi by eight. Allegro finished fifth and took one point back from us but we could not be beaten before todays race and after it we cannot be beaten by a wider margin.
It would have been a stunning day even without the sixth place. No one who has the good fortune to be able to sail on the Harbour on such a day can be unhappy with any result in the race.
Saturday was fine but the breeze was gusting 25 knots plus making working outside almost impossible. I tried some spot filling over the first coat of primer but there was so much rubbish flying around that the patches picked up dust and bark and leaves. In the garage there were jobs waiting for such a day. The first cab off the rank was the toe rails which planed, routered, sanded and epoxy coated. I collected half a garbage bag of wood chips from that exercise when I cleaned up the garage for the next job. Elaine was out so I borrowed the car port and shifted some gear there to make room in the garage for shaping the rudder. Three hours and another half a garbage bag of wood chips later I was done for the day. The rudder had been sitting in the garage waiting to be shaped for 362 days. There is still some hand planing to do to finish the job but it should soon be glassed and painted and banished from the garage.
Sunday Monday and Tuesday were all great days for sanding and painting. Each day I managed to machine sand the whole deck and apply a coat of epoxy primer. Tonight she has four coats of white epoxy from bow to stern. The random orbital sander with the vacuum cleaner attached to suck away the dust has been a great time saver. The coat applied tonight still needs some spot filling and then sanded with 240 grit before the undercoat is applied.
I need a rest so tomorrow I can take it easy on the Winter Wednesday race at RANSA.
Rudder carved with Makita planer and angle grinder. Toe rails planed with Makita planer and edges routered with Ryobi router
Section at the top of the rudder
Passion X all covered in white epoxy primer. This was taken after two coats and it now has four coats.
I am still recovering from the effort on Monday and Tuesday to get the yacht sanded and primed. On Wednesday morning I completed the first coat of primer on the transom and used up the rest of the mix for a second coat around the cockpit seats. As I dashed out of the door to drive to the Winter Wednesday sailing I took a photo of the painted transom from under the tarpaulin so it does not show a lot of the boat but it is good for the record.
Winter Wednesday racing was a challenge as I needed to rest but we needed another good result to wrap up the pointscore. The big black genoa was still soaking wet from last week so I was tempted to use it despite the forecast for seventeen knots. The crew had been reading other forecasts and were sure it would be OK and as we were going for broke I fell to the temptation. The weather had its own plans and soon it was honking in with regular plus 20 knot gusts so even before the start we reefed the main and pulled the backstay down hard to bend the mast and flatten the main.
It was an odd wind direction being from the North and predicted to swing via the North East so we tight reached up the the heads and broad reached back to Steele Point. As the breeze lightened on the reach we shook out the reef and poled out the genoa for a dead square run into Rose Bay. Our start had been well timed and we were at the windward end of the line. From the start we climbed high for clear air and were rewarded by passing Larrikin our nearest pointscore rival. Izzi started lower but had good speed and a clear air patch so she beat us to the heads and all the way home.
As we rounded the mark in Rose Bay to come onto the wind the wind strengthened all over the course so we put in the reef again giving the crew a very good workout.
By the finish line we were pretty pleased with our effort as we had beaten Larrikin off the stick and looked line ball with Aggrovation who had been strongly recovering from a blanketed start all day.
We were even more pleased when the results came out and we had scored 6th place just 7 seconds in front of Aggrovation who tied with two others.
Larrikin and Allegro were further back on handicap so we have wrapped up the series with three races still to go. It is just as well as we have exhausted our bag of tricks and probably our unfair share of good luck over the series. The handicapper has now doled out consolation prizes to our competitors in way of better handicaps so any good result from now will be magic.
To top off the week Kevin gave me a hand on Thursday to drill a whole lot of holes in Passion X for the engine ventilation, the water and fuel tank inlets, the VHF cable run for the stern mounted AIS antenna and the manual bilge pump. Some jobs are more than twice as fast with two working on them and I appreciate the support with the decisions on where we are going to mount gear.
Awful rain today restricted work to shopping and sanding the hatches in the garage but I did get to book a launch time slot in the second week in November, contact the carrier about the trip to the water, did accept a quote for all the cushions and mattresses and did deliver plans for the pushpits and pulpit. I am hoping for the weather to clear so I can get on with spot patching and the second coat of primer.
The first coat of primer on Passion X before the rain came.