My last six days of social islolation have been quite productive on a variety of fronts. At home the laundry doors are almost finished with a repaint and on the water the gradual conversion of Passion X from a fat head main with twin backstays to a conventional pin head main with a single adjustable backstay is progressing satisfactorily.
For the construction and finishing of Passion X I purchased a number of finish sanders of which my favourite is the random orbital with a dedicated vacuum cleaner to pull away the dust. The vacuum holds the work head firmly agains the work piece so you can move it over the surface without downwards pressure. it worked wonderfully on Passion X particularly with the spray applied two pack polyurethane and is working quite well on the home doors with conventional household enamel applied by roller. The doors may not be a smooth as Passion X topsides but they are better than original.
After a coat of paint on one door on Monday I headed to Passion X to convert the backstays from 2:1 to winches on each side to 12:1 with a cam cleat on one side. At this stage the dyneema back stay is tied off but I will splice the end this week. Some of the falls on the purchase system are short dyneema strops joined together but these will be replaced with full length strops in time. The 12:1 seems to give adequate power but I can easily add another fall to make it 24:1 if needed.
I could not resist taking Passion X for a sail after completing the conversion and in the light air of Monday afternoon the overlapping battens popped through under the backstay satisfactorily.
Today was another door job and tomorrow might be a final coat on one door and a trip to Passion X to complete the splice in the backstay and end for end the genoa halyard.
My week in pictures.
Thursday exercising on the Laser at Gosford
Friday exercising on Passion X with a couple of laps around Cockatoo Island
Saturday Isn’t everyone doing jigsaw puzzles?
Sunday walk after Mothers Day with the Sydney family
Monday a test sail after converting the back stay to a single 12:1 system
Tuesday. laundry doors again