She sails!

So she sails! And pointy end forward to boot!

Reinhard and I spent a few weeks stringing together the sails, making endless macrame with the sheetlets, and in general getting knotted up.

A foggy winter morning

At last we were ready, and after postponing the day by a week due to other priorities, we launched early out of Pretoria. It is foggy in the early morning, after all it is winter here. Alexander came and gave invaluable help, and David, who had been an unswerving supporter for the past few years, also came along. Shahnaz provided video services, and I hope to provide a Youtube link.

Hoist up the John B's sails. Reinhard at work.

An ideal day was forecast: very light wind in the morning, gradually increasing through the morning, and then switching to the west at about two.

A few hitches occurred while launching, with the one keel hooking up with one of the new guides, and then we were afloat. The little two horse motor pushed us out into the great open, and then the sails cam
e up, and without a major hitch, although we needed then motor to get away. A little breeze came up and we were sailing at all of 1 knot. It strengthened later, and we reached a maximum speed of 1.7 knots.

They are up! The foreyard fouls the forestay.

There are several problems with the sails. After thinking that the sheetlets were far too long, we discovered that they were too short! Also needed are lines to control the set of the sails. Authors talk of snotters, yard hauling parrels, Hong Kong parrels, and some more esoteric things. Studying will keep us out of mischief.

But even with the badly setting sails we managed to tack through 120 degrees, from 60 degrees to 180 degrees in the GPS. The rig is a little bow-heavy, and we had to keep the rudder over to keep her head into the wind, something that parrels should cure. She tacks readily, but as it is at present she would not hold a course.

Brazil, here we come! Please excuse the tangle
of lines and badly setting sails.

After a few hours of tacking up and down and figuring out the systems we turned for home, and sailed wing and wing. Here, too, we hit 1.8 knots! The sails came down with little trouble, and we motored into the harbour to vanishing wind. Unsure of where to go we slowed down, the wind switched and gusted, and we went drifting sideways. I was on the foredeck, and that lifted the propellor close to the surface, which did not help control at all. I dropped the anchor, but the scope needed was more than the distance left. So we arrived at the jetty with a bit of arrival.

Next time we will sell tickets of our Chinese fire drill arrival. Unfortunately the video card ran out just then, so future generations will miss the entertainment.

Conclusions are that the boat has little lateral stability once she stops moving forward. Also the center of effort will have to be moved backwards quite a bit.

A bit more of work, and now the priority shifts to the motor and propellor. Money!

Video at https://youtu.be/4GTaRRm5QVw

Bending on the sails

Shahnaz wondering where this goes.

So goes the salty saying. You don't tie the washing to strings and pull them up the sticks, you bend on the sails and hoist them up the masts. Well, ok. You certainly need a bender when you have done.

Just for those who did not catch the news the first time round, or who may have forgotten: We are planning a Chinese Junk style rig for Dreamtime. The sails were made a year ago, but only now we got to bend them on, in anticipation of going sailing in a week or so.

Sunrise on the way to the Vaal dam

Shahnaz helped put the battens in, puzzling at the complications of it. Thanks, love. And Reinhard left home at sunrise to help over two weeks to get them up, on to the masts, to unravel the macrame of lines, hoists, sheets, lazyjacks, sheetlets... the list is endless and the tangles unbelievable. Thanks, Reinhard, I appreciate your patience, support, engouragement and help.

Reinhard wondering where this goes

So today we got them up, and discovered a few problems. The mainsail is longer than planned (Ok, my impeccable planning and measurement actually intended it to sweep the decks, which is why I made the pinrail system movable. And the foresail fouls the forestay. Well, the long term planning is to have the foremast, and probably the mainmast too, unstayed. So there.

Oops! The foresail refuses to cooperate

The experts talk about snotters, parrel hauls, Hong Kong parrels, and much more, but for the moment there are enough bits of string to keep a tribe of monkeys happy. We think it works. Or will, with some untangling.

More or less up. The mainsail is too low

There we go. Now for the sheets...

Now the sheets have to be made up, some fettling has to be done, and then we can try her out. If the weather gods are kind we will have winds like today: 1 to 2 meters a second, just enough to raise a ripple. Which should not make for water skiing behind the boat, but will allow us to work out placement for cleats, sheelt attachments and -leads, and in general to see if things work.

If you do not receive a further blog, you'll know she capsized, she sailed with the blunt end first, and we died of shame, or we got lost and are on our way to Brazil.

Accidents happen

Gearbox being stripped. Note the condition
 of the needle bearings. 

It has been a long and slow period since the past post. First of all I had a car problem: The Cruiser has had an overheating problem, which I ascribed to menopause. She is, after all, not young any more. A specialist diagnosed a leaking top gasket, and I decided to have the engine overhauled. The result was more or less as monkey business.

More than two months later she is running, apart from a few small things.

Micky Mouse has four fingers

Then came the morning when I forgot to take my stupid pills: The little diesel motor for the boat had a flooded bell housing and gearbox when I got her. I managed to get the bearings and seals to rebuild. The starter was also not working, and the local auto-electrician threw a price over his shoulder for 'strip and replace'.


So I started on changing the oil in the engine, figuring out how the fuel system and coolant works, and also how the exhaust system should work. I then mounted it on a wooden stand and had Prince, the gardener, apply the Armstrong starter. She ran! See here. And a few days later I wanted to run her for a longer time, having learnt how to get air out of the fuel system. Prince dawdled with other work, so I decided to just turn the engine over with the decompression lever down, to pump the fuel and water around. Well, the lever goes back when you release it, and she started. And began to vibrate off the stand. I tried to hold her back while getting to the shutoff lever, and my right hand went into the fanbelt. Little finger broken in five places and almost severed. The surgeon took a look and said: 'Just remember: Micky Mouse gets by with four fingers.'

So, two months later, and a finger only moderately stiff and sensitive, we are almost back to full operation.

The gearbox went together with some care. I used a steel frame and hydraulic jack to press the pieces together, and so far all went well. It turns, changes gear, and it looks as if the polishing of the rusted parts will work. The starter presented its own challenges: After some cleaning and grease the bearings were happy, and the motor turned nicely when powered up. But the solenoid was solidly seized. I managed to get it apart, cleaned everything with diesel, cleaned the contact points with swmming pool acid, and reassembled it. It clicked, pulled in the gear, but no power flowed. Alexander came to help, with his son, Christian. They were of the opinion that diesel was not the best cleaning agent, so we procured some petrol/gasoline.

Now things could get interesting: By its nature a solenoid switch makes sparks, and, with flammable fuel inside, we might have a hand grenade. So an hour in the sun, lots of blowing, and eventually we connected in. On the second try the thing worked, and no explosion!

A few days later we used the electric starter to get the motor running, now mounted on the engine beds. Still clamped, mind you, bolts will come when we have her in the boat. See here.

Now, how does the waterlock muffler work?

And next phase: The sails must be 'bent on' or hung on the masts. Hopefully we can report next week.