It's been a bit since I posted an update here. I have lots.
I didn't quite make my goal of getting my mast back up in May. It was close, but we had to punt between tight scheduling and some inclement weather. I am updating quite a bit on the mast. The 46 is a double spreader rig. I had Kraken rigging make up new V2/D3s out of 11mm Dux and new D2's out of 10mm Marlowe heat set that he had on hand. These came out fantastic.
The 46 has internal rigging terminations. Some people have a short connector wire made up but I didn't like the lack of access. So I created these new tangs. The shop was able to bend these for me. I had the extra plates made up to create a a sort of flat toggle. These are 316SS, Since I didn't get the mast up, I'll probably spend some time polishing them up a bit. I had a machine shop make up custom 1" bolts that were longer than the originals to accommodate the new tangs. The were able to knock out my upper pair on time, but got a bit delayed on the bonus work I asked them for. This worked out since we punted on getting the mast up. For the curious, I have tangs for the lower for and aft stays which I'm going to install but won't be having those made up until the wallet refills.
I had to add a second turnbuckle to the lower spreader, but we expect these to tune in nicely once the mast is up. This was my test rig - tensioned the spreader to keep it positioned and then measured with the turnbuckles extended so I could have the new rigging made up. This worked very well.
We plan to measure for the lowers (V3) when the mast is up. For budget, I'll probably be delaying on those until I sort out a new full time job.
I didn't grab a pic of the new stays at the boat, but I wanted to show them off a little bit. The entire stay is covered in chaff guard, with heat shrink at the eyes. All four look fantastic.
At the rear of the boat, the old hydraulic adjuster was shot. I had to cut it to release the pressure. To keep with the I picked up a new Sailtec Integral. Sailtec customer service was fantastic. I ordered through a distributor for the best pricing and they kept in contact on the unit while I waited for it. As an amateur machinist, I have to say that the thing is a work of art.
I spent some time sanding on the mast (more to do there) and pulled all new wiring for lights, antenna, radar, etc. When I get back to the boat I will be re-running the radar line, having decided to revise where I'm mounting the thing. I'm also leaning toward adding an echomax radar reflector while it's trivial. The cleaned up mast is getting a coating of duralac, so it should look good and hopefully be fairly easy to maintain.
I also took the time to replace the halyards with new sta-set. I got some good pricing at a local shop for three of them, and am still finalizing the new topping lift line. For the forward halyards, I found some used harken sheaves for a steal at the local used parts shop - $30 for a pair of $300 sheaves was a win!
On the lighting side, I'm installing a forespar ML-2 led steaming/deck light, lunasea tricolor/anchor light, lunasea spreader lights, and hella nav lights on the bow and stern. This means I'll have an offshore/nearshore sailing nav light setting, along with steaming and anchor configuration. The lunasea gear is very well made, while the hella and forspar are just plastics.
On the winch front, I started rebuilding some of the Barlow's that are on the boat. So far I have one 28 that's done in - It appears to have been repaired with epoxy in the past. One of the pawl gears will no longer retain the pawls. The rest is in great shape, so I'm going to look for another one to be a parts donor.
Up front, I was disappointed by the condition of the 26 I rebuilt. It works but the gears look like they were on a shipwreck for a decade. I'd previously picked up some Lewmar 45STs which are going up front in my cockpit. I'm also going to replace the main cockpit 26s with a pair of electric Lewmar 58st's that I picked up. I'm really excited about the electrics - There's no way I would have spend the money on those new. Between the upgrades, some additional rebuild work and some spare hunting, I should be in great shape.
On the electrical side, I've continued adding some 12v fans and installing some LED dome lights. The LEDs may be too noisy since they are cheapies but I like the light they give off. I'm going to bring my frequency counter on my next trip and see if they are kicking out RF or not. Since the mast is getting a new antenna, I'm also adding a new radio with a remote mic in the cockpit (that also does intercom - with the Ericson 46, this seemed like a good idea).
I started going through the engine wiring and found that it was an absolute **** show. For now I created a new switch panel on the inside, replaced the stop solenoid and ripped out a bunch of terrible things. When I left, the starter was only clicking, but I think that's a bad ground wire. I've got plenty more remediation to do in that engine compartment!
I'm looking at a new enclosure for this assembly, but for the moment this is still far better than what was there.
The 40A main fuse is kind of redundant now, but it was in the original engine schematic. I'm fusing individual loads now so I suppose I could delete it. The Start/Stop/Glow all use the same relays so if start failed, I could just steal the glow unit in a pinch. (I have spares too). Don't mind the loose stop wire, I figure I'm making up a proper custom harness for the engine runs after I hoist it out and replace the old seals.
The hard bimini is coming along. That thing is 12 feet long and 8 feet wide. I used pre-finished nidacore panels. While I was there last, I decided to add a bit of a curve. This just required some length wise cuts on the bottom, then taping and resin to firm up the shape. After that I cut down a fourth panel to make the lower trim. The edges are filled with Bondo (1 gallon at autozone is like $30 vs polyester filler resin at the boat shop which is the same friggin thing.)
When I'm back, the edges will get glassed over and I'll fair everything in. I'm also thinking of fitting a window toward the front to make it easier to view the sail from the cockpit. I figure that I'll also round off the corners a bit more before I glass the edges. I also need to make up the new supports (some cutting and welding to do there!) Then I need to mount my solar panels and re-inforce the mounting points where the supports will bolt to the bimini.
I picked up 75 feet or so of 1" polished stainless steel pipe to make up new railings. I had issues locating the fittings I wanted while I was at the boat (ok the local stuff was like 3x the price) and online has been a problem too. I finally ordered those parts last week, so hopefully I get a shipping update on that soon.
The plan is to add 3 foot tall railings from the cockpit, going forward to the original gate area. At the cockpit, the 1" pipe will go from the deck up to the bimini. I also have a rigid stainless cutting tool that makes precision cuts on the stainless trivial with no grinding needed. Unfortunately I also have to replace some stanchion bases, but I found a decent price on some and have those coming with the rest of the fittings.
There's tons more, but I think that's enough for one update!
More future projects include sewing a new awning, winch covers, making up a new dashboard in the cockpit, new engine gauges and other fun projects.
- Sails are Serviced
- Some Standing rigging updates (and yes.. synthetic)
- Winches - rebuilds and upgrades
- More Electrical
- Engine wiring
- Hard Bimini
- New Railings
I didn't quite make my goal of getting my mast back up in May. It was close, but we had to punt between tight scheduling and some inclement weather. I am updating quite a bit on the mast. The 46 is a double spreader rig. I had Kraken rigging make up new V2/D3s out of 11mm Dux and new D2's out of 10mm Marlowe heat set that he had on hand. These came out fantastic.
The 46 has internal rigging terminations. Some people have a short connector wire made up but I didn't like the lack of access. So I created these new tangs. The shop was able to bend these for me. I had the extra plates made up to create a a sort of flat toggle. These are 316SS, Since I didn't get the mast up, I'll probably spend some time polishing them up a bit. I had a machine shop make up custom 1" bolts that were longer than the originals to accommodate the new tangs. The were able to knock out my upper pair on time, but got a bit delayed on the bonus work I asked them for. This worked out since we punted on getting the mast up. For the curious, I have tangs for the lower for and aft stays which I'm going to install but won't be having those made up until the wallet refills.
I had to add a second turnbuckle to the lower spreader, but we expect these to tune in nicely once the mast is up. This was my test rig - tensioned the spreader to keep it positioned and then measured with the turnbuckles extended so I could have the new rigging made up. This worked very well.
We plan to measure for the lowers (V3) when the mast is up. For budget, I'll probably be delaying on those until I sort out a new full time job.
I didn't grab a pic of the new stays at the boat, but I wanted to show them off a little bit. The entire stay is covered in chaff guard, with heat shrink at the eyes. All four look fantastic.
At the rear of the boat, the old hydraulic adjuster was shot. I had to cut it to release the pressure. To keep with the I picked up a new Sailtec Integral. Sailtec customer service was fantastic. I ordered through a distributor for the best pricing and they kept in contact on the unit while I waited for it. As an amateur machinist, I have to say that the thing is a work of art.
I spent some time sanding on the mast (more to do there) and pulled all new wiring for lights, antenna, radar, etc. When I get back to the boat I will be re-running the radar line, having decided to revise where I'm mounting the thing. I'm also leaning toward adding an echomax radar reflector while it's trivial. The cleaned up mast is getting a coating of duralac, so it should look good and hopefully be fairly easy to maintain.
I also took the time to replace the halyards with new sta-set. I got some good pricing at a local shop for three of them, and am still finalizing the new topping lift line. For the forward halyards, I found some used harken sheaves for a steal at the local used parts shop - $30 for a pair of $300 sheaves was a win!
On the lighting side, I'm installing a forespar ML-2 led steaming/deck light, lunasea tricolor/anchor light, lunasea spreader lights, and hella nav lights on the bow and stern. This means I'll have an offshore/nearshore sailing nav light setting, along with steaming and anchor configuration. The lunasea gear is very well made, while the hella and forspar are just plastics.
On the winch front, I started rebuilding some of the Barlow's that are on the boat. So far I have one 28 that's done in - It appears to have been repaired with epoxy in the past. One of the pawl gears will no longer retain the pawls. The rest is in great shape, so I'm going to look for another one to be a parts donor.
Up front, I was disappointed by the condition of the 26 I rebuilt. It works but the gears look like they were on a shipwreck for a decade. I'd previously picked up some Lewmar 45STs which are going up front in my cockpit. I'm also going to replace the main cockpit 26s with a pair of electric Lewmar 58st's that I picked up. I'm really excited about the electrics - There's no way I would have spend the money on those new. Between the upgrades, some additional rebuild work and some spare hunting, I should be in great shape.
On the electrical side, I've continued adding some 12v fans and installing some LED dome lights. The LEDs may be too noisy since they are cheapies but I like the light they give off. I'm going to bring my frequency counter on my next trip and see if they are kicking out RF or not. Since the mast is getting a new antenna, I'm also adding a new radio with a remote mic in the cockpit (that also does intercom - with the Ericson 46, this seemed like a good idea).
I started going through the engine wiring and found that it was an absolute **** show. For now I created a new switch panel on the inside, replaced the stop solenoid and ripped out a bunch of terrible things. When I left, the starter was only clicking, but I think that's a bad ground wire. I've got plenty more remediation to do in that engine compartment!
I'm looking at a new enclosure for this assembly, but for the moment this is still far better than what was there.
The 40A main fuse is kind of redundant now, but it was in the original engine schematic. I'm fusing individual loads now so I suppose I could delete it. The Start/Stop/Glow all use the same relays so if start failed, I could just steal the glow unit in a pinch. (I have spares too). Don't mind the loose stop wire, I figure I'm making up a proper custom harness for the engine runs after I hoist it out and replace the old seals.
The hard bimini is coming along. That thing is 12 feet long and 8 feet wide. I used pre-finished nidacore panels. While I was there last, I decided to add a bit of a curve. This just required some length wise cuts on the bottom, then taping and resin to firm up the shape. After that I cut down a fourth panel to make the lower trim. The edges are filled with Bondo (1 gallon at autozone is like $30 vs polyester filler resin at the boat shop which is the same friggin thing.)
When I'm back, the edges will get glassed over and I'll fair everything in. I'm also thinking of fitting a window toward the front to make it easier to view the sail from the cockpit. I figure that I'll also round off the corners a bit more before I glass the edges. I also need to make up the new supports (some cutting and welding to do there!) Then I need to mount my solar panels and re-inforce the mounting points where the supports will bolt to the bimini.
I picked up 75 feet or so of 1" polished stainless steel pipe to make up new railings. I had issues locating the fittings I wanted while I was at the boat (ok the local stuff was like 3x the price) and online has been a problem too. I finally ordered those parts last week, so hopefully I get a shipping update on that soon.
The plan is to add 3 foot tall railings from the cockpit, going forward to the original gate area. At the cockpit, the 1" pipe will go from the deck up to the bimini. I also have a rigid stainless cutting tool that makes precision cuts on the stainless trivial with no grinding needed. Unfortunately I also have to replace some stanchion bases, but I found a decent price on some and have those coming with the rest of the fittings.
There's tons more, but I think that's enough for one update!
More future projects include sewing a new awning, winch covers, making up a new dashboard in the cockpit, new engine gauges and other fun projects.
