Carbon Monoxide Detector

The alarm sounds at a variable level dependant on average 
levels over a period but not below 30 ppm.

Something I have been meaning to fit for a while but the need was highlighted during my very cold trip in April and May when I was using the cooker a lot for cooking and the grill occasionally to keep warm.

I finally did it and trials show that with the Dorade and washboards vents open the oven and oil lamp registered 0, a test with a small gas fire got it up to 15 ppm after 45 minutes.

Not shown is a smoke detector - just in case.

Propeller removal.

My home made prop removal tool, the steel pieces must be very strong, alloy is unlikely to be up to it, A couple of years ago I tried with two pieces of angled alloy to form a "U" and it buckled very quickly and did not work

Some spare threaded rod would be a good idea as its easy to damage the thread where the rod goes through the angle iron. If I were doing it again I would also look for a thicker rod.

With a minor mod it should also work as a cutlass bearing removal tool with a suitable pusher. Its a chick and egg situation but an old cutlass bearing cut in half lengthwise should work, fortunately the bearing does not need replacing so testing that will have to wait for another year.

Wood pieces are to protect the propeller blades. When really
tight a light tap on the triangular with a mallet may be helpful.

Before tightening, as it tightened I lifted it up somewhat.

Lift out for the winter.

Sancerre was lifted out at Deacon's yard, Bursledon just before Christmas, fortunately it was a nice day so the two mile trip back to the RAFYC in the dinghy to get the car was actually quite pleasant.

I was very pleasantly surprised at the lack of weed on the hull, by far the best result I have had from an anti-foul even though this was the first season she had not been power washed mid season. This was largely due to the number of miles I travelled spread over the season which helps the self ablative antifouling to work, but contributing was a lot of work over the previous two seasons on surface preparation and building up a good covering so that it did not wear through or come off. There is no doubt that getting three coats on over a period of days or weeks allowing each to cure before the next coat is superior to getting a coat on between tides or using the sealift (2 coats in an afternoon and back in early next morning). 

The SeaJet "Pellercoat" on the propeller was also impressive,
the first treatment I have found that actually works, unfortunately
some was knocked off by over enthusiastic use of the power wash,
next time I will ask them not to use it on the prop rather than to be careful.

Minimal erosion on the anodes, before fitting the Galvanic Isolator
I always wrecked two of the type on the right each year. 

After the power wash and almost ready for antifouling.

Heavy weather and Storm jib rigging.

With calm weather on Wednesday I was able to check the fit of the new heavy weather jib.

The Dyneema inner forestay (reeved through the original starboard
jib halyard sheaves) is tensioned from below with 4:1 tackle going
 back to one of the 23:1, 2 speed winches at the aft end of the cabin roof.
The stay, block and snap shackle have break loads of more than 2 Tonnes
the shackle on the tackle is a weak link to protect the rest.
I added the u-bolt for this and to attach the main preventer for maximum leverage.

The heavy weather jib is normally hoisted with the
spinnaker halyard (removed for the winter) rather
than the wire genoa halyard.

The stay should clear the furled headsail but I can move the tack back a little if necessary. I was cautious when I measured up, particularly to clear the radar reflector. The sail is 12.1 square metres, looking at in place I could probably have had it made c10% bigger by lowering the clew a little and lengthening the luff and leach but this way at least the foot should clear of waves.

Sheeting

The genoa sheets need to stay on the sail when the heavy weather or storm jib is in use, previously I had a block on the toe rail and a non adjustable tweaker to narrow the sheeting angle, that was not going to work well with a larger sail likely to be used fairly often, I therefore put a dedicated block ahead of the genoa sheeting track, the sheets go back to the large spinnaker winches on the cockpit coaming, the port one via the toe rail to get a better angle onto the starboard side of the winch. 

A low friction ring is used on a barber hauler system with a three part tackle going back to a cam cleat on the side of the coach roof. The front block goes to the bottom of main shroud and attaches with a  snap shackle so that when not in use it can be clipped to the mast keeping the tackle clear of the walk way. The loose part of the dedicated set of sheets go into a bag on the mast.

The Barber hauler set up. It should not need to be
hauled in this much, note the whippings at intervals
to speed set up.

Sheet block on the right just ahead of the genoa sheeting track.
The "Treadmaster" pad intended for steps, protects the deck from
the blocks and should reduce any noise if they move.

Leaving Fowey for the Fal, 2023 with just the
heavy weather jib, later the wind was gusting F7.

More on storm jibs etc can be found on my earlier piece "Storm Jibs".

Tom Cunliffe on Docking in a Tidal Stream, with just a glimpse of Sancerre

 

Tom Cunliffe does some very good videos, the last one is for beginners or perhaps those unused to going onto a pontoon with a tide flowing. It also gives some idea of what the River Hamble is like, just bear in mind that it goes on for over two miles above the fuel berth shown and although the boats are not as numerous all the way up, apart from around several more large marinas (each with up to c350 berths + dry stack and river moorings), the moorings are almost continuous on both sides of the river with up to 8 parallel trots. That adds up to an awful lot of boats.

And if you concentrate there is a glimpse of Sancerre on her mooring, but blink and you will miss it!

https://youtu.be/UCzxRbEV618