Thanks Joe. And Capt Jack, I hope you had a chance to set foot on Velsheda before she was whisked away to the realms of the ultra-rich!
My next job was to rectify all the nasty little blemishes I had inflicted on the hull. If you have been more careful than me and your hull is still pristine, well done, and you can skip the next bit! I had a mixture of small scuffs and scratches, superglue fingerprints and an occasional dribble of Danish oil. The Danish oil succumbed easily to methylated spirits and elbow grease (it was still quite fresh), but the other bits needed some harder work. I started with 600 wet and dry to pick off the worst spots, then moved to 800, 1000, 1200 and 1500. Initially I focused on the blemishes but it quickly became easier to just rub down the whole hull (at least the blue topsides – most of the white underwater parts had escaped my carelessness). After I had finished with the wet and dry, I used some polishing compound I bought a while back from
Easy Composites. They don’t seem to do the same one any more, but I would trust any of their current products. Here is the bow polished and you can see the contrast with the unpolished area.
And here is the finished article. Almost back to showroom condition!
Next I fitted the sheet exit fittings and the bridle over the main hatch, shown here.
The jib sheet fitting forward of the mast needed me to insert my arm through the hatch to hold it under the deck while I tightened the nut. My arm just about fitted, but if you are more muscular than me (not difficult), you will need to make other arrangements (like fitting it before you put the deck on, or running the jib sheet over the deck). I had checked before I put the deck on that I could manage this, but it was still a bit of a squeeze!
I had also started putting the rig together, and here is my sheet adjustment system.
This is all home made. The boom fitting that the sheet runs through is from a piece of sewage pipe (unused!). I drilled the holes first then shaped it on the disc sander.
The hole for the boom is a very tight push fit, but can still be adjusted once I get the sails bent on, and the hole for the sheet is big enough to pass a knot through, as this is where I will detach the sheet when I take the rig off. And talking of sails, here is my mainsail head attachment –
And my home made clew hook, the piece of silicon tube is some insurance against slippage.
And to complete the set, my jib swivel. I know a piece of line would serve just as well, but I had the swivel so thought I’d use it.
Next was a stand/cradle to take the boat on its travels. The stand I had used for building was fine for that but I felt a more robust article was needed to keep the boat safe from my clumsy handling. I saw a stand design on a RC Groups’ J class thread that looked the part so I drew up a lookalike version. Here are the parts ready for assembly.
I had hoped to simply oil this like the deck, but I used some cheap B&Q ply and many of the cut edges showed voids, so I filled them and painted it.
(I should mention that you will spot later that the stand is now a different colour – this pale blue was from a part-tin I have had for about 30 years, and it was really past its sell-by date. False economy!)
I have put all the innards into the hull and tested them. So far everything works. I am in the process of attaching the sails and getting the mast in what I hope is about the right position. After that it's waiting for the ideal weather for a maiden voyage.
A couple of queries - I want (no, NEED
) to use a bow bumper on that lovely pointy bit at the front, does anyone have a suggestion for what I should use or how to make one? And second, what do people use for transporting rigs? Does anyone have any pictures/drawings of a rig box/bag that I can make? I guess the IOM and Marblehead folk are well versed in this sort of thing?
Until the next time, happy modelling
Greg