Arwen's meanderings

Hi everyone and welcome to my dinghy cruising blog about my John Welsford designed 'navigator' named Arwen. Built over three years, Arwen was launched in August 2007. She is a standing lug yawl 14' 6" in length. This blog records our dinghy cruising voyages together around the coastal waters of SW England.
Arwen has an associated YouTube channel so visit www.YouTube.com/c/plymouthwelshboy to find our most recent cruises and click subscribe.
On this blog you will find posts about dinghy cruising locations, accounts of our voyages, maintenance tips and 'How to's' ranging from rigging standing lug sails and building galley boxes to using 'anchor buddies' and creating 'pilotage notes'. I hope you find something that inspires you to get out on the water in your boat. Drop us a comment and happy sailing.
Steve and Arwen

Saturday, 22 March 2014

Odd jobs

Those odd jobs that you should do immediately but forget or put off got done on Arwen last weekend. Most urgent was the eyestrap on the rudder blade which secures the down haul. The wood had become damaged and the strap insecure. Twenty minutes with a chisel trimming away some wood rot and the cutting of a new hardwood insert. It fitted perfectly and was glued in and the eye strap re secured. It doesn't look pretty at the moment but when painted over it will be fine.

The elastic bungee cord that stretches across the starboard central thwart was replaced. Over stretched  and salt caked it secures my charts and passage plan notes when on coastal voyages. It was white and blended in with the thwart top so this time I've gone for red!

There one or two screw holes on booms that I hadn't got around to filling; the result of moving some cleats and eyestraps. These were filled with wood filler and sanded down flush. The colour doesn't quite match but at least they are filled.

Doing simple repairs are one of the little joys of owning a small boat. I find doing them as much fun as the actual sailing.

Steve

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