The jib sheet cleats have been irritating me for some time. When I put them on Arwen originally, they were mounted straight to the vertical side coamings next to the centre thwarts, at an angle. Ever since then they have been difficult for crew to use as they are very 'flat' and its difficult to get the sheet between the cleat blocks.
When single handed, I have always taken the jib cleats back to the rear of the centre case and to a big cleat there. It has worked well to date with all control lines bar the sprit boom outhaul and the topping lift sheets arriving at the back of the centre case area.
Anyway, I've made some angled wooden blocks for the side jib cleats so that crew will now find it easier to put the jib sheet into the cleat. Made from remaining bits of salvaged wood from our office clearance which were no good for anything else frankly, they have been angled, shaped, sanded and coated in burgess sealer and are now ready to mount. Well almost; they need 24 hrs to dry first. I have enough wood left to make some backing plates as well for the inside of the ply coaming. The blocks will need holes drilling and sealing when I have had time to work out their positioning.
My next little project will be to make a sleeping platform extension that can be stowed in the front half of the cockpit but then bought aft to lie across one half of the aft cockpit thus ensuring I don't roll off the port thwart seat during the night! Then I have the 'cockpit tent' to make before finally making a little slatted platform seat that can be used on the side deck to make sitting out on the side deck a more 'comfortable' experience when ghosting along in gentle winds. the last one I might not bother to make as I tend to use a folded thick floating cushion for such a purpose and that really suffices.
Anyway, an enjoyable hour making those. Just what I need before I set to work on the four hours prep for tomorrow's lessons. Hey ho.
Steve
When single handed, I have always taken the jib cleats back to the rear of the centre case and to a big cleat there. It has worked well to date with all control lines bar the sprit boom outhaul and the topping lift sheets arriving at the back of the centre case area.
Anyway, I've made some angled wooden blocks for the side jib cleats so that crew will now find it easier to put the jib sheet into the cleat. Made from remaining bits of salvaged wood from our office clearance which were no good for anything else frankly, they have been angled, shaped, sanded and coated in burgess sealer and are now ready to mount. Well almost; they need 24 hrs to dry first. I have enough wood left to make some backing plates as well for the inside of the ply coaming. The blocks will need holes drilling and sealing when I have had time to work out their positioning.
My next little project will be to make a sleeping platform extension that can be stowed in the front half of the cockpit but then bought aft to lie across one half of the aft cockpit thus ensuring I don't roll off the port thwart seat during the night! Then I have the 'cockpit tent' to make before finally making a little slatted platform seat that can be used on the side deck to make sitting out on the side deck a more 'comfortable' experience when ghosting along in gentle winds. the last one I might not bother to make as I tend to use a folded thick floating cushion for such a purpose and that really suffices.
Anyway, an enjoyable hour making those. Just what I need before I set to work on the four hours prep for tomorrow's lessons. Hey ho.
Steve
No comments:
Post a Comment