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

Friday 21 October 2016

some maintenance work tomorrow

All being well, after my elbow and then a rather unexpected pit stop in the local casualty unit because everyone thought I was having a stroke (which turned out to be inflammation of a cranial nerve), I might just, just mind you, be able to do some low level maintenance work on poor Arwen tomorrow. I'm not sure who needs it more - her or me at the moment!

The weather should be fine tomorrow with bright sunny spells and winds from East....so if I turn her around after pulling her down off the drive, she should point into the wind and I should be able to raise sails whilst she is on the road......well that is the theory...................


My intention is to

  • run the snotter control line back down through the deck and along the port side of the centre board so that it is easier to hand in the aft cockpit
  • take off the slab reefing system and simplify reefing so that it is just a case of attaching luff reef cringle and leech cringe appropriately - I haven't explained it very well but I know what I have to do. I will then remove various cleats on the boom and fill the holes left behind. 
  • tidy up where the various control lines run along the centre board sides by running them through new deck eyes
  • sort out one or two cam cleats which are falling apart
  • replace the one cam cleat for the mainsail halyard with a horn cleat. 
  • sort out my various tool kits and spares - I carry way too much so rationalization is needed
  • remove the jack stays and just clip the extra long harness into a hook attacked to the keel plank in aft cockpit
  • sort out the tiller tamer which keeps jamming for some obscure reason as yet unfathomable to me
  • sort out and replace the tell tales on the shrouds which keep catching
  • re position the fishing rods to a more secure location
  • attach more deck hoops for another gas pipe length for the cockpit tent
  • try and make the topping lift on the mizzen more effective 
  • lengthen the down haul on the mizzen boom snotter
  • remove some storage bags i made on side coamings - they aren't large enough and it would be better to just have one canvas bag of ropes with loops in attached somewhere forward into which sail ties etc can go for storage. I have an old mesh dive bag somewhere which will suffice 
  • tidy up the new cockpit bags 'her indoors' made for Arwen at the start of the summer
these halyard bags made such a difference during the summer cruise to Fowey

I would also like to try and put down some rubber mat flooring so it is easier on bare feet which rightly or wrongly is how I normally sail in the summer months.  Anyway, we will see how we progress tomorrow. I'll take photographs of my poor handiwork!

she needs a good clean up and de-rigging for the winter months although I am tempted to try and get out in her a couple of times in November if I can

2 comments:

Brian said...

Steve, did you have a scan? Earlier this yeaar I thought I had a stroke. I had ascan and it was found to be a brain tumour. Then op, radio and chemo. Sure your ok but just a thlought.

steve said...

Brian, thanks. Appreciate your comment. Had CT scan and all proved ok. Scary as I lost partial vision for a time but I'm lucky. I hope everything turned out ok for you?
Steve