Adventures on our Trintella 57a…
We’re jammin To think that jammin was a thing of the past, We’re jamming, jammin And I hope this jam is gonna last As Bob said and he knew a few things about jamming – the ‘not keen to jam under any circumstances’ port spinnaker rope clutch is reconditioned with a replacement dome plug made of Nylon 66
This month is set aside for welding and grinding with the making of the antenna tree, gybe preventer stowage hooks and pan holders for the cooker. Also on the list is a guard to stop stuff in the forward locker (the garage) from either sliding onto the grease around the retractable bow thruster or getting crushed at the base when the thruster is down. Other hits this month include bypassing the shore power Isolation Unit so we can extract it and remove the cooling fan to hopefully replace the worn bearings. When starting this blog we thought it would
The existing 12mm chain of 60m in length has gone to a specialist welder to extend it to 100m. Managed to miss putting the anchor through the window as it was lowered before we roped the hook to control the swing – just. On the way down it cleared the roof and guttering by about 3mm as it arced through the anchor roller link by link. The chain has now returned but there are concerns about locker capacity as a straight onshore lift leads to a full locker at 85m as chain piles up under the hawser but this isn’t
Most of our zincs have turned passive having obtained a thick layer of white zinc oxide on them possibly through being in brackish estuary or river water. Looking back they were fairly oxidised a 14 months ago so the bow thruster and prop anodes have been doing most of the work. Having spent eons of time searching for an alternative to replacing 13 zincs, and having discussed the matter with many in the industry, the great face-off began to recover what are otherwise very good anodes by weight. Having tickled them with a wire brush, a bigger wire brush, a
So it was a bit of a surprise yesterday when the WCC tweeted that the 2013 registration was open. We signed up to book our place so the Transatlantic train is rolling. We now have the key dates, the rules, the crew requirements. New sails are almost on order. Some measuring to produce a final spec still to go. Not replacement white sails but a storm jib and a heavy weight assymetric which should get us through to the other side of the Pacific. The bow thruster reveals itself… and the bow has come up clean again
Our final lift-out is complete and winterisation has begun. It’s exciting to think that the next time in the water launches us into our adventure. The ARC 2013 rally entry is open next month and we are looking forward to putting our name on the list. In the meantime we are keeping a close watch on the 2012 rally with great tips being published by participants. Our winter shopping list is shaping up: Several litres of white vinegar, hydraulic oil, diesel oil, enviromentally friendly anti-freeze and a few kilos of grease, polish, oils, Boracol 10RH, Arborsil 101, and numerous bits
So we knew that summer would be the time to do all of the above deck jobs that need sorting from the waterline to mast head – bathed in sunshine and a light breeze with sealants and paint setting fast and jobs being ticked off. Well not in April, nor May, June, nah; try July in rain and 15 degs C with a constant F7 and a bit of windchill – so most of the ‘outside’ jobs list is carried forward and may have been added to. Aside from that we have had a few good sessions with a 48
Both Aditi and we are at the half-way mark. We all feel that we are progressing well against our original 2 year timetable ahead of departure. Our preparatory work is covered under the ARC 2013 page of this site. As we are now at the mid-point in our 24 month run up to the big cast-off we can definitely confirm that it takes two years hard slog alongside a job to get a boat ready. It’s about what we expected. We turned away from some serious projects because, although a great challenge, we could see a 5 year commitment would
Sophie wanted a sailing sleepover for her 14th birthday in May. As Aditi was still on the hard (in fact still on the sale stand) we decided to wait until she was in the water. Our first opportunity was 24th June and so we all piled into the car, including Pepe, and headed for Brighton for a sensational sunny sailing weekend. We arrived with a Force 7 and rain….the rain kindly stopped but it was still too windy and by 8pm on Saturday we had fog and the fig horn was sounding. This continued until lunchtime Sunday when suddenly the