Blue Moon

[Paul H (admin)]

Q,

I can highly recommend Heller Cobalt Pro drills - Toolstation stock them.

I've drilled stainless and they cut freely on regular steel with curly shavings (a good sign).

They aren't cheap, but for serious metalworking I would not use any other brand.

If at all possible I use my pillar drill on the lowest speed, with thin engine oil as a cutting fluid.

I have cobalt pros from 2mm to 5mm in 0.5mm steps. Great for accurate pilot holes, then I switch to HSS for larger sizes.

Paul

[The Q]

Thanks for that, when I get my pillar drill set up in the workshop , I'll look them Up as I kit it out..
the set I've already ordered are in 1mm steps.

I used a battery drill on the trailer outside on dead slow with 3 in one ('cos I had some) Didn't help the cheap drill bits though..

[The Q]

Just a reminder for anyone daft enough,

The 3 Rivers Race is going ahead, Boris permitting,  5/6th June 2021 first start 11:00 at Horning, probably around 100 Boats, but can be up to 150. 24 hours maximum to sail 50 miles, including taking your mast down 4 times to get under the bridges.. The record is 8 hours, the worst year only 13 finished...

I shall probably be on Hickling Broad counting them all past, on a guardship.. I'm too decrepit to be out there all night sailing these days..

You have about 1 month to get your applications in..

 http://www.3rr.uk/3RRapplicationform.html

[The Q]

Not a huge amount to report, shelf building duties took much of the time this weekend.

 I had a crisis of confidence during the week and started working out modifications to the hull, if she's too heavy for her buoyancy.

A new set of Cobalt drill bits arrived and were put into use, straight through the chassis no problem, so the trailer now stands on it's own three wheels.

The flat top of the trailer received it's sides and front cross bar to stop the keel going for a wander in transport. They have had one coat of zinc paint so far.

Some cogitation on installation of Mudguards has lead to metal brackets being ordered and a planned slight change to the trailer, a full width cross beam of thinner metal tube will be fitted to help hold the mudguards and the lighting board.

Next week I hope to lift the boat..

[The Q]

Morning All,

The first task this weekend was to remove the block timber and tie down ropes holding the plastic cover on the boat... It's amazing how much dirt accumulates under the cover, then four 17 kg foundation blocks were carried down from the trailer Park to the boat, the lifting slings attached , arranged to lift one end only and the crane raised to it's maximum height. The Boat was raised, two foundation blocks lifted to chest high put on the pile then the boat lowered.. After rearrangement to lift the other end of the boat, that end was raised two more block inserted and the boat lowered..

The keel was lifted from the trolley, then with much levering  placed under the boat but not yet in the middle, as I need access, to fit the weight spreading beam first.

After that the first stage of a general clear up of the area, removing various bits of timber etc no longer needed..

On Sunday the task was to put the roof on the marquee, this was a bit of a struggle because A, it's heavy and B, a winter crunched up meant lots of creases to stretch out. This included wandering around on deck hauling the Marquee roof over the top... So I know the boats stable, though I left the crane hooked up just in case..
 Some more clearing up was done, but I've been thinking since and a rearrangement of what's where will be needed before work recommences on the boat..

The first task on recommencing boat building will be that weight spreader plank, that will need more bonding compound, which I'll order tomorrow, along with what I hope will be the finial tin of resin to complete the rebuild..  Unfortunately resin products in the UK have gone up by about 30% since Christmas..

[Paul H (admin)]

Q,

You craned your boat without postings pictures?

It's a major event to celebrate 🍺.

Paul

[The Q]

Nothing exciting, Not that sort of crane.

 I have a one ton engine crane, that's an A frame either side with a cross beam between the two, along which a little truck rolls from A frame to A frame, from the truck hangs a chain hoist.
So there is just a strap hanging from the hook round the boat  to lift with.

Each A frame has a lever to raise and lower it with pins to push in to lock it into place.
The truck can be pulled from side to side with a rope.

Max height of the frame is about 10ft, but then you have to take the chain hoist length from that..

I'll see if I can get a picture of how everything is sometime this week..

[The Q]

Well, this weekend, I restarted work on the boat,
First was a wipe down of the hull to clean off the dirt accumulated over the winter.

2nd, pencil mark the water line, one side is done. I'm intending to antifoul to the loaded water line, knowing when I'm not on board, that's 1/5 th less weight, so the antifoul will then be above the waterline.

3rd, I climbed in, measured, marked up , measured again, went away came back and measured again...
Then I drilled the pilot hole for the reference keel bolt, part way through it hit the remains of a brass screw and deviated slightly. On getting underneath it was out (sideways) by 2mm . Luckily as it was just the pilot hole that can be corrected.

4th a temporary bolt was dropped through, to act as a guide for the weight spreading plank., Then I tried to place the plank in place..ah problem. The boat is too far forward on the support frame..

So the boat and frame was lifted by the crane, all  supporting concrete blocks moved forward by a foot.
The boat was then lowered but with small piles of planks, to support the boat on the blocks.  
The boat lowered, then the straps removed, and reinserted, but round the boat only. Boat lifted up again, support frame moved , then the boat lowered again.
Straps then removed and put round the frame, boat and frame lifted, small piles of wood removed.
 Boat and frame placed back in correct position.

The weight plank was offered up, fits ok, three screws put in place to temporarily hold the weight plank. That has been drawn round. Next weekend I'll drill through from below the remaining 5 keel bolt pilot holes. Before fitting the plank properly.

And so a couple of pictures,
Blue moon in her current position, framed by the crane in its lowered night.





Her stern with her name , coated by another coat of varnish..

[The Q]

Well, that's it folk's, entries are now closed for the 3 Rivers Race 2021, except for a few in the post or you're really good at grovelling to those in charge.
105 Entries approved so far..

[The Q]

Morning all,
This weekends work was the weight spreader board for the underside of the hull.

First job was pilot holes, Drilled from beneath using the weight board as a pattern..
Some small ones for the screws that will hold the board in place, and some larger ones for the keel boats.
Some keel bolt ones went through fibreglass skin, ply hull, resin, oak bearers, the centre line holes didn't go all the way through due to the hog.
Clambering inside I then drilled through the marked positions for the center line holes, I'm glad to report hole met holes and well within future hole full size straight..

Then it was pain time, lying beneath the hull, wooly hat, goggles, proper half face mask, gloves , overall, done up to the neck, Angle grinder in hand , removing paint and filler where the bearer board will it.. Arms up in the air , blood draining out, trying not to damage the glassfibre cloth skin.
Tea break.
Once done, the half sheet sander was deployed removing anything left, and using a 40 grit paper to ensure there was grip for the resin..
tea break.
Guesstimated I'd need about 3/4 ltr of thickened resin, this was mixed, then slathered over the weight board, held up to the boat (one temporary keel bolt in place to guide it)..
Stiction of the resin helped hold the board on while I was adjusted it to exact position and then screwed it up. Gratifyingly resin squeezed out all round, but not to much.. That was filleted to a certain extent, but a sand and proper fillet will be required..

Next week, lower the boat onto the keel, and bolt it up. This joint will use a sealant so the keel can be removed if necessary, Which I must order today, to ensure it arrives on time..

[The Q]

At some point I'll need to get a handicap for Blue Moon, so I've got a couple of spreadsheets made up. Eventually to put to the club handicapper..

The one I'm working on at  the moment is based on the Falmouth Area Yardstick , a formula developed by  Professor  Linda Wolstenholme, she's a professor of Statistics.. See here http://www.flushingsailingclub.co.uk/pdf/fay.pdf

It's for displacement keel boats, so that's a reasonable start.

Now The classes I've found of a similar type to Blue Moon are:

Defender 12,

Deception,

International 2.4mR

Illusion

Millimetre.

 

 Of those I've got an PY for the Illusion and  2.4mR and a D-PN for the Illusion and Millimeter.

Does anyone know of a D-PN for the Defender 12 ,  Deception  and 2.4mR?

I'm comparing the FAY results with D-PN and PY handicaps , the two I can do so far show some agreement.

Just to complicate things once I've got the PY, I then have to convert that to a BH... Broads handicap, which is a percentage handicap..

 

To see Broads Handicaps go to here http://www.thegreenbook.org.uk/  click on Green book on the left, then scroll down to Allcomers Handicaps..

[The Q]

This weekends work,
Saturday was a washout, 50mph winds bucketing with rain..
Sunday,
First shuffle the keel into the correct place, much levering , not easy on your knees..
Humidity awful, with all that rain yesterday, warm and sunny today ..

Then lift the boat which means going up the step ladder to reach the chain hoist, the chains hanging down into the boat, and remove the first blocks. Then up the ladder and lower, a little more shuffling of keel.
Then up the ladder, lift down the ladder remove the next blocks and up the ladder lower.
Keel bolts wouldn't go in. More shuffling a little still wouldn't go in.. more shuffling a little, still wouldn't go in.


Then I remembered, while the keel plank has the correct size holes , this idiot still had to open up the pilot holes through the hull..
Up the ladder, Lift hull a little, get drill and correct size bit drill through.

Up the step ladder to the chain hoist, hanging over boat, Lower hull... Yippee keel bolts going through.
Take off another layer of 3inch blocks and up the ladder to lower.
The boat is now sitting on the blocks with all keel bolt poking through and about 2 inches of gap between hull and keel.
At that point I ran out of time and energy having been up and down that step ladder so many times.

So next week,
I shall lift the hull and keel by way of eye nuts attached to the top of the keel bolts. Each bolt is more than strong enough to lift the combined weight. But an eye bolt is just above its SWL but below its breaking strain. So I will be using 3 lifting points.
Not quite sure which 3, but I will best guess.
Once happy that's the right 3 and everything else is OK, I'll lower, then slather the top of the keel with sealant . Then lift again 200kg + of hull should compress the sealant ok. After cleaning of the excess, It'll be into the boat and temporarily do up the nuts on the spare keel bolts .
Some blocks will be put under the keel, the boat lowered into the blocks, boat propped into position and left to set.

[The Q]

Afternoon All,
Saturday.. scattered shower light winds, very humid when the sun came out.
Lifted boat using strops round boat and support frame,
Removed a layer of blocks either end,
Climb up step ladder to reach chain hoist over boat,
Lowered boat.. keel not quite lined up.
Climb up ladder to chain hoist Lift boat,
while kneeling below boat, try to move keel using various bits of wood as levers.
Climb up ladder to chain hoist, Lower boat,
Aft end not quite right,
Climb up ladder to chain hoist, Lift boat , move keel,
Climb up ladder to chain hoist, Lower boat, keel bolts go into holes on keel plank.
But no further,
Lift and lower a couple of time ....
Then I remember...
This idiot has only drilled the pilot holes through the hull..


Go get drill and bit..
Lift boat clear of keel, drill through with large drill bit.
Clamber out,
But stay on ladder to reach chain hoist,
Lower boat, drops straight onto keel yippee..
Day light visible, there appears to be lumps on the keel stopping the keel sitting correctly..
Attach eyenuts to keel bolts and lift to see if balance right, a couple of lifts an lowers and it's set for attaching the keel tomorrow.

The Balance point with keel appears to be about six inches forward of the centre of the boat, but that's without the steering gear and Rudder fitted.
But fixing the keel can wait till Sunday I'm knackered..
I should say I had the Pfizer 2.0 jab late Thursday, a light headache slowly developed over Friday to Saturday, and I was feeling alternately hot or cold and knackered..



Sunday, no headache, still feeling weak. More sunny, till much later when thunder and heavy down pours arrived.
Climb ladder to chain hoist,
lift boat, find the lumps stopping the boat sitting correctly is the swarf from drilling the holes through. Clean keel top, did a trial lower to make sure..

cover keel top with sealant, 2.5 tubes used.
Lower boat, clean off squeezed out sealant.
Climb ladder into boat remove lifting gear, drop several washers down each keel bolt then wind down a lock nut.
Climb out, remove squeezed out sealant. Do some moving of stuff for SWMBO.
Climb back in, run a normal nut down each keel bolt, when it hits keel bolt. Wind back several turns. Cut off excess keel bolt above nut, repeat for each keel bolt.
Tighten each keel bolt, put eye nut back on the keel bolts , each now sit nicely with the required amount of thread showing through.
Climb out of boat remove a small amount more of squeezed out sealant.
Lower boat onto blocks, weight now on keel, prop boat into position.



I've decided to make a lifting bracket, this will be a triangular plate, very wide and short. Shackle for the hook on top, three shackles below to the eye bolts. This will give a safer straight lift than the bodged rope and bolts to the eye nuts I was using.


Also to be made, three steel plates that will go across the keel bearers, two holes in each for keel bolts.
When each is fitted, I'll remove the old washers, and locknut. Run resin into the oversize keel bolt holes. Put the steel plate on, then a single washer, the lock nut, and then an eye nut.

[The Q]

There didn't seem to be a lot done this weekend though I spent the same time doing it.

Metal bashing,
The metal lifting bracket was cut from a piece of 3/8 steel, 5 20mm holes drilled through it, then a little trimming done. It now needs the sharp bits grinding off, before trying out. If that's ok derusting and painting will follow.

Three pieces of 1/8th steel 1ft by 1.5 inches were cut and derusted. Two holes drilled in each for the keel bolts. They need another coat of paint before being installed inside the hull to spread the weight of the keel onto the bearers.

As we have possible guests arriving next weekend , part of the model railway was moved to the gardening shed out of the mobile home, that was made easier by cutting the grass short en-route. Also more shelving for the house was cut to size and painted. If the guests don't turn up I'll be assembling them next week too

[Paul H (admin)]

Q,

Regarding lifting boats, I'm interested in what you use as a beam to support the hoist.

For MilliBee 250kg is a target lift; I have have an aluminium scaffold pole. I can bolt it to a wall with an A frame the other end.

The beam span would be about 2.5m, the boat beam is 1.85m.

I'd use the beam for quickly taking her on and off the trailer for maintenance - for example, the centreboard can only be removed when she is off the trailer with 20in clearance.

Cheers
Paul

[The Q]

If you look up at the posting for 25th Apr 2021, you'll see the lifting frame in place. A commercial engine hoist frame.
It allows a 1 ton lift and I can pull the hoist side to side  to get it lined up properly.
The trailer fits under the frame quite easily with around a foot clearance each side.

 On a previous bigger boat, but about the same weight, I've used a couple of 4 X 4 beams each 9ft long placed forward and aft of the bilge keels, lifting with a trolley jack and piles of breeze blocks.

Once Blue Moon is on her trailer I'll be disassembling the frame for storage. Then eventually when Blue moon is afloat, I'm re-organising  the entire area. The lifting frame will have it's own raised mounting place not plonked onto some breeze blocks.

The next lift is to remove the wooden support frame, and the one after that onto the trailer.. She'll have to sit there weight on keel, but supported by the hoist while I fit the arms on the trailer..

[The Q]

Some one has been reading my mind..

The GOS 16 keelboat.

The GOS 16 is 4.95M LOA, 1.02M beam, 0.93M draft displacement 275Kg +2 crew say 475 Kg

Blue Moon is 4.87M LOA, 1.2M beam, 0.965M Draft.displacement 400Kg + 1 crew say 500Kg

Both have a near vertical bow, both have a retrousee stern.
I designed Blue Moon in 1996, the GOS 16 date is 2004...
I think BM has about twice the sail area, but she needs it to sail on the Broads.

Very similar.

[The Q]

Just 5 days to the 3 Rivers Race, the forecast is now a misty 10mph Easterly, which would be a rare direction for the race. Wind against tide for the start, should give an increase in the apparent windspeed, and mean short tacking though the village just after the start.

The club webcams for the race are now online https://www.horning-sailing.club/webcams/ 

Club upriver, shows the start line roughly from the right hand edge of the decking, to to the nearest blue boat canopy on the far side.

Club down river shows the straight through the village. The cameras are at 90degrees to speech other.

Boats will slowly gather on the front from today for the race

[The Q]

The forecast for Wind for the 3 Rivers Race has changed again to a 10 mph Northerly , which is good for the race, but hard work for the competitors, up to 5 hours tacking every 30 seconds or so on the longest leg..

And to Boat building, I wasn't expecting to do any, as we had visitors, but then they arrived late and left early..

SO..
Saturday Morning, tried lifting bracket.. a failure not in metal but it was "on the HUH" has they say hare in Norfuk, very tilted to the stern. I had put the top hole for the lifting hook in the middle , forgetting the balance point was 2 inches aft of that..
New hole drilled, tried the bracket.. Success, it lifts straight and level.
Sometime, I'll trim off more excess metal and tidy it up.

Monday
Sitting, kneeling, lying awkwardly under the boat to tidy up the keel - hull joint much scraping off of excess sealant and sanding.. Then batch of Filler was mixed up to fillet and smooth off the joint.
Good news I had some left over, so the joint was pretty good in the first place, Bad news  I wasted some filler.
Next time give that a final sand and paint over.

I noticed that the step ladder had again been knocked against the hull (by me) not good, So I  want to fit the fendering. This is a white rubber C strip which you screw on with then insert a Blue rubber D in the C which covers the screws. It's 27mm wide and stands proud 16mm, and wasn't anywhere near the price now, as when I bought 12 Metres of it.. It's now £16 a metre!!! from Ebay.



But first a light sand of the hull followed by a top coat above the waterline as I don't want paint on the fendering.. More blue added as the previous coat was still too light once it had dried..  
Of drying, it was so warm, I had trouble keeping a wet edge it was going sticky so quickly yesterday, if another coat is needed more white spirit will be needed.

Someone AKA Paul Admin said he doesn't like getting under the boat at 60.. At 63 It doesn't get any better I've a crick in the neck, and hip pains from yesterdays work..

[The Q]

Saturday 08:00 arrive at Hickling sailing club.

Sunday 07:00 leave Hickling sailing club,

In-between count the 57 boats of the 116 entries that managed to reach us in the 2021 60th 3 Rivers Race. Of those 33 made it to the finish line within their allotted 24hours . It was a very light wind race, choice of route was very important.

 

As for the boat. Not surprisingly I've had today off, so a little work was done, the keel joint sanded and the forward port quarter of the hull.

The keel was painted with the paint as was, I then added a good dollop of white spirit to the paint. It was too thick for a fine finish.

That quarter was then given another coat of paint.. a couple of hours later it was touch dry and a much better finish than the previous coat.

So the first coat of paint on the keel has shown, up various points at the joint that require further sanding. The rest of the hull needs sanding and then painting again.