Blue Moon

[Chris Adeney]

Hope things are still good on the Broads as I am off to morrow with my small broads cruiser ( Whippet class,
 3 metres, 1930, Earnest Collins built) and hope to take it above Potter Heigham for  a bit of quiet sailing to recover from lock down and the 200 mile trailer tow over there.
Chris A.

[The Q]

it's wonderful sailing at the moment, though there is a lot of weed in Hickling broad. Unfortunately the Pleasure boat in on Hickling is still closed, The Nelsons Head at Horsey and the Norada at Potter are open though.

 Hmm  A Whippet only 16ft LOA, that's the same as Blue Moon. Very handy for tacking up the smaller rivers and up to Hickling. I hope you enjoy your trip..

Your web page says you were going to sell her?

You'll love it on the broads, You'll have to enter the 3 Rivers Race next year...

[simplesimon]

White Horse at Neatishead is open, as is the Lion at Thurne; and both AFAIK are doing sit-down meals as well as takeaways. I haven't looked further afield than that.

Simon

[The Q]

I'm not surprised the White Horse and the Lion at Thurne are the same company..
The Norada and the Falgate in Potter,  are open.
The three pubs in Horning are open.
and the Maltsters in Ranworth is open.
The Pleasure boat on Hickling is NOT open , they will review after the next announcement.

[The Q]

It was too darn hot, 30C and a very high humidity..

So not too much done, however.

The keel nuts were removed 2 at a time, the threaded rods checked for being straight, then resin was poured in up to the top of the holes.
The steel load spreading plate was put in place, a big washer , then the nuts replaced then tightened up.
That was repeated 3 times, I'm glad to report no leaks of resin occurred down the keel.

Another quarter of the hull port aft ,was then prepared for painting, slightly more than a quarter, as I went past the centre line, so the old keel band screw holes were filled, and any left over sealant removed before sanding .
Once tack ragged, the hull was painted, trouble keeping a wet edge due to the heat..

Having been like a snowman with the dust, then light blue spattered with paint much scrubbing required after.

[Chris Adeney]

Just back from the Broads. Great time spent mainly at Horsey Mere moored in the dyke by the windmill. The Nelson is up and running very efficiently. Good sailing and lovely weather. Is it always that sunny? My Whippet is not for sale. That is another one owned by another Chris who is based at Beccles. It has a fiberglass hull taken from an old rotten wooden hull and a recreated superstructure. Mine is all wood recently re planked with new ribs, new deck and the rest of the boat restored.I wish I could do more sailing on the Broads but it is just too far to travel so it is back to the Avon at Tewkesbury.
Chris A.

[The Q]

There's only one answer to that... Move... I did..

Sunny quite often, we are one of the driest areas of the country.. But when thar East wind cum in Wintr it blew right threw yew, it do.

If it weren't for trees I'd be able to see Horsey mere from my house.. (north of the mere..).

Waxham dyke (dredged last year) that leads off from the mere,  is unusual in that it's not just a drainage dyke it was made navigable  because it led to a brickworks, my house is probably built with bricks from there.. You can't get that far now there's a bridge in the way..

[GregHBBR]

The Q wrote

Waxham dyke (dredged last year) that leads off from the mere,  is unusual in that it's not just a drainage dyke it was made navigable  because it led to a brickworks, my house is probably built with bricks from there.. You can't get that far now there's a bridge in the way.

I got as far as the bridge in 2006. See:
https://gregafloat.org.uk/seahawk/2006waxhamcut.php

The Q wrote

There's only one answer to that... Move... I did.

I did that too! First to West Norfolk back in the 70s then, after a break in the Fens and a return to the west side, I finally got to the Broads side. The back "garden" (We think of it as grounds as we don't really garden any of it) borders the "National Park" (not officially a National Park at all, but they have special dispensation to use the term for promotional purposes.)

[The Q]

 Good Photos!! You live about 4 miles from me,
Yep I was in the RAF and when the choice of first station came up after training, I put down RAF Neatishead, unusually I got it, out of the 25 on the course only about 5 got their first choices. Most got sent to RAF West Drayton in London.

I had of course read the Swallows and Amazons series which is why I wanted to get here..

I learnt to sail here and so wanted to stay.

So the RAF took me to... Somerset , Norfolk, Scarborough, Norfolk, Chelmsford, the Outer Hebridies, Northumberland, Somerset, Northumberland,
I became a civilian,  MK, The Falklands, MK, Falklands, MK, Saudi Arabia, and then finally I could afford to move back to Norfolk ..
As near as possible to the NOT a National Park while not being in it.. I can see the edge of the area across a field, but walk the dog down near some mashes a lot closer to the broads, there were a couple of broads there, but they've long since been lost..
I retire in a couple of years I ain't moving again..

[Chris Adeney]

I also did Waxham cut to the bridge but fortunately did not meet any boats on the way. Do you know why the water is redish possibly iron?
Chris A.

[The Q]

Natural ferric oxide / ochre in the area, with the bottom being dredged last year it will be particularly bad at the moment. But it happens quite often if the water pumps draining the surrounding land are busy or they have been dredging the field dykes around Waxham....

The Nearest farms to where I live have done a lot of field drain dredging recently as the fields were returning to marshland in the heavy prolonged rain we had a few weeks ago.. That is pumped into into Waxham dyke .

 A couple of years ago the environment agency tried to get Waxham dykes status changed to a drainage ditch. So they wouldn't have been responsible for any maintenance, but that got thrown out.
 
The Broads authority are responsible for dredging, the Environment Agency for river bank maintenance / Flood protection.

[The Q]

And to this weekends work, not as much as I would have liked it was bucketing down with rain for a lot of it..
Even under the marquee rain was coming in the sides, because the side canvases aren't fitted the rain would have flowed across the ground anyway, it was very heavy..

So another quarter of the hull was sanded , unfortunately the previous layer hadn't stuck properly in some places I've no ideas why it was treated the same as the Portside, which sanded well.. That clogged up all the fine sand paper I had for the palm sander, so that was why the rest of the starboard side wasn't sanded.
 So I got a rotary flap wheel on the hand drill and went over the hull - keel joint, that cleared a lot of minor bumps and lumps that were showing after the first paint on the joint.

Both bits of sanding were then painted I'll see how that stays on next weekend.

 Then the fendering inner layer was screwed into place on the port side, slightly worrying is the sound of creaking of the teak style decking as the screws went in..
It's on but it was a bit of a wrestling match, the weather being much colder than last week, the fendering was a lot less flexible. I'm hoping it will relax a bit more on the next hot day..

[The Q]

Morning

Yet another weekend over and not enough work done on the boat.

The last quarter of the boat was sanded and painted. I'm still not happy with the adherence of the paint, but it will have to do for this year.  I'll just have to see how it does for a season.

The fendering / gunnel round the edge of the boat was fitted to the starboard side, no creaking this time, bigger pilot holes.. That was after fitting the forestay plate, it seems a long time ago I took it off, and a big step forward putting it back.. The fendering wraps round the forestay plate in one piece, avoiding an awkward shaped join, it just needed a little trimming on the inside to allow it to bend.. Just the aft ends need trimming to shape now.

I've taken some pictures but they are not on this computer so they'll appear when I have time.


During the week I spent many more hours working on the Handicap Spreadsheets.

 There are now 4 formula in the mix, Falmouth Area Yardsticks 10A, 10B, 14A and the basic PRHF formula. Surprisingly similar results, they mostly come out with with just the odd strange handicap where an odd boats dimensions seems to throw a weird result.
Just 5 boats don't have their exact sail P,I, E J on the spreadsheet, but that's because they are gaffers, though very close to gunter in some cases and they are all local further investigation will be required on them.. I haven't even managed to get the separate SA of main and jib, it's just not online.
Currently the handicap average of the 4 formula comes out at 1172 RYA PY for Blue Moon

[The Q]

A couple of pictures..

[Paul H (admin)]

Q,

Where did you buy the fendering? It looks useful.

Cheers
Paul

[The Q]

eBay, though for some reason it's a lot more expensive now than it was last year.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/callisto5834/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=

[The Q]

nd this weekends work.

The holder for the rudder stock was measured in length, and the rudder stock marked up,

The Jib Club was cut to length,

The holder for the rudder stock was measured in length, the measurements on the rudder stock were checked.. All good, rudder stock cut to length. Then two holes were drilled across the top of the rudder stock for the T bar which will be connected to the control lines..

After a little filing of the bottom of the hull / rudder stock hole junction, the rudder stock was pushed into the hole, it with much waggling it got just over halfway before stopping, mean while the boat is hanging from the crane waving about as I lie under there at an awkward angle pushing.

Rudder stock withdrawn bringing with it a load of crud.. I'd forgotten there was old grease  in there, and that had collected lots of dust and rubbish from other work. Hole cleaned with white spirits and a small brush on a stick.

 Rudder stock re inserted and it slid up quite easily, T bar at top inserted without the top bearing to stop rudder falling out, that allowed the rudder to drop about an inch so..

I painted the rudder including it's top edge, then I painted the bottom of the keel.

After that the rubber gunnel was trimmed at the stern, I don't like the finish, but there aren't endcaps for this size rubber unlike the larger sizes. So I shall furtle around in my railway modelling tool box for some plasticard to make a couple of caps..

The eyes on the bow were sanded and given their first coat of paint they look quite good, the paint colour I mixed up is very similar to the blue insert in the gunnel.

Then the Dog was taken for his long walk, He had to stop and lie down in the shade several times as the humidity on Sunday was very high and he's an old man..

On return the boat was lowered onto foam pads  that's keel and hull, then the rudder was given a second coat of paint.

Then I sat with a can of cider and had a codgitate, the boat won't be ready for regatta week there's just too much left to do. So I've booked on the rescue boat revision course and will do rescue boat for the whole of regatta week again.

 So what's left,

Hatches, there are two that sail with the boat, two that don't sail with the boat that all need repair and painting, a third non sailing small hatch needs manufacturing.

The steering gear needs installation, some parts I have from the previous installation, some parts need making,

The seat needs final installation (its removeable anyway,) and varnishing.

Then the marquee needs to come down, the crane raised to max height, the boat lifted up and the trailer inserted below.. The trailer boat support arms need fitting.

Fit the mast, rigging, control lines, jammers and cleats.

A trial raise of the sails, a sit inside and check everything is OK.

Then take it all down, wrap the boat up for winter, as she won't get launched till the start of the summer season Next March.

 

Meanwhile..

We have a 50mph gale forecast for overnight today so when I get home it's tie everything down time..

[The Q]

Well after fitting the old rudder, I then was reading local broads forums about weed on Black Horse broad seemingly it's getting worse..  On a recent visit to the club a Yeoman had half a dozen people perched on the bow while someone on the bank was dragging out handfuls of weed from the rudder. Further research came up with this..
https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/weeds-growth-raises-questions-over-safety-of-hickling-broad-users-1084942

This is giving me second thoughts about the future rudder I have designed for Blue Moon, High aspect ratio all about performance...  Long thin and ready to catch weed..
Do I go for a traditional broads rudder like on this white boat?

Do I add a weed cutter like this?


At the moment I'm leaning towards a shallow draft rudder with the leading edge at 45 degrees, trailing edge vertical and the top hugging the hull. Unless anyone has any better ideas...

[The Q]

Well no new suggestions of rudder shape have come up here or elsewhere. The only original suggestion , is a weed pusher operated from inside the hull to push weed down the front of the rudder.. I'll think about that for the future.

So back to the rebuild, I got the chair back in, sat inside with a bit of wood trying various positions for a tiller.

The most obvious is a tiller on the Centreline pointing back at me from the front.. one problem, if I stood up to get out, it would do me an injury where it hurts...

So then a vertical whipstaff was tried, problem the control wires would go through my legs or generally stop me getting in and out.

So a side lever was tried, success, so one on each side. Pivoted at the base, problem it hit the chair arms.
What to use ? I was thinking of some old snooker cues, but they heard their ends were going to be cut off, so they've hidden themselves away. SWMBO suggested some old walking sticks, and appeared with two identical old bentwood handle walking sticks.
I tried them, perfect !!! with the handles pointing into the boat the verticals go down the side of the chair the handles over the chair arms.. push forward on that side to turn to the opposite side of the boat.

So they've been trimmed to length, the bottom squared off and extra wood added to thicken the foot to allow a bolt through.
That's now setting till next week.

The steering cables will run from the rudder head. Down each side of the boat to the walking sticks, then on to the front of the cock pit and then crossing to meet just behind the mast. At the join a bungy tensioner may be added to remove slack in the cables.

The main hatch 4ft long by about 2ft wide over the aft compartment, was removed to the workshop for its refurbishment. A hole has been cut for Baron Blue Moon the hairy models base, and a new floor added under that to stop it dropping through.
The top was sanded but there are so many scratches and dents acquired over the years, so after a sanding a skim coat of filler was applied. That too is setting till next week.

[The Q]

Much more research on weed and rudder prevention, came up with the fact that those kayaks that are fitted with rudders often have a small fin just before  the rudder and highly inclined rudders.

I've also found the only commercial yacht weed deflector, which is for the RS Elite, on their shop,

This once I've done some measurements, I can make something like it for Blue Moon, quite simply from a bit of spare stainless. I'd round the front edge and concave the aft edge so it can sit closer to the rudder.
It can be easily screwed on or removed, so I think this is the solution I will go with with the old rudder.

I like the idea of the two "prongs" as a rudder is rarely on the centre line unless going down wind, so working out how wide the prongs should be apart will take  some more research.

 If it's successful I'll build the new rudder to the High Aspect ratio original design. If not then the new rudder will be of the 45 degree leading edge design + the weed deflector..