Tales of Illusion

[Jeremy]

Paul,

Is this little alloy widget any use?





It has a 53mm inside diameter and five 5mm diameter holes around the base flange.  It stands 86mm tall.  If you think it might be useful as an upstand let me have your address and I'll stick it in a jiffy bag.

Jeremy

PS:  It's a bit of old sonobuoy, the things dropped by Nimrod aircraft and used to detect submarines.  It's actually part of the submersible casing from a Barra buoy................

[Timmo]

What about a thing designed to seal pipes going through a roof. Conical rubber seal on an alloy plate. Discard the plate and trim seal to suit. Could work. Definitely quick and easy. 

Tim O'Connor 

NTS Developing People 

Web: www.nts-group.com

Sent from my iPhone

On 31 May 2011, at 10:56, "adminHBBR [via UK HBBR Forum]" <[hidden email]> wrote:

All,

Thanks for the ideas. The inner tube and loo doh-nut are good candidates for the seal.

However the key problem though is I don't have an up-stand and can't think how to attach it securely to the ply deck. Time is very limited because lots of things need to be sorted for ABBA (which I might have to pull out of) and the Thames Raid.

The mast is 52mm max OD. Shed drain pipe is around 2" so too small, the next standard size is 68mm.

-Paul

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[Timmo]

What about a thing designed to seal pipes going through a roof. Conical rubber seal on an alloy plate. Discard the plate and trim seal to suit. Could work. Definitely quick and easy. 

Tim O'Connor 

NTS Developing People 

Web: www.nts-group.com

Sent from my iPhone

On 31 May 2011, at 10:56, "adminHBBR [via UK HBBR Forum]" <[hidden email]> wrote:

All,

Thanks for the ideas. The inner tube and loo doh-nut are good candidates for the seal.

However the key problem though is I don't have an up-stand and can't think how to attach it securely to the ply deck. Time is very limited because lots of things need to be sorted for ABBA (which I might have to pull out of) and the Thames Raid.

The mast is 52mm max OD. Shed drain pipe is around 2" so too small, the next standard size is 68mm.

-Paul

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[Paul H (admin)]

Jeremy,

That widget looks ideal - thank you!  I'll double check the max. OD of the mast tonight.

My late Dad would have been proud to have an RAF widget on my boat - he used to wire up Vulcan cockpits when I was a kid. Also my grandfather worked at the Gloucester Aircraft Company in Brockworth (famous for Frank Whittle's jet experiments). The end of the runway is now occupied by Tescos - there's progress for you. The shadow of the old runway is still visible:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Brockworth,+Gloucester&aq=0&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=15.163673,28.344727&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Brockworth,+Gloucester,+United+Kingdom&ll=51.843931,-2.174242&spn=0.008604,0.023689&t=h&z=16

-Paul

[Jeremy]

Paul, the wall thickness is about 3mm, so if you need the bore to be a bit larger than 53mm I can easily just bore it out a bit.  I'd guess I could probably open the bore out to around 54 to 55mm if needed.

Jeremy

[Chris Waite]

Rosie Mae doesn't have any sort of guard apart from her collar fixed to the deck and I've never had enough water through to be worth a bucket of warm spit, though you may have heard that I proved this weekend she does take some over the gunwale when pressed.

The old gaffers used to have a (painted/waterproof) canvas collar, with a whipping round the mast and sewn to a flat 'washer' of the same stuff that was then screwed down watertight with a second (wooden) collar.  Even something slightly conical (and a bit long), laid over a wooden collar fixed to the deck would do for the time being.

Incidentally, I think Grum said the lowest bridge is over twelve feet, so you shouldn't have to take the mast down on that count

Cee Dubbaya  

[Port-Na-Storm]

Evening ,

Of course the issue is purely academic as it isn't going to rain on the Thames Raid, (ha!)

Jeremy was close to the solution earlier; Condoms! I know of a student flat in Edinburgh where the leaky U bend on the sink was cured by cutting the end off one and rolling it along the pipe to act like a kind of PFT tape. If you can't find the solution in the plumbing isle of B&Q head for Boots.

Tim has done sterling work organising the T.R. and in his detailed document there is a link which gives the bridge heights.  The lowest is 12' 6" but I'm sure it'll look a lot lower than that when you're drifting down onto it.
Personally I'll be dropping the mast for times, possibly five depending on river levels. Oh for the simplicity of a lug rig!
And I haven't told any tales out of class about how high Rosie Mae sits when she's on her side, ooops.

But there is a Video somewhere of me rowing like crazy and still going backwards. A bit Breezy!  

[Paul H (admin)]

Jeremy,

The widest mast OD is 53.6mm and the deck hole measures 54.0mm at the widest point (yes its a firm, paint scraping fit). So if you can bore it out to 54.5mm (or greater if the wall thickness is sensible) that should work well.
It's a standard windsurf mast so if I move to another system somebody else can benifit from the upstand.


Chris - Sunday night it leaked enough to make a sleeping bag wetish. Plan A is to have a shelf/moveable seat to raise the mast bottom 6in at night so that my sleeping bag fits underneath, sealed at the deck (inner tube, plumbing gasket or duct tape!). Matt fitted an upstand on Elusion, he is a minimalist so I'm sure he fitted it for a good reason. Maybe RM offers more protection from lumpy waves?

Many thanks Jeremy - several beer credits are in the pipeline.

cheers
Paul

[Jeremy]

No worries, Paul, I shall pop out and bore it to 54.5mm.

Let me have your address and I'll stick it in the post tomorrow.

Jeremy

[Jeremy]

Job done, bored to 54.5mm ID, ready to go.  I had to shorten the overall length down to 60mm, as I didn't have a boring bar long enough to do the whole length, but I'm guessing that this will still be OK.

As a bonus, it got me out of watching Holby City..................

Jeremy

[Paul H (admin)]

Jeremy,

Jolly well done! I've emailed you with address details and asked Ivan for an eco-builder and the joiner in the Wye area who made triple glazed windows.

I'm rather jealous of your workshop packed with toys - I keep putting "school workshop" on Santa's list....

-Paul

 

[Jeremy]

Thanks Paul.  I've stuffed it in a Jiffy and will try and get it in the post tomorrow (between visiting house frame companies).

The very best investment I ever made was my first cheap, small, Chinese lathe, but I wouldn't advise anyone to go for one as small as the first one I bought.  Subsequently I've acquired a better lathe (not an expensive one, just a much bigger Chinese made one), a couple of small milling machines (one's being converted to CNC at the moment) and a big old British pillar drill rescued from a scrap pile.  The machine tools have quickly got me out of more problems than I can recount, and have paid for themselves several times over, even if it's just in time saved.

Jeremy

[Paul H (admin)]

Jeremy wrote

(one's being converted to CNC at the moment)

Ahh! the CNC keyword. Check out www.artcamexpress.com which is the product I develop!

-Paul

[Paul H (admin)]

The tent is nrealy finished. My seamtress is adding some tabs as I write to hold the continuous rope/bungee in place. It hooks over some discreet "buttons" at each corner just like a cockpit or trailer cover.



I've used spare electrical trunking covers to form 3 arches to give the tent some shape and just enough height to sit up comfortably. Internally there are 8 toggles and loops to hold the canvas around the arches, just like poles on a conventionsal tent (except it can be erected from the inside!)



The trunking is held in place by 6mm bolts and penny washers screwed into captive nuts (pronged T nuts) behind the cleats supporting the side decks. I really pleased how the system works. It gives great flexibility for different cabins and the arches can be quickly erected from within the boat.




Here are the buttons tucked under the gunnels:





The great thing about the captive nuts and the 10mm upstand is I can leave the cabin open for the Thames raid with plenty of space to row.

Later I will build a fully enclosed "sea cabin" fitting flush around the upstand held securely by the 6 captive nuts. Then Cee Dubbs will be glad to she her crash through the lumpy stuff weighed down with some generous water ballast provided by four 25l jerry cans.

-Paul

[Paul H (admin)]

Jeremy's mast fitting arrived today - many thanks Jeremy for another great bit of engineering.

It all fits together snugly and will be easy to seal. I used a triangular bolt pattern which guarantees a secure fit on the curved deck. The forward hole is flush with the deck and the rear bolts are packed with 2 washers to compensate for the mast-deck angle:





The curved deck flexes slightly as the mast bends so I don't think there will be any pressure points acting on the glass fibre. Tomorrow I'll paint the fitting white to match the boat then seal with white silicone.

-Paul

[Jeremy]

Glad it arrived OK Paul, and that it fits.  It looks like it should do the job fairly well.

Jeremy

PS:  That bit has already been immersion tested - it was from a recovered Barra sonobuoy that had been dropped in the North Channel of the Irish Sea for testing.  It probably spent a couple of hours down at around 120m before being hauled back to the surface by our clean-up recovery launch to be scrapped.  I'm an inveterate hoarder and couldn't let potentially useful widgets go for scrap, so that part has been sat in my "may come in handy" pile for the last 15 years or more...............

Jeremy

[Port-Na-Storm]

There was a post today on the Duckworks Facebook page giving an update on the CLC Nesting Expedition Dinghy.
http://www.clcboats.com/life-of-boats-blog/Nesting-Expedition-Dinghy.html?jm=1

It brought back some fond memories of Illusion, some of which are recorded here;

http://port-na-storm.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/was-it-just-illusion.html

A truly Brave attempt, well done Paulie.


 

[Paul H (admin)]

Graham,

It does look quite familiar doesn't it, especially the idea of water ballast under the deep curved hull floor.....possibly the sincerest form of flattery.

-Paul

[BrianP]

CLC NED launched



NED is Nesting Expedition Dinghy. 10'6", 6' nested.

No ballast filled yet, so very close to Paul's design.

More pics on Duckworks Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/duckworks/permalink/1673757786179937/

[BrianP]

Sailing very well with water ballast filled.