9th November

I decided to keep my little fishing boat in my marina slip over winter to do some fishing on the few good days over the windy and rough season.  Therefore going slowly on Nuts as only planning to launch in spring.  Only a few jobs left to do and plenty of time over winter.

Windvane support all epoxy glassed and painted and mounted in position.

Power outlet for tiller pilot (not allowed on challenge)  or floodlight etc plus inlet for solar panels.  Coax for AIS antennae through a waterproof gland and ready for soldering a PL259 to connect.  I received my radio station license and MMSI a while back and have programmed the AIS (ONWA KP25A) and VHF radio for DSC calls.  All tested and NMEA connection working fine.  Also did an AIS test from my car to check reception and transmission.  Was picking up ships from 20 miles away and got my position registered on vessel finder after about 5 minutes of transmission activated  Had to wait for the cross channel ferry to dock to not confuse them!  Using the identification name  "Solo Sail NUTS" to hopefully give shipping some info.  I notice many of the IMOCA yachts also put solo sail as a prefix.

All electrics finished. 

Crappy photo in bad light.  Not much equipment.   VHF,AIS/plotter, 2 interior lights, compass light, tricolour nav light and anchor light.  A 12v outlet plug (Hella) for whatever might be needed and several usb charger outlets for phone, tablet, Garmin Inreach . Kindle etc.

Been checking out navigation options.  ONWA have free K Charts which you can download.  I have downloaded heaps. Got coverage of the whole of Africa, South America, Carribean, North America.  Very nice to get free coverage for ONWA products but not the best detail.  I also have been using Navionics and it is much better.  I have purchased the NV charts to get up to date paper charts but have not yet activated the electronic chart app as is it is only valid for 1 year before having to pay again for the next year.  Does not make sense to activate yet.  The paper charts are very detailed and easy to use and come in an A3 book form which folds out.

Some examples - 

K Chart on the top and Navionics on the bottom of Horta port.  Both would work.

Lages port in Pico Island.  K Chart on top and Navionics on the bottom.  K chart almost useless with very little info.

Looking at Lisbon the K charts looked pretty good so I think they are very dependent on where you are.  I had hundreds of charts which I gave away but they were from the 1980s and even though the land hasnt moved much- most ports and anchorages have changed a lot.

Mrs Nuts started doing the upholstery but not in a rush.

My last jobs are the push and pullpits and railings, boarding ladder and engine mount.

 17th October

Long time no update.

Done some more bits on the windvane.  

Jacked stern up a bit to fit the rudder for trial fitting of windvane linkages.

Rudder top with lots of holes on linkages for testing what works the best.

Bottom of windvane tube linkage with pushrod connection to rudder top.  It can just be lifted off to disengage.

Top of vane mounting tube.  Vane can swivel through 360 degrees and pushrod onto top of rudder can be moved further or closer to rudder axis to give more or less feedback.  (Tiny temporary ply vane at an angle to not hit stuff in my roof - I guess it needs to be a lot bigger but can experiment with different sizes and counter balance weights)   Got to be on the water sailing to test if it is any good.  I have lots of other ideas to try if this is a fail.  This is the first trial fit to cut lengths of pushrods and mark for drilling mounting bolts.  

The boat is now 99% finished with only 50% to go!!

 3rd October

Done a few bits on the self steering.

All very rough. The black bracket is a locking device.  I can swivel the inner tube (which the vane is connected to)  to any position and lock it in place.  The pushrod that goes down inside the tube can swivel.  The counter balance weight  will be experimented with for weight and length of arm on the threaded rod.  Going to make a couple of vane sizes to see what works OK.  All pushrods are 6mm threaded rod (ss) to make it easy to be adjusted for testing.

Next job is to make the bottom bell crank mounting bracket on the bottom of the tube and a support post that can be bolted onto the transom.  This whole exercise is only for experimental purposes.  Not worried about neatness and a sexy look.  Half of the stainless is only A2 and stick welded to hold it together.  On a reliable self steering system you dont want nuts and bolts.  They have a habit of coming loose. 

Doing lots of thinking about quick engage and disengage system as well as easy weather helm adjustment. 

Also thinking about an emergency rudder system in case Willy gets hungry.

Hurricane Kirk skimming to the north of us in a few days and watching Lesley.

Will keep you posted - Cheers

 28th September

The start of the experimental horizontal windvane.  I have some fiberglass tubes that telescope and going to use them as the support.  I wrapped some epoxy saturated glass (after sanding and acetone prep) over the inner tube which will be on the top. (just the end where the stainless steel homemade hinge will be bolted on) to make it a bit stronger.

Also cut some 316 stainless to make support brackets. and bent them for the 17.5 degree angle.  In all my research it seems that between 15 and 20 degrees is the best angle so I picked the middle.

Im going to make the tube support and hinge bracket before actual vane hinge so I can get the exact dimensions. 

Fired up the antique lathe to make the bearings.

First go was with some mystery material which I thought was Delrin but I guess it was some type of nylon or acrylic.  Not easy to machine and very messy.  

I then turned down a big diameter piece of Annealed POM (Delrin) which was totally different.  A big waste of material but it is all I have.  What a difference!  Nice and clean and smooth.  I am no expert in lathe work , just what I see on Youtube and my lathe was salvaged from the Ark.

Delrin on the left and mystery material on the right.  Only need 2 bearings but made 3 of each so have spares. I think the mystery material should go in the rubbish bin.

I will post  an easier to understand  description of what Im trying to achieve when more bits are made.

Enjoy your weekend!

 26 September

Cockpit nonslip EVA fitted.  I was hoping to do the cockpit floor in 2 pieces but just did not have enough in a big piece.  Used 3 sheets of 90cm by 2.4m and have plenty small offcuts left over.  It is very comfortable and a good nonslip.  Just dont know how long it will last.  It is pretty soft.  I attacked a small offcut with 80 grit and nothing happened.  If it lasts for 2 years I will be happy.  

Lots of rain on the way with a tropical storm passing close to the north of us.  

Starting on the self steering tomorrow.

 25th September.

Nonslip EVA foam going on.  A bit of a mission to get it positioned well.  Once you start sticking it down the position is fixed so better be close!

Round circle on first photo is for vent which has not arrived yet.  Only got cockpit seats and floor to do then deck is finished except for guard rails.

Been doing lots of thinking and plan drawing for self steering vane system.  Prototype will be fully adjustable in all parameters to try to get it to work well in as many conditions as possible.  Epoxy, glass, welder and lathe will be in action soon.  If all fails will revert to simple vertical axis system.

 20th September

Done a few bits.

Deck getting more populated.  Sheeting fixing eyes bolted down.  Going to use low friction rings (much cheaper) instead of blocks.  Mounted a bit further foreward than on the plans.  That allows the length of the strop holding the ring to fine tune the sheeting angle.  A barber hauler can also change the sheeting angle if needed.  I didnt feel like hauling Nuts out the workshop and putting up the mast again to fine tune the sheeting position.  It should be close so good enough for me.

Also decided to fit my spare hatch.  Opening from the bow.  Will be closed for 99% of the time when sailing but gives good vision of the jib from inside and will be great on anchor in the tropics to get a breeze through the boat.  

Round paper template to the port of the mast is going to be a dome ventilator above the "galley" .  I made a dorado box with a wind scoop  but decided it would be too much hassle with fouling on jib sheets and didnt want to make deflector bars.  Did that on previous boats and it worked well but on a tiny boat got to make compromisers. 

Jib sheeting fixture from inside.  8mm through bolt eye on a small doubler made from an offcut from the cockpit floor.  8mm ply with 200g of epoxy glass on each side.  Took a long time to do these small jobs as had to wait for epoxy to cure before drilling holes which were then filled with epoxy to coat the inside of the holes and when that was hard I could paint with PU paint and wait for that to cure before fitting!!  Cut grass and went fishing between Nuts jobs.

Weather super good so off fishing with sister Nuts again tomorrow.