1 st March

Decided to fit the trimtabs before launching.  They were fabricated and epoxy glassed many months ago but not finished.  I was going to trial sail before fitting more stuff on the transom.  After hearing feedback on the Setka Challenge WhatsApp group it seems that trimtabs are very beneficial especially in downwind sailing. (as expected)

Giving the tabs an epoxy and microbaloon skim before sanding smooth and glassing the support mountings.  Going to use polyester resin and glass for the mounting brackets.  Still cold here in the evenings.  Diesel heater warm air duct blowing over freshly mixed epoxy filler to speed up the cure.  

Made up 1 running pole so far.  Only had a pole length of 2.4m (approx the LP of the jib).  I made this up from used bits that I bought in the Netherlands last year on the way home from selling our canal cruiser.  Going to make another one but got to pick my brains and fiddle on the lathe to make end fittings.  Too expensive to buy fancy Selden (or other) parts.  Got some ideas!  I will also make another stainless steel ring to pop rivet on the front of the mast for the second pole or as a spare.

Nice weather arriving here in the Azores in the next days so fixing roof leaks and hope to do some fishing.

Testing DIY dehydrated meals is working out very well so far.  Just got to decide what I like the best.  Youtube is a great tool but be careful.
 

 19th February

Lunch was the rehydration test on leftover dehydrated bits.  Spaghetti with elbow noodles and Chilli con Carne with rice rehydrated for 15 mins with boiling water tasted exactly the same as the freshly cooked meals.  😊

Going to test the same meals vacuum sealed in a few months to see if it really works.  Back to the shops tomorrow to get more ingredients for more experimentation.  

18th February

Vacuum sealed some experimental meals.

Using chamber vacuum sealer.  The dehydrated pasta, rice, spagetti sauce and Chilli con Carne ends up quite crispy and sharp and can pierce the plastic when under a strong vacuum (as I discovered).  Just doing small portions for taste testing and to see which recipes work best.  Going to test taste some soon and save same pacs for testing in a month or two.  Made 2 of each recipe to vacuum seal and going to experiment for lunch tomorrow on the left overs.

Also bought bulk salted peanuts at about 5 euros for a kilo and resealed into 130g packs with sultanas.  100g peanuts and 30g saltanas per pack.  Good for snacks and keep fresh for a long time.  Expensive to buy small packs of snacks and I like my snacks in the evening.

Next test will be chicken and curry recipes.  Also got to try veggies and stews.

 16 th February

Time wizzing by.  Not up to much as weather still crappy.  Been organizing safety equipment though and got my flares (4 hand red, 4 parachute red and 1 orange smoke), lifejackets (2), saftey harness, and fire extinguisher, head torches and tacked on a small power kite in case the mast falls down.    Off to town tomorrow to speak to our insurance company that insures my fishing boat to see what the options are.  Only looking for compulsory 3rd party for marina stays.  Got to have insurance before being allowed in the marina.

Food!!!

I like my food!!

Started this afternoon with experimenting on producing our own dehydrated food for the adventure.  Starting in very basic experiments.  Several types of pasta and some rice. (all precooked).

This is very early stages and looking forward to the results.

Stacked in our new dehydrator which has a much larger capacity (10 trays).  Our old one was great but small capacity.  Got to learn the quirks of this new box of tricks - very quiet compared to our old one but cost almost 4 times the price !

Mrs Nuts also cooked up a Chilli Con Carne and a Spagetti sauce which will be the next victims for the dehydrator.  Going to vacuum seal and do a test eat in a few days as well as a set aside and test eat in a few months.  This keeps us occupied and makes the kitchen smell nice.  

Lots of ideas on the food front thanks to Youtube.  Just got to test and try.

Marty Bates - a fishing partner from many years ago - has offered a welcome to me with a mooring in Sao Nicalao in the Cape Verdes.  He is a top world recognized big game fishing captain and a super nice guy from NZ and now living and operating big game fishing and a BandB out of the Cape Verde.  (maybe he can be convinced to help out several Setka Captains for a jolly 😜  

 12 th January.

Been watching the 5.80 boats leaving the Canaries.  Got me excited to get busy again.  Been chilling and taking life easy over the holiday season and put on too much weight!!  Time to get started on the finishing stages of Nuts and get it ready for launching in Spring.

I did experiment on vacuum sealing the gas canisters.  Bought a small vacuum sealer for this as didnt think it was a good idea to put the cans into my chamber vacuum sealer.  The idea is to stop rusting as well as being able to see if the canister is leaking.

Also time to start experimenting with dehydrating meals.  I hope to update the blog on a more regular basis starting now.  Hope you all had a good festive season and now back to work!

 

 27th November.

Still alive but taking life easy.

Mounted EPIRB and Garmin Inreach mini2.  Going to start on stainless pull and pushpits and boarding ladder soon.  Also got to make a gas bottle storage arrangement.  Going to vacuum seal each container (not a strong vacuume) to protect them from rusting as well as will be able to see if they are leaking.

Also time to start  getting my trailer organized.   Got to modify my fishing boat trailer.  I want to mount the keel at home and have to make adjustable supports so I can lower the hull onto the keel on the trailer for the bolting process.  The supports have to be easly removable so I can bring my fishing boat home.  (Only got 1 spot in the marina).  Im very glad I have prefitted the keel while the hull was upside down so I know it all fits and just have to bolt on.

Winter has arrived here in the Azores with stormy weather but still quite warm.

Cheers

 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.