Big Mastday!

So at last we could raise the mast. Thank you Ricard for all the seizings etc.

First we moved the heavy thing to the mast crane.

Then we moved the boat.
We just had to take a trip under engine. Here is Ricard at the tiller. I must say that this boat is much easier to maneuver than our last boat, even though the propeller is offset. When in reverse I didn’t find any prop walk whatsoever and it started turning quite fast for a boat with this kind of keel.

A bit nervous at the mast crane.

I climbed up to untie the sling.

And we are up!

And back to the jetty.

Largest fid in the world

Grommet day.

Today we made some grommets for the mast head to attach all those lines in, like halyard, and lazy jacks. To do this we made grommets with thimbles to attach the blocks in.

First, a grommet.

Then it is served.

To form it we used the largest fid in the world! The mast:

Almost finished:

Just need some more stretching before the final seizing goes in place. Then some tar on the grommet to protect the wood and guck together the serving.

Want to know a secret? Tomorrow Ricard will come help us raise the mast. Let’s see what happens.

Companionway

So here is the companionway pine ladder almost finished today. Needs some bug fixes but otherwise seems ok.

The handle at the bottom is for two year olds.  The next one is for six year olds.

Anyone needs saw dust from the planing of the yard and mast?

We also fit the mast top hardware. Tomorrow it will get some paint. Then we just wait for the line to find it’s way to this godforsaken place until we can raise the mast! (Ricard can you come and give us a hand?)

Big boat boarding

Crown Jewel is a big boat. Even though it is 36 ft on deck, it really should be compared to boats over 40 ft. We needed to be able to climb the bow from our low jetty, so today we fitted a ladder.

Progress

Great progress today. Most of the grommets in the sail are done (only one batten left) and we shaped a tree into a yard.

A picture of my try at double spar taper by eye ball:

It is supposed to be thinner at the ends and fat at the middle. And it is also supposed to have all the taper at the top. (Otherwise the straight edge of the sail will be baggy, and we can’t let that happen to a junk sail can we?) But I agree the spars aren’t perfectly straight. I suppose we are one of those boats giving junk rigs a bad reputation. Like my grandfather said when I told him we were going to rig our boat with a junk rig: “Poor bastards.” But he meant the Chinese junks he met when he was a sailor.

And some pics of the sail with grommets:

Tomorrow we will try some handsewn rings at the nock and peak.

Line for the junk rig – and the sailmakers secret weapon

Some things they say about the junk rig are true. It has a great appetite for line. I live in the capital of Sweden, Stockholm, a city of about one million people and one million boats. And the chandlers didn’t have enough line in stock and had to order it.

So how much line do you think Linnea needs for the one sail? Including running rigging and the bolt rope around the sail.

Is it:

A. Less than 100 meters?

B. Between 100 and 200 meters?

C. More than 300 meters?

Now the picture of the sailmakers secret weapon:

A stapler! We finished all the machine sewing on the sail tonight thanks to the stapler. It was perfect for temporary attaching the corner patches and tablings before sewing. The thing is, no double sided tape works on our “sail cloth”, which is called Top Gun and is actually a really strong vinyl coated polyester fabric. So tomorrow we will try to fit all the grommets. The boltrope will have to wait until we get the line though.

Grommets by the gross

No, don’t read the headline as proof of my love for alliterations. We just ordered three gross of #3 spur grommets. I like to think that the sail is finished. But as you can see, I am an optimist when it comes to adding the last touch. Like three gross of grommets. Hopefully attaching them to the sail will go really quick!

Tripple-block – will it fit?

This might be a little bit too much details for some people. But I am a little bit worried that the tripple block for the halyard won’t lay flat against the mast. It is supposed to be hold out by the “truck”-shaped oak cleat. But it doesn’t look ennough. Time will tell. I guess this might be one of the small problems.

Mast hardware

Today I was kind of lazy. Made the cleats for the mast top. It is used for attaching the halyard and lazy jacks. And also the halyard cleats for the yard. All attatchment points use a grommet or splice around the mast.

Now the oak clats lay soaking up lin seed oil over the night.