S/Y Linnea

Bow rollers

Think that you anchored at a place where the swell builds up and you need to leave. You let go the snubber line that holds the anchor, motor up to the anchor as you take in the slack on the windlass. Then you need to break the anchor loose, so instead of the crank you need to use the lever. Now, let’s say the anchor is stuck around some old railroad track or something else that doesn’t move. (A railroad track happened to us once in Skagen.) The bow moves in the swell. How much strain will be put on the bow roller?

I have no idea, but it should be a lot. So, to be able to sleap without bad dreams on board, we decided to try to make the bow rollers as strong as the anchor chain.

This is what it looks like at start. (Guess how many people came up with the same joke: Are you destroying the boat?)

Holes in the Bulwark for bow rollers platform.

Bow rollers hardware.

The platform is made of laminated mahogany

Mast

So, my mother and I raised the mast today. It is really easy when noone have to run around deck trying to get those wires attatched.

We changed the halyard from three strand to a braided one for less friction between the parts. And also changed to a wooden block, as you can see. And put some new tar on the servings of the grommets and whippings.

Mast crane

Linnea from above

Mast top with new wooden block that will hopefully give a better lead

Moldy battens?

Some of the bamboo battens grow mildew last year. Will try some treatment this year.

But what is best?

Paint? Varnish? Cuprinol? Nothing?

Suggestions, please!

Portlights again

Time to show how it looks installed:

Looks good.

And we also made a fold down companionway door:

We will never have to stow that loose hatch.

Pictures and hole in the hull… and a surprise

Today we made a hole in the hull. It is always scary. But looked much better after we put a shining new portlight in it. Two pictures of the hole:

From the inside

And from the outside.

Quite often people want to see pictures from the interior. I normally come up with a really bad explanation that I don’t have any working digital camera except my mobile phone (which is correct btw). But the truth is that the interior looks really bad on photos. Often tools are spread all over the place, and since painting and hardwood trim goes on last, everything looks dirty and unfinished.

Like this:

A mess, no?

Here is another picture of one of the children’s bunks. It is big enough for any normal adult. But we made a special bulkhead to make it like their own little cabin. We also made some bookshelves. This will look much better when painted.

Did I say it will look much better with some paint on it?

And now for the surprise:

A sailing and rowing dinghy!

We would appreciate ideas for a name. Ida and Joel only created a list of 20 or so. Joels favorite name for the tender right now is “daddy” (but in Swedish of course). Personally I think it might lead to misunderstandings…

Casting window frames

So, casting the window frames in bronze might work out as planned, if we get really lucky.

Anyone can give advice about the best material for creating a plug (?) for the casting flask? We are talking about something like 1/2 inch thick frames for the big windows in the deck house.

MDF?

Plywood? (we did try that but it warped)

In the water!

No worries, everyone! The launch yesterday did fine. Linnea didn’t sink at this third launching either.

In commission again… soon

Ok, it’s time to launch Linnea today after a winter on land. Hopefully I’ll put up some more posts here after that. It is more fun posting when the boat is in the water. Some short notes on what we are up to:

- Ordered thicker bamboo from Germany.

- Made a mock-up of the cabin table. (We’ll probably use it this year.)

- Fixed some problems with the deadwood and bulwarks.

- Finished the companionway hatch.

- Fairing the inside for painting (we don’t want no vinyl cover, this is not a car!)

- Bookshelfs in the kids berths.

- Higher sole in the cabin.

- Water tanks under settees in the cabin.

- Bought really really expensive LED navigation lights.

- Almost there with the navigation berth.

- Aft cabin almost finished.

So now we will:

- Windows, portlights, deadlights, etc. We need them!

- Bow rollers.

- Galley mock up.

- Paint and trim.

- Shower and water to the head.

- Braided halyard.

- New halyard block at mast head.

- New sheet blocks.

- Find a beat up cheap glass fiber dinghy that rows.

- Anything else?

yes

- Upholstrey (mattresses)

- Navigator’s berth (almost finished)

- Some electrical stuff

Edited 20080416

Ordered portlights

After much head scratching we finally decided to order eight of these:

We bought them from Toplicht in Hamburg. Still no progress on the big window frames though… Casting bronze anyone?

Interior construction and portlights

Yesterday we started with a mock up of the cabin table, to be able to make the lay-out of the cabin sole segments. This is a big table. Might cram in eight for a drink and easily seat six for a three course meal.

We also rasied the sole in the cabin a bit and built some new support for it. We will probably put the sole on hinges for  easy access to batteries and liqueur and contraband.

Seems like Davys  portlights and deadlights have rasied their prices again… just before we ordered four of each. Does anyone have experience with these guys http://www.newfoundmetals.com/ ?