Mods worked perfectly

Lots of resting and cleaning going on at the Velasco Casa today. After most of the action was pau, I took the boat out for a late afternoon run.

Pulled up to the general parking lot at Long Beach Harbor and dragged the boat out over the longest stretch of sand to test out the new wheels. The drag was better - not "floating on pillows on air" better, but definitely better than the old skinny wheel drag. Still got a good burn in the upper thighs, but my calves and lower back were spared the lactic acid attack.

The dead lift to get the mast on to the baseplate is now a thing of the past. The hinged mast base made setup easier, but you still have to walk the mast up before you can go to the bow and secure the forestay - best done with two people (I'll have to figure out a better way to do this).

Conditions were nice - cool water, steady breeze from the N-NNW and very little chop. I squeezed out 13.7 mph out of 16 mph winds - not bad.

We'll see what tomorrow has in store - warmer temperatures and lighter winds = sup'ing.

Friday Afternoon

Drilling holes into your boat... not an easy thing to do, but after measuring several times over and using new drill bits, I managed to finish installing the hinged mast base for our trimaran.

I'll try to bring it out this weekend to tune up the standing rigging.

I also got in the axles for the new beach wheels. I finished installing those as well. Lots of spray foam to take up the void space and white lithium grease to keep the axles lubed up. I am hoping the tire width makes a difference when pulling the boat over the beach from the parking lot to the launch point.

Supposed to be another frontal passage this weekend - South winds tomorrow (maybe kiting...) and a shift to the North on Sunday.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Keep the skunks away!!!!

One down, one to go

After 8 months of being shelved as a project, I have finally gotten the hinged mast base for my Weta Trimaran to fit properly (as in having the mast lie as flat as possible without being restricted by pieces of the mast base).

Tonight I drilled the holes for the new 1/4" bolt that will serve as the downhaul block bar. I fitted the hardware so as to not deflect the base plate to ensure a flat mounting on the boat.

If I have time tomorrow (and if the dolly axles come in), I'll clean up the deck where the base plate will mount, and patch up the existing holes with some epoxy putty. I'll let the epoxy cure, lightly sand and measure-measure-measure the hole pattern for the base plate.

I'll probably go and buy a couple of new drill bits before drilling through the deck.

Long story short, no more straight lifts of the mast - easy tilt ups from this point forward and no more worries during windy days.

Cold North Winds

It is that time of year again - strong, stiff winds push down from the North. The only piece of gear I can use effectively in these conditions is the trimaran.

Make a mistake on the kite and "Here I come Cat Island!!!".

Paddling around trying to parallel the coast (but having to paddle two miles on the same side of the board) can be a challenge.

Sailing the long SUP would be alright, but why fight it? Knowing that the predominant wind direction will be from the North for the next several months, I am starting to feel the pressure to finish getting the tri ready.

The new axles for the boat dolly should be in early this week and that will make the drag across the beach a walk in the park instead of a back breaker.

And I have finally gotten around to tweaking the hinged mast base and prepping it for installation. I had to cut off the block retaining bar for the downhaul and grind out a large portion of another bar that was preventing the mast from slipping all the way down to the base (for maximum support and no point loading). I ended up using the file ever so slightly on the mast itself. But now the hinged base fits perfectly! I still need to drill a set of 1/4" holes to install a 3.5" bolt to act as the new block retaining bar and drill out new holes at the top of the hull so I can screw down the new base.

I'll wait until I've installed the new wheels to drill out the holes - the boat will be off the trailer and I'll drill with confidence.

SO back to today - finished the prep work and drove out to do some errands. Driving by the beach, the water was flat as can be and the wind was howling!!! If I only had the upgrades done...

Oh and La ordered a Garmin 310XT wrist mounted GPS. Should make post session speed analysis really easy (wireless downloading!!!).

I should have the boat fixed by mid-week. Now if only the wind will hold up (not with my luck...).

Aloha