Day 458
(The last day)		 Rudder Bolts/ side table etc.
  In answer to a suggestion posted by one of the forum members who was very concerned about the rudder bolts on the top flange being upside down, I am posting a photo of the "safety" solution. Gena had planned this for a while, but I think that post reminded us of the potential hazard, without which we may have forgotten in all the hustle and bustle of preparation for the haul-out. Ever since the forum crashed (it's all fixed now, better than ever!) I have lost the name of whoever it was that made the post but thank you sir.

2 more bolts were drilled the same way and SS cotter pins inserted. They were reluctant to go in, but that'll hopefully make them reluctant to come out.

  The party was a huge success as was the showing, and once the boat was cleaned up I managed to get some photos before the onslaught of empty beer bottles, chip dip containers and peanut husks. No! Just kidding. That was all dispersed on John and Laura's lawn! About halfway down the page bigpics.htm is some nice big wide angle photos of the interior as it was at the open boat showing. (or close to it!)
The last minute rush has been on for a few days, and today was no different. Doing anything that we can think of whilst the boat is still here.

AN really important thing is to secure the reclining seats in the pilothouse. The seats can't recline unless moved forward some 14". I had planned to just make 2 wooden slider tracks to encompass the round ring at the base of the seats, but this might be too much work and come out looking big and ugly. The better idea was to pivot the one side of the ring on a 1/4" bolt and nylon washers, then make a clamp out of wood to tighten it into whatever position we like.

The clamps were easy enough to make, but had to be put together in a way that they'd be strong. The photos to the right show how they go together. The metal plate has a nut welded to it so the "handle" can thread down and tighten.
 First the whole thing is temporarily screwed down for position with long #6 screws, then each side removed so as to not alter the position of the bottom pieces. Those are in turn screwed down hard then the whole thing screwed  back together with the "handle" keeping it in line.

It works beautifully!
The "handles" are from old satellite radio mounts and are solid aluminum. These are threaded and seized on tight with lock-tight and a nut inside.

I pulled them out and pushed them in, twisting the seats and used various other abuse techniques for testing. They are strong and aren't going anywhere.
   
   
Gena kept asking me stuff like, where's the sisal wheel for polishing? Could you bend these lengths of rod? Do you think a ratio of 2:1 would be good for the mainsheet track? As I suspected, she was making some mounted pulleys for the mainsheet traveler lines. This was never really a big issue as we're not going to be racing, but nice to have since the track is there.

Pictured to the right is the result of an afternoons work. The angle is right, but who knows about the ratio? I know we would have a hard time pulling the car over while under a load, but it could be let out before tacking into the next position if we needed to.

  Later on (in July) I made a couple of "bootstraps" to stop the line from flipping off, but that was in vain.
Paul, our mast rigger and the owner of Ocean Rigging in BC, happened to have a track slide pulley setup with cleats that was 4:1 just off of his boat. 4:1 wasn't enough for him because the attachment point was mid-boom. Twice the torque in an inhospitable place. He gladly offered them to the cause, and we gladly accepted. Thanks Paul!

  In any case, if we find 4:1 isn't enough, we can always put this pulley back in the loop for a 6:1.

There's a photo below to show the setup. The cheap rope was replaced with "real" line later on.

  Using the rig while hard up was amazing, or I should say the whole boat was amazing! We were well inside the diamonds on the Windex, and still whipping along almost directly into the wind. Only the Genoa limited us!
 
 The New traveler setup. I have tried it in 30+knots off the beam and it seems to be enough ratio. The cleats on the end are pretty handy too!
Another project that came as a surprise in recent days, was to mount another butchered TV tray, this time, inside the boat.

It was a surprise because I had figured the one I mounted on the cockpit pedestal could do double duty as a pilots table. (If there is such a thing!)

Amazingly, I couldn't make it work. I mounted a wood post that pivoted along the seat with an SS pin in the top, reinforced the armrest enclosure, and made a short block for the other pin. This wasn't posted because it didn't work. At all. It was far too flimsey, and wouldn't have lasted past the first brush with someone leaving the pilot seat.
Gena and I had a nice argument about whether we really needed it or not ( because I didn't want anymore to do with it!) and she finally gave up on the idea, with a lip on.

Well! I can't have that! There needs to be a compromise. Finally she agreed to allow the table to be lower, and I agreed to make it work.

These spring hinges did the trick. With the table down, there is still enough room for the support arm (top; right photo) behind, the thing is out of the way (except for the big drawer which isn't really an issue, can be held up easily (because of the springs) and even has a nice little latch to hold it firmly in place.

Am I lucky or what? Ha!
   
The almost invisible creature in the photo (left) took the rest of my afternoon. It is a VHF/TV/WXSAT antenna. I've worked a lot with antennas for a living and have tried different types over the years, seen what works and what doesn't, and what doesn't matter and what does.

The primary reason for this antenna is unclear. It will be mounted on top of the mast, and will be primarily used in the VHF frequency range.( 136-168 MHz )

Without getting too technical, as I usually do with radio related stuff, it must receive 136-138 WXSAT stuff, transmit 2 meter stuff ( 144-148 ),  receive TV VHF/UHF, and occasionally transmit 150 to 160 VHF. I have found that a 1/4 wave antenna, 16-18" long will satisfy most of those requirements, without frying radios or performing too badly.
It won't have the gain of, say, a 5/8 wave antenna on 2 meters, or a multiband vertical, or on WXSAT a giant quadrifilar helix antenna's circular polarization characteristics, or a TV antenna/rotor's abilty to remove "ghosting" but it will do all of these fairly well, but in a very small package. The design is simple, a "V" off the "hot" side of the coax, and an extra long (22") radial off the ground or bracket side.

I was surprised at the clarity of "some" of the WXSAT images, while others had the fuzzies in the center as the satellite passes over, as was I the clarity of TV channels. The VHF had no problems picking up distant weather channels on 162 MHz and 2 meters had a good enough SWR to make an antenna tuner unnecessary. Maybe it's a fluke, maybe not. I'll post an article about how it's performing on the promain.htm projects page when I get to it. :)
Well this is it !! The boatbuilding project is over. Not that we won't still be making this and that for whatever comes up while we still have tools. It will just be an occasional project. The boat will be hauled out shortly, and we are nervous (that's in the journal records for the whole week!) but excited.

I will continue posting updates and additions to the site concerned with the building (like what worked what didn't) and the whole aspect of building a boat, even updating some old pages for clarity/correction (hiding mistakes hehe).
From this site, also, a log of our travels will emerge. I'm not sure how that will be laid out yet, but it'll be posted off of the main page: sail1fr.htm  so don't run away! Until then, the forum and boatcam will show any news.

Thank you everyone (anyone?) who stuck with us this long, reading the updates and new pages as they appeared, giving us  -and everyone else with the desire to live the dream-  the incentive, encouragement, and just letting us know you are out there, somewhere, waiting for the next day in our little epic. Well, maybe not so little hey?

To anyone who is dreaming the same dream, from the first words I typed on the very first page of the site, to these words I am typing now, I know we're going, and we are already there. Want to come along? Then just do it.

*Sandra Sims - webmaster 06/09/2008

Day 458, the last official boatbuilding day:
8 hours or so...

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