Home Alone But Still Working

Wednesday Phil has continued to work over the past weeks on jobs that need doing.

An old Nobby mast was purchased as Ron thought it might do for the boom.

Phil was charged with removing the fittings and  preparing it for use.

On removing the fittings Phil discovered  some hidden rot and awaits Ron's opinion on it.

He also made a cover to protect the electrical switches from careless feet.

Jeremy had said that when sailing alone, many skippers would drive pegs into the woodwork to hold the tiller while they went to make a cuppa and it would be good if we could do the same .

NO ,NO, NO,!

The wood surrounding the cockpit built by shipwright Dave was too good to damage so Wednesday Phil came up with a plan to save the woodwork.

He built a detachable steering board with movable pegs to hold the tiller on a course.

This is bolted to the cockpit  and can be removed when not needed.

It's  very artistic!

Today's inside view.

 

 THE ENGINE FINALLY FIRES UP FOR THE FIRST TIME

Francis of the maritime midwives returned to Helen II for four days to finish the engine installation with Jeremy.

Wednesday Phil was out of his depth with the process so left them to it .He knew success was close as Francis started singing .

With Jeremy ducking to avoid sparking wires and a few adjustments ,Francis turned the key and the engine burst into life !

It purred quietly with little noise and no vibration. WONDERFUL !

Thanks for a job well done.

Meanwhile Wednesday Phil was charged with trying to make 12 dead eyes .

These are part of the rigging to tension the wires holding up the mast.

Having been given a one foot square chunk of GREENHEART wood Phil cut it into 4 inch lengths and made a pole lathe to round the blocks.

BUT the greenheart was too hard to turn .So he turned to a friend DAFYD HUGHES who is an expert wood turner with a proper machine.

After roughly rounding the block and with a number of welsh expletives Dafyd turned the wood into a cylinder .It was great to see how it should be done.

Then each one was measured and marked up for individual deadeyes.

Grooves were carved into each section, sanded and returned to Phil .

Many thanks  to Dafyd for his expertise !

The cylinders were then cut to thickness on the circular saw .

The holes for the wires were drilled from a pattern using  a pillar drill.

Using a tungsten gouge ,the holes were filed to the required shape.

Mass production ensued to make fourteen deadeyes.

 

Wedenesday Phil was chuffed with the results and grateful to Dafyd without whose help they could not have been made.

Cheers !