LAUNCH DATE SET FOR 1 ST OF APRIL (12.00 HRS ISH)  2022

Wednesday Phil and Wally still working 3 or 4 days a week to make sure the launch date can be achieved.

Wally had to make wooden bearings of different sizes  to fit in each wheel as their centres were different sizes. These were then fitted to the cradle with wooden spacers either side of the wheel for smooth running.

The sections of the recycled wave machine were then positioned under the hull to form the new cradle and Wally continues its construction.

Wednesday Phil meanwhile ,removed the one and a quarter inch outlet valves from the cockpit drains and replaced them with two inch ones which will allow faster draining if needed.

The cockpit outflows  had to be redesigned for the new valves and in order for maximum drainage these were sunk below the floor level by adding packing underside .These were epoxied in to make watertight.

The final section of the keel band was brought by Jeremy and after " Wally welding"  was finally secured by Phil.

Wednesday Phil continues making two pin rails to secure ropes to and now he understand the forces involved , has secured them in the hull via long threaded bar through the main beams below and strengthened them with metal internal brackets.

Meanwhile Mirela from Youth With A Mission came to sand down and varnish the floor boards from within the cabin and Ludovic  hoovered out all the bilges which is a difficult and contorting procedure.

 BUILDING THE LAUNCH CRADLE IN THE COMPOUND

Once the metal sections were in the compound Wally and Phil set about cutting off the unwanted sections so that the desired pieces could be recycled and redesigned to make the launch cradle as in the drawing below

Wally knew exactly what was required so Phil just watched the sparks fly !

Once the unwanted sections were removed  Wally then began welding  some of the off cuts back to reinforce the desired structure.

Old  solid rubber wheels will be welded in place and the frame turned over  as shown in the photo to make the cradle moveable and the cradle constructed underneath Helen II.

Then acro props will be welded at each corner to support the hull.

It all takes time !

The building has been going on  for 4 weeks with Wally and Wednesday Phil working 3 days a week, as a tentative launch date of 1st of April has been organised.!!!

During this time  Phil was sent a plan for a pin rail to be built by the mast.

The pieces have been made but this is now on hold until further details of positioning etc are given.

 Wally and Wednesday Phil still working 3 day weeks as deadlines approach !

LAUNCHING CRADLE TO BE MADE FROM COLLEGE WAVE MACHINE

Wednesday Phil and Wally went to Llandrillo college to recycle an old wave  machine into a cradle to move Helen II out of the shed.

The machine was 6 m long and constructed of box girders held together with rusted nuts and bolts.

By the end of Monday they had managed to disassemble both the fibre glass tanks at each end of the wave flume(orange units )and remove half 

of the glass sides.

.Both went home tired but happy !

Tuesday saw their return to continue the process.

The box sections were extremely heavy and methods to remove units without lifting had to be devised as the operatives are no spring chickens.

Thanks to the kind assistance of a passing fork lift driver ,the final sections were disassembled and moved to an area where they can be brought back to Helen II to form the new cradle.

Phil and Wally went home pleased at completing a task that at first looked unachievable .

Meanwhile at the boat Jeremy continued to thin down the mast.

Wednesday Phil and Wally finished the supports to hold sleeping sailors in their bunks, once the canvas has been attached.

And the forward flooring was finished above the bilge pump.

 JEREMY  AND WEDNESDAY PHIL WORK FRIDAYS

Jeremy now tries to come on Fridays to work on Helen II so Wednesday Phil is now "most mornings" Phil.

Our first job was to refit the port porthole which needed a deeper collar to fit properly. This was a  two handed job for Fridays.

If you click on the photo you will see the new stainless steel ring needed to make the required seal.

On Friday Jeremy turned up with a number of  sections, finished off at home, to box in the engine compartment from the saloon.

 With Phil acting as "go for " the panels were first fitted, tweaked and re tweaked, cut and trimmed  until they received Jeremy's approval and Phil received sore knees.

All the panels are removable to make easy access to the engine bay.

Jeremy went home happy !

In the week Phil decided to snuggle up in the captains bunk to seal it off from the engine area.

He decided his age now precludes him from further acts of  contortionism and muscle rub is a wonderful aid to upright walking.

Sleep tight captain !

PHIL'S MATES STEP UP TO HELP PROGRESS 

After long preparation periods finalising of jobs begin.

Ron and Wally finally received the new propeller and set about first fitting. This then allowed Wally to form the "P " bracket to stabilize  the propeller  from vibrating.

Thanks to the donation  of marine grade stainless steel  from Mark Russel and Steve at CUTTING AND WEAR in Sheffield , Wally was able to design and weld the required bracket into position.

It's a beautiful piece of  engineering and looks smashing !

 Meanwhile the grand daughter of John Crossfield who designed and built the nobby came cycling by...

Teressa Ryan (apologies if wrongly spelled) was invited to look around Helen II and recounted her memories of her grandfather and his boat building times.

When the engine   was being set up ,the cockpit was removed to allow more working space.

Now it was decided that if possible, the cockpit should be always removable to allow ease of access.

Wednesday Phil set about redesigning it from a permanent fixture to a removable one.

After several attempts and fitting , a new design was created and it was further decided that ideally it should be fibre glassed to make a lasting watertight removable structure.

Thanks to the voluntary help of Phil's friend BONZA (Peter Jones ) who is a fibreglass expert , work began .

BONZA gave the cockpit two layers of heavy duty matting to make it a water tight compartment and it will be left overnight to cure ready for a final gel coat next day.

Meanwhile Wednesday Phil redesigned the supports to sit the cockpit well on as these will now give the major support to the structure .

The top of the cockpit well will have a waterproof seal and frame -yet to be designed !

These are now painted and ready for service.

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 !