More Sail Rigging
By Helen Opie #904 "Molly Kool" (1es 1eo 1ea 31ar)Yesterday my friend of 22 years, Russell Washington came down on his gorgeous red Harley from his cousins' in Middleton to visit; he wanted to help me with Molly Kool and I love having friends' input to her. He is a motorcycle and appliance wizard unfamiliar with boats, so I concentrated on things we could both do without much need for calculation or concentration. (I am not a biker, although I did have one for a while.) I met Russell through my daughter who rode a motorcycle at the time, and she met him when he rescued her at a Modified Motorcycle Association meeting. Some boor had her practically pinned to the wall going on & on, trying to impress her. Russell saw the problem, walked up to her and said, "H, I'm Russell. I see you are new here. Let me take you around and introduce you." He took her out from that man and introduced her to all the others in the room.
I had just mixed the paint for the sail numbers when Russell drove in, so while Russell unstrapped MK to get her off the trailer, I finished painting the numbers on her sail. Yes, they have that "made at home by loving hands" look of imperfection; call it wabi-sabi vs computer accuracy, and it fits the aesthetic of her style better than computer perfection would. Russell sawed off the excess from the leeboard pivot and removed a hose clamp which had held the halyard to the yard arm while I gathered other stuff. Then we patched a little rip that the hose clamp had made in the edge of the sail. Used Tuck tape, which is more flexible than duct tape and more weather resistant, but may split if there is a pulling-apart force between the two sides, although I cannot figure out where those forces would come from. I can repair it again with something different if need be.
I had not yet made the chocking system for the mast to fit tightly at the top of the sleeve through cuddy roof. The Idea Fairies delivered an image at bedtime about a week ago and bits of wood left from making simple strip frames for my paintings 'appeared' (came to my notice) in my kindling basket when I was in the basement by my woodstove. I was clearing stuff around the stove so the chimney cleaner could finish its annual cleaning. Otherwise, I don't pay attention to my stove from late spring to mid-fall, and those pieces would not have been noticed until heating time. And I'd have done something else, probably more complicated. I had got as far as laying the bits on a strip of Tuck tape to fit them around the mast like a diver's belt and discovered I needed to stick on more pieces, but I hadn't done enough fitting to finish that project right now. I didn't want to leave Russell standing around doing nothing while I fiddled and thought and fiddled some more: standing around is no fun! So we rigged her as she was in order to see how she looked and to replace her sheet and downhaul.
First, the halyard was twisted because the mast wasn't set with the pulley at the top on the same side as the halyard was going down to the cleat. Actually, I think I got them reversed yesterday. The halyard needs to be towards the centre of the boat, along with the cleat for it, so I can reach it easily when in her; standing on the ground outside her made me rig it for convenience from where I stood, not where I will stand. That, in turn, prevented the yard arm from being pulled high enough for the end of the boom to be above the cuddy roof. After the halyard was freed, the friend who co-gardens with me wasn't photographing, so there's no photo of MK in better trim. That's for another day. We replaced the sheet with a thicker (1/4") and softer rope and while I tied it to the end of the boom, Russell heat sealed the two cut ends. Then we replaced the too-thick downhaul, but with the boom riding higher, it will need a longer line than the scrap I used. This was was enough to see how she looked. Then I fiddled with the traveler, called a horse here and in the UK, I've learnt. It found a nice pulley for the sheet and rigged that. Then we all went to deal with things in the garden that required more than two hands; finally it is yielding lots of stuff to put by for winter.
Also, I got the rudder on wrong, with the top pintle on top of the top holey bar, not both pintles between both bars. It does let the tiller clear the deck, but I think putting a short piece of pipe beneath the lower pintle will be a better solution. I think this mis-fit arose because my transome is higher than EC's and I did not think of this until now. I might rebuild the rudder over the winter and find something better for pintles that align with the centre of the rudder and thus directly under the tiller.
PDR MK 16 Sept - Russell driving the inchworm screws I hadn't the strength for. Do inchworms have another 'proper' name?
PDR MK 16 Sept - 03 Touching up edge of 9.
PDR MK 16 Sept - Rudder w pintle atop top holey bar. Red braid is carrying handle. White line with snap catch is traveler/horse.
PDR MK 16 Sept - Trial rigging - Raising sail.
PDR MK 16 Sept - Trial rigging - Contemplating something, but what?
PDR MK 16 Sept - Replacing downhaul with smaller line.
PDR MK 16 Sept - replacing sheet with thicker, softer line.
PDR MK 16 Sept - Fiddling with traveler, or horse.
PDR MK 16 Sept - view from astern. Jackie looking at MK with sail and Russell heat-sealing end of sheet. Halyard twisted so boom sets too low, and I see head needs to be tied tighter; maybe drill a hole to hold end out taut.