Sona's launch

Back in January I set a target date for rebuilding and launching the Jaguar 23, Sona, on Good Friday, the 3rd of April. Well the day came and went and the crane launched most of the other boats at Dunbar Harbour. I wasn't ready but after an awful lot of work over the Easter weekend, Sona was finally launched on Monday 6th.

First thing was to move it to the slip where it would be launched. Some good friends and a little tractor and off she goes.

Then for the next three days I was up early as the sun started to warm the harbour and kept busy all day, painting, sawing, drilling, fabricating and generally fixing up the boat. Friends and passers-by came along to offer advice watch the progress and generally chat amongst themselves (and enjoy a cold beer) in the hot sunshine. 

Lots of little boxes of collected useful things; and they did come in very handy as I rebuilt the rudder, outboard bracket, rigging, wiring, and engine.

The outboard bracket got a whole new lump of mahogany ply laminated up, then cut varnished and drilled to fit.

The mast foot was re-attached with monel rivets,  and all the hallyards were sorted to fit the blocks and exit for the best runs to the cockpit jammers and winches. Then, whilst there were a few willing helpers, the mast was hauled up into position and I had a minor panic when I couldn't find locating pin for the foot. Fortunately I had a suitable pin in one of my wee boxes!

Monday morning saw a quick coat of antifoul, fitting of the engine, fuel tank and anchor, then at high tide Sona was launched. Harbour resident Kenny took these photos as I scrambled around on board and wound the keel down. Stuart had drawn the short straw and was in the water.

Everything worked!! no leaks and I was soon onto my new mooring.

 

It has been a lot of work but its worth it when I look at these photos. There's still a lot of fettling and learning to come but she's in the water and only three days late. I'm well chuffed.

Still going, still busy.

Life seems to have been conspiring against my blog over the last month. First I lost my wallet and when I cancelled my cards, I missed a payment on my Blogger wallet for media storage. The new cards didn't turn up for twelve days, and so everything was shut down. Once I got everything sorted my computer decided to go into retirement and now I have intermittent router problems.

But despite all this, work continues toward launch day for the Sona. Progress has been made and the 'mighty' Heron was sold a couple of weeks ago. It's going to remain in Dunbar which is good news and hopefully the new owner, Alan, will get as much enjoyment from it as I did over the last nine! years.

On the Sona I've been doing some major cleaning which can be seen in the above picture of the cabin sole ( halfway done). After a lot of experimenting, the cleaning product of choice is Dettol Mould and Mildew Remover, a stiff scrubbing brush, lots of elbow grease then Flash wipes to clean up.

I've also turned my hand to minor carpentry to extend the bulkhead to the keel box. I made up the lower part today and have stained it to match. I know that the grain is running in different directions, but that was the way the ply was on both sides. The fake brass clock and barometer will be fixed to it along with a couple of shelves for mugs, books etc.

The re-wire is also coming on, although every now and then I find new mysteries to confound me. Above is the supply and return for the VHF with fuses on both sides? I've also managed to get the Mariner 6hp going again. There was a fuelling problem at the remote side which was fixed easily enough by cutting away de-laminated hose and cleaning up the breather on the tank. I've also ordered new cap-shrouds from Jimmy Green Marine.

And speaking of engines. I yet again got roped into the annual task of putting the saab diesel back into the yacht Carioca. It was out for new engine mounts this year.

It is a cramped engine compartment and the only way to access it is to hang upside. Long arms and a lot of patience is required! Outboards definitely have advantages.

So just a couple of weeks to go. I still need to get the mast put together and a test raising to see how the new rigging will work out. I also have to make up various new bolts and pads for the outboard mount, and the rudder box is still awaiting welding. The sea also needs to be reminded that the sailing season is about to start!

Some progress with Sona

For the last couple of weeks I've been stressing over a piece of formal coursework and wondering what on earth I was doing studying again.  It was finally submitted on Wednesday and I had booked a couple of days off work to relax but frustratingly got called in on the mornings. So here's a quick summary of what I did manage to get done.

One of the first jobs was to give the Sona a good scrub. There was a lot of grime and a worrying amount of mould and mildew which can be tough to shift. Stuart was happy to lend a hand and the first scrub was with Bilgex and some sort of liquid detergent we found in a locker. 

It was freezing with the occasional flurry of snow and, despite some good progress, we didn't stick at it for long.
 

So it was back into the cabin where I ripped out the corroded gas stove and temporarily fitted the stove from the Heron.

Ahh, heat! and a working kettle!

Inside is also needing a bit of a clean where some standing water must have collected. This was sprayed with some mildew remover from the local pound-shop with little effect. I'll need to get something a bit stronger for cleaning (bleach and oxalic acid) and I also need to get the sails out of the boat and properly folded.

And whilst I am on the subject of sails, we opened up the spinnaker bag to find this. Hmmm...you can make up your own mind about the colour scheme.

Back in the workshop, and I have cleaned up the mast foot and freed off the halyard blocks. I reset the m6  stainless studs but the aft stud had stripped so I tapped an m8 thread into the back of the alloy casting.

After re-threading the halyards, the whole assembly fitted back into the mast. The 50mm sq plates that I'd carefully engineered (bent in the vice with an m10 bolt for a former) look like they will be just the right size and I now have to make the decision to rivet it all together or to use screws.

 If I rivet it and something doesn't work, then it will be a real pain to strip down. However if I use screws, there is a risk of them catching the halyards inside the mast. I still have to fit the narrower alloy plates fore and aft on the mast so there is no rush.

Busy busy, but the sun is getting a little higher in the sky each day which means longer daylight hours and hopefully some warmth, but also means that I'm another week closer to launch!

Breakfast on board

There was little to see on Saturday morning in Dunbar. A thick east coast sea fog, or haar, had silently stolen into town overnight. But if you looked carefully in the early morning light, there was a quiet group of sailors scuttling around their little yachts, dropping the moorings and heading out of the harbour.

I was on the Heron, Stuart on the Seline, Davey on the Wee Beastie, and James and Gordon on the Freedom. The sea was like glass without the slightest breath of wind as we slowly motored along the coast in a little flotilla.

The fog drifted in and out but navigation was never a problem. The coast appeared through the mist and we would gently adjust the heading.

Along past the wildfire rocks, and the wreck of the Ponderosa,  it was easy to sea how a ship can be lost.

Further west and the South Carr loomed out of the fog and we could here the moaning calls of the seals on the rocks. Then it was time to turn into the shelter of the secluded bay at Seacliff.

As we dropped anchors and rafted the little boats together, the sun began to burn through the fog and the temperature started to climb. The sea was gently lapping on the sands, the kettle was whistling as I brewed up some coffee and bacon was frying in the pan.

We sat soaking up the early morning sun and enjoyed breakfast. There were a few people walking on the beach and a couple of horses came down to the shore. One rider brought her horse in for a swim near the boats and somehow I didn't take a photo.

 

The morning passed as the boats swung languidly on their moorings.  Eventually we felt the gentlest stirrings of a breeze as the tide turned. Without too much effort, anchors were hauled, stowed and lines were cast off.

 Banks of fog drifted through on the light easterly breeze as we headed around the South Carr and on to a rough bearing of 150 degrees.

An hour or so and we were back to civilisation.

That might be the last outing of the sailing season. If it turns out to be, I'm not complaining.

Sailing, and breaking, boats.



My apologies for not posting at the weekend. The computer has been playing up and although I've got it running again, I'm using and old browser and have lost loads of settings.

But back to some lovely sunshine over the Easter Weekend. On good Friday Stuart gave me a hand and we soon had the mast up on the Heron. We celebrated with a barbecue on the yacht Seline. 

The diverter on the furler wasn't sitting straight but I wasn't too worried as I was sure it would slide into place once the foresail was bent on. I should have got on with sorting the sails and boom but cracking breeze got up in the afternoon and the Seline was ready, so we went sailing.

 



 

Out from the harbour and with three of us on board we quickly switched off the engine and sailed out between the rocks.

 



 

 

The sun was bright on the water and the easterly wind had us pushing the boat over on to her rails with a fastest recorded speed of 6.8 knots. If we had put a bit of effort into sail trim and a couple of tweaks on the rigging, I'm sure we could have gone faster.

 



But whats the point in trying to get the journey over as quickly as you can when you are enjoying it so much?

 

 

 

Whilst we were out we heard a Mayday call from just outside Dunbar harbour. We contacted the Coastguard to notify them that we were in the area (probably about four miles away) and were asked to proceed with best speed. It turned out that a visiting Anstruther motorboat had lost all power and was afraid of being washed onto the rocks. He had put out an anchor and was quickly towed to safety by the RNLI inshore boat. All the excitement was over by the time the Seline sailed back in.

 

On Sunday I finally got around to fitting the sails. Remember I mentioned the diverter that I thought would be ok? Well it wasn't and as I furled the sail there was a bang from the top of the mast and the halyard came tumbling down.

 

 

'Oh dear' I said, or something similar. Worse was to come, I climbed up onto the pier and took a picture of the top of the mast with the full extent of the zoom.

 

The forestay has twisted and there was no option but to undo all the weekend's work and take the mast down. I've ordered up a new forestay and a couple of lengths of new line, so hopefully I can get it all rebuilt next weekend. Despite all, it was still a great weekend.