Slippery When Wet

This boat, a Simon Roberts Dog, is owned by Phil Kirk and Sarah Gregson. With a few jobs to do before it is ready to hit the water and being new to cherubs this pair have their work cut out. The main focus is on the hull and foils which must be good if the boat is going to be fast. These parts are also going to be seen by the rest of the fleet as Phil and Sarah expect to be swimming a lot ( at least this year anyway). The aim is to get the boat ready for this year's nationals and hopefully a bit of practice beforehand.

Back on the Water

There is nothing like a deadline to get the boat building completed. We had decided to enter Chew Valley SC.'s frostbite series so that we could get some time on the water and sail against Pocket Rocket or Cheese Before Bedtime.

This was the chance to test out all the mods completed since the inlands. The good news is that they appeared to work. The new curved chute did not jam up as the old one did on leward drops. We had also rigged the retrieval line on the inside (Starbord side) of the kite which may have helped too.

The new longer pole, which we built at the sticky weekend, made gybing a dream. The only concern was with the amount the outboard end bent in the relatively light winds but this can be improved with a few extra layers.

The modified bow/snout structure held but hasn't been properly load tested yet.

We had one or two jams on drops when the kite sheets tangled with the pole thanks to the new sheet take up system. This has been re-rigged.

We are just going to enjoy some sailing for a bit but a T foil is on the cards when we have finnished fitting a new kitchen. We would like to try a bigger kite but the mast needs extending first.

The wind wasn't strong enough to test the wheelie bars!

Week two at Chew was spent sitting in the club house wainting for the 30-50 knot winds to subside.

New Chute in

All the bits were cut and dry fitted on Friday evening. These were then glued in on Saturday morning and then 2 layers of glass were added on Sunday Afternoon. The result.

2657-20071105a.jpg

You can just see the wheeli' bars on the back of the boat and see the additional support to the snout on the bow. Everthing needs tidying up now and fairing before a re-paint. I must work out where th

new pole fitings and lines are going!

Some progress

I made progress made glassing the wheelie bars before Tim U made a guest appearance with his new rudder blade and some epoxy foam. After filling the rudder blade which appeared to have a Tardis like interior and required a top up we agreed it was so much fun that we would fill Slippery's new chute aswell.

Saturday evening was spent trying to cut the starboard side of the snout tube away infront of the bulkhead. This took some three hours mostly because I couldn't see what I was doing with the dremmel, hacksaw blade, sandpaper (in fact anything to hand) and had to keep stopping to take a look. A few cuts and carbon slinters later the job was done. The tube is still supported by over half a bulkhead and now on three sides by other internal structure but I will probably add more support to the snout on the outside of the hull. While cutting carbon in tight spaces was tricky bonding the additional structure in a space that you can't see and can barely reach is impossible. I just hope I put enough bog on it and that it stayed in place as everything cured.

The important thing is that I can now retract a longer pole past the mast.

Post Corus Improvements

It became obvious that even with a 97 rules kite that our pole was to short. A new one was designed to use a byte C2 top mast as a mandrell. The spreadsheet put together to show that the pole would retract past the mast gave hope however a glitch in the calcs was found. The remaining clearance would be 8-9mm not 40-50mm as first thought. A bit close but possible if we build the pole acurately. The spreadsheet also said that we had to reduce the length of the snout tube inside the boat. This only needs to be done on one side and additional supports will be added.

We were also aware that our chute was the wrong shape. On many ocasions we had droped the kite on port tack only to find it impossible to retreive it around the tight radius of the outboard corner. A new chute had been made around a bycicle inner tube and awaits integration.

We also found that we couldn't get far enough from the bow when the down wind sailing got scary. The deck flairs have been extended by 300mm to allow us to get our weight over the rudder. This will get a T foil added to it shortly.

So while the crew enjoys herself at a freind's wedding Slippery's helm will be in the garage getting covered in dust and epoxy.

The Finished Article

2657-20070906a.jpg, 2657-20070906b.jpg, 2657-20070906c.jpg, 2657-20070906e.jpg, 2657-20070906f.jpg

Making a Spinnaker Sock

Trying to keep the DIY spirit alive whilst trying to cope with a odd shaped shute meant it was easier to make our own Spinny Sock than make another classes one fit. A bespoke sock as sported by 'Cheese'was also not an option because I had other jobs to do on the boat.

I did copy the job that Bristol sails did for 'Cheese'using the same material and edging tape. The best stuff to make the sock from is trampoline mesh. I got mine from 'Pennine outdoor'and over ordered buying 3.5m. (1.8m width) 3m would have sufficed but hindsight is a valuable commodity. The sock is made from 4 pannels of cloth with a seam at each corner. The seam is on the outside to avoid snagging the kite. Each seam was glued to gether with a contact adhesive before being stitched with Sarah's (ex her gran's) really old sewing machine. You almost need lessons to rig one of these.

The centrefold edging tape provides a neat finish and stopps the crew getting snagged. (additional, unneccssary weight then).

I then attached the sock to the underside of the fore deck with velcro and a few choice screws.

The boat looks like a boat now.

See you at the nationals

Paint On!

After a yacht race two weeks ago to Deauvile (Framce) there hadn't been as much progres on Slippery as I would wish. We finished the return trip in 45 knots with just the storm jib up and still making 7 knots. However last week a bit of leave combined with School half term (Sarah's a teacher) enabled the final sanding and primmer coat to be completed. Prior to the painting the boat weighed 50kg's. After this weekend's light wind yacht race from Cowes to the Eddystone lighthouse and back without much sleep I was determined to get a top coat on the floor and decks. I finaly put the roller down at 11pm last night knowing that some bits might need a second coat but never the less it looks much better. Although I used half a kg of paint, by the smell in the garage I knew that all the thinners had evaporated and much of the paint had been soaked up by the roller's. Surely the boat couldn't be that much heavier!

Now it's finish of painting the decks, paint the foils and rudder stock add the few fittings, sort out the rig and then go sailing.

I know the nationals are getting close and we have a bit to do but we are hoping to be there still weather we have practiced or not.

Second top coat went on tuesday and pro grippy stuff has been ordered. Can i convince my Dad to help put some fittings on this weekend on his rest day from Cycling from Lands End to John o'Groats?

Structural Bits Complete

Tim Ummerman visited to see our progress on Saturday morning and helped with a few fitting layout issues. and further ideas for getting a full length pole in. He also suggested that we should fit kick bars to help us get to grip with this mean machine. By 5pm I had made, bonded and glassed two kick bars in.

After Sarah and I sailed an open together in the Enterprise (just working on our team work) which we won comfortably we set to with the final sanding and filling. I noticed that the old jib cleat supports would not be used and felt that we could remove a few more grams. Out came the grinder and within a few minutes we had found the original glass surface.

We just have some wet sanding to do before applying the 1st coat of paint to the floor, decks, foils and rudderstock.

I'm not doing anything structural now until after the nationals.

I'm now interested to see how much she weighs so i'm off to buy some scales.

Any advice on layup's for long poles would be appreciated. A future project which could be achieved quickly and get us big kite sailing through the winter.

Cherub or ARC?

Things have been progressing slowly with sailing getting in the way of the boat work. With the rain falling heavily outside I was wondering if an ARC would be a better long term project but couldn't find Noah's website let alone the ARC class rules. Over the weekend I made a foam carbon structure for attaching the self tacker track to and bonded the rudder stock together. See pictures. I was realy pleased that the stock pivoted smoothly and that the tiller missed everything as planned. Thanks for the advice Will! No I haven't cut the rudder pin to size yet. I need to finish the fillets on the stock and overlay the joints with carbon before trimming the sleave down to size. You will notice that I have used a small carbon tube for the pivot through the tiller and to spread the loads of the rudder pin into the gantry. Hopefully this will reduce any local stress concentrations. i am now into thinking about where all the fittings go and sanding the topside smooth for painting.

2657-20070514a.jpg

2657-20070514b.jpg

A Nice Blue Job

Over the last few days we have wet and dried the hull between coats each time finding new imperpfections that need attention. half of the initial primer coat was sanded off in this process so we put a second thinner coat on to cover the bare glass. On Saturday after a hard days sailing in our other boats we carefully mixed and applied a top coat. We left the heater on in the garage overnight to keep the temperature up. In the morning it was great to see the new blue paint job. It wasn't perfect and there were a few drips. A moth (insect kind) had also decided to inspect our handiwork and got too close and become part of the boat.

After a second days sailing where Sarah in her Byte C2 managed to beat me (grrr) I wet sanded the hull again in preperation for the final coat. The hull is fairer still and I am determined to spread this coat thinner still to avoid the drips. Any moths be warned the boat is already part boat and part animal.

I'm not looking forward to attacking the decks although I hope there will be less filling and sanding involved.

2657-20070425a.jpg

Easter Fun

After completing 2 offshore yacht races on the Easter weekend catching up with the Cherub sailors at Weston it was time to get back to work on the boat.

Over the next two days we:

  • filled and faired the hull
  • faired and Sheathed the rudder blade
  • faired and sheathed the centreboard
  • made sleave for the new rudder stock and nearly couldn't get it off rudder blade

On Tuesday 17th I got the first coat of paint on the undeside of the hull.

What a difference that makes. it now looks like a boat.

Jobs to do:

  1. Complete painting underside
  • make new trolley cradle
  • Sand fill and fair decks
  • integrate self taker
  • Paint decks
  • Put rudder stock together and attach mounting plates to transom.
  • make modest T foil and fit to rudder.
  • coat mast and remove rough bits.
  • Add kicker point to boom.
  • make spinnaker sock
  • Add fittings
  • rig
  • go sailing!

I'm glad that last line has appeared on the jobs list

31st March - 1st April Sanding for Britain

More progress was made on the weekend and the jobs list is seeing more things being ticked off.

The rudder blade was long boarded and fairing starts before the final layer of carbon can be added.

Progess was made in the week on the centreboard so after some longboarding and some fairing, it was looking nearly there.

Tim came over to repair Pocket Rocket's boom and was bombarded with questions while he was there. He commented that the tip of my board looked wrong so the jigsaw came out to rectify the issue. A little work work with the plane and sander will now be needed to shape the now blunt leading edge.

Sarah got stuck in to removing all the excess resin from the bow from the previous snout and foredeck mod. Some was 6mm thick.

We finished fairing the inside of the spinnaker chute and applied a layer of glass.

I had removed the worst of the damp wood in the stem in the week and the area had now dried out. The void was filled and is ready for sanding.

On tuesday evening we will be making a tiller. Anyone wish to bet on weather it will come off the mandrell?

2657-20070403a.jpg

24th- 25th March Slippery and Sticky

Slippery When Wet is slowly developing into a seaworthy craft however every time we look at a new part of the boat we find something else that needs fixing.

Over the weekend we finished shaping the rudder blade and laminated on the UD cloths. I can't wait to put the final cloth on but there will be a bit more sanding and fairing to do first.

The foredeck gunnel cracks have been filled, faired and a bit of glass laminated over the worse port side.

A small fillet was added on the inside of the deck hull join to stabilise the joints. The fillet was previously mising in places allowing the deck to hinge at the hull deck joint cracking the glas laminate there.

This was helped by hanging the hull from the garage roof and turning it so the fillets could be dripped into the narrow join.

When the hull was upside down i was also able to fair the inside of the chute opening.

Sarah spotted some rot in the timber at the base of the stem and some locaised damage from the trolley cradle.

I've also started re profiling the centreboard although it doesn't need as much work as the rudder did.

Now starts a period of sanding. Before I can hopefully get some paint on her.

Paul has been a busy easter bunny.

2657-20060418a.jpg another pic of mast extension

2657-20060418b.jpg centreboard casing mods

2657-20060418c.jpg inside the cockpit after turret removal

2657-20060418d.jpg mast extension ready to be attached

2657-20060418e.jpg new bow launch tube in position

2657-20060418f.jpg new structure

2657-20060418g.jpg overview of bow

The pics below are “before” pics.

2657-20060328a.jpg

2657-20060328b.jpg

2657-20060328c.jpg

2657-20060328d.jpg

2657-20060328e.jpg

2657-20060328f.jpg

2657-20060328g.jpg

2657

2657-20070830a.jpg

  • boats/2657.txt
  • Last modified: 2023/03/15 15:34
  • by oliver_morrell