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Getting Ready for SHTP 2021

Since it didn't smell like epoxy, being all wrapped up with duct tape 'n all, I put the wrapped vane mast in my study under the ceiling heater vent last night. Today, during a break from work, I pulled off the duct tape and here we are...

polewrap-pulloff.JPG

Why did I do this? In fact, why use a fiberglass mast at all? Answer: because I saw that the Mister Vee vane uses a fiberglass mast, and I had it. I know how tough the stuff is, so why not? Anyway, why make the sleeve? Because it's a course-setting system. The whole vane carrier has to rotate on the mast so you can align the course with the prevailing wind, right? Well, that sleeve fits very closely around the mast, enough to not wobble at all, but not so closely that it won't spin easily.
 
I've improvised a remarkably successful plastic bushing thingamabob at the lower end of the vane carrier and the end result is that the vane rotation is almost frictionless. YAY, me. Today was spent doing little stuff...figuring out the exact sizes of parts, dry-fitting and thickening the base of the wind blade.
 
I'm going to keep writing this for myself, even though I expect nobody is paying any attention....no worries.

Today I put the counterweight in the pendulum oar.

When I made a windvane back around 2006, I tried it out on my Santana 3030. I well remember the day, chugging out of the harbor, with the pendulum oar rammed hard over to one side. I could not ever get it to center. The WINDvane part worked great. It was almost bit-for-bit a version of one of Walk Murrays vanes. However, the pendulum oar just would not work. I finally gave up on it.

As I was contemplating this windvane, I got to thinking about that issue and it occurred to me that I made the pendulum oar out of 1 x 5 pine. That floats, right? When the oar is straight up and down, the force of the "floating" is straight up. But the moment that pendulum oar moves even a couple of degrees out of exactly vertical, it's going to float to the surface, which means sticking way the heck off, out to the side. How to fix this?

Well....how about adding some weight to the bottom of the pendulum oar?

I was out for a walk the other day, and I came across a steel contracters stake, lying in the street. I grabbed it, knowing that I needed both this counterweight and the counterweight on the windvane. Today I flew by the seat of my pants, and hacksawed out what I thought might be enough weight for the windvane counterweight, from that stake. I eyeballed it, weighed it in my hands and made a vague, wild guess about how much weight might keep the oar more or less neutrally buoyant. I knew that the weight had to be in line with the axis of rotation of the oar. If it was significantly off from that axis, when the oar was out to the side, the weight would tend to make the oar rotate, and keep it working hard on the rudder, even when the course was corrected. So in fact this piece of rod is very close to the axis of rotation, maybe the center is 1/4 inch behind it.

pendulum-counterweight1.JPG
 
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There's nothing scientific about this...I didn't measure anything, I just guessed. I figure if it's not right, I'll make another oar.

Anyway, the piece of steel was wirebrushed to clean it up, and I hit it with a file and sandpaper to really get the rust off. I packed it in there with sawdust/wood dough in epoxy.

pendulum-counterweight2.JPG

It's all clamped together on my high-end workbench, here. The wax paper is there so the epoxy doesn't stick to the wood I'm using to keep it flat. Hmmmm...maybe I should have folded it over so there were two layers.

pendulum-counterweight3.JPG
 
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I ordered the autopilot almost two weeks ago. It's been 8 days since Defender shipped it. I hope it arrives tomorrow.
 
I wonder if these posts would be as informative and entertaining if a fully equipped heating shop was used. Idle speculation at this point in time.

I am waiting on completion and test sail, of course.

Ants
 
Thanks for commenting, Ants. I look at the photographs that the guys on the Wooden Boat Forum put up, and I marvel at their shops. Most are complete with multiple antique heavy cast iron planers and band saws, and overhead air filtration systems. Me? I put my tabletop mini-table-saw on the driveway, and have my sawhorses out in the front yard. Little stuff gets done on the recycling bins. I wish I had a tabletop drill press. Of everything, that one tool would increase my accuracy by a significant margin over hand-holding a drill.

Oh, and a vise...a vise on a really solid table. I wish I had a really solid table I could mount a vise on.
 
We usually direct our resources to the things that are important to us.

Build or buy a solid table and get a vise. If there's no room in the garage, make room.

I'm sorry, I really don't understand.
 
BobJ said:
We usually direct our resources to the things that are important to us.

Build or buy a solid table and get a vise. If there's no room in the garage, make room.

I'm sorry, I really don't understand.
Click to expand...

You should see some of these shops, Bob. They're impressive, they're not just garages!
 
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Yesterday I sanded the epoxy/wood mix that locks the counterweight inside the pendulum oar, and put on some microballoons/epoxy-spooge to fair it. More progress today; I fiberglassed the pendulum oar. I had a bit of unidirectional carbon fiber left over, and figured I'd use it to stiffen up the oar. Those black strips are not one single piece, though everything below the waterline is one piece. The longest part is about 3 1/2 feet long. Then there are two, approximately 1 foot pieces above that overlapped by a couple inches, to carry the carbon fiber to above where the lower pintle will be. It's not optimal, I'd rather have one continuous piece, but I used what I had and the overlaps are significant.

The fiberglass is all one piece, 8 ounce stuff.

FiberglassOar.jpg

I'm wearing Tyvek forearm protectors, you just can't see 'em. The oar is supported at the ends by deck screws driven into the ends of the oar, and then balanced on the ends of the sawhorses.

I clamped the trailing edge of the 'glass below the waterline to at least attempt to get a really fine edge on it. There was one spot where the glass just would NOT lie down, so I have an extra layer of wax paper there, and it's smashed flat with clamps and boards. I also compressed the sides of the oar above the waterline just to make sure I got really good bonding.

FiberglassOarClamped.jpg
 
About 6 months ago, in the throes of a bit of an emergency, I rushed into Target and bought the cheapest Tracfone they had. I HAD to make a phone call...it's a long story. Anyway, I got the cheapest one-month plan they had, which has long-since expired. It's been sitting in my desk.

Last night it occurred to me that it's an Android device, and it should work just fine on wireless, without any phone plan at all. Indeed, it does. It has a GPS in it. So I downloaded Open CPN...it took a while to figure stuff out on the little screen, but I now have a handheld navigation device that reports my lat-long and puts my position on nautical charts. Now, I can't get the AIS to talk to it, but little steps, little steps.
 
I pulled the clamps and wax paper off the rudder today. Hmmm...Most of it was good, but there were a few too many spots where it didn't bond well. The worst was one side where the blade transitions from foil (below the waterline) to rectangular (above the waterline). I got to it while the epoxy was still a little soft so I cut off the flash, slathered fresh epoxy into a few place and clamped it again. There were a few bubbles...not horrible, so they got cut out and got a layer of epoxy with a mess of glass fiber mushed into it. Anyway, It wasn't BAD, it just wasn't quite as pretty as I'd hoped. Anyway, it's still on the sawhorses in the front yard, catalyzing away again, with a mess of wax paper and clamps on it.

I also taped off part of the wind blade and it got a coat of paint. Some of the flash from the oar, and extra epoxy got re-purposed to further beef up the middle of the fiberglass tube that will hold the actual wind-vane. That thing will be bomb-proof.

...and Joan and I went for a 21 mile bike ride today after "online" church.

Here's a screen capture of Jan Alkemea's "final" version of his system....USD windvane and RHM pendulum oar.

attachment.php
 
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Alan,
If you wonder, there are lots of us following your thread(s) and impressed by your creativity. Please keep posting.
 
Dazzler said:
Alan,
If you wonder, there are lots of us following your thread(s) and impressed by your creativity. Please keep posting.
Click to expand...

Thanks.

I took the emergency rudder to the E-rudder seminar and nobody seemed much interested. That's OK, there were lots of things going on that day, so no biggie. I have to wonder though, if anybody pays any attention to this stuff I throw in here, so thank you for posting.

Remember folks, an online FORUM..is a FORUM. The word "FORUM" implies INTERACTION. If there's no interaction, if it's the same 8 people posting to themselves and each other all the time, at some point those eight folks get tired of the sound of their own voices. Then the whole thing just dies. If you're watching a topic, post something in the thread now and then. Without participation, this stuff just dies out.
 
Alan, If this makes it to your screen, it's. rare example from me. I've responded to several of your posts, but my post just disappears. I "see" it go and it looks like it's been posted, but when I come back later it's gone. Anyway, I follow your posts. Remember I depend on that unbalanced E.R. to save my bacon if the rudder falls off. Pat B/.
 
Alan,
I eagerly await your next post, and in fact, I was semi seriously thinking about a general post, asking all that do post, to write faster and post more often.
You and Bob have done a pretty good job of it, but many of our regular posters, (you know who you are), have been sporadic.

I haven't seen my boat in over a month, and I miss her something fierce. This forum has been the closest to her and salt water as I've been able to get.
The warming weather this week may push me over the edge to go see "my other girl"; brush her hull and run the engine in gear for at least 30 minutes.
Brad
 
This might instill some jealousy with your trash barrels, but have you considered something like this folding workbench with built in clamp. This version is probably decades old, and the newer version have more plastic to keep them lighter for job to job carrying. Just a suggestion. The rear board moves to three location for various clamping widths.

Ants

image.jpeg
 
I actually have a table in my garage....Bob's post struck a nerve. I need to clean it off and beef it up. It's strong enough, it's probably holding 150 pounds of "stuff" right now, but an hours re-organization would open up some significant workspace. Then, the judicious application of some scrounged plywood would probably stiffen it considerably.

You all see that I have a couple of sawhorses. I could easily make two more from junk wood that's around the neighborhood.

I just went outside and pulled the clamps and wax paper off of the pendulum rudder. Yesterdays attempts at fixing the un-bonded bits worked a treat. I have a good solid 'glassing job now, if not the ultimate in resin/glass ratio.

Thanks for posting, Pat and Ants...
 
My response was from personal experience.

When we bought this house in 1995, it had a decent workbench built in along one wall in the garage. But I'd piled it high when we moved in. When I wanted to do a project, I'd shift the crap around to make a little work space. And I often wanted a better way to hold stuff I was working on. I'd move the car out and set up a card table, to which I'd clamp the part down with a C-clamp or something. I made a lot of sloppy saw cuts and inaccurate holes.

Twenty(!) years later I finally cleaned off the workbench completely, drove over to Sears in Concord and bought a vise. It cost less than a hundred bucks.

That's what flashed through my head when you posted about wanting a vise. I was yelling at myself for having waited so long.
 
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