Boating & Biking Adventures

Category: Technical Page 3 of 5

☝️…new headsail…🙋‍♂️

The lady will get a new dress. While we replaced the mainsail two years ago, it was now time to upgrade the foresail as well. It will be delivered to Lanzarote in October. We are then perfectly equipped for all type of events and any dress code required.😉

Fair winds…

☝️…Halyard replaced…✔️

Two halyards and a new main outhaul line.

With a bright smile 😊 the Mariniero was standing next to the boat at 11am and handed over the parcel from HR Parts. Thu to Mo – not bad.
It is already installed and I look closely at the weather forecast.

Fair winds…

🛠…Halyard update…🛠

Toribio up at the mast top feeding the mouse line.
Broken end, suspect corrosion.

We are making progress.  The new halyard from HR Parts is sitting at Lisbon airport and shall – according to UPS Tracking – be delivered tomorrow here at our doorstep. Let’t see and cross fingers.🤞

With the help of the local sailmaker & rigger Toribio we managed to pull the old halyard robe/wire combination out of the mast. This cannot always been taken for granted but we were lucky and it came out easily. The new feeding line is set now inside the fast waiting for the halyard to arrive. It will then be a quick job to be completed and the lady is ready for the ocean again.

It all depends on UPS now and, obviously, on the weather.

Fair winds…

🛠…Halyard issue…🛠

Thimble, Wire, Shrinking Hose
Deformed Thimble, Wire broke and pulled out

The halyards on our lady are of the traditional style. Wire – Robe design with a thimble at the end covered under a shrinking hose as shown on the left picture. The leftover after the event is shown in the right photo – a deformed thimble without any wire.

Problem seems to be that you cannot look behind the shrinking hose to ultimately determine the condition of the swage connection around the thimble. The visual inspections done stopped at the outer surface of the shrinking hose.

Nowadays halyards – as many other robes on recent boats – are made out of Dyneema, a light but high strength robe with good chafing resistance. No more wires involved.

Two new Dyneema Halyards have left Hallberg-Rassy Parts in Sweden today and shall arrive in Funchal Marina coming Wednesday. Great support from HR Parts just on the day before the long Midsummer weekend starts. Within five hours from my phone call with Ludvig the parcel got handed over to UPS and is on its way.

Tomorrow I will try to retrieve the broken end of the wire, which still sits somewhere inside the mast.

Fair winds…

🤔…weather models…🧐

European weather model
US weather model

This morning my planned departure date was still set to 14th June until I did the daily weather check. It revealed the two main weather models being in total contradiction. This disagreement is rare but cannot be ignored by all means. Although patience has never been my strength, I am slowly getting better on this. Purto Calero on Lanzarote helps me on this point as there is no reason to leave this gorgeous place except the desire getting back onto the ocean.

Fair winds…

🔌…SailinGen…💡

With the help of Jan we connected the controller to the batteries. 👍
The cable plug required a 21mm hole, which I drilled today. 😰
Power Curve - expecting an attractive cost of energy over the years to come. 😉

Another project is coming to its end. Over the last couple of days we have installed the final bits and pieces of the Hydrogenerator.
My motivation was driven by the fact, that we had to use the Diesel Generator on passages here in the South as our 432 Watt Solar panels alone could not compensate for the long nights. Testing will follow soon.
Fair winds…🙋‍♂️

Rig check done…✔️

Today we checked the rig, one minor finding – 4 split pins a bit rusty and to be replaced. One more off the list. ✔️

⛵️…floating again…😂

Helping Wes for a last minute swage on a rail wire, which had to be replaced.

After some final push all tasks got completed and the lady was lifted back into the water. We went straight for a sea trial to verify the engine alignment. Inge, Ralf and Rainer joined us to support and we concluded – all good! Ready for future adventures.
Fair winds…

⛵️…on the hard…⛵️

The lady has been hauled out today by the Varadero team and safely rested into a cradle to perform the required works.

Overall it does not look that dramatic but it will be tedious to get the wrinkles removed and new layers of make-up applied.

Together with the insurance surveyor we will finalize plans tomorrow and give it a go ahead.

Fair winds…

🛠…Bow thruster issue…🛠

The bow thruster started playing games with me in Santa Cruz. It was basically dead. As it is the most powerful 12V system we have on board – drawing 650A while in operation – I have highest respect on the same.

My investigation now revealed that simply a cable has fallen off the connector plug towards the controller sitting underneath the relays. The cable lug was still inside the plug and hard to get out but the bare cable hanging next to it. With the help and good advice from Ulli (SY Christina) we managed to reconnect and got the system back alive.

One less on the list! ✅

Fair winds…

PS: Upon arrival in Puerto Calero I got great support from the “marineros”, who helped me to secure the boat safely at the pontoon. Manouvering without the bow thruster is a chapter in itself…

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