What I should have said is not so much 'Goodbye' as 'Au Revoir'.
A new blog will be established in January to start following the progress of my next venture to establish a not for profit Company aimed at employing young ex-Service Men and Women who have for whatever reason landed themselves in the mire and need a new start.
This will involve building at least two if not more, sail powered fishing boats of about 31' in length based on a 19/20th century design. The first of these will be called the 'Alice May' continuing the tradition of naming boats after female members of family and wee are hopeful that construction will start in April or May.
More later...
Thursday 15 December 2011
Monday 12 December 2011
It's over...
Firstly apologies for not having kept you up to date for the last 4 days of the build, but to be honest we were running such long days that by the time we finished in the evening all I wanted to do was collapse in a snotty heap!
As I mentioned in the last post we were having difficulty with the paint scheme and that and a couple of other issues delayed our fitting of the centre plate, for the uninitiated the centre plate is a socking great piece of stainless steel that you lower under the bottom of the boat to provide directional stability and to help maintain the boats trim.
The boat ready to be tilted off the keelway and to have the Centre plate fitted, this was a fairly tense moment and the mattress was there to protect the paint job...
The centre plate laid out and ready to be slide into the centreplate box...
AND... CALAMITY Just when it was going so well the centre plate jammed as we put it in, it took a good deal of heavy wa]eight hammering to get it in as far as we did and considerably more to get it out again. It was at this point that we found that it was distorted and actually bowed.
So having got it out and bearing in mind it is now 16.00 on a monday evening with the launch due on Wednesday at 14.00, we had to look for radical solutions to try and straighten it...
It was a forlorn hope as we drove a selection of vehicles over the plate in an attempt to flatten it, however, it laughed scorn at our efforts remaining obturate and unflattened. So I then did some high speed ringing around and located an Engineering Company about 10 miles from Lyme who said they might be able to help and I could take in my centre plate at 9 am the following morning, so with 46 hours to go and counting we have the ' Rose on her side, no centre plate, and of course because we couldn't move her out from under the mezzanine, no masts!
Adrian, the boss of the Engineering Company, wiped his hands and and pursed his lips 'Well, Stainless is funny stuff,' 'Ah' said Dave in agreement, 'him's bent and bowed!' 'Tricky.' said Adrian shaking his head slowly, 'Give me a call at 3 and we'll see what we can do.' So we returned with 29 hours to go and little to do but twiddle our thumbs and finish off a number of small jobs.
At this point I decided I would have a quick look at the main sail and discuss it with Jeremy, our resident sail expert...
So, following the modification to the Main Sail to allow us to attach it to the gaff... thereby avoiding a gaff.. Boom Boom I set off to collect the centre plate, it was at this stage that I remembered that in my desperation I had forgotten to ask Adrian how much it would be. The plate was flat and Adrian did inform me that it had actually taken 200 tons of pressure to flatten it... so attempting it with a 4 Wheel drive had been a pretty futile gesture.
The flattened plate ready for the next 'successful' attempt. It took some effort but we got it in and moving up and down by coating it with wax.
At 9.00 am with 5 hours to go we wheeled out the 'Rose so we could fit the rigging, it was frenetic, and it was at this juncture that I realised that I had seriously underestimated on the halyards and had to dispatch somebody to collect additional rope from Beer.
With 15 minutes to go with the boat in the carpark being examined by family and friends I was still frantically attaching halyards, and sheets (the last halyard having been two separate lengths spliced together at the last minute)
Launched for the first time...
WE MADE IT!!
I am now ceasing posts to this Blog as this particular journey has now been finished; it has been a fascinating and fulfilling 9 months and I hope that those of you who have followed progress have enjoyed doing so....
As I mentioned in the last post we were having difficulty with the paint scheme and that and a couple of other issues delayed our fitting of the centre plate, for the uninitiated the centre plate is a socking great piece of stainless steel that you lower under the bottom of the boat to provide directional stability and to help maintain the boats trim.
The boat ready to be tilted off the keelway and to have the Centre plate fitted, this was a fairly tense moment and the mattress was there to protect the paint job...
The centre plate laid out and ready to be slide into the centreplate box...
AND... CALAMITY Just when it was going so well the centre plate jammed as we put it in, it took a good deal of heavy wa]eight hammering to get it in as far as we did and considerably more to get it out again. It was at this point that we found that it was distorted and actually bowed.
So having got it out and bearing in mind it is now 16.00 on a monday evening with the launch due on Wednesday at 14.00, we had to look for radical solutions to try and straighten it...
It was a forlorn hope as we drove a selection of vehicles over the plate in an attempt to flatten it, however, it laughed scorn at our efforts remaining obturate and unflattened. So I then did some high speed ringing around and located an Engineering Company about 10 miles from Lyme who said they might be able to help and I could take in my centre plate at 9 am the following morning, so with 46 hours to go and counting we have the ' Rose on her side, no centre plate, and of course because we couldn't move her out from under the mezzanine, no masts!
Adrian, the boss of the Engineering Company, wiped his hands and and pursed his lips 'Well, Stainless is funny stuff,' 'Ah' said Dave in agreement, 'him's bent and bowed!' 'Tricky.' said Adrian shaking his head slowly, 'Give me a call at 3 and we'll see what we can do.' So we returned with 29 hours to go and little to do but twiddle our thumbs and finish off a number of small jobs.
At this point I decided I would have a quick look at the main sail and discuss it with Jeremy, our resident sail expert...
So, following the modification to the Main Sail to allow us to attach it to the gaff... thereby avoiding a gaff.. Boom Boom I set off to collect the centre plate, it was at this stage that I remembered that in my desperation I had forgotten to ask Adrian how much it would be. The plate was flat and Adrian did inform me that it had actually taken 200 tons of pressure to flatten it... so attempting it with a 4 Wheel drive had been a pretty futile gesture.
The flattened plate ready for the next 'successful' attempt. It took some effort but we got it in and moving up and down by coating it with wax.
At 9.00 am with 5 hours to go we wheeled out the 'Rose so we could fit the rigging, it was frenetic, and it was at this juncture that I realised that I had seriously underestimated on the halyards and had to dispatch somebody to collect additional rope from Beer.
With 15 minutes to go with the boat in the carpark being examined by family and friends I was still frantically attaching halyards, and sheets (the last halyard having been two separate lengths spliced together at the last minute)
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| Rigging the Jib |
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| With Jib and Mizzen in place |
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| Fully rigged |
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| Person handled down the Gangway |
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| Off the trailer |
Launched for the first time...
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| Under Oars... How come I'M rowing |
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| Under sail in Lyme Bay |
WE MADE IT!!
I am now ceasing posts to this Blog as this particular journey has now been finished; it has been a fascinating and fulfilling 9 months and I hope that those of you who have followed progress have enjoyed doing so....
Saturday 3 December 2011
Ploughing on...
Well we plough on getting through the jobs list, the sole boards were successfully completed and the rudder is nearing completion, this will leave the only major item of joinery the rub rails which while awkward aren't particularly difficult.
We then have the task of moving the boat at an angle on the keelway so we can insert the centre plate, this is presenting a dilemma as the keelway has started to give way under the weight and the constant movement in the boat, we have now put large blocks underneath the keel; so the concept of twisting her on the keelway does give a little cause for concern.
Todays delay has been the paint scheme, I attempted to overcoat our first topcoat and the paint immediately creviced, this I am relieable informed is because the layer underneath had not dried properly, I have decided to abandon my overnight paintathon and will now wait until tomorrow morning before sanding back the effected areas and repainting, an unfortunate delay to the scheme of things but hopefully we should be able to recover the lost time.
Sole boards in place and oiled, this is douglas fir and it has some lovely figure as you can see, it is also a sort of rich honey colour when it is oiled.
More tomorrow...
We then have the task of moving the boat at an angle on the keelway so we can insert the centre plate, this is presenting a dilemma as the keelway has started to give way under the weight and the constant movement in the boat, we have now put large blocks underneath the keel; so the concept of twisting her on the keelway does give a little cause for concern.
Todays delay has been the paint scheme, I attempted to overcoat our first topcoat and the paint immediately creviced, this I am relieable informed is because the layer underneath had not dried properly, I have decided to abandon my overnight paintathon and will now wait until tomorrow morning before sanding back the effected areas and repainting, an unfortunate delay to the scheme of things but hopefully we should be able to recover the lost time.
Sole boards in place and oiled, this is douglas fir and it has some lovely figure as you can see, it is also a sort of rich honey colour when it is oiled.
More tomorrow...
Friday 2 December 2011
Busy Day...
Today has seen us hard at it trying to rapidly reduce the list of structural items so that we can concentrate on painting over the weekend, it had been hoped to get a coat of paint on this evening but the truth is that fatigue has just taken over and painting in artificial light is not a particularly good idea...
So we have been beavering away on rudders and sole boards, finishing off the outstanding work on the spars along with sorting out the multitude of fastenings that are required for cleats, fairleads, eye plates, and other 'bits' that get screwed and glued at this point of the proceedings.
So here the principle activities of the day in photographs...
So we nearly completed the installation but found a problem at the very end of the day and at 22.45 we weren't really into starting another couple of hours work, so while one paints tomorrow the other will complete the sole boards....
Goodnight for now....
So we have been beavering away on rudders and sole boards, finishing off the outstanding work on the spars along with sorting out the multitude of fastenings that are required for cleats, fairleads, eye plates, and other 'bits' that get screwed and glued at this point of the proceedings.
So here the principle activities of the day in photographs...
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| The Jessica Rose at the beginning of the day, before Radio 1... |
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| Early morning on the Beach, a quick blast of fresh air before the day's labours begin |
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| OK... it's friday and I normally have breakfast on a friday, this is a bacon and black pudding baguette, one of Herbie's finest cholesterol nightmares |
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| Margin boards in place, this is our own adaptation to allow for the very flat bilge and the problems that provides when fitting floors to the timbers |
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| Spars |
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| The Rudder Blade with its first coat of Anti-fouling |
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| The Mast |
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| Fitting leather to the Gaff Jaws |
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| Work on fitting the Gudgeon to the Rudder stock |
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| Sole boards having been cut and faired awaiting fitting |
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| leather in and trimmed |
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| The final item 25 minutes later |
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| First of the sole boards having been fitted |
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| towardsthe end of the days labour |
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| Having a quick loaf before finishing |
So we nearly completed the installation but found a problem at the very end of the day and at 22.45 we weren't really into starting another couple of hours work, so while one paints tomorrow the other will complete the sole boards....
Goodnight for now....
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