May 1, 2012
Well, the boards are mostly in place. Just a bottom cap on each section still to go, and then it can all get glassed into place. Here’s what the port quarter berth looks like. There’s actually one more board in there now, leaving a nice close edge to the sanded glass for building a nice strong tab.
Diane
April 30, 2012
So here’s a good idea of what the floation foam job will look like. This is the bow of the boat on the inside. Directly in front you can see the crash bulkhead with its oval access point screwed in place. Directly above it you can see the first beige piece of flotation foam jammed into place against the vertical hull stiffeners (stringers). Above you can see a sanded line. I’ll add successive 40mm pieces of foam to build it out to that line. Then a flat board to the bottom of the whole mess will get glued in with expansion foam. Finally a wrap of cloth saturated epoxy to tie it all together and tab it into the hull (that’s the sanded spot). There are three of these all together to do. This one and then one on either side at the stern in the quarter berths. Those spots are tight, and on the starboard side there’s a bilge pump, an autopilot drive arm and two pilot computers in the way. Tricky stuff! 🙂
Below you will see what the rest of the kids were doing today. The bay in Pornichet is constantly loaded with windsurfers, kite surfers, and any other sort of fun you can imagine on the water! This was just a quick snap shot on my way back to the boat from lunch. There were probably 50 kite surfers in the bay today!
Diane
April 29, 2012
What a successful day! In between the 40-50 knots of wind and rain squalls passing through, lots got achieved on OGOC in anticipation of needing to meet the new volume requirements. I needed to start with emptying out the boat in preparation of all the sanding dust for the glass work. In light of all the rain, I opted for stowing everything under the cockpit floor, instead of taking it all home. It’s a long walk down the pontoon to the very tiny car. Everything would have gotten wet, and it wouldn’t have all fit. Check out the before and after of the little space under the cockpit floor.
Before the work started Tidied up for the work
Under the cockpit floor “before” Under the cockpit floor “after”
Next I needed to get the electronics out of the way and try to cover up everything as best as possible. Gel dust gets deep into anything and everything!
I found a good use for all of the grocery bags I keep buying!
The last job was to figure out how to run the generator without drowning it in the downpour, and ensuring the exhaust was outside.
Simple, but effective. This is looking out the companionway door. You can see the little yellow sticker of the generator sitting at the companionway door. Overhead the solar panel is deployed giving the little generator somewhat of a roof. Directly over the generator is one of the lee cloths jury rigged up to provide a tent to keep the rest of the rain off. Behind the boat you can see rocks. Those rocks are the harbour wall. The wind was so strong today that the spray was streaming over the rock wall and landing in the cockpit. I couldn’t risk drowning the little generator, so it needed lots of directional cover. This whole setup allowed me to close the hatch and sand away like crazy. By the time I was finished the whole boat was one giant billow of white dust inside. When I opened the hatch you would have thought we were on fire as there was soooooo much white smoke coming out! Well the sanding is finished for now. Tomorrow I’ll measure again for the foam location, and mark it out against the tabbing I’ve sanded up. Tuesday I’m off to the local “bricolage”(which is french for hardware store), to get the foam and cut it to fit. If it’s stopped raining, I’ll also move the bilge pump aft…..if it’s stopped raining!
Diane
April 29, 2012
Today’s mission is to start to try to rectify a measurement issue on OGOC. The required volume of flotation within minis has been increased. This is purely a safety requirement. Each type of mini has a different amount that must be added to the inside of the boat. OGOC is a Zero, and Zeros require 405litres of flotation. Lombard (the creator of the Zero) has provided a standard set of drawings to help with the calculations. It works out to 203 litres up under the deck in the bow, and 101 litres each in the stern of the quarter berths, up under the deck. To achieve this little task the following needs to be accomplished. The boat must be entirely emptied out. There will be a lot of dust and debris and we can’t risk the equipment getting exposed. Then the hull needs to have the gel removed where the foam will be laminated in. Next each foam board is cut to fit perfectly above the vertical hull stiffeners, and then the whole mess needs to have a layer of biaxial cloth laid up over it to lock it in place structurally. There is one little complication. OGOC has a bilge pump, autopilot drive arm and its computer banks located squarely in the way of the starboard aft flotation. Most minis had to move their drive system to the stern of the boat. This would require an entirely new set up for the autopilot system and simply isn’t in the cards in time for the Fastnet. The bilge pump will have to be relocated forward of the computer banks and all the hoses and electrical for the computers elongated to reach their new positions. Not simple to say the least. The boat needs to leave for the Fastnet in one week. We also need to have a clear weather window for the off.
Class Mini gave us a “pass” on the rule for the Demi-Cle and Pornichet Select race, but they require the changes for the Fastnet. Once I received the drawings from Lombard and was able to spec it out in the boat, I realized the conflict with the pumps, computer and drive arm. So I’ve asked for another pass for the Fastnet. This will allow us to properly rectify the flotation volume for next year’s activities. Right now OGOC is on a pontoon at Pornichet and the work would have to be done outside and in the rain (it seems to rain every day). Humidity is a potential problem and moving the bilge pump and doing the exterior glass work will be very difficult. Not to mention the lack of time to complete the work. The work all has to be done with Epoxy, rather than Polyester. Epoxy takes 24 hours to cure fully, where the polyester will kick off in less than 2 hours.
So today’s mission is to start on the work while I wait to hear from Class Mini if they will let us sail without the additional flotation. Hope for the best but plan for the worst! Cross your fingers! Here’s the picture of what it all needs to look like.
Zero2011_VolStabAdditionnels_GeneralDrawing For Class Mini
Diane
April 28, 2012
So after two days of trying to get out and calibrate the autopilots, we finally got a morning of nice quiet winds and seas. I went out at 7am, did the turns, the heading alignment and the autolearn and everything went perfectly. The Raymarine tech here is brilliant. He saw right away that since my rudder reference is mounted “upside down”, that the wiring isn’t traditional following the colour scheme. Thanks very much to Raymarine for making this happen. I’m really happy the problem was a simple installation issue. I love my pilots….:-) Now just to add some massive flotation volume to the boat and we’re off to England next weekend for the Fastnet!
Diane
April 25, 2012
April 21, 2012
April 21, 2012
April 20, 2012
Well it’s not for a valiant effort on several people’s part…that’s for sure. This morning Sheila and I headed out in calmer waters to swing both computer compasses and run through full calibrations on the two pilots. We got to the “learning” part of the calibration and it failed again. We tried the other computer and it continued to flash “requires calibration” after being calibrated and failed. After greater consultation at the dock with our fantastic experts at CMC Marine, as well as a local technician, we have decided that there is no way this can be rectified before tomorrow’s start. So we have decided to be very very safe rather than very very sorry and pulled out of the race. This is exactly the reason I wanted to come to France a year early. We still have time to get another race in, even with this set back. BUT, we now have two weeks to rectify the situation, or find a buddy to sail the boat to England with me if it still isn’t rectified. The guys at CMC have also very kindly pulled in some more fantastic talent with Raymarine UK. Good luck to all the competitors tomorrow and “Bonne Courage Mes Amis”!
Diane
April 20, 2012
Pornichet Select starts tomorrow! It’s a 300 mile race from Pornichet to Pornichet, that does a loop that stretches down to Les Sables D’Olonne and back up to Ile De Groix. Ile De Groix is the island West of Locmiquelic where this whole adventure started. Here’s the problem. When we started the double handed Demi-Cle race, the autopilots weren’t working. This wasn’t a problem as we were double handed. Since then we have spent days at the dock in connection with CMC Marine in Port Credit, working through fixing the pilots. Now it appears that one might be working, but it needs calibration and testing, and it’s been blowing 20-30 knots every day. Calibration needs to be done in flat calm conditions. If I can’t get the pilots calibrated and tested, then I can’t do the race. Of course it’s not the end of the world if I can’t do the race….it just means more miles to do next year. After this the next big project is to add more flotation into the boat to bring her up to compliance with a new rule. I’ll have two weeks to do this and have everything in order for the Fastnet!
Diane
