Broke Canadian Ingenuity |Incredible Swiss Skill {continued}

This post is very important to us and to continued from our previous post ‘ Mast Head Rigging Check‘.  After we took head sail furler down after Stephen has found the damage part at the mast head fitting that causes the head sail to jam. It had happened a few times before when we were out. We must fix it as it would only get worse and could cause a big problem if we cannot fold the head sail in time.

Silvia and Ralph came up with their special tools to design a snag cover with industrial graded plastic.  They had found it washed up on a beach in Alaska It is 2 pieces square in shape. Measured in  size to cover the damage part. Over the last couple of years we have got to know Ralf and Silvia and have become good friends. They are very good people and have shared much of their knowledge and experiences with us. And encouraged us not to give up on our dream when we got despondent. Steve had the idea but he admits he did not have the skill to create this piece. It took about 8 hours to manufacture and to fit the piece.  Total cost. $4 for stainless bolts and $1 for the bit of epoxy putty. All they would accept was a Pad Thai dinner we shared on the boat that night.

This the top of the roller curler. The flat part is called the foil. The groves are for the leading edge of the sail to be inserted. the round bar is a swagged fitting that is very tightly clamped around the forward stay wire which is then attached to the top of the mast

A pulley system at the bottom of the mast when pulled will role the sail up around the foil.

In these first five photos you can see how the wire has damaged the foil. the wire at times jams into the jagged slot . Making the template

Since this is an old system with no parts available I came up with absolution. make anew external bearing as trying to fit a new on on the inside would have been next to impossible without non existent parts and specialized services

What I lacked was the skill. Having good friends who happened to be professional ship wrights helped 🙂

What the photos do not show is the skill level needed to make this clamp by hand.

It took 2 hours to measure and make templates that “did the job”

This was the day after the storm. Calm but with another 50 knot storm due in a few hours. We did actually run!

Son in Law has great tools. When I grow up……

The block had been drilled. now starting the route ring. The 2 pieces had been clamped and then drilled for the swag to be free.

here you can see one 1/2 starting to take shape

I thought it was perfect. then feeler gauges down to thous.

So back to the workshop and very carefully shaving. This happened about 6 times until it was felt that it was good.

then we made some up some special aluminium putty that would fill the void in the damaged foil

Here is the job done.

so the new square part will revolve as the sail roles in or out. The metal parts attach to the mast head.

Perfect and bloody strong

You can see the foil stretching down the dock.

Now the fun part. Getting it back up.

Light lady but strong!

Silvia tied straps to the mast for added security

Climbing in the Swiss alps

Almost attached

Now to get the drum back on.

almost done

time for a discussion

pushing and swinging on the stays to get it back in place

no fingers lost

little more tension

Pad Thai on board

Related post: Pad Thai

It is nice that we can have Pad Thai once in a while on board.   I think It is good to keep this menu on board, make it simple but still keep the original taste of the sauce. Pad Thai sauce ingredients (Including Palm sugar, Tamarind paste and fish sauce) can kept in a dry place}  Without vegetables we can growth our own bean sprouts from mung beans seeds. These work better in a warmer climate. Then red onion, eggs, cooking oil and dry flakes chilli and paprika powder. That’s all we need. Peanut and meat is a choice we can add as we wish.

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