Rudder Up-Date
Spindrift
David Hersey
Thu 8 Nov 2007 13:36
Well the big beam and the famous T-Bar have been removed and the T-Bar is
in fact broken. We discovered that far from standing-by, the new T-Bar is
actually being made today. This is probably just as well as the original
was made of 1/4” Angle apart from the Vertical which was done in 1/8” box
section. This will now be upgraded to 1/4” The second Princess person who
was supposed to come is apparently unavailable this week as it’s his
daughter’s 21st birthday. I don’t know why they didn’t know that last
week. So we don’t know who or when the next person is coming. Today
Keith (the Man from Princess) will make a reverse mould of the Skeg so he
has a reference for the new fibre glass lay up.
Thurs 8 Nov
Yesterday the second man from Princess arrived.. It turned out to be
someone Keith had in fact worked with before, repairing another boat in
Turkey. These guys really get about fixing boat all over the world. The
New T-bar was actually finished 10 minutes before he left.
We had a bit of a scare as the T-Bar and all the Fibre Glass matt was not
with his luggage when he arrived and was at first thought to have gone to
Columbia. Fortunately it did get off the plane in Madrid in time and
should turn up in Gran Canaria today.
It took 2 1/2 man-days to hollow out the Skeg in order to release the
T-Bar. First he chopped, ground and chiselled from the rear of the skeg
and then went inside to chop out from the top from above. All of the Balsa
core around the Rudder/Skeg area will be cut away and replaced with
resin. The actual joint will be reinforced. The destruction process is
nearly complete. I enclose a few snaps to give some idea of what’s going
on. The men from Princess are confident that the job will be finished by
Sunday Week. This would mean a new departure November 24 the day before
250 yachts leave for the ARC. We need a few days after the boat is
refloated to get all the systems up and running and to do some trials.
I have done a new Itinerary, which gives us a few days in the Capo Verdes
followed by a long leg (2700 miles) to Rio in time for Christmas. Friends
of friends are organizing the Rio Yacht Club to receive us and it will be
something to look forward to after 18 days at sea. When I am totally
certain of our departure date I will publish the new Itinerary. The
Antarctic leg will be two weeks later than originally planned.
Now that all the materials are in place, I am going off to Greece for 10
days. Demetra is there with the Greek builders. While I’m trying to keep
the water out of the boat here in Gran Ganaria, she is trying to keep the
water in the pool in Spetses.
Our neighbors in Port Vauban, ( Marina in Antibes) arrived yesterday with
ROULETTE their new Oyster 655.
It's a small Ocean.
I will pick up this saga again when we leave.
