First sail with Main

We got the right wind conditions (that aligned with other life stuff) on Saturday.

We launched at Altona this time - this was a lot better than the Warmies (Williamstown). We raised the newly adjusted jib at the dock and it looked good. We then put it away and rigged main only.

We solved the retrieval issues. I purchased 2 of 6" rollers and frames to replace the offending 2 just forward of the wheels. We launched then I replaced them. During replacing it became obvious why we couldn't easily retrieve. The port side roller stem bracket is welded on crookedly. The 6" roller  fixes the width problem..

Two issues:

1. The Outhaul tends to rotate the boom about 20 degrees due to the padeye being off the side of the boom slot. This stuffs up the mast steering shackle. I think this is easily solved with a bit more thought from me on how I tie the outhaul to the padeye at the end of the boom.

2. Getting the bolt rope into the mast slot as I hauled it up was a pain. It kept wanting to jam at the top of the slot opening. (Googling I find this is common - since this was my first time I'll reserve judgement for now).

Anyway, once up she sailed well on the main but four attempts to tack failed - in irons. No jib, no dagger boards - I hope that's all it was. Crew was very concerned most of the time - hence no jib and daggers.
From what I read since then it was pretty optimistic that I could tack with no daggers down. The Jarcat has quite flat hulls unlike a beach cat so I would think it really needs the daggerboards to steer well.

During the previous week I added grab handles to the front of the cabin roof. Now I don't have to throw myself across the roof (in waves) when going forward. The picture show the starboard handle just above the green navigation light. I realise that they may pose a problem for the genoa in future but they are pretty streamlined and the sail shouldn't get caught on them.

Second Boat outing - to Herring Island

After greasing all the rollers on the trailer we were suddenly confronted with perfect weather today. We organised a picnic lunch and invited daughter and wife's sister to a cruise up the Yarra again - this time 8 NM up to Herring Island.

The boat slid off the trailer with ease and retrieval was easy too. Pictures are going up the river and tied up at Herring Island.

Rollers Greased

Yesterday I removed all 16 rollers (one at a time) greased the shafts and sides of the rollers and spaced the rollers (using galvanised washers) so they stayed more in line with the keel. 

I can now move the boat back and forward while on land.

The next launch should be a lot easier. None of the rollers were frozen but they were difficult to rotate - now they spin freely.

The zinc plated split pins were all I could get so if I had to use them I swapped them up front where the trailer doesn't get immersed.

Waiting for retrieval

This is a nice picture of Kismet while we waited for Fisher folk to finish their trailer refurbish. I should have tidied up that messy line first...

First Launch without drama

We launched successfully for the first time yesterday at 2:20PM at "The Warmies". We were very late getting started but it was important not to stress. We only intended to motor for a couple of hours.

Here I am putting rudders down - not so difficult that I'd bother adding any line system just yet.

Note the PVC pressure pipe tiller. It works fine but feels a bit like a toy.

We motored up the Yarra. here we are approaching the Westgate bridge.

Launching required a bit of huffing and puffing to get the boat moving off the trailer and it was the opinion of an onlooker that we should have reversed in a bit deeper.

The motoring was very nice and we did not take on any water. We ran the motor at about 1/3 throttle and generally made 3.9 to 4.5 knots.

We got back to the ramp at 4:20PM then had to wait while two fishermen fiddled with their trailer for 15 minutes AFTER they quickly launched on our side of the ramps when they saw us tying up.

Retrieval was a real pain as the rollers have 10 to 15mm of sideways movement in them and they all went the wrong way. Retrieval and prep for travel took 1.5 hours. The straps slowed us down a lot too. I'll be looking for a better way to secure the straps to the trailer.