After slow progress good progress is made.

The sails are mocked up. I was abel to shorten their masts by 25 cm and that is a good thing. The masts now stand 1.9 meters abowe deck about 6 feet 4 inches. 25 cm do not seam a lot but consider that in a capsize the masts peripheral speed will be slower, that water will be softer by the square of the inverse speed and that a shorter mast is stronger than a longer.  Also the mass moment if inertia increses by the square of the gyr radius and there will be less wind resistance. These qualities combined makes a noticebel difference. Its desirable to have a short mast. Shorter mast are also less expensive than longer ones and they require less paint. Exlex have three masts. She is like many of my previus boats schooner rigged. She has two free standing masts and a topp mast that is set in light winds. All 3 mast and all 3 sails are identical. That way the topp mast can be used as spare mast and the topp sail can be used as a working sail.

Good news is also that I have today weighted the boat and she did not come out too heavy. Her weihgt is 490 kilos, not including spares, batteries, rudder and a few other items. My geuss is that the empty boat will be a bit more than 600 kilos and with me and water and food for 60 days 8- 900 kilos. I am happy about that. It is much less than the previus Exlex that I cruised the North Atlantic for 40 days in 2018. Also the center of gravity of the new Exlex is much lower than the previus one. This Good News makes me happy.

Below some pictures. Click once or twice on them to enlarge.

 

 

 

 

To be continued…

Regards Yrvind

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BOTTOM PAINT

Exlex bottom is now painted. The original idea was to use antifouling. But I have changed my mind. I had hoped to do a test sail to Iceland May 2019 but things, mostly the hatches and the steering system has taken longer than expected so the new dream is to launch in the end of this summer and do a bit of coastal cruising in home waters. But, before leaving for Cape Horn I like to sail the ocean to find out how she behaves offshore, how she rides out storms and if any modifications are needed. The new plan is for a test sail 2020 leaving Dingle Ireland early summer sail to Acores stay there for a month or two sail to Porto Santo Madeira stay there for a month or two, then sail out into the Sargasso Sea, the only ocean without shores a region of the North Atlantic Ocean bounded by four currents
It is distinguished from other parts of the Atlantic Ocean by its characteristic deep blue color and exceptional clarity, with underwater visibility of up to 60 m (200 ft). It is also a body of water that has captured my imagination. I have been there before and I liked it. Now I hope to spend the winter 2020 – 2021 there just drifting around living a simple life in a simple boat thinking about my life and about the world and just enjoing myself. When spring comes I will head north stopping in the Acores some time before sailing back to Sweden rounding Scotland.
In Sweden final preparations will be done for a voyage to the Southern Ocean and beyond. Well that’s the ambitious plan, but my present boat inspires much confidence and health and moral is good so please support my project and do subscribe to my YouTube channel because I hope to learn to do videos and post more once the boat is in the water.
Back to the bottom paint. The Golden Globe Race has given the participants plenty of problems with marine growth. Exlex is a different boat, she draws only 20 cm or 8 inches and with a beam of 1,2 meter or 4 feet I can with my nose above the water reach her whole bottom to clean it. I have used Coppercoat. If that does not work to my satisfaction it is easy to paint it over. The reverse is not easy.
Some pictures below.

To be continued…

Regards Yrvind

Today the rudder fittings are done. They are very strong and very heavy.

The rudder is an important part of the boat. Many boats have been lost because to the rudder. One of the most dramatic loss happend to an acquaintance of mine. I do not know him well but met him a few times in Norway. His name is Staale Jordan when he lost his rudder he was only 23 years old. He had borrowed his fathers boat, 34 feet long and was on his way round the world eastabout non stop, 70 miles southwest of Cape Horn in a force 11 Beaufort storm a wave swept away his rudder. The wind was blowing from nortwest and he was drifting towards Antarctica. He had a sattelite phone and called the Chilian coast guard for help. How many aboard they asked. I am alone he answered. Sorry they said in this kind of storm we risk to lose more people than we can save. He tried the Norwegian coast gard. They contacted a ship that by chance was close by. Young and fit he was able to jump to a ladder they let down. Flyt Forlag Norway has a book: Våghalsen, about the adventure.

Below is photos of my fittings.

Våghalsen. Forfatter: Trude Audny Ødegård. Flyt forlag.

To be continued…

Regards Yrvind.

Locking devices gets damaged by salt water therefore its a good idea to put your locks in a place not exposed to the elements during a passage. During the years I have used several methods depending on the hatch. My hatches nowadays are sliding but they also can be clamped down into a gasket. Therefore they have to move not only forward but also a bit up and down. That complicates things a bit. To overcome that I use two padlocks, one on each side of the hatch. Of course it is very easy to break into a boat, even a small crewbar easily opens any hatch. The idea is to make the boat look locked. I think two padlock gives a better messages than one, but it is because Exlex hatch slides on ropes that I use two padlocks.

Pictures below.

To be continued…

Regards Yrvind

At present I am at work at the lower rudder fitting. There has been some welding on it. Welds tend to distort metall so also in this case. The Delrin or POM or Acetal bearing did now not fit. Best way would be to ream the hole. Reamers are expensive and I did not have one 29 mm that was required. As an alternative I grinded it down to size using emery tape wrapped around a stick. To help me I used my dear Blomqvist lathe. Now in general it is not proper to grind on a lathe, but Exlex is more important than the lathe. Also I very carefully vacumed the lathe after finished work.

Below photo and a video.

To be continued…

Regards Yrvind

Today and yeasterday everything takes time, I have been working on cleats and hooks to fix the forward door in open and closed position ( there is also possibilities if so desired to fix the door in intermidiate positions, for exampel in rain or hard on the wind when spray is flying.

I use cleats and hooks and string or thin chock cord to get tension.

Abstract I like to have axial rather than radial forces. That is I like to have the string pulling the door towards the bulkhead.

Below photos:

To be continued…

Regards Yrvind