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Saling report 3

 

These small reflections arrived yesterday from Yrvind

A difficult night with one more gale and plenty of ships, included fishing boats, the worst because they have no destination and right of way and I have some problems to maneuvrate. The steering system will be much better on next design which I am working on. Things are calming down so I am working up enough courage to go on the foredeck to raise the daggerplate and set a sail. The original intention was to handel them from the forehatch but there is to much stuff there now. The solution is to eat the food and rearrange things. Progress is as you can see slow but I am nearly finished with Bay of Biscay.
Ipad is fantastic. I have open Europe, Africa and America charts and three routes to Dingle, Cape Finistare and Madeira. That way I can triangulate my position. I use very little food and water, eating only once a day for health reasons. Bay of Biscay was in its June gloom mode but now after 2 weeks the sun is appearing.

Got shock today. Port rudder did not work. Was blocked. At first impossible to understand unless the piston that keeps the saltwater on the outside of the inside steering ropes has got stucked. I went back and applied force to the tiller. Likewise blocked. Finally I looked down in the water, the rudder blade had rotated 90 degrees forward. Some idiot had made a bad knot. Not easy to fix but with the help of a rope I got some leverage and it swung back to its proper position. It was a bit rough and I got my shirt wet. However after fixing the problem I thought that the idiot deserved a new shirt. The old one been on for more than 3 weeks, but the moral is good.
Regards Yrvind.

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Saling report 2

Yrvind can send short text messages. Below some snapshots that arrived today.  Exlex is an experiment and Yrvind is testing some of his boat design ideas. Part of the navigation he manages with ipads. He also has Wikipedia in six languages down loaded on them.

 

Now put one the ohter front sail. Strange,  self-stering works fine with just one sail. Completely unbalanced. A set of preventants from where the front edge of the boom is pulling backwards.

Finnish solar cells Naps on the middle deck are coroding. Blows well, maybe 10 m / s. Has taken down the sail at the back. Just one sail up. Best to be careful.

The ropes I steer the boat from the bed with and the new winch invention work great except on the port side where the ropes and power cables are in blissful mess. Also spoon bow is a succe. The lifts go so well in the waves. Quite a breakthrough. Now I have also got a lot of crawling to get the wool socks on, they start to heat well.

Been fishing boats out of Ireland. Starting now getting into traffic Eng Channel – America AIS picks them up a long distance 30-50 miles and provides CPA.

Very cramped and rank. The fore cabin full of stuff, so I handle the sail and the boat center board from the deck. Will be difficult balance. Right now strong northern wind. Going like a spear. She rolls very much  down wind. Depends on the weight. Better on Next Design. It’s cold and gray weather. Exceptional course stability.

Really good with ipad. Great with Wikipedia & Navionics. Working at Next Design. It has shrunk to 6.8×1.12×0.2 deep. The haul is a happiness hit. That I can haul the sail both at the masts and at the back of the hatch works great. Good to be tested for the next design.

To be continued…

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YRVIND SPEAKS IN GÖTEBORG

Next friday 9 February 18:00 2018 I will give a talk at the Göteborg boat show.
I will talk about my upcoming non stop voyage to New Zealand, the boat Exlex and my search that started 1962 for a good boat.
After the talk if there is some in the audience with a positive interest in small cruisers there will be time to go elsewhere and have an more informal talk.
Click once or twice to enlarge.

A picture from one of my earlier much apriciated talks.

Everyone much welcome.
Postscript. Dress code: Casual.

Regards Yrvind

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PLUMBING

Exlex has started to live a life of her own. Now she wants plumbing. That was not planned, but she has reason, water handling will be much easier. With plumbing I can be busy doing other things while the rainwater fills up my jerry cans.

The forward rain catcher in a bit awkvard position.

 

Aft rain catcher

 

To get the water into the jerrycans I use hoses. There are two through deck fitting one forward and one back leading into the aft and forward compartments, from there, fittings connects through the waterproof bulkheads to the jerrycans in the holy sleeping room, holy in the sense that there is no direct holes to the outside.
The jerrycans have a very tight fit and are very secured in place. It would also be awkward to handle the 20 liter containers in the small cabin the solution is to use air pressure to transfer via hoses the water to one liter bottles.

Pressurising the jerry can with the help of my healthy lungs. The compressed air transfers the water to the one-liter bottle from wich its handy to drink.

 

The picture is from September 19 2015, the idea older. Now I have this idea to use this techniche on Next Design to transfer water to the windward side. This technique is not suitable for a big boat but for my boats I think it is appropriate. Back to the present, here are some details on Exlex plumbing.

This picture is where the water from the aft rain catcher enters the sleeping room, just below the deck. The two ropes are the steering ropes for the port rudder. The thing at the bottom right corner is the two jammers that locks the rudder in the desired position.

 

The same fitting from the eating room. The two steering ropes and two antenna cables one for the AIS one for the GPS can be seen. Its not waterproof, but its just under the deck and very off center. I do not think its very likely that water will enter my sleeping room here.
Here I am modifying the lid of the jerry cans for the water hoses. The brown Tufnol piece is added to get a better grip to get the lid well screwed on.

 

Screwing the pieces together using bedding compound between the Tufnol and the lid

 

The two lids with the hoses that goes into the jerry cans. To the very right of the picture can be seen that on the end of the hose a nipple has been added as a sinker.
Here is a close up

To be continued…
Regards Yrvind.

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DETAILS

I have now done four lifting ropes for Exlex. The dynema ropes each have a breaking strenght of ca 8 tons. I do

not think I will have any use of them. They can be used for lifting the boat on to trailer and launching the boat with a fork lift. Other ropes can be used for that purpose.
A situation may arise at sea when a ship comes alongside and for some reason likes to pick up Exlex and haul her out of the ocean and put her on its deck, then it will only be a matter of doing a knot and she be attached. As I said I do not think they will be used, but if they are handy.
Pictures below.

The four ropes met at a point perpendicular abouve Exlex center of gravity. When not in use the ropes is tied to the gallow. The blue canvas is part of the water collection system.
One of the four strongpoints. An eye is spiced. The eye is reenforced with a mantle to protect it from chafe. The rope is attached with a larks head.

 

The four ropes is tied to the gallow when not in use.
The blue is water collector.

The photos below is for the main anchor a 10 kilo SPADE.

The anchor bollard. A winch would have been better, but there is no space for it. It will be on next design
This handle with a cam cleat will help me to get up the anchor. I do not intend to anchor. If I do it is an emergency.
If it is to heavy I have to cut the line.
The splice to the anchor chain. I have added two mantles to the rope for extra protection. The rope is also twice around the schackle pin to distribute the load

To be continued…

Regards Yrvind

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New website

Hello Friends
My webpage is now updated in preparation for the upcoming voyage with Exlex.
The old one is outdated and a new one is born. Long live the new one.

Please continue to watch share and support.
To be continued…

Regards Yrvind.

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NOSTALGIA SEHNSUCHT SAUDADE

Nostalgia, sehnsucht, saudade, I suffer from it all. I am a stranger in this world so far removed from my youth. I have not gotten older, but as times have gone by the world have changed. The fundamental things that once were part of my world are no longer here.

Already the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1712 – 1778 thought contemporary society was too removed from nature, so did, Henry David Thoreau 1817 – 1862. I agree.

In my youth world population was two billion now its more than seven billion. This has changed the landscape. Buildings and roads are everywhere and everything is bigger despite the need for smaller things, things more suited to human scale. There is no silence anymore stress is everywhere. A friend crossing the Bay of Biscay told me, when the speed dropped below five knots we started the engine.

Only the true, eternal, endless, blue, wet, deep ocean is the same.

Only the true, eternal, endless, blue, wet, deep ocean can cure me from nostalgia, sehnsucht and saudade and bring me back to the spiritual state of my youth. That’s why I long to be out sailing again.

Routing Cart showing Dingle Ireland, my point of departure.

On the wall of my small flat I have pinned a Admiralty Routing Chart for the month of June covering the North Atlantic. I marked my point of departure and from there I have drawn a circle with a radius of 60 nautical miles, the distance I hope to cover the first day hopefully with the help of a tow.

If all goes well the first day I will have the wide open spaces in front of me three- four- hundred blissful days at sea.

I look at the chart several times a day. It fills my heart with joy.

Departure 1 of June 2018 is near.

To be continued…

Regards Yrvind.

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NEXT DESIGN

While working on Exlex a prototype I am thinking of next design.

All the errors I encounter I tell myself I correct that for the next design. I also get bright ideas. One such is to have an two meter long aft cabin with a bunk for a short girl. It will also contain the lunch-room if you sitt atwarth-ships. To make that possible I have increased the beam of next design to 1.4 meter. This has enabled me to make the boat shorter. Next design is now 5.6 meters long or 18′ 4”.

The hull made of 5 cm thick Divinycell reduces the inside beam to 1.3 meter. I need about 1.2 meter sitting space so plenty of room. Headroom is 90 centimeters.

The picture below illustrates the idea.

 

To be continued…

Regards Yrvind

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Details

Doing the galley. To prewent my precius food from slipping out of my hand I have glued a bit of Tufnol to the bottom of my bowl I made out of carbon fiber. Now the grip is excellent.

 

When not holding the bowl she can rest in a swinging holder. Below the bowl is the countertop.
The bowl in a heeled position.

 

To let the bowl swing easily I made a bearing out of Tufnol and inserted it in the bulkhead, gluing it with epoxy. On the opposite side is a washer and a cotter pin.

 

The navigational light is now also done it consist of four LED water proof backup lights

 

The mast are now painted. Color RAL 1003 signal yellow.

To be continued…

Regards Yrvind