VHF. Autopilot

May 15, 2022 by Lukasz Kumanowski

I finally installed VHF radio on Meritaten!
Up till now I was using handheld Icom radio but last autumn the antenna cable found its way into the mast and this season we will sail with a proper rig.

Connecting it required a bit of creativity - our current electrical panel has not enough outlets to accommodate all the stuff I want to run: VHF, circulation pump (heater), autopilot, cabin lights, navigational lights and anchor lights. Not to mention additional (planned) crash-pump for emergency and GPS plotter.

Due to these constraints I had to install separate “in-line” fuses for VHF and autopilot. They will get integrated in a new switch panel which I started to build and it will (hopefully) be installed next winter.

Most important job is autopilot. I mounted the socket close to the rudder. Pilot’s cable is long just enough to plug-in and the socket is not an eye-sore in Meritaten’s traditional cockpit.

It is hidden under the seat, in shadows, protected from rain and untrained eyes!

The biggest challenge is to make a custom mount for the pilot. Double-enders, like Meritaten, have to have it mounted well outside the boat’s freeboard, due to steering geometry. Lennart has it nicely done by Janne who carved it from stainless steel. On my boat I started to improvise using hardware I found in my workshop.

I cannibalized old antenna fittings (stainless) which happen to match old oar-lock.

Aluminum oar-lock needed just wider holes to accommodate thick screw and ebonite, threaded ball. All resourcefully connected to form a strange contraption.

It kind of worked - the pilot was held in place more or less where it should be.

Still lacking the tiller mount, of course, but that I will carve from copper.

I was not perfectly happy with stiffness of this mount so I added another clamp from another antenna. That helped to really make it solid but then it was too close to the structure.
Back to the drawing board (my workshop) and again to the boat, to test if the ball turned 90 degrees will make the trick.

Yep! It would but I need to drill another hole in it.

But back (again) in the workshop I realized that in this configuration I don’t really need that ball nor oar-lock. All that could be substituted with a straight rod (aluminum or stainless), with central hole housing the pilot.

I’ll make one during the week, when I have access to proper, heavy-duty machinery.

Rigging

May 13, 2022 by Lukasz Kumanowski

Directly after work I went to the harbor, to spend a few hours onboard.

It was blowing hard these recent days but today the wind calmed down - perfect conditions to tighten the rig and to put sails. Staying rig got tightened to working tension and I rigged genua.

There are a few things I would like to finish before starting the season: mounting VHF radio, autopilot and heating system.

I started with autopilot as this is the functionality I lack the most when sailing alone. I routed electrical wires to the rudder station and prepared the socket. Forgot to take torx-keys for opening the fuse box so instead I was drawing different ways to mount the Raymarine autopilot.
On kosters - like my boat - the pilot’s arm needs to be mounted at the very beginning of the tiller, very close to the rudder. I made measurements last year.
This makes it tricky as the device has no deck under to be mounted thus I need to design some kind of fixture to hold it in place.

For the radio I found ideal place close to the hatch - within reach from the cockpit and close to (future) navigation table. I just need to make a proper mount for it so that I don’t drive screws directly into planks.

Sitting in cozy cabin and listening to the radio. I took my favorite ultra-portable typewriter to type some letters.

Peace of mind and silence inside my wooden boat are perfect conditions for banging thoughts onto paper.

I got called out to get back home so I didn’t manage to rig the mainsail. I’ll do it tomorrow. If the weather permits I might go for the first sail this season.

Stormy weather. House keeping procedures.

May 10, 2022 by Lukasz Kumanowski

It rained cats & dogs, with stormy gusts.
I went after work to the boat, to add a few springs so she stays safe.

These contemporary berths are made for much bigger boats than my Laurinkoster: I need to run very long springs to reach boom ends. Neighbor boats, much bigger, have these points just around their cleats.

The wind blows heavily. Sitting behind the sprayhood gives some protection so I could lash to stanchion a new Tufnol cleat. It will be used for roll-genua halyard. Quick release cleat so that I don’t need to spend too much time cleating the sail during tight maneuvers - it will hold it in position until I cleat it permanently on the normal cleat.

Down in the cabin, shielded from weather and in silence I routed VHF cable from the mast up to the pilot berth.
I thanked again Shinya who mounted slim contacts on this coax cable, back then when we worked at Ericsson. I could route the cable via small holes and screw the radio connector when in final position.

It turned out that the cable has enough length to reach pilot berth and still has 80 cm length margin. That’s perfect position to mount the radio - close to the cockpit and above the navigation table which I plan to build here. I can see that there was such a table before in this place but somehow someone has removed it and used pilot berth for storage.

Making a proper navigation table is something for the next winter. I’ll also rebuild the electrical system - to substitute this too modern-looking front panel with one of more matching look.

The wind was howling outside but inside the cozy cabin, behind thick wood, it was calm and homey.
It was getting late so I forced myself out and drove home.

Mast stepping

May 09, 2022 by Lukasz Kumanowski

That went quickly. It was blowing rather substantially today so moving the boat onto the second slip, alone & by hand was a bit challenging at times but it went smooth.
Anders lifted the mast and we stepped it, then he left me to do the rigging.

Peter came along for a chat.

Once the mast was secured I moved the boat away from the slip and pre-tensioned the rig so that we can move her to the summer place.

I decided to wait a bit to the evening - the wind shall calm down so it would be easier to maneuver out of this tight spot inside the harbor.
Lennart’s Bimsy will get her wooden mast in coming days.

I came back later in the evening, with sails and some bulky stuff to load the boat for summer. Easier to do it now when she lies along the bridge than later on, when we lay between booms.

I cast off and motored out of the harbor. First time this year!
Calm conditions, hardly anyone in the harbor. One guy came out when he heard pleasant, old-time “puff puff” sound of my tiny Yanmar-san engine.

I finished house-keeping procedures at dusk. Meritaten is now secured in her summer berth, I will tension the staying rig this week and mount sails.
My big-boat Meritaten is dwarfed by her modern-time neighbors….

Swelling. Preparations for stepping the mast

May 08, 2022 by Lukasz Kumanowski

Launching went smoothly, there was no drama with storming water or so - just the usual (but very unusual for GRP boat owners) steady drops of water along a few seams. Bilge pump was starting a few times during each hour but after a day intervals became longer and longer. Today the bilge is almost dry, the pump starts 2-3 times per day - the hull is almost entirely swollen, she will become dry by tomorrow.

I talked with Lennart most of the day today - we both were working with our boats and preparing masts for rigging. Lennart’s boat, since a few years, had very dramatic launchings, with lots of water getting in. This year, however, there was no drama - she hardly leaked!
All that thanks to a wonder of linseed oil and järnmönja! Lennart painted the hull with thick järnmönja, on the outside, while he also sprayed the inside with linseed oil + turpentine quite regularly during the winter. That did the trick.

I recall that the first years after I bought Meritaten I did the same - at that time I removed everything which could be unscrewed or lifted out of the hull to clean layers of dust and dirt. Then the entire hull was coated several times with hot oil, with just 10% of turpentine. On launching day she hardly leaked at all!

I must admit that since then I cheated a bit and oiled just the bilge and garboard plank. I thought that is enough - and indeed she does not leak in these areas. Now I see that it is indeed very wise to continue with oiling the hull - at least under the waterline - as I did in the beginning. It saves a great deal of uncertainty during spring launch! Spraying, instead of painting, should go faster so I could do it frequently throughout the winter.
Rigging my mast normally takes 10 minutes but it took me 6 hours today. Not because of technical problems but because it was so fun to talk with other sailors around! It was this type of experience which drove me to sailing in the first place - it is a social activity! And the weather was perfect today - sunny, lots of wind and clear blue sky.

I finally mounted VHF antenna on the mast top. There was no need to add any mounting - it was there already - and the antenna is not in collision with wind wane which is nice.

All sealed with rubber tape - weather proof!

While at the dock it is convenient to load the boat with all bulky stuff. It is much more acrobatic to do that later on, when we are at our summer harbor. I mounted madrases and the interior became cozy again. Good jazz music from the radio added to the atmosphere. Very nice day indeed!