So here I am ready to go sailing.  It's a pretty good setup.

I can fit all the big stuff on top and the rest in to back and still fit all the people in the car.

Here is a pic of me out on the water.

Looking up at the mast.

A picture of it in the weeds.

So this is her sailing.

Things learned on this trip.  How to steer with no rudder.

Yup, that's right.  Broke the rudder again.  The next one is going to be aluminium.

Also broke the starboard lea board.

Broke the stays on the mast connecting it to the top.

I wanted to redo their design anyway so this just means I'm doing it sooner.

Lost another batten for the sail.

I'm going to buy ten of them.  More the merrier.

The only thing that worked without flaw was the electrical system.

The best part of the day was a kid saying to his parents.  "I want one."

Also people keep asking me what it is, and where did I get it.

I guess that's why I named it Mana.  "What is it?"

Thanks Pastor Dan for the name suggestion.

Back to the boatyard.

No sailing today.

Stay tuned for the next adventure.

Ready to sail.

Ya.  I missed a couple of blogs, but I wanted to post it all in one so I guess I really didn't miss one.

I have a few surprises in store that I wanted to post all at once.

So here it is with the sun setting in the background.

I really like the red.  I think we have a final colour.

Didn't take too long to set up from last year.

Lookin' sexy.

Rear view.

My flag waving proud.

Forgot to paint the lea boards.  Maybe next year.

What's that hiding behind the seat?

Yup.  It's a bilge pump.

I noticed last year while getting in and out of "Mana" My water shoes would bring a lot of water in.  Problem solved.  Here is a shot of the discharge.

KCCO!

And here is the last surprise.

I still keep a whistle in my PFD.  Always need a backup.

This year was a fun ride.

I'll have more videos of my adventures with "Mana" soon.

Hopefully tomorrow if the weather holds up.

`Nice? It's the ONLY thing,' said the Water Rat solemnly, as he leant forward for his stroke. `Believe me, my young friend, there is NOTHING--absolute nothing--half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. Simply messing,' he went on dreamily: `messing--about--in--boats; messing----'

The Wind in the Willows

by Kenneth Grahame
(1859-1932)

Red paint and rudder.

So ya.  I've been pretty busy with work and the non-stop rain wasn't helping much either.  I also forgot to post what I did last time.  I painted it red.  I like it.

Also there was more damage to the rudder system then I thought so I had to take some of it apart and put it back together again.  

I also had to redo the bottom catch of the hatch.  More work to follow on that tomorrow night.

I also added bigger feet to the mast holders while on the roof racks.

Here is the rudder all painted up.  Might need another coat then ready to be installed.

I also added a little bilge pump right behind the seat.  More pictures to follow.  It started to rain so I packed it up for the night.  More work tomorrow night, and BBQ too.  Mmmmm.

So I did a little work tonight and took pictures of what I did the day before.

So here are the new wing mounts.  Note the thickened epoxy that will disperse the pressure from the pushing and pulling of the wings.

Here is the top of the broken wing mount.

It's been filled and sanded and I put a coat of epoxy on it, just to give it a protective coat.

Now all I have left to do is painting.

I was going to paint it red waterline down and black for the top, but I might paint the whole thing red.

Decisions, decisions.

So I've been slacking with the blog lately.

I got the wing mounts done and filled in the cracks in the hull.  I just need to wait for them to dry so I can sand them.  During this time I also used the left over epoxy to re-glue the weather stripping around the cargo hatch.  It came off and I had to fix the hatch itself.

Then I put a coat of boat paint on the pontoons.

I got the good stuff this year.

Now I just have to wait for epoxy to dry and more painting.

I think painting is about all I have to do.

Maybe install the bilge pump I got.  We'll see.

So here is the trough that I'm pouring the thickened epoxy into.  This way it will have a nice even surface for pressure to be distributed.

Here is the new rudder all epoxied up.

That's one project done.

Now I just have to pour the thickened epoxy into the Port side trough and then work on the outside.  I'll be smoothing the hull up so it is streamlined in the water.

After that a new paint job and I should be done for this season.  I'm going to paint it black.  The white was too bright on the eyes and really showed the dirt up.

So I got the hard part of the major fix done tonight.  The Wing Mounts.

Here is the Starboard side.

Here is the port side.

I noticed the aft rods bent a little.  It's all good.  It took quite a bit of tinkering around to get it all done, but I did it.  This fix better work, because I don't know what else to do.

And here is a picture with the wing on.  I put it on to line up all the threaded rods.

I was going to put a coat of epoxy on the rudder, but I had company come over and I was tired.  So that will be the next project.  Probably Thursday.

Well hello.

Time for a new season of boating and for fixing last year's bumps and bruises.

So I got the kayak out from under the deck with some help from last years helper.  (And this years fiance.)

I took off all the posts of the wing mounts.  

I was lucky that I got them all off intact except for one little one.  I will reuse them for the fix.  

 

So I sanded where the posts were with my orbital sander.

To my surprise I found that the Starboard Bow post was mildly cracked as well.  That sucks.  I'm going to toss on another layer of fiberglass top and bottom and fill it all with epoxy.

Here is what the fix is going to look like except the bolts go through the whole hull.  I forgot to take a picture of it, but there will be aluminium plates on the underside of the hull the same length as the tubing.  I'm going to fill the gap between the top hull and the aluminium tubing with epoxy to create an even surface are for the distribution of pressure from the wing.

Here is the new rudder as well.  I'll need to epoxy it up before the install then that fix will be done.

Here is something crazy as well.  I designed the rudder system to be able to switch out rudders.  I'll give this one a shot.  I know it's crazy, but I have lots of left over plywood from the pontoons last year.

So that was it for today.  Now I just need to get some epoxy and it glue it all up.

I entitle this blog, "How to break your sailing kayak."

Things that should have told me not to go sailing today:

North wind where I had to sail North.

The fact that the farthest the sail boat moved up wind was when I was walking on the lake bed dragging the thing behind me.  (I did that for about an hour.)

And here are the things that broke today.

The rudder.  Not a very serious thing.  I can fix that in a couple of days with left over ply wood and epoxy.

The big break was the hull, by the wing.

I was moving along against the wind with the mainsail up when it really pulled to the side and the pontoon did it's job by keeping the boat upright.

I think I'll get the sails cut so there won't be so much force on the boat.

So I'm packing it away for the season and I have already designed a fix for this problem and reinforcements for it as well.

So that's it for the blog till next season.

Have a good winter everybody.

So I had to make some minor changes this week so I could get her back out on the water on Sunday.

Here is what happened.

I put a bolt in the mast so it won't spin any more between the mast and the mast step.

I also changed some of the pulleys around.  I now have a double pulley for the jib instead of two separate ones.

I got the double pulley from the boom.  It is now a single pulley and works a lot smoother.  The double pulley would get caught and not go out or in that well.

Here's a view from the deck.  Lookin' pretty good.

Here's a shot with the sun behind her.  The backyard never looked so beautiful.

So if the weather is good I'll launch it tomorrow on the testing waters of Morris Lake and have some fun.

30% chance of rain so I'm optimistic.

More next week.

I know it's been awhile since my last blog, but I haven't really done much.  I've been kinda busy.

So here is what I have done.

Pontoons painted.

Pontoons totally painted.

I added some spreaders and more shrouds to the mast.  This will give it more stability.  It was pretty bendy without them.

With a cool flag on top.

Also this is what happened.

Things learned.

Rounds pegs in round holes spin.

I'm going to have to put a pin through the steel pipe of the mast step and the mast so it doesn't spin.

When the spreaders of the mast are perpendicular to the hull they work great.  When the mast spins they might as well not be up there.

Also I think I need a new lee board design.  They like to pull away from the hull when it gets up to speed.  That's not good.

One thing that is weird is when she's going fast she likes to hum.  I don't think that is a good thing.

I also learned to tack.

I think it will be ready by the time it's too cold to sail any more.

Always next summer I guess.

I laid down some primer on the pontoons and lee board supports, and varnished the cockpit combing.

The pontoons are going to be painted red.  I'm just using exterior paint.  Next year I'll break out the Interlux.  That stuff isn't cheap so I'll wait a year.

Also for the mast being bendy I have 3 ideas.

A square pipe down the mast.

Wooden dowel with a 3/8" steel round going down the middle of the dowel.

Beefing up the Port and Starboard stays.

I think I might do the square pipe with beefing up the stays.

That could be the lightest idea.

Beefing up will mean installing spreaders into the stays.

So I checked the epoxy work I did late last night and it was still tacky.

So I added more epoxy to fill in more holes I found on the top of the starboard pontoon.

It should dry faster outside today.  It's hot, sunny and breezy.

It's perfect for sailing.

Glad I get to work in my shed.

That was all that was done today.

I don't know when I'll be able to get out sailing again, but at least I won a fridge.