Well it seems like an age since that day back in August when we finally got the boat on the water, since then lots of things have conspired against further progress, issues at work, disagreements between myself and the builder over pricing which only really got resolved when some bits got left off and I had no real alternative but to pay what was asked and pick the boat up as they were closing up shop.
So the craft I have is still unfinished, it's rigged, but needs trampolines, the wings need fitting as do the spinnaker blocks, one of the bones of contention being the high cost over what a new set of B14 wings could be purchased for, but i shan't dwell further on the matter suffice to say I'm not entirely happy and leave it at that.
She's now graphite black, which is the colour I wanted in the first place, the jib pole and rigging has changed and the spinnaker pump system appears to work quite well, although a modification is needed to prevent it jamming on the hoist as the spinnaker sock doesn't separate the kite from the pole block and they can get tangled.
The rope and control layout looks like a nightmare to my uneducated eye, but follows a certain logic, it has a proper
kicker something I'm un familiar with, every boat I've owned for the last few years have used gnavs, I see the logic of it and it's very powerful but takes up too much room for my liking.
The cunningham arrangement is also fairly complex and has been brought about by the design of the sail, something I guess I can changed in the fullness of time, it works but will need routing out to the racks as will the other controls.
She's centre sheeted with a big floating mainsheet block which is meant to ensure it'll centreline and sheet block to block, i don't mind that, but again i'm unused to centre sheeting most of my previous craft having been sheeted off the rear.
There's no centreboard trim control yet but i shall rig something now she's in my warehouse rather than down in Romsey, but the main thing is she's ready to travel, I have a trailer and launch trolley and nothing is beyond the wit of man.
So with any luck I shall get her on the water, I had to take all these pics just to remind myself how to put it all back together once she was transported up here.
The hull is all polished and sealed, the centreboard has a forward section flushing strip to stop the water rushing up during that early stage before the boat settles on its centre rocker.
Looking at the new layout I'm now wondering how I'll set about tacking, can't really take the main and the jib sheet round the back and there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of room in the centre. I can't see how I can go through the centre with the tiller extension so I guess I'll have to dump the jib sheet then pick it up once through. Looks like a few things to work out still....
