Happy New Year 2012!!!

We've had snow and below freezing temps this year; however, the New Years weekend had unseasonably warm weather blow in.   I had hoped to end the 2011 year with one extra sail; unfortunately, the warm weather blew in and back out with 20-40mph winds and red flag advisories on each lake that we would have gone to-- so we stayed home and did chores and projects.   I've got to get a foaling shed built.

Galactica glasses and dehumidifier

Christmas was good to Galactica and myself!   Angie bought a matching set of unbreakable glasses for the boat with Galactica's name on them.  Additionallly, I got a dehumidifier to replace the wintertime light bulb I put into the boat!   It's actually a gun shop/vault golden rod dehumidifier but it's sold for boats and RV's also at midwayusa.com!

We've only got a couple mods planned before the 2012 sailing season starts up but I will decide after the Strictly Sail boat show in Chicago this January!

Here is a list of Galactica's 2011 Sailing adventures and mods:

1. March 2011 - new-season-new-mods
2. April 2011 - more mod work!
3. April 2011 - Helm and trailer mods
4.  April 2011 - rewiring Galactica's mast
5. May 2011 - too much rain to sail, new pedestal table mod
6. May 2011 - berth mod and finally provisioning for sail
7. June 2011 - rain stopped, sailing MTL, Missouri
8. June 2011 - Summer Sailstice, MTL Missouri
9. June 2011 - Galactica in Arkansas and Branson Missouri
10. July 2011 - Independence Day sailing, MTL Missouri
11. August 2011 - prep Galactica for Florida cruise
12. August 2011 - Great sailing weekend! MTL, Missouri
13. Auguest 2011 - last minute mods before Florida trip
14. September 2011 - Galactica journey to the sea: Florida!!!
15. October 2011 - Sailing the Magic Dragon: LOz Missouri
16. October 2011 - Fantastic Autumn sail at MTL, Missouri

Hope everyone has a great New Year and better than the past few have been!   I cannot wait until sailing season arrives and I can try out an old spinnaker that I picked up for Galactica!!!

Mast Support to reduce flex while trailering

Sunday Afternoon, 28 March, 2010
This was a quick one I did Sunday afternoon. I noticed that the long mast, bolted to the bow pulpit and supported by a mast crutch in the aft, had a LOT of flex as the trailer bounced down the road. I took a leftover piece of PVC from when I built the house and cut a cradle to support the mast. I made the bottom fit over the bracket to which the mast is bolted while rigged. I use a bungie cord to hold it all together. This is one of those inexpensive but very useful mods!

Hopefully, we'll put Galactica in next saturday and spend a day/night exploring a local lake!! I'll post then.

Work and Weather

Weekend: 27 & 28 March, 2010

Last week, I had to bring in 40 ton of 2" gravel to rebuild the base to our driveway. I had to cancel my plans of putting Galactica into the Gravois arm of the Lake of the Ozarks.

The weather hasn't been cooperating with getting the boat onto the water and there are a lot of chores in running a small hobby farm. Hopefully, next weekend will see Galactica swim again!

In an effort to make it easier to load the boat onto the trailer at ramps, I'm building guide lines. Originally, I was just going to run a line from the winch post to the aft goal posts. The winch configuration on the 2009/2010 trailer is slightly different than what I've seen on similar mods on the MacGregorSailors web site. There isn't a good place to just tie the line. I decided to use what I have on hand. I started by welding a bracket made from 2" angle iron, 1" box tubing and a used horseshoe from one of my horses.

I heated up the horseshoe and beat it into a new shape. Even softened and using a 2 pound hammer, it took a surprising amount of persuasion. Next, I welded the components together. 2 of the 5 welds are pretty. 3 of them are humbling--but I know that all 5 welds are strong.

I mounted the bracket using the top winch bolt but immediately saw that I'd need a brace. I fashioned the brace from a leftover piece of stanchion and bolted it to the lower winch bolt.

I spent quite a bit of time attaching a braided line to the port goal post, threading it through a 3/4" pex water pipe, knotting it to the bracket on the winch post, threading it back through a pex pipe on the starboard side and attaching it to the starboard goal post. The port side is pretty good even though the pipe touches the boat--which I really don't want.

I rebuilt the starboard guide line 5 times but never got it to my satisfaction. Pulling on it pulls the pex off of the starboard side of the bracket. The port stays on. Additionally, the pex piping is too flexible. I think that it would whip up and down against Galactica's pretty blue hull while trailering.

This has been a learning experience; but I'll get tubing that is more rigid and perhaps use a steel cable instead of 1/2" braided line. I can tie the line temporarily at the ramp's staging area until I can get the components to try again with the guide lines.