• About

Far Reach Voyages

~ The sailing, maintenance, and upgrades of a highly modified and custom built Cape Dory 36 sailboat. Please visit our other website that documents the six year rebuild and modification of the sailing vessel Far Reach at www.farreachvoyages.com.

Far Reach Voyages

Category Archives: Maintenance

Alone Again: Small Projects and Maximum Chill….

01 Wednesday May 2019

Posted by farreachvoyages in Maintenance, Musings, People, Repairs, Techniques, Tactics, Tips, Uncategorized, Voyaging

≈ Leave a comment

img_7851

Deep into Michener’s Tales of the South Pacific.

It was a sad day to see Gayle fly home. We had a great time together. But the kids have to declare their college selection by 1 May. She needed to assist them with another round of campus visits so they can make a wise choice. So we divided our combat power into two elements, each with missions to accomplish.

Continue reading →

Our Surface Supplied SCUBA System or Hookah

11 Thursday Apr 2019

Posted by farreachvoyages in Maintenance, Modifications, Uncategorized, Upgrades

≈ 1 Comment

80931741-100F-45A2-9DD5-E4E62354E056

The basic hookah is the first stage, 50’ of air hose, and the second stage regulator. I added a pressure gauge to the second stage after the photo was taken.

I have a fair amount of diving experience. I earned my PADI card when I was 17. I’m also a military trained diver and served in dive billets for nine years. But I don’t have diving gear anymore and I think I made my last dive about 2003. I just snorkel now.  But I always think about options….

Continue reading →

A Few Small Projects: Bug screens, whisker pole mod, windlass rebuild, and a new sculling oar lock.

23 Tuesday Oct 2018

Posted by farreachvoyages in Equipment, Maintenance, Modifications, Repairs, Uncategorized, Upgrades

≈ Leave a comment

8CC0EBDB-FBC3-41D1-9247-B897F02A5582

We never had problems with bugs in the West Indies as we always anchored out and there was always a breeze.  Nonetheless, I wanted to have a full set of screens for the Far Reach.

With Hurricane Florence behind us, it was time to return to the preparation of the Far Reach for the voyage back to the BVI and the West Indies.  At the moment we are working on a few small but important projects. Described below are a few of them.

We completed building the drop-in companionway bug screens.  I built the teak frames last winter but got side tracked before installing the screens. I still need to sew up some screens for the foredeck and saloon deck hatches.  Gayle sewed a nice padded pouch to protect them when stored under a bunk.

Continue reading →

Hand Splice Standing Rigging—The Liverpool Splice

16 Monday Jul 2018

Posted by farreachvoyages in Equipment, Maintenance, Modifications, Musings, Uncategorized, Upgrades

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Hand spliced wire rigging

 

6605E4C5-9F2F-4B38-9C4F-2DE760E55F5A

All of the standing rigging on the Far Reach is spliced to include the 3/8” bob-stay and the 5/16” sprit-shroud stays.

Readers of our rebuild website may remember I hand-spliced the standing rigging for the new mast we built for the Far Reach. It was one of the many projects associated with the six year rebuild. I used a splice called the Liverpool Splice. I learned it by reading Brion Toss’ book The Rigger’s Apprentice.

Continue reading →

Building Dorades

07 Saturday Apr 2018

Posted by farreachvoyages in Maintenance, Modifications, Repairs, Techniques, Tactics, Tips

≈ 1 Comment

F3CC88A3-B617-4FC8-BDFD-16C5214F1FD9

The dorade boxes were in bad shape.  Originally, I varnished them but finally painted them white after repeated mysterious varnish failures.

I have known for a long time that I needed to replace the dorade boxes on the Far Reach. During the six year long rebuild I was on a budget so I had to decide how to spend the time and money, where to save the time and money, and when to live to fight another day.   So, building new dorades was saved for another day…which, finally, arrived a few weeks ago

Continue reading →

Daysailing

12 Tuesday Sep 2017

Posted by farreachvoyages in Local Sailing, Maintenance

≈ Leave a comment

IMG_0003

Finally, we were sailing again.  All better now!

We are about to start our last year of homeschool.  Despite what some people think, it is not a lackadaisical thing if you do it right. It’s a lot of work and takes significant preparation. This year I am teaching Current Events, Civics (for the first semester and Economics for the second semester), and Chemistry.   Gayle teaches language arts, writing, and math–all the hard stuff.  There is Spanish and extra curriculars too. I am also an adjunct professor for the Marine Corps Command and Staff College Distance Education Program teaching a seminar one night a week at Camp Lejeune.  So, once the school years kicks off we have to find time to work on the boat and to sail.  Poised at the beginning of the school year I needed to get out for a sail to charge up my psychological batteries.

So, we managed a daysail on 4 September. There was zero wind on the Neuse River.  We drifted for about an hour under warm sunny skies. I didn’t care. I needed to feel the Far Reach moving under my feet no matter how slight the movement might be. But after awhile the breeze filled and settled in at a steady 12 knts.  We sailed with the big jib, the stays’l, and full main. We tacked, reached, and ran.  It felt wonderful. The Cape Horn windvane, however, seemed a little sluggish.  It was a very nice day. We were back in the slip a few hour later. I felt “mo betta.”

The next day, I went back to the boat and looked the vane over closely. I could feel friction in it when I turned the linkages. I suspected that sand and grit from the large gravel parking lot at the boatyard was the culprit. For a year, the Far Reach had her stern to a near constant breeze that stirred up clouds of the dust and stand intermingled with the gravel. No doubt some of the debris had found its way into the fittings and bushings of the vane.  So, I removed the windvane tower and took it home.  I took it apart on the bench–I had exchanged emails with Eric Sicotte, the Nephew of Yves Gelinas, who builds them.  I flushed the UHMW bushings with water, wiped them down with clean rags and sprayed silicone lubricant on the parts. I greased the only part that requires it and put it back together.  A couple days later I took it back to the Far Reach and reinstalled it.

Hopefully we will get back on the water soon.

Categories

Archives

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • Far Reach Voyages
    • Join 43 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Far Reach Voyages
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...