Category Archives: Repairs

Getting Ready for Sea and Troubleshooting the Cape Horn Windvane

01 Wednesday Dec 2021

Posted by in Local Sailing, Repairs, Upgrades

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With the engine installed and the FlexOFold prop dialed in I finally managed some time to take the Far Reach out on a four day cruise. It had been nearly two years since I had spent any significant time on the boat while underway. I needed to check the engine and the overall condition of the running and standing rigging as well as op-check the boat’s systems, simple though they are, before making the long sail to the Virgin Islands in November. On 10 August I motored the boat down the ICW from the Neuse River to

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Alone Again: Small Projects and Maximum Chill….

01 Wednesday May 2019

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

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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.

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Easy Living

26 Tuesday Feb 2019

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

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The Far Reach has proven to be wonderfully comfortable during extended live aboard. 

For the last month or so it’s been pretty easy living. The Far Reach and I have mostly remained here in Elephant Bay, St Thomas until Gayle could join us.  The pace of living has been slow and relaxed. There has been plenty of time to read, sleep, swim, eat, study the sky, think, and meet new people.

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An Inside Lock for the Companionway Hatch

18 Sunday Nov 2018

Posted by in Modifications, Repairs, Uncategorized

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The new hatch lock conceals the bulk of the brass barrel bolt and makes it stronger. It also can’t be reached from the bridge-deck. 

One of the things I have not liked about my boat is I have no way to lock the companionway from the inside.  It’s an odd thing when you think about it.  When I rebuilt the boat, though I made a lot of changes, I kept the basic design of the original companionway intact. This is an important capability when you are sleeping on the boat and you can’t lock the “front door” so to speak. You are therefore vulnerable. I heard about more than just a few boats getting boarded at night when I was sailing in the West Indies.

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

23 Tuesday Oct 2018

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

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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.

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Building Dorades

07 Saturday Apr 2018

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

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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

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Removable Side-Mount Rotating Arm Engine Bracket

23 Saturday Dec 2017

Posted by in Equipment, Modifications, Planning, Repairs, Sails, Techniques, Tactics, Tips, Upgrades, Voyaging

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Here we are departing Hancock Marina on 29 Nov 2015 for the BVI.  There was not a breath of air.  We used the engine to get to the head of Adams Creek on the ICW that afternoon.  The next day we sailed all the way down the ICW, under two bridges, and out to Cape Lookout where we waited for a weather window to cross the Gulf Stream. A few days later a friend linked up with us in the Bight at Cape Lookout and we transferred the engine to his skiff.  We sailed to the BVI engine free.

While I would prefer to have the Far Reach engine free all the time it would require access to a mooring that we could sail on and off. There are very few moorings in NC and none where we are. She is berthed in a small marina with 360° of protection. So, we often carry a Honda 9.9hp four stroke outboard on a custom-made removable swing arm bracket attached to the port quarter. The outboard allows us to more conveniently move her in and out of her slip, make the tight turn onto the fairway, then exit the narrow 1/4 mile long channel out to the Neuse River.

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A Reefing Jib With A Zippered Bonnet

04 Monday Dec 2017

Posted by in Modifications, Repairs, Sails, Techniques, Tactics, Tips, Upgrades

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On the left is the genoa with the zippered bonnet.   At the upper left of the photo you can see the working jib clew cringle and just below it the leather cover that protects the zipper.  You can clearly see the zipper running diagonally down from left to right. You might also notice there’s is no cover for the majority of the zipper.  It seems to handle the loads just fine.

I have been asked about our bonneted jib a number of times.  I was asked about it again the other day on the Cape Dory forum.  So, it seemed like a good time to provide more detail to those who might be interested.

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Varnish Repairs

26 Sunday Nov 2017

Posted by in Modifications, Planning, Provisioning, Repairs

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The “scratch and patch” repair technique I used to repair the small damaged area on both winch bases worked very well.  I can’t tell where the repair was made on the port base.  Though it still required five repair coats and two full coats over the entire base it still saved a bunch of work.

For the last couple weeks we have been working on several projects as we continue to either further refine the Far Reach’s few systems or conduct routine maintenance. One project was the installation of a camcleat for the jib downhaul System, which is a separate article.

The first varnish project was to repair some damaged varnish on the teak stays’l winch bases. The bases are about 4” tall and are varnished. On top of the base is a 2” thick bare teak pad that serves to raise the winch up enough so the drum is above the top of the coaming. Though we varnish the coamings and pads every four months, there was a break in the varnish on the top edge of each pad. Horizontal surfaces always receive more abuse than vertical surfaces so this damage was not a big surprise.

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Anchor Chafing Guards

28 Monday Aug 2017

Posted by in Modifications, Repairs, Upgrades

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The new larger more abrasion and impact resistant anchor chafing guards.

One of the projects we completed when we originally launched the boat, in the early summer of 2015,  after the six year rebuild was to install chafing guards on the bowsprit to protect it from the stowed anchor banging in to it.  I simply glued leather patches to the bowsprit and then used copper tacks to secure copper flashing to the leather and the bowsprit.  You can read about it here in the daily log under the 17 Nov 2015 entry.

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