Recent content by MissFitz

Oops, ‘slip’ of the tongue ?

My Dubarrys (Ultima) have finally ceased to be waterproof, mainly due to the fact that the toes were ripped out of them doing bow on a boat with very effective non-stick paint. I loved them but can't afford to keep replacing them. Are there any alternatives that would stand the wear and tear...

Lots of excellent and interesting suggestions, thank you. I now know what ordnance datum is! I’m on Brighton and Hove borders, so right down at seafront level, but the beach shelves so steeply here that you can’t even see the second floor from the high water mark. So I think the easiest way is...

I’ve finally got round to doing my astro nav during lockdown. Very fortunately, I live in a south-facing flat on Brighton seafront so I don’t have to go outside to take sun sights. What I can’t figure out, though, is how to work out my height above sea level/chart datum. Can anyone help? (My...

I need to buy a small angle grinder. Initially this is just to cut a load of machine screws but am assuming I'll find other uses for it in due course. The cheapest ones seem to come in at around £30. Will they be ok or is that a false economy?

Very excited to see this morning that Pip Hare is mounting a Vendee 2020 campaign. If you don't know Pip, she's a truly awesome woman and an amazing sailor. She's been crossing oceans solo for decades, and since starting ocean racing in 2009 has done an Ostar and two Mini Transats, won the...

It's not impossible but I think it's unlikely. A friend has suggested that it may be a type of bolt with a self-opening head (??), and says it may be possible to screw them out by using a pair of pliers and maintaining outward pressure. Either way, I've decided that I really would like to know...

Two excellent questions. Briefly, I was assuming that the halyard would need to be spliced or knotted onto a shackle. And I went on a Marlow factory tour where they told us never under any circumstances to knot lines onto shackles, which meant a splice. And splicing dyneema core looked a lot...

I need to get a new kite halyard for my Sonata and wanted to get racing dyneema but at 8mm it's prohibitively expensive. I could get 6mm but think it might be a bit tough on the crew/blocks. The local chandlery suggested cruising dyneema, which is a fraction of the price. Is there any reason not...

Would love to leave it on the mast but currently it’s only a couple of cm from where the halyard comes out so there’s no way to go round it (in fact, it seems to be very good at recleating itself during drops, which is another reason I want it gone). Tightening up nuts and cutting off the...

My Sonata is currently set up so that the kite halyard cleats off on the mast. I want to bring it back to the cockpit so need to remove the mast cleat. Yesterday I went to do this and found that it is/was attached to the mast with machine screws and nuts, with the nuts on the outside. So when...

Thanks guys, the angle grinder solution sounds great, much safer than solvents. Will give it a go!

I've removed some old headlining from my boat and need to clean a couple of decades' worth of dreck from the deckhead before painting it white. I've had a go with white spirit, which sort of works but will be a long job. Is there anything that would be more effective? (I have friends who can get...

Really interesting and useful feedback, thanks guys. Sounds like blocks are the way forward and very glad I didn’t buy the little Lewmar ones I was looking at last week, clearly way too small. One really dumb question though - what exactly is a 4x2x2x2 system? Is it one of the ones on this...

I want to make a simple cascade kicker system for my Sonata. The ones I’ve seen pics of use blocks, but it occurred to me that lots of boats seem to be replacing smaller blocks with antal rings at the moment. When I put this to a chandler, though, he said that was fine for backstays but would be...