Recent content by PuffTheMagicDragon

Does it have to be "Insignia cloth"? If it is for an UV strip you might want to consider the self-adhesive cloth that is specially made for that purpose by Sunbrella and others.

Make sure that the seller will handle the process of de-registration. This can take some time; in my case the seller had a lot of toing and froing between Rome and Porto Stefano, and it took her some three months. (the boat was berthed in Malta but she was registered under the Italian Flag). It...

Plastic conduit. Cheap, flexible and comes in 3-metre lengths, easily joined together.

Close enough to be a convenient reference to the celestial North and used by navigators for many centuries before the invention of GPS and the other electronic devices that preceded the latter. Then there is also the small matter that, unlike electronic devices, there was not much chance that...

Are you sure that you're not confusing that with the original sundial?

Talking about fingers and angles. Arab sailors navigating across the Indian Ocean had no octants or sextants. They had a 'Kamal', which consisted of a rectangular wooden plate, roughly the size of a cigarette packet. A length of string was fastened to it and had knots tied on it towards the...

"These guys" are racing. The OP is more interested in long-distance cruising.

There is nothing wrong about using multiple Optimist sails. If spaced on deck at 2 metre intervals they would provide all the advantages of multiple slot effects. Think also about reefing; it would be an elegantly simple affair of plucking out masts as required.

One way of solving the problem with rowlocks and losing the oars is to use ring rowlocks and putting a Turk's Head to stop the oars sliding out. It also holds the rowlocks captive to the oars. https%3A//i.imgur.com/pYlz3dD.jpg[/img]']https%3A//i.imgur.com/H54xgoh.jpg[/img]']

One of the first uses of a pair of compasses that one learned when starting geometry at school was how to bisect an angle.

Just identify all the parts - including the missing ones - and wait patiently for a sunny day before you get down to putting it all together! :encouragement:

I forgot to add that, before I spliced the soft eyes, I slipped two short lengths of plastic hose over the rope and later fastened them to the rope at the right location to prevent chafe against the fairleads.

When I had a Centaur I kept the boat on a swinging mooring. I simply made up a bridle with a soft eye at each end. I fitted a heavy stainless thimble over the ring at the top of the mooring buoy. This was first opened out slightly and then closed again once it was squeezed onto the ring. I...

My previous boat was a Centaur, also a 27-foot bilge keeler, and sailed from Scotland (previous owner was from Dundee) down to the Med via the French canals. Unless pressed for time - never a good idea when sailing far - I would go through the canals; might be pooh-poohed by some as 'boring' but...

Can you mount a board to bridge the gap between the two branches of your split backstay at around head height?