drewstwos
New member
Ameeras legs. Yes, of course there are pics!
Well I suppose I should start this tale with a bit of background. Lest I be accused of leading you all up the garden path, Ameera, the lady in question, is a 28ft Pacesetter. Oh dear, and other such nautical expressions, is this a tale of a journey to the Dark Side. Yes it is and for a very good reason. I was brought up under sail so to speak and through advancing years I had migrated to the ease of "turn the key and go". But candidly, costs were soaring generally and being on a more or less fixed income the Mobo had to go. So this was a perfect time to somehow still be able to get onto the water.
As I still have the mooring in Port St Mary, and Neddie Seagoon, being virtually unable to use Ameera due to complete congestion in Douglas Harbour, it was just right for a move. After weeks of trying to get the weather, the tides and time off to coalesce everything fell into place and the day arrived.
Ameera had been moved about due to dredging work so when we arrived and found her, she was against the wall with three other same size boats outboard. Mooring lines draped in every direction. I wish I had been able to take some pix of this but while trying to sort lines out and fending off question from a gawking crown of visitors, this being TT week, I was fully occupied.
Suffice to say that we did get clear in a hurry as the lift bridge at the harbour mouth was raised and the traffic was backing up in both directions. As we arrived at the bridge we were stopped to allow 6 yachts into the basin. Finally we got clear, and I took her out and round Douglas Head and headed south, well southeast to be exact.
The day was glorious. hot and sunny, not a cloud in the sky, but of course no wind at all.
So it was going to be a case of motor all the way. An interesting point here. Ameera has but a little 14 hp three cylinder power unit. but even so we were doing best part of 6/7 kts and that against my old boat with 180 hp doing little more. Well saily boats are very slippery, they have to be I suppose.
At last I had time to get the camera out and clicking. It was so hot the mist was quite thick so sorry for the poor quality of the distance shots.
Just after we rounded Douglas head, we very slowly passed another yacht heading south, both of us pottering along under power.
She eventually headed into Derbyhaven.
Once settled we handed over the helm to George. I have used mobo wheel pilots before but was very impressed with this tiller version
Of course here is the obligatory wake shot and a few others to set the scene.
We did spot one basking shark someway off and by the time I had got the camera ready....ahh! too late. But the next thing we saw really impressed me. At last a pot buoy done in the old fashioned correct way, even to the little flag on top. You could see it from a long way off.
There was another one but let one photo suffice.
On past Santon Head.
As I said earlier the mist was quite thick and almost out of sight of land at times until we arrived at Langness
Now on to the bit about her legs. Ameera has a centreboard which is raised for drying out and being of the proverbial wine glass section she would fall over if standing on her own. So it had to be legs. I had made them out of 4 in square timber. 8 ft long. Some over engineering here but better safe than sorry for the Mark 1 version. A hole drilled through at the base to take the fore and aft lines. At the top another hole to take an eye bolt to which was attached a chain which lead to a ring bolt through the main chain plates. This was to avoid drilling through Ameeras side.
We arrived at Port St Mary and rafted against another yacht. We now had time to assemble the legs in position as this had not been done before, until the tide left us high and dry
Would the setup work or not. Of course the legs being wood they tried to float out from the vertical, but trial and error with lengths of rope cured that to some degree. When the fore and aft lines were hauled tight the legs actually rose to the extent the chains would allow. Great but were the legs the right length. Now the tide was falling rather too fast for comfort. but the water bring really clear we were able to see how much clearance there was. Some hasty changes made and then for better or worse, she was on the sand. Relief as we nearly had it right. just as few degrees to port, but safe.
The next day we moved her a few yards onto the half tide mooring, and made the necessary adjustments before she settled again. This time a tad to starboard, but a small change will sort that out.
Fortunately there is but 3 inches of sand over shale and rock in the harbour so there is no chance of het putting a leg into a hole.
Now finally we can be doing all the TLC she needs and hopefully spend some time at sea.
Cheers and have a great summer.
Drew
Well I suppose I should start this tale with a bit of background. Lest I be accused of leading you all up the garden path, Ameera, the lady in question, is a 28ft Pacesetter. Oh dear, and other such nautical expressions, is this a tale of a journey to the Dark Side. Yes it is and for a very good reason. I was brought up under sail so to speak and through advancing years I had migrated to the ease of "turn the key and go". But candidly, costs were soaring generally and being on a more or less fixed income the Mobo had to go. So this was a perfect time to somehow still be able to get onto the water.
As I still have the mooring in Port St Mary, and Neddie Seagoon, being virtually unable to use Ameera due to complete congestion in Douglas Harbour, it was just right for a move. After weeks of trying to get the weather, the tides and time off to coalesce everything fell into place and the day arrived.
Ameera had been moved about due to dredging work so when we arrived and found her, she was against the wall with three other same size boats outboard. Mooring lines draped in every direction. I wish I had been able to take some pix of this but while trying to sort lines out and fending off question from a gawking crown of visitors, this being TT week, I was fully occupied.
Suffice to say that we did get clear in a hurry as the lift bridge at the harbour mouth was raised and the traffic was backing up in both directions. As we arrived at the bridge we were stopped to allow 6 yachts into the basin. Finally we got clear, and I took her out and round Douglas Head and headed south, well southeast to be exact.
The day was glorious. hot and sunny, not a cloud in the sky, but of course no wind at all.
So it was going to be a case of motor all the way. An interesting point here. Ameera has but a little 14 hp three cylinder power unit. but even so we were doing best part of 6/7 kts and that against my old boat with 180 hp doing little more. Well saily boats are very slippery, they have to be I suppose.
At last I had time to get the camera out and clicking. It was so hot the mist was quite thick so sorry for the poor quality of the distance shots.
Just after we rounded Douglas head, we very slowly passed another yacht heading south, both of us pottering along under power.
She eventually headed into Derbyhaven.
Once settled we handed over the helm to George. I have used mobo wheel pilots before but was very impressed with this tiller version
Of course here is the obligatory wake shot and a few others to set the scene.
We did spot one basking shark someway off and by the time I had got the camera ready....ahh! too late. But the next thing we saw really impressed me. At last a pot buoy done in the old fashioned correct way, even to the little flag on top. You could see it from a long way off.
There was another one but let one photo suffice.
On past Santon Head.
As I said earlier the mist was quite thick and almost out of sight of land at times until we arrived at Langness
Now on to the bit about her legs. Ameera has a centreboard which is raised for drying out and being of the proverbial wine glass section she would fall over if standing on her own. So it had to be legs. I had made them out of 4 in square timber. 8 ft long. Some over engineering here but better safe than sorry for the Mark 1 version. A hole drilled through at the base to take the fore and aft lines. At the top another hole to take an eye bolt to which was attached a chain which lead to a ring bolt through the main chain plates. This was to avoid drilling through Ameeras side.
We arrived at Port St Mary and rafted against another yacht. We now had time to assemble the legs in position as this had not been done before, until the tide left us high and dry
Would the setup work or not. Of course the legs being wood they tried to float out from the vertical, but trial and error with lengths of rope cured that to some degree. When the fore and aft lines were hauled tight the legs actually rose to the extent the chains would allow. Great but were the legs the right length. Now the tide was falling rather too fast for comfort. but the water bring really clear we were able to see how much clearance there was. Some hasty changes made and then for better or worse, she was on the sand. Relief as we nearly had it right. just as few degrees to port, but safe.
The next day we moved her a few yards onto the half tide mooring, and made the necessary adjustments before she settled again. This time a tad to starboard, but a small change will sort that out.
Fortunately there is but 3 inches of sand over shale and rock in the harbour so there is no chance of het putting a leg into a hole.
Now finally we can be doing all the TLC she needs and hopefully spend some time at sea.
Cheers and have a great summer.
Drew
