Back to the UK for a winter refit

benjenbav said:
I was wondering why you couldn't unbolt both ends and have the strut machined straight on a bench, but looking back at the photos I guess that you would need to take the engines out again to get at the transom end of the strut?
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It's the centre strut; the lower end (below the waterline) is fixed to the transom with self tappers, and the upper end is bolted though the bathing platform at the swim ladder recess. Trying to turn a screwdriver underwater to free the bottom end might be a challenge too far I think, although releasing the upper end would be easy enough given that both ends of the bolts are accessible.
 
jimmy_the_builder said:
It's the centre strut; the lower end (below the waterline) is fixed to the transom with self tappers, and the upper end is bolted though the bathing platform at the swim ladder recess. Trying to turn a screwdriver underwater to free the bottom end might be a challenge too far I think, although releasing the upper end would be easy enough given that both ends of the bolts are accessible.
Click to expand...

Useless comment #95 aka "it's a bit late for this now": could you have removed the strut before the truck departed, machined it and then refitted it on Friday?

Anyway, snorkel, mask, feet braced against the dockside - should be straightforward...:D

The "free" boat looks outstanding, btw.
 
jimmy_the_builder said:
It's the centre strut; the lower end (below the waterline) is fixed to the transom with self tappers, and the upper end is bolted though the bathing platform at the swim ladder recess. Trying to turn a screwdriver underwater to free the bottom end might be a challenge too far I think, although releasing the upper end would be easy enough given that both ends of the bolts are accessible.
Click to expand...

How far under water? Is it possible to gather a group of fat blokes on the bow to push the stern up. I'm sure Deleted User would be first to volunteer:)
 
Jimmy, ref the strut, not sure if you meant 5mm rather than 0.5. I have found an excellent s/s fabrication team in Biot. Shim it meantime as you say, and during your next winter lift out they can make a new strut. Or, if you cannot remove the bottom strut fixing (as per BJB thinking), they will chop the strut out leaving the strut base attached to the transom, and weld a new strut onto the base in situ

Ref the chairs, borrow my 2 valdenassis for a photo shoot. They have grey sunbrella and big-squares stitching pattern so will match perfectly!
 
benjenbav said:
Useless comment #95 aka "it's a bit late for this now": could you have removed the strut before the truck departed, machined it and then refitted it on Friday?

Anyway, snorkel, mask, feet braced against the dockside - should be straightforward...:D

The "free" boat looks outstanding, btw.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately no - no time available (I was busy prepping the boat, and the RK guys were doing the steering rams). And the boat should be back in the water before I get to La Rague on Friday evening.

And just on a point of order - there is *no way* I am snorkelling in PV :D
 
jimmy_the_builder said:
Actually a simple pole and table top a la the Sq 58 coffee table mod by jfm would probably do the trick. Perhaps that's a project for *next* winter...
Click to expand...
Reminder here:
IMG_3299LR.jpg



But remember to put it away before the helicopter shoot...
IMG_3500LR.jpg

StTropthmb01RT.jpg
 
jfm said:
Jimmy, ref the strut, not sure if you meant 5mm rather than 0.5. I have found an excellent s/s fabrication team in Biot. Shim it meantime as you say, and during your next winter lift out they can make a new strut. Or, if you cannot remove the bottom strut fixing (as per BJB thinking), they will chop the strut out leaving the strut base attached to the transom, and weld a new strut onto the base in situ

Ref the chairs, borrow my 2 valdenassis for a photo shoot. They have grey sunbrella and big-squares stitching pattern so will match perfectly!
Click to expand...

I did mean 0.5mm, but my maths may be lacking Euclidean precision: the strut is about 1250mm iirc, and the deflection is in the centre. So my quick pythagoras calc (with a hypotenuse of 650mm and an opposite of 20mm) gives an adjacent of 649.7 ie a reduction of 0.3mm for half the length, so 0.6mm across the whole length.

Very useful to know about a good local fabricator through, because this is going to bug me until resolved - thanks.

And ref the chairs: sounds like a perfect excuse for a meet-up between the islands or at VF!
 
jimmy_the_builder said:
I did mean 0.5mm, but my maths may be lacking Euclidean precision: the strut is about 1250mm iirc, and the deflection is in the centre. So my quick pythagoras calc (with a hypotenuse of 650mm and an opposite of 20mm) gives an adjacent of 649.7 ie a reduction of 0.3mm for half the length, so 0.6mm across the whole length.

Very useful to know about a good local fabricator through, because this is going to bug me until resolved - thanks.

And ref the chairs: sounds like a perfect excuse for a meet-up between the islands or at VF!
Click to expand...
The maths is good! I didn't know the deflection was 20mm. In reality the end plates will have deformed to take up part of the 0.6mm, but that's neither here nor there - still needs fixing, annoyingly. Does the bottom of the strut come off with engine sin place or is that a royal PITA?

What shape is the bend? Is it a kink? Could we make a jig out of two one metre lengths of 4x2, with a line of bolts to bend the tube (as the filling in the sandwich) back to straight?
 
jimmy_the_builder said:
I think that is an excellent mod. Didn't you do something extra clever about the base mounting - did it fit into the hawsepipe? I think I'd need to fit a deck socket into the bathing platform to make this work.
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Yep it bolted thru the hawse hole so there were no things permanently bolted to the boat

On yours, you could have a 60 dia flat polished s/s disc (upside down hat) set into the deck thru bolted, flush with the teak, and an M10 hole in the middle. Then have a matching s/s foot on the table leg with M10 stud protruding. The two machined flat 60 dia surfaces pressed hard to each other will make it wobble free. Another alternative would be to weld a neat little socket to the face of the garage door handle. Where the handle is currently 5mm thick make it 20 thick, and get an M12 hole in it or something. then attach the table leg to that. Either way, a mission for colhel!
 
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Well done James!

Sorry to hear about the glitch loading today. I know how much this wil bug you, given all the hard work that's gone into it and the fact it's only just been completed......grrrr! Hope all's good with the electronics, did that all go in and link ok?
Looking forward to all the final photos when the boat gets to PV.

Safe trip and as per the first time, fully expect the weather will now improve here for us UK boaters now Vega's gone south��
 
jimmy_the_builder said:
I did think about this, but decided against on the simple grounds that I don't have anywhere to store it.
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But you DO! :encouragement:

The area in front of the engines and to the side of battery compartment is massive and great for storage of covers, tables chairs, lines and fishing tackle. All I did was mount four little posts about 200mm high with channels to allow a simple piece of white melamine shelving to slide into the runners. One longer piece and two smaller to create floor partitions. This makes them easily removable but gives you a partitioned (from the engines) area for storage. I kept several crates down there held securely with bungee hooked to floor mounts.

You would even have space for one of these little Teak tables. they look great and not expensive either.:cool:

See here:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WOODEN-FO...t=LH_DefaultDomain_3&var=&hash=item33a264998e

I'm sure they do little folding chairs too, tho you may prefer some sort of Directors chair with 'Vega' on the back. :)

RR
 
Illusion said:
Well done James!

Sorry to hear about the glitch loading today. I know how much this wil bug you, given all the hard work that's gone into it and the fact it's only just been completed......grrrr! Hope all's good with the electronics, did that all go in and link ok?
Looking forward to all the final photos when the boat gets to PV.

Safe trip and as per the first time, fully expect the weather will now improve here for us UK boaters now Vega's gone south��
Click to expand...

Raymarine installation was ok, the usual challenges of routing cables around a small boat. Radar cable was a pig but we got there in the end. Haven't had a chance to do any setup or calibration yet though - hoping to get to that either this weekend or next.
 
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