Round Britain day 43

[Concerto]

Just out of curiosity, what is the reason for attaching the mainsail to its sliders with elastic?
It seems counter-intuitive if you want a straight luff, but then going back to my first cruising boat in the early 70's I have always had shackles, lashings or sewn webbing attachments, though on a friend's boat before that we had lashings to mast hoops.

No real idea. That is how it arrived and I was told it was fairly standard. Though wilkinsonsails (Cindy always calls me Mr Concerto) in post #34 said they should be webbing. When I first lost one of the elastic connectors, I left it off for a short while until I was in a caravanning/camping shop and saw they sold identical ones, used to secure tents and awnings to pegs, in several lengths in bags of 10 for under £10. When I took them aboard, the only difference was the balls were black, not white. So maybe using them is a cost saving compared to webbing which has to be stitched.

 

[Concerto]

Well today I did not wake up very early and felt quite rested. Instead of having a bite to eat onboard, I treated my self to brunch of a fried breakfast. Then I slowly ambled towards Stromness Museum as it closed for lunch until 1.45. I went via the Pier Art Centre, a couple of local tourist shops and the IIRC Vintage Paper or Print company. Details of the museum and photos in the next post as I can only include 12.

Stromness has one main street with 4 sections with different names. It looks pedestrianised, but still carries 2 way traffic along this twisty road with a wide range of buldings that seem to have been built in a higgly way. I hope the photos capture this. As I returned I popped into the Red Shed which is primarily a dive shop but also a chandlery. It covers most of a boats basic requirements, so if in the area it is worth having a look.


















Stromness Museum

 

[Concerto]

Admission to the Stromness Museum is £5 or £4 for seniors, but the ticket allows for return visits within 7 days. It has an excellent display of items from the scuttling of the German Fleet anchored in Scapa Flow in 1919. There plenty of other maritime items from lighthouses, ship models, dioramas and paintings, whaling, etc. A small section was devoted to the Hudson Bay Trading Company, as it was based in Stromness. There was also information about exploration of the NW and NE Passages. The museum was originally set up in 1837 as the Orkney Natural History Society to collect specimens of natural history and antiquities of Orkney. So there are plenty of stuffed birds, birds eggs, butterflies, seashells, etc, plus some history of the Orkney's and the geology. Part of their unusual display is items from Africa, collected by explorers and sailors from the Victorian period onwards. Some of the displays are quite impressive.


Part of the scuttling of the German Fleet in Scapa Flow in 1919.


General maritime and lighthouses display.


Ship dioramas.


The first inflateable dinghy, invented in 1844.




What the first inflatable dinghy looked like.


Whaling exhibits.


The white cabinets are Victoriam and the wooden ones are modern.



Birds of prey with a Golden Eagle in the centre.


Smaller inland birds.


Seabirds and in the lower right corner a Fulmar.


Our favorites, the Guillemot and Puffin.

 

[Adjag]

The sailmaker did say there are some precision batten cars made completely in aluminium, but at £300 per car - ouch.

Thinking about this this evening I realise there is a screw into the plastic to allow the sail to flake down, rather than the battens standing upright. Maybe they should never be screwed in tight or flaking the sail could cause the thread to break over time. Again a design fault. If movement is required then it should be provide in a way that the bolt cannot be screwed in tight. I have check my paperwork and can see no warning the bolt should not be fully fitted. Just a further comment, the mainsail has not been off the mast for 4 or 5 years.

We have these Selden "batten receptacles", I think you're quite right that the stud shouldn't be tight as the batten needs to turn at least 1/4 turn either way when the sail is dropped & maybe sometimes whilst it's hoisted& flapping in a breeze. Great account of your trip - really enjoying it!

 

[jamie N]

You'll not have ignored the fact that there're some pretty good pubs close by?
The Ferry Inn helped in slaking my thirst, on a number of occasions......

 

[Concerto]

You'll not have ignored the fact that there're some pretty good pubs close by?
The Ferry Inn helped in slaking my thirst, on a number of occasions......

Alas I am not a beer drinker, so drinking alone in a pub is not really my thing, so I rarely visit pubs even whilst at home. It has probably saved me a fortune in beer tokens though.

 

[srm]

We have these Selden "batten receptacles", I think you're quite right that the stud shouldn't be tight as the batten needs to turn at least 1/4 turn either way when the sail is dropped & maybe sometimes whilst it's hoisted& flapping in a breeze.

Assuming the "batten receptacles" have been fitted to allow 180 degrees plus of rotation the bearing surface is the plastic/stainless steel thread. To my mind using a steel thread as a bearing surface with fluctuating load directions, as opposed to smooth faces, looks like a designed in failure point for the plastic. However, I readily admit to have no engineering training, just a working life and leisure time in the marine environment so would like to hear any corrections.

 

[creeks]

Slowly I hauled my way towards the narrowest section and the speed over the ground dropped to 1 to 2 knots. It was going to be a long slow rough end to the trip. When I was almost through I saw a welcoming party coming towards me. Someone ashore thought I was in difficulties, so the RNLI were sent out. I gave them a wave, but could not talk to them as my hand held VHF was below and I did not want to go below in those conditions. They motored alongside and they could see I was not having any difficulties, but stayed until I cleared the narrows and gybed towards Stromness. They then headed back to their berth. Tomorrow I will try and thank them for their concern, but I was quite happy in the conditions despite my breakages.

See the 7th July post on here:
RNLI Stromness Lifeboat

If you're on Facebook Concerto you could post a comment. Otherwise perhaps someone else could maybe with a link to this thread? I'm not on FB myself.

Thank you for a wonderful thread. With ancestors from Cape Wrath, Loch Eriboll and John O'Groats I am particularly interested.

 

[Concerto]

See the 7th July post on here:
RNLI Stromness Lifeboat

If you're on Facebook Concerto you could post a comment. Otherwise perhaps someone else could maybe with a link to this thread? I'm not on FB myself.

Thank you for a wonderful thread. With ancestors from Cape Wrath, Loch Eriboll and John O'Groats I am particularly interested.

No I am not on Facebook, so cannot make a comment. I did pop into the RNLI shop to pass a message on to the crew.

 

[srm]

Nice photo on the FB link showing the wave conditions Concerto had to come through.

 

[MoodySabre]

From the lifeboat Facebook page
No sooner had the Stromness RNLI lifeboat volunteers pulled off their yellow wellies after an exercise tonight they were pulling them on again (the crew were still in the changing room). At just after half past seven the coastguard asked them to go to the assistance of a yacht, reported by a member of the public to be in difficulties in Hoy Sound. The yacht skipper reported all was well but the lifeboat escorted him into Stromness harbour as a courtesy. Violet Dorothy and Kathleen was re-fuelled and ready for service again by just after eight o'clock. Thank you to the Stromness crew and thank you to whoever made the initial call to the coastguard. Much better to be safe than sorry in such situations. If you see anyone in apparent difficulties on the sea, shore or cliff, dial 999 AND ASK FOR THE COASTGUARD.

 

[Concerto]

Today has been about getting the laundry done as some of my clean clothes had soaked up some salt water.

This afternoon to ear;y evening I fixed the problem with the halyard slots allowing water to get under the sprayhood and then enter the cabin. A detailed description with photos is here.
A neat fix to stop water ingress from halyard slots beneath the sprayhood.

In the morning I will see if I can get helicoils fitted to the batten cars. Will get my bike out to try to visit the Ness Battery, then off to the Ness of Brodgar, the Ring of Brodgar and the associated exhibition nearby.

 

[Concerto]

Nice photo on the FB link showing the wave conditions Concerto had to come through.

I do not think that photo was taken on Thursday as the waves I experienced looked a lot worse than those, but when I was slightly further out from the entrance. It was a shame I could not use my phone to capture some of the waves but I needed full concentratation to steer using full helm lots of the time.

 

[Blueboatman]

Well good luck tomorrow with the engineering problem solving and bike runs ?
Loving the sense of place that your photos offer

 

[Concerto]

The two faulty batten cars now have helicoils fitted, total cost £15. Also changed all of the bungy cords on the mainsail slides. The new bungy cords were cheaper than I remembered, just look at the photo. The damaged split pin on the gooseneck has been replaced with a thicker one and the washer refitted.

Been out on my bike today a number of times for some erands and also went to look over at the Loch of Stenness, and in the distance the Ring of Brodgar. A couple of different views of Stromness have been added.

This afternoon my Dutch friend Geert in his small steel boat Klapmuts arrived in Stromness. I first met him whilst in Wells-next-the-sea in Norfolk. I admire him to have travelled so far in such a smaller slower boat. He came aboard this evening for a long chat and I passed him the video of his boat sailing after we both left Scarborough. It is such a small world and he has been following my trip via this forum, so knew where to find me.


Helicoil fitted.


From memory I thought they cost £10.


The damaged split ring, after the washer had dropped off.


The badly damaged split pin along with the new thicker split ring I fitted and washer.


Looking across at Stromness Marina.


View of Stromness from the road north of the village.


Some of the locals.

 

[AngusMcDoon]

Attaching anything of any importance with bungee sounds like an odd idea to me. In my experience it's fine for lashing your butty box to your bike rack, and that's about it.

 

[Blueboatman]

Delighted to read all well .
The locals have great coats ( and a great can do attitude ?)
Heatwave in Sussex, did a lot of watering last evening, I should stay north a bit longer

 

[ProDave]

That was a very good price and service for the helicoils. Let us know how they perform.

 

[Concerto]

That was a very good price and service for the helicoils. Let us know how they perform.

Will be putting them to the test in a few days. I expect them to have solved the problem.

I did a little research on helicoils and found you can buy kits with the coils and tools for under £50. So when I complete this trip, I shall look closer at buying a kit so I can do it myself.

 

[srm]

Following the post from @wilkinsonsails I would be inclined to (as a minimum) attach the slides above and below the batten cars more securely than with elastic. If you do not have suitable tape a multi turn lashing with whipping twine, length adjusted to keep the luff parallel to the mast, would also do. (It was the standard method before tapes). It may take a bit of time but makes a more professional and secure fastening.

I have owned a few cruising boats over the years and have sailed (usually as skipper) on many more and have never seen luff slides attached with elastic. No elastic attachments seen in the marinas here; one of the trans-Atlantic stopping off points.