The Billy Ruffian

I have approached a spar company to see if they can offer me a broken mast section. I have envisaged an idea of it toppling forwards rather than backwards, using a table base to mount a suitable crux from the fly dash section, and with which using a tabernacle would allow me to position a suitable hydraulic ram at the base, just got to work the angles and loads out.

That said I reckon with a modern yacht's mast section the weight would likely halve and lifting it manually from a forward drop would be a lot simpler.

A Winter project I feel.
Anthony Foulkes has a suitable mast section for me.
 
VHF Licence from Ofcom free and with me within a few minutes of submitting the application.

SSR £35 and I will let you know how quick (or slow !) it is to arrive. I sent an unsigned version of the BoS so I might get a black mark for that.


Has anyone yet tackled the Ofcom checks for public protection against irradiation ?

Has an idiots' guide bee produced yet, because I think this idiot is going to need one ?
Ofcom did publish a spreadsheet to calculate the EMF exposure I have a copy of it, and I cannot find it on their site just now.
but they do have a quick calculator on their site: EMF Calculator (ofcom.org.uk)
 
Ofcom did publish a spreadsheet to calculate the EMF exposure I have a copy of it, and I cannot find it on their site just now.
but they do have a quick calculator on their site: EMF Calculator (ofcom.org.uk)
I calculated a minimum safe distance of 0.3m. For any member of the public to be affected they would need to have climbed up the stub mast - perhaps they can give it a clean whilst they are up there !
 
Well I have had a thorough dig through the pile of documents that came with the boat, and have established She has now had five owners and shortly will have her fifth name ...

Endura (91 - 97) > Algen (97 - 03) > Jenita (03 - 20) > Jawaba (20 - 22) > Billy Ruffian (soon).

Ah, the penny has dropped now!

I thought I had seen her for sale a while back and it was when she was ’Jenita’ - I remember the name and she was of interest to us when we changed boats in 2020. It’s a bit like food envy in a restaurant looking at what your mate ordered, pleased with what we got but wondering what if….?
.
 
I have approached a spar company to see if they can offer me a broken mast section. I have envisaged an idea of it toppling forwards rather than backwards, using a table base to mount a suitable crux from the fly dash section, and with which using a tabernacle would allow me to position a suitable hydraulic ram at the base, just got to work the angles and loads out.

That said I reckon with a modern yacht's mast section the weight would likely halve and lifting it manually from a forward drop would be a lot simpler.

A Winter project I feel.
Might be worth checking what the Chandlery Barge on the Hamble have out back as well??
 
So this weekend we resolved (for now) the conundrum of getting the mast down and back up twice each trip. Although we still have a significant problem with the cables re-entering cleanly as the mast is raised.

The Radome cable is fine, but all the others are ruined, still not wanting to watch TV, and why does a power boat need a windex anyway ! The Nav light cables will also require replacing, but not planning any night trips yet.

She performed impeccably for her first, albeit brief, voyage to her new home on the upper Hamble.

Looks like at 8 - 9 knot cruise she will burn ~ 10 - 15 litres per hour which is ~4 mpg. Quite happy with that.

So today just a bit of ships husbandry with the deck wash used for the first time, and almost like a jet washer and endless seawater for this purpose. Why I have never thought of this previously I am not sure. I had an X hose from my last boat that was barely if ever used. Brilliant on the deck wash as it stretched to allow me to tour the entire boat from the deck wash locker on the aft deck. The hose literally follows you as though walking the dog.
 
OK so the stub mast is the only headache with this otherwise perfect (for me !) boat.

Today I ventured into the backwoods at Foulkes yard (literally !) to discover a somewhat redundant sail boat mast, complete with tapered top section. Anthony kindly lent me his rechargeable grinder and then 25 minutes (plus some bush cutting) later I have a section of mast 4.5m long, which mounted into the car via the sun roof made me look like I was en route to Ukraine on the way home.

This facilitates the dimensions for the tabernacle and I expect this project will suddenly accelerate up the time priority, indeed I am planning that next week the entire PITA stub mast will be removed pending its replacement in a few months.

I also figure not having a RADAR is not that big a deal for this season, and | can easily re-position critical nav lights.
 
OK so the first priority task is to establish her new identity so today I took down her existing name plate boards, only to discover Neptune rolling at at least 2000 RPM

I am re-naming 'Jawaba' to 'Billy Ruffian'.

So I remove the side name boards to reveal 'Jawaba' is stuck on letters, but on the rear side is also an engraved 'Jenita', her immediate prior name.

But then of course the base board 'Jenita' was designed for sits over the 'Alwen'.

The first requirement King Neptune has is to remove all prior references within her structure to other names.

Now awaiting costs for these be changed
 
OK so the first priority task is to establish her new identity so today I took down her existing name plate boards, only to discover Neptune rolling at at least 2000 RPM

I am re-naming 'Jawaba' to 'Billy Ruffian'.

So I remove the side name boards to reveal 'Jawaba' is stuck on letters, but on the rear side is also an engraved 'Jenita', her immediate prior name.

But then of course the base board 'Jenita' was designed for sits over the 'Alwen'.

The first requirement King Neptune has is to remove all prior references within her structure to other names.

Now awaiting costs for these be changed

Keeping King Neptune happy can be a right PITA ?
.
 
Another mast idea…….

was at Henley regatta on Friday watching the mock paddle steamer which has to lower large, mock funnels - probably 10 times a day.

Their system is a tabernacle mount and an electric wire cable winch. Cable becomes the stay when raised.

The tension would be high at the start of the raising process so the tabernacle would need to be beefy. Just a thought……
 
Another mast idea…….

was at Henley regatta on Friday watching the mock paddle steamer which has to lower large, mock funnels - probably 10 times a day.

Their system is a tabernacle mount and an electric wire cable winch. Cable becomes the stay when raised.

The tension would be high at the start of the raising process so the tabernacle would need to be beefy. Just a thought……
This is not so different to my idea.

I have acquired a section of mast, and have designed the tabernacle to suit the mast section's dimensions.

Now just awaiting prices, however if anyone can recommend a fabricator for folding thick stainless steel sheet please let me know.
Support bracket.jpg
 
So second trip out on Sunday and something of a near disaster and massive embarrassment attempting to berth at Cowes Yacht Haven.

It didn't help that clearly 8 months away from the throttles has left me a little rusty.

So as I approach the berth allocated on the outer pontoon, on a gentle flooding tide I attempt to engage astern on the port engine to brake me and bring the stbd 1/4 onto the berth. Except nothing happened, initially the engine would not go astern and then it would not go ahead either.

The flybridge controls were simply not engaging the gearbox. I managed to get the boat into safe water, by running the stbd astern which swung me out into the fairway, but with little control over her direction.

So I nipped below to take over on the lower helm. This did regain me control of the port engine, but I had by then swung around and was then making a more sensible up tide approach, but with quite stiff westerly wind pushing me off.

At that point the berthing mistress decided to 'help' by shoving my stern hard onto the pontoon, with further help when someone ashore made fast my stern 1/4, leaving the bow drifting out, and I hadn't realised it was now caught by both the tide and wind, and no amount of small rib and bow thruster was going to help, nor power on the stbd prop, because with the port 1/4 firmly attached this cancelled any ability to swing the bow in.

Fortunately I gained my senses quick enough to order my lines be released and we rapidly left before I whacked into the moored powerboat now astern of me.

The next approach was the correct one and I got her there myself, and berthed her safely. I then thought about what had happened to make such a cock of it the first time.

OK the loss of port drive didn't help, but I was back in control before I was 'assisted'. I now realise I should have made it clear to those offering assistance DO NOT ATTACH my stern 1/4 with a tide on the nose and wind blowing me off the pontoon. It is amazing how quickly a minor problem can cause loss of concentration, indeed it was also as though I had become secondary to those trying to assist.

What was also clear was the difficulty of mooring from the inside helm station, with limited view and even more limited communication with crew on deck and assistance on the pontoon.

Still no harm done except a knock to my pride.

Now why is the port not engaging freely from the fly controls - that matter is now in hand as the controls are quite new and I expect the cables are stretching themselves in a bit.
 
So second trip out on Sunday and something of a near disaster and massive embarrassment attempting to berth at Cowes Yacht Haven.

It didn't help that clearly 8 months away from the throttles has left me a little rusty.

So as I approach the berth allocated on the outer pontoon, on a gentle flooding tide I attempt to engage astern on the port engine to brake me and bring the stbd 1/4 onto the berth. Except nothing happened, initially the engine would not go astern and then it would not go ahead either.

The flybridge controls were simply not engaging the gearbox. I managed to get the boat into safe water, by running the stbd astern which swung me out into the fairway, but with little control over her direction.

So I nipped below to take over on the lower helm. This did regain me control of the port engine, but I had by then swung around and was then making a more sensible up tide approach, but with quite stiff westerly wind pushing me off.

At that point the berthing mistress decided to 'help' by shoving my stern hard onto the pontoon, with further help when someone ashore made fast my stern 1/4, leaving the bow drifting out, and I hadn't realised it was now caught by both the tide and wind, and no amount of small rib and bow thruster was going to help, nor power on the stbd prop, because with the port 1/4 firmly attached this cancelled any ability to swing the bow in.

Fortunately I gained my senses quick enough to order my lines be released and we rapidly left before I whacked into the moored powerboat now astern of me.

The next approach was the correct one and I got her there myself, and berthed her safely. I then thought about what had happened to make such a cock of it the first time.

OK the loss of port drive didn't help, but I was back in control before I was 'assisted'. I now realise I should have made it clear to those offering assistance DO NOT ATTACH my stern 1/4 with a tide on the nose and wind blowing me off the pontoon. It is amazing how quickly a minor problem can cause loss of concentration, indeed it was also as though I had become secondary to those trying to assist.

What was also clear was the difficulty of mooring from the inside helm station, with limited view and even more limited communication with crew on deck and assistance on the pontoon.

Still no harm done except a knock to my pride.

Now why is the port not engaging freely from the fly controls - that matter is now in hand as the controls are quite new and I expect the cables are stretching themselves in a bit.

Did well not to do any damage.
If the port quarter was attached why would starboard forward with a bit of port rudder not bring the bow in?
 
Did well not to do any damage.
If the port quarter was attached why would starboard forward with a bit of port rudder not bring the bow in?
For the bow to swing in to port the port 1/4 has to swing out, at least to some extent. With it held tight all the stbd did was pull hard forward.
 
For the bow to swing in to port the port 1/4 has to swing out, at least to some extent. With it held tight all the stbd did was pull hard forward.
Not in my experience. It’s what I do if single handed and blown off. Get the rear quarter on and put the opposite engine forward. It pulls the line tight, squashes the rear fender and the bow comes in. In strong wind add some helm.
Not a thing to fry with an engine down in a new boat with an audience, but try it sometime in benign conditions. It works!

Footnote if using the technique with a crew, get them to give two thumbs up before putting the power on. That way you know they don’t have a trapped finger. You put a LOT of load on the line.
 
Top