Final Prep Before Launch - i550 Sailboat

We've been busy here in the Icebox. After we put the keel on, lots of details fell into place. So many details … but in the past couple of weeks we glued the mast together, cut it to length, cut the shrouds and forestay, attached Hi-Mod mechanical turnbuckle studs, installed the jib halyard exit block, mounted the rudder, rigged the boom, installed a windex at the top of the mast, rigged the articulating pole controls, mounted the jib car tracks, painted the rudder, and fine tuned some of the hardware that we previously mounted.

There are only a couple of items left on the to-do list before we launch the boat. First, I need to finish trimming the tiller. After mounting the rudder and fussing with the pintles until they fit and lined up correctly, I attached the tiller and discovered that it was about five inches too long and interfered with the main sheet. So I cut off the end of the tiller, dug out a bit of foam and cast a new epoxy/graphite end cap into the end of the tiller. I still have to fuss with that a little bit and I also need to attach the hiking stick. When I trimmed the tiller, I had to cut off the mount for the hiking stick that I had previously bonded to the end of the tiller. I also need to bring out the outboard motor and make sure it is ready to go. When I put it away, I drained the gas and it was running well at that time but it has been over a year since that motor was last started. With any luck, I might be able to just put in new gas and it will run fine. With a little more luck, we won't have to use it at all. Worst case on the outboard is that I will have to fuss with it a bit to make sure it is tuned up and ready to go.

I'm really excited about how the articulating pole came together. We rigged a large bungee cord to the aft end of the pole. The bungee is ½ inch in diameter and is approximately fifteen feet long. It is dead ended at a bullseye on the port side deck. Then, the bungee is led forward to run through a block tied to the aft end of the pole and then the bungee is led to the starboard side deck where it is tied to a short line that runs through a cleat. When the pole is retracted, the bungee stretches. When the pole control lines are eased, the bungee pulls on the aft end of the pole and swings the outboard end forward ready for the kite. Originally I intended to dead end the bungee on the foredeck but the bungee was too short at that location. With the ends of the bungee on the foredeck, it had to stretch to about twice its original length when the pole was retracted. That just didn't work right. The bungee felt like it was stretched too much and that there was too much tension in it. It felt like it could snap at any time or pull the deadend out of the deck. By lengthening the bungee and terminating it farther aft near the chain plates, the bungee is only stretching perhaps 40 percent. Still plenty of pull to launch the pole but without stretching the bungee to its maximum length. The bungee is stretched and the pole launch system is loaded by pulling the line attached to the loose end of the bungee and cleating it off. The bungee can be released/unloaded just by releasing and easing the line attached to the end of the bungee on the starboard side deck.

The pole articulates by swiveling around an axel on the bow and the outboard end of is controlled by lines that run aft on each side of the boat. The control lines are two to one purchase being dead ended near the chainplates, then running forward to a block attached to the outboard end of the pole and then back to the chain plates to a turning block and cleat at the forward outboard edge of the cockpit. In the photos, that control line is a blue and white single braid line. The control line is one continuous line to pull the pole either to port or starboard. Because the control line is two to one purchase, there is a fair bit of line in the cockpit from that system. In order to reduce the amount of extra line, the blocks attached to the outboard end of the pole are lashed to the pole with a single line approximately four feet long which reduces the length of the pole control line by about eight feet on each side because of the two to one purchase. In the pictures, those single lines are black and yellow. In order to keep the pole control lines out of the water, a small bungee cord runs freely across the middle of the pole through a small saddle and outboard to the pole end control blocks. When the windward pole control line is trimmed in, the bungee across the middle of the pole automatically pulls the slack out of the leeward control line to pull it against the pole to keep it out of the water.
Well, I'm off to the workshop to finish that tiller. The plan is to launch the boat and take a test sail within the next few days after the tiller is repaired.

More pictures are avilable at http://picasaweb.google.com/intune99 .