Chain Stripper Modification

Bent stripper compared to new stripper

Last year I had a guest on board who was trying to be helpful and undertake some of the chores on the boat. He was going through the anchoring process and while anchoring, I (he) found a deficiency in my capstan while easing out chain as one puts on the snubber.
Normally, when bringing in the chain with the capstan, a stripper is in place to ensure the chain comes off the capstan and goes down the Hawse pipe. Otherwise, it can get caught in the gypsy (wildcat in the USA) and wind up the chain around itself. Easing chain out, say when anchoring, the weight of the chain is usually sufficient to take the chain of the capstan gypsy. But in my case, my guest was not aware of the potential issue and as he eased the chain out while holding tension on the snubber line, the chain stayed in the gypsy and bent the chain stripper on the opposing side. You can see the bent stainless stripper above.

Plastic compared to SS

We were in the middle of "nowhere" and there was no way I could straighten that stainless. So what to do? I used one of my wife's "polyplastic" chopping boards and cut it up to make a plastic, but temporary chain stripper. While getting everything ready, including a cardboard template, I decided to design it so it was able to strip the chain whether it was coming in, or going out. I used both hacksaw and Dremel for fashioning the plastic stripper and the thing worked so well, it stayed on for the whole cruising season (6 months). I improved the cardboard cut out a little and had a piece of 6mm stainless laser cut when I went home.

Plastic stripper in place

New SS stripper to replace plastic in place

Square cut to Radiator Hose

Sometimes we need to cut radiator type hose with a nice square end. Some of you know how hard that can be with the hose unsupported and cut with a hacksaw. Here’s how we do it. BUT, don't do this if the hose has a metal spiral inside. Your saw blade won't like it.
 Take the hose and find a suitable piece of dowel to insert into the hose. It helps to have a firm fit and if your piece of dowel is slightly over sized, use a belt sander to take the end of the dowel down to a slight taper until it fits snugly into the end.

From my pictures you can see two hoses; one fitting inside the other. It was important for me to not only get both hoses cut square at the ends, but to also have both hoses cut to the same length.

Once the dowel was placed in the end. A line was marked and we used a table saw to cut the hose. Be careful not to cut fingers! Leaving the dowel in place in the end of the hose, we turned it over and repeated the process at the other end.

If you don’t happen to have a table saw, here’s another technique you can use. Once your dowel is placed, take a square piece of paper, and roll it around the hose so that one edge comes around and lines up with the same edge as it is rolled over the hose. This is to ensure the proposed cut line is square to the hose. Slide to desired position and with the paper firm and edge lined up, scribe a pencil mark around the hose on the paper edge. Remove the paper, and now proceed with a hacksaw to cut the hose to the line; rotating the hose as the hacksaw cuts into the wooden dowel. This is a better technique if the hose has the metal spiral "spring" inside it. The hacksaw will cut through that OK.

Thanks to Paul Gooch for his tips

Homemade Teak Cockpit Table

Mark Corke has once again turned out a great boat project;  a beautiful looking cockpit table.

I've tried a cockpit table in my cockpit, and ended up using hinges and support legs. I eventually removed it. Mark has a unique way of doing this and the pictures on his blog site say it all. Hop on over to his blog site to check the whole project out

He says this about the table.

 " I think that the pictures are fairly self explanatory but what I like about this table / cup holder is it's simplicity; no fancy hardware and nothing to break. As you will see it is all made from teak and teak plywood and consists of a drinks holder securely clamped to the crash bar ahead of the compass binnacle. When out cruising this offers a great place to hold mugs and cans without fear of spillage and yet within easy reach of the helmsman and crew in the cockpit. But what really sets it apart is when you get into port and you need to set up the table for alfresco dining. The table is simply lifted off it's stainless hooks and pulled away from it's clips keeping it neatly in position and slid into the horizontal, no metalwork, flaps, hinges or other impediments to adjust or break off for that matter. "

Too much to do

For all the readers who have come by my blog site, who were waiting an announce on the hybrid engine, I offer an apology. I had the unit built and running, but was unable to complete sufficient tests to determine whether it was a viable solution to reducing the amount of diesel we burn.

I have over 7 suitcases of stuff (read projects) to take back to the boat. My time just got hijacked by turning out these various items, and I just run out of time for the hybrid engine.

I have kept the equipment and may continue to pursue it when I return to home in 3 years time.

Till then, I hope to continue with the blog on Boat Projects, and I do hope you can contribute something yourselves. More projects coming in March as I settle back into the boat.

Solar Panel Mounting

Update 2013

You will read below where I have in the past preferred the lever action over the allen key action. After two years of using these, I can now say I prefer the allen key model of antenna mount with a small modification.

I took the allen head screw and had a small "T" welded to the head of the screw. This made adjusting easier (no longer needing an allen key) and more precise than the lever type.

To continue with the blog from 2011....

There are many ways of mounting solar panels. Here is one way to mount with a tidy way to raise and lower the panels.
In a storm north of New Zealand I lost a solar panel along with the temporary railing that I had it mounted on. I have since had the aft of the boat reworked with railing built so it looks like it was always there. Much stronger. Deciding that my previous attempts at methods to angle the solar panels were not that good, I have come up with the following idea for the rail mounted solar panels.
You will note the small vertical rail inserted half way along between stanchions. This was used to mount my actuator arm.

 For the actuator arm, I used a stainless antenna mount and  had made a stainless tube made with a thread at one end and closed off the other. This was screwed to the antenna mount.Apply some locktite to the threads as they may have a tendency to unscrew over time.

This is attached to the small vertical rail in the middle.  The solar panel  was mounted with white rail mount clamps which I had previously used to good effect. This time around though, I had to add spacers because the railing was curved to follow the lines of the boat.
At the bottom of the "solar panel actuator" the one inch stainless leg was placed in some pressure PVC pipe bought from a hardware store and this in-turn was secured to the bottom of the solar panel with leather on both sides of the pipe and the leather secured to the solar panel. I have found it necessary to apply some 4200 between the pvc pipe and leather; other wise the leather looses it's firm grip on the pvc pipe and the pipe will drop out. This allows free movement of the stainless piece of the solar panel actuator as the panel is raised and lowered. I used two different types of antenna mounts. One with allen key and the other with a turning lever. The one with the lever, I cut off short because you only need thumb tight and the lever would interfere with my lee cloths.

After trying both, I prefer the lever arm rather than the allen key type.
Read the mod above. The panel raises from full down to 30 degrees off the vertical. One could, if you don't have lee cloths, build the actuator arm with a curve in it near the mounted piece so that when raised it would allow the railing to not impinge on the actuator arm. I'm happy with 30 degrees off the vertical and lee cloths.

The lee cloths had small "U" shapes cut out and bound, so that the hinges and actuator arm could function. The lee cloths were secured to the railing and toe rail with cable ties. Lee cloths not shown here