Tracks

With valuable advice from Steve Meeks of North Sails I have managed to lay down the tracks for the new spray dodger.  I reported a problem to Steve regarding the need to force the stiff plastic tracks to fit a compound curve of two axes which I thought an impossible task which would necessitate my laying three separate sections of tracks.  Steve told me that it was very important to lay one track if possible in order to ensure that water would not pass through into the companionway and described the technique of sawing slots along the flange to facilitate bending on that axis. 

Starboard Track

Port Track

I laid the first track but had a gap of perhaps 10mm at the major bend and telephoned Steve to get his OK before I laid the second track.  Within 30 minutes he was on the boat and pronounced my work OK but suggested a method of getting one more screw at the bend to reduce the gap.  I did what he suggested and reduced the gap by 2/3.  I used the experience of the first track to lay the port track with a much tighter and neater fit. 

At this point Steve is able to visit the boat and fit the mock up of the new spray dodger, though in the morning I will lift the tracks then bed them down on a stiff sealant, possibly 3M 5200.  This will prevent any water from the side getting past the spray dodger and into the companionway.

The tracks show in the photos are upside down by design.  The dodger will fit over the track with the bolt rope inserted into the track from below.  This will look neater and protect the track from UV rays.

While Steve was here I told him that I had learned from a nearby boat that the island of St Helena (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Helena) had recently laid down 25 moorings for visiting boats, 10 of which were rated for boats over 50 ft in length. What a great idea!  Since St Helena administers Tristan da Cunha there is hope that Tristan will one day lay down moorings. 

Steve topped my news by telling me that St Helena is laying down a runway suitable for large commercial jet liners.  I asked him if the island was big enough in the commercial sense to accommodate such big airplanes and he doubted it, but that is what they are doing.  He told me that the mail ship service to St Helena is scheduled to end in 2014.  It is a neat run from Cape Town to St Helena, the Ascension Island I think, then on to UK.  Friends of Brenda and I from the Fremantle Sailing Club have done that trip.

Tonight I received a message from Francois aboard his boat Glenn4 that he had managed to drop anchor at Tristan da Cuhna and expects to arrive in Cape Town of 4 Frebruary.