This will probably be the last update on this project. I've gotten rid of the boat. It wasn't practical to keep it in Alameda while living in Santa Cruz. I've given the boat to someone who's intending on finishing the restoration work and sailing it out of Monterey, so I should be able to get some pictures of it when it's complete. I may post those here, but I wont be doing any more work on the boat myself. I'm still on the wait list at the Santa Cruz harbor, so I may start another boat project in a few years when that comes due and I'll have somewhere to keep a boat nearby.
For now, thanks for reading.
-Tyler
I haven't updated the site in a while, but don't worry, it's not because I've abandoned the project. A couple months ago I moved from Alameda down to Santa Cruz, but so far haven't moved the boat. It's still sitting in it's slip in Alameda, I gave it a good cleaning before I left, and it should be just fine sitting where it is for a while. I plan on moving the boat down to the Monterey Bay this fall, and then once it's closer, I can get back to work on it. I'll post again when the boat's been moved. Maybe I'll get a bit of sailing done in the meantime. If so, I might post some photos from that.
People are inclined to prefer complexity to difficulty. It's our most defining characteristic. Instead of expending vast amounts of carefully collected food calories to accomplish a task, we'll instead devise an elaborate system that accomplishes the same task with far lower cost (in terms of energy expended). For instance, a long time ago, someone figured out it was a lot less work in the long run to build a fence around a bunch of cows than it was to go wandering through the forest every time you wanted something to eat. This is how we've been able to succeed as a species.
People have become extremely good at this -- we can now do most any task that we require without expending any significant food energy -- we built machines to make our work more efficient, and then we motorized those machines so that we're no longer even contributing the base effort for these tasks. This is all brilliantly complex, and the end result is that most tasks are no longer very difficult -- procure the right machine, turn it on, and you're mostly done. Difficulty then, is associated with the expenditure of food calories. Millennia of evolution have conditioned us for this, and it's very difficult to overcome that. We've survived specifically by not wasting food.
But, substituting complexity for difficulty isn't always possible. Running a marathon is the opposite of complex, but it's extremely difficult. Losing weight is another such task, which is directly opposed to our evolutionary programming. When trying to lose weight, instead of hoarding food calories, we are trying to shed them. This is not a complex task, the solution is simply eat less food. It is, however, very difficult -- that simple solution requires overcoming instincts created over thousands of years. Because of this difficulty, human intuition is to try and find a way to substitute complexity for difficulty. There are a million different diet plans that attempt to do this. And people pay money for them, because we'd prefer a complex solution to a difficult one. Ultimately though, they all boil down to some combination of eating less and exercising more, because that's the only feasible way to complete this task. (Surgery is actually a pretty good solution in terms of preferring complexity to difficulty for this problem, but it causes other issues.)
Another area in which I've seen this same problem crop up is in personal finance. The world (or at least the US) is full of people having difficulty managing their finances. Personal finance is a more complex problem than weight loss, but it's still vastly simpler than many other tasks, for instance building an internal combustion engine, or trying to model the stock market. This problem has a simple solution: Don't spend money that you don't have, and save some of what you've got for a rainy day. That one sentence, if followed, would solve 90% of people's personal finance problems. Again though, we're at odds with our evolutionary programming. Our instinct is to hoard as much "useful" stuff as possible, where "useful" probably means "impressive" or "nourishing" -- the sort of things we think will attract friends or mates, or be tasty. And as such, there's an industry built up around selling complex solutions to this difficult problem.
The challenge then, is to recognize when adding complexity doesn't actually reduce difficulty, and reject these solutions to problems.
If you've chosen a skill, get better at it. If a cause, contribute to it. If a place, get involved in the community. Etc...
If you try this, let me know if it works for you or not.
I made little progress on the boat in April, and none so far in May, so even though the first week of May has mostly passed, this update only covers things done to the boat in April. Despite the relatively small amount of progress, it was still some progress, and here are the things I completed.
The outhaul line was replaced. This sounds trivial, but ends up being a pretty significant pain. The outhaul has a 4:1 purchase system built inside the boom, and it's not easily removable. The boom gooseneck had been riveted to the end of the boom extrusion, and to gain access to the block inside, I first had to drill out the rivets. Before doing this, I tried to run a leader line through the boom in place of the outhaul line, but that turned into a big mess, which was only complicated by the fact that one end of the outhaul is anchored to the inside of the boom. I then tried to extract the whole outhaul assembly from the opposite end of the boom, but this didn't work as there's a reinforcing collar inside the boom with a diameter too narrow for the whole assembly to slide through, so it needed to come out the front of the boom. After replacing the line, I reassembled the whole thing with bolts rather than rivets, so that doing the same work in the future will be less difficult. The new outhaul is the black and red line in the photo.
I also redid the traveler. I found the old traveler positioning to be a pain, mostly in my back -- the cam cleats were located right in the middle of the backrest where'd you be likely to sit while holding the tiller. Oddly though, finding a better place to put them wasn't easy. I experimented with a lot of different ideas, and eventually decided to put them on the cockpit seats, far enough back from the cabin that two people could sit side-by-side at the front of the cockpit and still not sit on them, yet close enough to make reaching across to the low side of the boat to release the leeward line without getting up simple. I bought a new set of cam cleats and new line as well, to make everything look pretty as well as operate much more smoothly.
I also decided that I'd had enough with the faded, cracked, splintered backrests, and I decided I'd sand them smooth. This took quite a bit of sanding, as the low spots in the wood were probably about 1/8 inch lower than the high spots, and as I wanted a smooth surface, I had to take the entirety of the wood down about 1/8th of an inch. They came out pretty well though, as you can see above in the photo of the traveler, as well as from the other side in the photo alongside this paragraph. I still haven't decide if I should try to varnish or finish them in some way, but I'm considering coating them with a layer of epoxy, partly because I've already gotten a few spots of it on there while doing fiberglass work on parts of the boat near the backrests.
I also fixed two different cracks in the glass work on the boat. One behind the port side lazarette, which you can actually see in the photo of the traveler above, and another at the edge of the cockpit floor, also on the port side, almost directly below the other crack. Unfortunately, I forgot to take photos of these repairs, so no picture for now. Maybe I'll take some and post them in my next update.
None of these things are major changes, but they're all progressing forward, which is good. Getting the cracks in the fiberglass work gets me closer to being ready to paint, and that will make a huge difference in the appearance of the boat when I do it. I have to admit though, painting seems like a huge job with a lot of potential to go wrong, so I'm a bit apprehensive about starting on it. I'll let you know when I do, though.
It's been a while since I've updated this website. It's not due to a lack of progress on the boat, but rather due to the fact that I've been having more fun getting the boat working than working on the website. Since the last update, I've finished the new rigging, installed the roller furler, and actually taken the boat out sailing a few times, among other things.
The rigging went back together without too much of a problem. I basically guessed at the tensions for the shrouds and stays, but I've had the boat out several times in pretty brisk winds since putting it all back together, and it seems to work just fine. I did tighten everything up a bit after my first guess. I used Bill's boat that's parked next to mine as a reference, but then later on I talked to Bill about it, and he said his shrouds are looser than they should be, so I tightened mine up a bit more. I decided not to reattach the adjustable backstay with the new rigging. It's more trouble that it's worth, and the extra rigging cluttering the cockpit for it was something I didn't want to deal with.
After the rigging was done, I installed the roller furler, twice. I screwed up the first time and broke the extrusion that mounts over the headstay, and had to order a replacement. That was a waste of $180, but at least I know how to do it now. If you're interested in installing a Schaeffer CF-500 furler on a Santana 22, drop me a line, I can give you some tips. Even after I got it on the second time, I realized I haven't done it entirely correctly. I've got it working for the most part, but I have a feeling it's more likely to jam than it should need to be. I may replace the extrusion one more time, sometime in the future, but for now it's working and I sort of feel I should just leave it alone.
Since finishing the furler, I've started on some cosmetic work. Filling in a lot of holes with epoxy and fiberglass, and prepping the boat for new paint. I've decided to paint the boat one section at a time, starting with the cockpit, so that's where I've been focusing my effort so far. I pulled out all the old, non-working instruments, and fiberglassed in all the holes. I also filled a lot of little screw holes left from hardware that I'd removed -- things like the unnecessarily elaborate pulley system for locking the cockpit lockers, and hardware for the adjustable backstay that I'd removed. Even holes for the fire extinguisher mount that went through the back wall of the cabin. That seems like a really dumb way to mount the fire extinguisher, so I'm moving it to the bulkhead that the chainplates attach to.
There's a lot more detail I could go into on a lot of these projects. I'll try to find the time if anyone asks, and I'll probably write up a post on fiberglassing up one of the big instrument holes, because I've got a good set of pictures documenting the whole procedure. I've also got a bunch more uncategorized pictures you can browse through. One other thing I managed to do was take some friends out under the Golden Gate Bridge, which was the maiden voyage with the new furler, and was a lot of fun. More updates to come.
A list to come back and check on at the beginning of 2010:
* I recognize that these particular goals require constant vigilance.
Since the mast came down, I've been working on getting everything ready to put it back up, which has consisted of a few small projects. I had to have two little mounting brackets built for where the headstay and backstay attach. The old ones were corroded and bent and one had an elongated hole in it. Unfortunately, these aren't stock parts and so I couldn't just buy replacements. I had to have Svendsen's metal shop custom build them for me. That meant paying for an hour's labor, and at $102/hr, these two brackets ended up costing almost $60 each. Oh well, at least they're done and I'm ready to put the stays back on the boat.
I cleaned and polished up the spreaders and the mast. I did sort of a half-assed job on the mast. I waxed it, but I didn't put nearly as much energy into it as I could have. It really needs to be painted to look new again. Maybe I'll do that someday, but it's not on the radar in the immediate future. I attached the new upper shrouds to the masthead today, and replaced the mast boots. They're ready to go on Saturday when everything goes back together.
I also replaced both halyards. I was planning on switching to all-rope halyards, but it turned out to be more trouble than it was worth, so I just bought a pair of wire/rope spliced halyards from Svendsen's. These went on no problem, and they should last me a good long while. After the new halyards were on, I mounted the bracket for the roller furler that goes over the jib halyard to move it away from the headstay to avoid wrapping the halyard around the furler. I hope that works out well -- it seems like the angle that the halyard will be tensioning the headsail from will be too far away from directly up the headstay, where it should be. It's hard to tell though, without everything being mounted on the boat. We'll see once it's up there, I guess. I forgot to take pictures of this and the new halyards, sorry.
I also tore out the old mess of an electrical system, and started cleaning out the inside of the boat a bit. The boat's more cluttered than usual with my toolbox and all my new parts in there until the mast goes back up, but even still, it's less of a mess than it was before. I've got an old sail bag full of junk in there that just needs to be thrown out. Once the inside's clean, it will start looking a lot better, but it really needs to be repainted, and I want to replace the floor at some point, too, with a floor that actually fits. That's one more project to add to the list.
I've scheduled the raising of the mast for Saturday, so sometime before then I want to get out and have everything else attached and ready to go , so that all that needs to be done Saturday is bolting the mast back in place and tilting it up to vertical. There are plenty of things that could go wrong with that, so if everything else can be done ahead of time, that eliminates sources of potential problems. Assuming the mast gets raised on schedule, I may try and put the furler on the boat on Sunday.
Last weekend I started the work to replace the standing rigging on the boat. I was going to let this wait a bit longer, but I can't get the new jib until the roller furler is on the boat, and I don't want to mount the roller furler over the old headstay, and I needed to drop the mast to replace the headstay, so I figured I'd just do everything at once. I had Jaime and my friend Andy come help with lowering the mast. With three people, everything went pretty smoothly. This first photo is Andy and I removing the boom getting the mast prepped to come down.
We used the mainsheet as a halyard extension so that we could get the halyard down to a railing above the dock, even while the mast was tilting backwards. With the halyard wrapped around the railing like a winch, lowering the mast was easy. Then we took off all the old rigging and at that point, the weather started turning bad so we put everything away for the day.
The next step with this is to do all the service on the mast. I'll clean it and wax it while it's down, I may need to replace the halyard sheaves, I need to install the halyard bracket for the roller furler, and replace the halyards. I also want to get a new windex for the top of the mast. After that, the new standing rigging gets installed and the mast goes back up. That will be the content of my next report or two.
I've been working on a few smaller projects on the boat since it's been back in the water. Unfortunately, I've been kind of lazy on the photographs for these things, but it's not a huge deal really, unless you really wanted to see my new bilge pump. First, and probably least significantly, but most noticeable, is that I got all the scrubbing done on deck. I should still do the topsides eventually, but they're a pain to scrub while the boat's in the water. To the left you can see the current state of the boat, or the cockpit, at least. It doesn't look too bad, really, but the crazing in the gelcoat is more noticeable in person than it is in the photos. Still though, while it still looks old and worn, at least it doesn't look abandoned and covered in dust.
I also replaced the cam cleats on the main winches (the ones for the jib sheets). The old ones had stopped being springy, and a cam cleat that doesn't spring closed really doesn't work very well. I didn't take pictures of these, either, but they might be visible in one of the other pictures I post if you look closely (and if you really find that interesting). And we also got a port-a-potti for the boat. This was mostly because Jaime didn't want to sail on a boat with no toilet, and I didn't want a boat that Jaime wouldn't sail on. It's there on the left, in all it's sanitary glory. It's reported to work pretty well. It's one of those flushable ones that acts almost like a regular marine head, so it's not really that much different than any other boat toilet, aside from looking more fisher-price-y.
That's most of the real work that's been done on the boat lately. I'm waiting for a roller furler to be delivered, and then I'll need a new jib to go with it, and that will be a pretty nice upgrade, but I have to buy the jib first, and that might be a little while. The boat will be so much easier to take out for quick trips with a roller furling jib. Setting up and taking down the jib before and after each sail probably takes half an hour as it is. I'm sure if I was really good at it, it'd be faster, but I'd rather just reduce it to 30 seconds with the roller furler, and not worry about where to store the jib down below. And, speaking of sailing, the boat's been out on the water, under sail, three times now. The wind has been light all three times, but the boat still sails well, even with the old, abused, neglected sails. I wonder what it'll be like with brand new ones? So, the picture for this paragraph is me hoisting the main to go out for a sail with Jaime.
And one more picture, of me sailing upwind in about one knot of wind. The boat still makes pretty good progress though, even when the wind is so light that you can't feel it on your skin. As soon as you can actually feel a breeze, the boat starts moving along pretty good, with no heeling to speak of. We'll see what happens when the wind's over 10 knots. Up next I should have the new jib and roller furler, or a carburetor tune-up for the engine (that likes to die at idle), or maybe some fiberglass/paintwork, but that will probably wait a while, until I've everything working pretty much the way I like. I've also got to replace all the running rigging, and I need to get a sailcover for the mainsail, so there are plenty of things left to do.