Category: Gear and Provisions
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Rudders, Tillers and Self-Steering Gear – Part Three
9th February 2023 Servo Pendulum and other Self-Steering Gear I suppose it must have been the 1995 Earls Court London Boat Show when I bought my Windpilot Self-Steering gear. Those were the days when you could browse amongst the various suppliers and compare and contrast, before getting completely slaughtered at the Guinness stand. Did you…
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Rudders, Tillers and Self-Steering Gear – Part Two
7th February 2023 Trim Tab Self-Steering Last week I had intended to just post a short piece about the repair I have just made to my rudder hangings. Then I got a bit carried away and went on (and on) about rudders in general. That spurred Bruce Morley to drop me a line about his…
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Rudders, Tillers and Self-Steering Gear – Part One
2nd February 2023 Reading Time 10 Minutes Rudders and Tillers in general My Rudder Repair I have always regarded Sumara’s rudder as being pretty bullet-proof. It pivots on a strong bronze fitting with a 3/4″ pintle at its base. It has two sets of heavy bronze castings with a long 3/4″ bronze bolt linking them…
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Tanks and Containers
6th January 2023 Reading Time: Twelve Minutes On Sumara I need to carry three liquids in bulk – Water, Diesel and Paraffin. These are stored in fixed tanks which are supplemented with portable containers. Over the 32 years that I have owned Sumara I have learned a few lessons and picked up a few tricks.…
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Technical Problems
Scoresby Sund Expedition 2022 Day 32. 12th July 2022 Position: Moored Torshavn Weather: The wind has dropped from F9 to about F7, not sure whether to call that good or not. It was a fiercely windy night here last night. Jannicke returned from the airport because all the flights were cancelled. She has only just…
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Waiting for the weather to deteriorate!
Scoresby Sund Expedition 2022 Day 20. 1st July 2022 Position: Moored Ullapool Wind: Southerly F3 Visibility: Good. Sea condition: Calm I’m enjoying my time in Ullapool although I would have set sail by now to make use of the lovely southerly wind. Jannicke arrives tomorrow late afternoon and I am still planning to set off…
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I’ve been sorting through Sumara’s Tools
25th May 2022 – Rotherhithe 17 days to go before the Scoresby Sund Expedition starts In the past I have used a round canvas ditty bag to hold my splicing and rigging gear, plus a Kuny tool bag for all my other tools, but it was always a struggle to stow both of them into…
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Down Below on a Vertue Yacht
11th May 2022 – Rotherhithe 32 days to go before the Scoresby Sund Expedition starts I often have people asking me what it is like sailing on such a small yacht. They are intrigued how everything fits in. Yachts seem to have grown in size a bit like cars, just look at the original Mini…
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MOB Scramble Net – Part Three
13th April 2022 – Dunstaffnage It’s the first time I have tried the gizmo on the boat and it definitely needs to have the loops shortened by 6″. I’ll reserve judgement on the rest of it until I can try it out when the boat is in the water in a few weeks. It is…
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The Preparation Begins!
11th April 2022 – Dunstaffnage I’ve arrived at the boat ready for a month’s solid work to get her expedition ready for the big Greenland trip. It was 20:00 by the time I got here after a very pleasant stop over at Ray and Jackie’s farmhouse in Yorkshire. I managed to find just enough space…