RACING TO THE START LINE

 The Notice of Race (NOR) is out and published. This is the exact requirements you and your boat, need to join the regatta. With this list in hand I could finish the build, and prepare for the race. Safety gear check, food check, spares check, paperwork to join the 5.80 one design fleet … uhhh, ok let’s get that done. Well first thing, my lead bulb was a little too heavy. I think what happened was, I kept all the keel weights separate (but within specifications) and now I have a little re-do. I removed the bulb, drilled a series of large holes to remove weight and reinstalled  the bulb.

Also I had built the boat to the letter of original specification. This called for “fluorescent color” on the house and observation pod. Now we are able to use “a high visibility” color. The original fluorescent paint had faded to white, I had the areas wrapped in vinyl (it came with a 3 year fade warranty).

before wrap

after wrap

Shipping has been a 100% up hill learning curve. No one seems to be able to help you. Finding a local “freight forwarder” (shipper) at your local port was not difficult. But finding a receiving freight forwarder in a country where you do not speak the language, or do not know a single person was tough. My local shipper does not have any offices or contacts in Portugal, 5.80 race control does not know of anyone. Somehow by emailing a friend of a friend of a friend, I made a random contact in Portugal. 

“Totalplan” is the freight forwarder I am using in Sines. (Sines, Portugal is where the container will be unloaded from the ship). Totalplan will clear the boats through customs and will overland truck the container to the shipyard in Lagos for vessel reassembly. I will highly recommend them … when I see how things turn out in the end. I really just wanted to pay someone to tell me what to do, or better yet do it for me. Turns out I have learned (against my will) a great deal about shipping, that I never wanted to learn.

The boats rolled easily into the container, using the dollies we built the boats on. Somehow we ended up with a "HC" container. "HC" might mean high ceiling. We did not need this but the extra height was nice for strapping the boats down, and moving around to wedge fenders on the hull sides and such (yes we put two boats in a 40 foot container and split the costs). Below are the boats in the warehouse and in the container. Fingers crossed we will be sailing soon.

Next stop PORTUGAL !

MAIDEN VOYAGE

I enlisted two sailing friends (thanks JACK J and RON R!) for the maiden voyage. The wind did not cooperate, blowing only a couple of knots. It did give us just enough breeze to sort out the sails and deck rigging. Fourteen months from opening the kit crate, I now have an ocean capable sailboat. After the maiden voyage, I now have a new list of to-do items to tend to, but I can now go sailing as a reward. The maiden voyage revealed a few short falls on my part: I seem to have forgotten any cleating system for the asymmetrical jibs, I never evened opened up the electronics manuals, the jib sheets were two feet too short, and the motor mount needs to travel up/down farther. These were all easy fixes. A few days later I sailed solo, and took the "hard on the wind" picture.

Maiden Voyage

Ron and Jack

Looking Up

Ghosting Along

Hard On The Wind (yes, the Pacific Ocean is just past that jetty)

MOTOR MOUNT

The electric outboard is on a custom high/low mount. It travels up and down on standard 25MM “Tee Track”, and uses standard 25MM cars. The best part is it comes off with no tools, and only sticks past the transom by 5MM (so it will fit in a shipping container, without having to unbolt anything). After real-life motoring, I had to make it travel both up and down a just little farther, and brought it inward toward the transom.

Epoxy backed holes

Low Mount (first try)

High Mount (first try)

Finished Mount, (Both Higher/Lower/Closer)

MAST

Released from customs, I was able to pick up my mast. I was a little worried about the fit (mast step, chain plates, stay lengths), so I mounted/test fitted only the lower section. This gave me three stays to check for correct fit. All good. 

Next I built a custom aluminum masthead cap to hold everything at the tippy top (Tri-color, windex, VHF antennae). A quick test fit, then off to get anodized black. I also had the spreaders and spinnaker pole anodized black. I pulled wires for the antenna and lights through the mast conduit. I tested all the lights from the mast step to ensure I would not have to do anything twice. I also wanted to make the mast a little easier to separate back into two pieces for shipping. I did this by adding “press nuts” to the inside of the sleeve joint. They are 18/8 stainless steel nuts installed with a galvanic blocking gel. These are replacing the aluminum rivets and stainless machine screws supplied from SELDEN. I had to shorten/re-swage the factory forestay in order to assemble the jib roller furling. With several friends helping, the mast went up easy and without using a crane. It went up so fast, I did not get any pictures of the process.

Freshly Unpacked

Stepping Lower Mast Half

3 Stays Test Fit Good

Custom Masthead #1

Custom Masthead #2

Mast Section Joint Close Up

Finished Joint

Ready To Step

Light Test, Final Inspection, Ready To Step

Mast In Its New Home

NO THANKS, ECHOMAX

After delaying my mast stepping by two extra weeks while waiting for my new “approved” radar reflector to arrive, it was a huge disappointment. When it did arrive it was (a) NOT orange, and (b) it was completely HOLLOW AND EMPTY. It did not have any aluminum grid inside. I do not know how this little “defect” made it out of the factory, shipped across the pond, and was almost installed! I mean, this is safety gear after all. Is nobody checking quality at the factory? 

The first picture looks through all the way to the top, just an empty plastic shell, no internals. The next picture shows an aluminum grid inside when looking up the bottom drain hole. Deciding not to wait any longer, I installed a skinnier/taller (non-compliant) Echomax that was bought months prior. The defective reflector back was shipped back. What a waste of time and money!

Look Inside, Light=Empty, Dark=Aluminum

Aluminum Grid

Empty Plastic Shell, Yes You Are Looking Straight Through 

Fresh Out Of The Box

A Video Walk Through

 Exterior

Interior

ORDER YOUR MAST!!!

I ordered my mast mid August 2021, it is now mid February 2022, and I am still waiting for the mast to arrive. I highly recommend you order your mast 6 months prior to launching your boat (shipping may vary, but you've been warned). For 3 months, my boat has been launched, floating at the dock while waiting for her mast. While waiting, I have installed a recessed motor controller and GPS in the cockpit. I also  “tuned” in the charge controller for the solar panel to meet my electrical system needs. But mostly waiting, waiting, waiting. 

Waiting for the mast

Motor controller well

Motor controller well

Well glued in with 5200

GPS Well

Well glued in with 5200

MAST STEP/CHAIN PLATES

The boat was very carefully leveled. An elaborate square was built to measure the stem and chain plate placement. So this uses the center of the mast step as the center of everything. All the measurements were done several times and holes were drilled.

 

INTERIOR TRIM

I used a teak and holly EVA foam on the cabin sole, built a bilge pump valve system (you can use any of the manual bilge pumps to pump any bilge), installed the electronics and built a circuit breaker on/off box, ran all the wires and plumbing, installed a head and holding tank in the V berth, and a cool storage step in the companionway. 

Head, Holding Tank, Anchor Storage and a cabin sole