Zephyr

We were at Docklands in Melbourne waiting for the boat cruise for Claire's work Christmas party, when we happened upon this old sailing boat. Being a fan of old yachts I went in for a closer look.

The first thing I noted about the yacht was the gaffer tape at the base of the mast - and although it probably wasn't structural gaffer - i had to laugh as it was the same day as Wild Thing broke it's mast on the way to Sydney for the 2009 Sydney to Hobart.

I thought it was a nice looking yacht so I took a couple of photos then scurried off to the

boat cruise and thought nothing else of it.

It wasn't until I downloaded the photos from my phone - hence the poor quality - that I noticed the website on a banner on the stern of the yacht. That's interesting i'll check it out...so i did 

Zephyr Home Page

As it turns out Zepher is the oldest yacht in Australia, launched in Port Adelaide in 1873. As you can see from the website, they are probably spending more time maintaining the yacht than updating the website.

The "to do" list

For those of you who don't have yachts, one of the great (or otherwise) things about them is that there is always something that needs to be done. Whether it be a major project or simply washing it because it's got dirting since you washed it yesterday - having a yacht that was built in the mid to late 70's (I really must try and find out exactly when it was built) there is always something that needs replacing, fixing, improving, changing, etc....

The things that are on the "to do" list generally fall into either the cheap and just require time or expensive ($$) category.

Just so I can keep track of my thoughts, as much as anything, I'm putting together my official "to do" list.

Trailer ($$$$) - the current trailer is suitable as a yard trailer only, i.e. covered in rust, etc, and we therefore need a new trailer prior to taking ourselves to new waterways.

Sails ($$$) - the sail we are currently using are quite old and grubby and not really holding a good shape. The jib is also not quite the correct shape for the boat and appears to have been a genoa for a smaller yacht with a shorter mast. Also, toying with the idea of a spinnaker.

Tidy up Keels- the keels, which are a big lump of steel (possibly cast iron - tbc) are also suffering from a bit of surface rust. This just needs to be ground back and tidied up. This however requires Maggie to be put up into a cradle for a few weekends - might be a winter lay-up project?? 

Hard wire capability for GPS - to save running through a shed load of batteries, the plan is to run the GPS off the boats internal battery system. This just requires a cable and a bit of jigging of the electronics.

New storm boards - which is as simple as getting some ply, cutting it to shape and water proofing it / painting it - probably yellow??

Length makings on anchor chain / warp - actually check entire anchor system is satisfactory for over night holding and potentially look at anchor suitable for current changing direction and different ground conditions

Replace lines - mainsheet, main halyard, topping lift

Sort out once and for all how this water is getting into the cockpit locker.

Bilge pump  - I need to get some way of getting water out of the cabin other than with a bucket - the positioning of this may be a little tricky as the cabin floor and lower sides are all compartmentalised.

GPS "talking" to autohelm 

Install wind instrumentation - probably Raymarine ST40 Wind to go with the existing ST40 bi-data (depth and speed log)

General check of all the lighting to allow Maggie to venture out into the darkness and anchor overnight

Re-jigging the electrics in general re-charge off the outboard, greater capacity, larger solar input (inc. mounting panels.)

I also need to get one of those horseshoe lifebuoys and a stainless steel frame for it to attach onto 

The numbering on the hull needs to be redone and we need also need to put the name on Maggie - once again nothing tricky, just need to order / buy some vinyl lettering/numbering and do it. Yes I know I could be ordering it on-line now instead of crapping on - must remember to measure letter heights!!

And of course the perennial, sandy and varnishing timber and restoring the gelcoat to a really bright yellow!! 

And yes, I know it would probably be cheaper in the long run to buy a newer yacht with all of these things already done...but where's the fun in that!! And this way I can do things as I find the debris that has fallen from the bucket of money!

Most of it is just little bits of project work and it's getting to the stage where James is able to be entertained for a couple of hours at the Marina, which makes me feel less like I am abandoning my family on the weekend.


Hmmm...i need more photos....






Number 1 thing off my "to do" list was to buy the headlamp for a bit of light at night. I ended up going the Princeton Tec Quad. It will also come in handy for cycling at night. And yes I realise it wasn't on my list to begin with - but I needed one!!

http://www.princetontec.com/?q=node/66

How the swing keel operates and replacing the gaskets on the keel control rods

I've just remembered the other reason why I didn't sail Maggie between late October and Christmas - I was out for a quick spin to try out my new GPS in about a 10kt SW-W, below is the track - jeez I love the novelty value of this thing!

OK, so it doesn't look like the most exciting sail - but due to the strong current running and the variable wind, our speed relative to land was between 0 and 2kts heading south and between 6 and 8kts heading north. The south bound trip took the best part of 2 hours and the return took 20 minutes!

Before I set sail, I noticed that of the cabin lockers had a little bit of water in it - oh well, so I bailed it out and set  off, assuming that the water was just from a leak through the cabin top somewhere. Upon returning I thought I should check to see if any water was in the locker, well we probably had about 5-6 litres. On closer inspection it appeared that we had a leak where one of the keel control rods passes through the hull. OK, looks like I've got a project!

So here's a basic run down on how the swing keel mechanism works. The keel winch handle, located between the outboard gear control arm and the red tool box, is the only bit of the mechanism that you generally need to worry about. What is interesting, is that most of the swing keel Jeddas have the keel winch handle in a different spot!

The handle is connected to a drum (I think - Mental note to self : crawl into that little space and see how it works!!) which is in turn connected to a cable. The cable is then connected to a control rod on each side of the yacht, via various sets of blocks.

The rods (1 per keel) pass through the hull, as shown

The rod is connected to the keel, and raises and lowers the keel as pulled and pushed - I haven't seen the exact configuration of this bit as it is all glassed in and the fewer holes in the boat the better!!

Anyway back to the leak and replacing the gasket...

Step 1: Lower the keels slightly so they rest on the trailer. This will release the tension from the cable.

Step 2: Undo the "D" bolt thing connecting the rod to the block

Step 3: Undo the thumb screw and then remove the big "O" ring thing, remembering to measure where it came from so you can put it back in the same spot!

Step 4: Remove the steel plate and rubber gasket and remember where you put the nuts - I screwed them back on so I wouldn't loose them!

Step 5: Acquiring the gaskets. The gasket is heavy duty rubber about 6mm thick which the local Clark Rubber store had to purchase at minimum meter lengths. The roll was a perfect width for two gaskets, and if I remember correctly I have enough rubber left for another 6 gaskets. The best part was it was only $20!

Step 6: Drilling the holes in the gasket. I used the steel plate as a template for the locating of the holes. The smaller holes were drilled with a standard 6mm (?) drill bit. However, drilling a hole in thick rubber which was going to fit snugly around a 25 mm (maybe 1inch) stainless steel rod took some thought. Initially a machinist who worked with belts and the like was considered, but then once I realised how much excess rubber I had I thought I could experiment. So the winner was making a template out of ply - using a 24mm spade bit on the drill, clamping the rubber between the template and a baking piece of ply and using the spade bit to drill the rubber - worked on absolute treat!!

Step 6: Put the whole lot back together with a bit of Sikaflex between the steel plate and the gasket and the gasket and the hull and Bob's your Uncle no more leak!

So I finally get back down to the boat for the first time after replacing the gaskets and have a look in the cabin locker which had been collecting water and see a nice dry locker...well, actually no - it's got water in it! Well, fancy that (or words to that effect)!!

Looks like the water is coming from above not below - well...maybe...the side...hmmm... looks like it's time to check the window seals and maybe the hull to cabin connection behind the rubber bumper...

Alternatively, I just go with Plan B - heaps of silicon sealant and a bilge pump!!

Stay tuned....

Dylan Winter and his Video Blog of Circumnavigating UK in a 19ft bilge keel yacht

Just thought I'd add a link for those who are interested and are yet to find Dylan Winter on You Tube. He has spent the last two English "summers" undertaking a circumnavigation in a 19ft yacht.



and in the last few days he has set up a website, which makes things heaps easier as you don't have to keep on searching You Tube!

http://www.keepturningleft.co.uk/index.php

The videos are a little bit if sailing, little bit of geography and a bit of a documentary. That's about all I've got to add as I'm only a little way into it myself.

Cheers and Enjoy!

Random sailing shots from the past

Obviously a fair deal of sailing has gone before I started boring you all senseless with my inane drivel. Here are some shots from sails past.

Joel and Kelly enjoying a leisurely afternoon sail - what I didn't know at the time was that, while relaxing on the foredeck and once the boat began to heel, Kelly thought she was going to die! She obviously didn't!

This is a shot of 4 Jeddas leaving Yaringa Harbour

A shot of Claire at the Helm - note the benign conditions...

Neil, myself and Sherry heading out into the foggy conditions

You may have noted in the last two photos the high position of the tiller - these were taken in the early days before I knew it dropped down...oops!

 

A pregnant (with James) Claire all rugged up on a lovely - but windless - Melbourne spring day. You can't quite see in the photo but the speed log shows us going at an amazingly quick 1.3 knots!!

Mudlark doing its best Mary Celeste impersonation - luckily in this case Mac was just below making a cuppa, the wonders of the autohelm!

 

Prue and James all prepared to go out - unfortunately due to a problem with the outboard we never made it past the end of the channel - but that's another story for another day.

James on an earlier expedition helping at the helm - or was he the navigator?? Either way he did a great job!

Claire and James at the end of the day's sailing - poor little chap is exhausted. I believe the dummy is the equivalent of the post-sail beer???

And James just proving that anywhere is comfortable given half a chance - and yes we were tied up at the dock and not about to send our son flying across the cabin when we tacked!

James at the helm of a 40ish ft something at Sandringham Yacht Club.

Mental note to self: I must remember to take my camera with me every time I go out and not just leave it in my bag in the cabin.

My friends who have pretended to be interested and therefore get an invitation to come sailing

I am very excited that some of my friends have pretended to be interested enough in my ramblings to become followers of this blog. This is the official list of people who are cordially invited to come for a cruise on SV Maggie:

• My lovely bride, Claire and our first born - if she trusts me enough to have 3 of our 4 family members on the yacht at the same time (note that second born isn't invited as she doesn't weigh enough to wear a life jacket yet!)
• Megan (and of course Steve - as long as it's not fire season)
• Marsh (and his un-tattooed bride - as far as I know, and if I've got that wrong I don't think I need to know - Jackie)
• I suppose I should also add Mark - I'm sure he will never find this page but he offered to bring light beer, so how could I refuse!!
• Sarah - even though Sare hasn't become an official follower of the blog, her polite way of asking for a sail was too much to resist!
• Graham and Elise have been promised a sail, just gotta find a day when Graham isn't too busy exercising!
• Jan has also been promised a sail from a long time ago.
  

Just a note for random by-standers, this entry willl be updated as the need arises and fear not, all the misadventures which occur with the above list will be blogged!!

My New Toy

My lovely and long suffering wife got me a hand held chart plotter style GPS for my birthday back in October, YEAH!

Unfortunately, since then I have only managed to get on the water twice, however the novelty value of the GPS is great.

My aim is to take it out with me each trip and track the course travelled which then can be downloaded to Google Earth - which I have shown in various posts.

The unit can also be set up to communicate with the autohelm to steer a course to various waypoints. This is advantageous over the autohelm alone, as the autohelm will only steer to a bearing, and therefore tends to allow the yacht to track a bit with the current, etc. Whereas, when I get this system sorted, the GPS should correct the course for current.

Anyway that's a job for another day - I'll add it to the list!

Sailing Sydney Harbour - Jan 2006

OK, I have to do this quietly so Maggie doesn't get too upset. The following shots are from a weekend we spent on Sydney Harbour in January 2006. It started out with a group sail on a 42ft Hunter and then we spent the night anchored in Balls Head Bay in a Hunter 38, while Sarah looked after James (as it turns out we anchored less than 1km from Sarah's place in Greenwich).

The conditions were a solid 10knots (gusting to above 15??) - roughly out of the E to NE if I've got my bearings correct. The seas were generally slight as you would expect - the harbour traffic probably to blame for most of it. A nice swell was however coming in the through the heads, which meant for some great sailing from Watsons Bay across to Manly hard into the wind.

So here we are prior to boarding in Darling Harbour - lovely day in Sydney.

Claire relaxing whilst under way with North Head in the background..

Me at the helm going under the Harbour Bridge - did I mention it was Saturday afternoon, which is a particularly busy time in Sydney Harbour with racing fleets and ferries absolutely everywhere!
The amount of data from the instrument panel was amazing, too much to look at - so I didn't bother. I did note however that we were comfortably cruising at 10 knots!

Heading for the Harbour Bridge - we are probably somewhere between Bradley's Head and Fort Denison.

Claire enjoying being anchored - with Champagne!

The sun setting through the rigging over Berry Island Reserve (i think).

Claire enjoying our seafood feast.

A very pleased Claire then next morning, as the yacht hadn't sunk and the anchor hadn't dragged!

Meeting up with James the next morning, so he could inspect the yacht.

All in all a great experience, helming through the racing fleets was interesting - you know (or is that hope) that they going to miss you, but sometimes they cut it awfully fine.Anyway, that's enough dreaming of bigger boats - I have enough trouble keeping my small one clean!

Sailing on Mudlark with Mac

So I finally got a day to go and see Maggie over the Christmas break. Due to the craziness that is the pre-Christmas birthday season, the pre-Christmas Christmas-party season, Christmas itself, then the holiday season and then getting called back into work on what was to be my sailing week - I hadn't seen the yacht since late October.

I did however get to see the start of the Sydney - Hobart on TV and had a quiet chuckle when the two yachts, which ended up 1st and 2nd, made a meal of their spinnaker hoist and douse, respectively!

Anyhow, back on track now, I was down at the Marina giving the boat a general tidy up and thinking about putting her in the water for a sail when I ran into a sailing buddy, Mac, who also owns a Jedda - Mudlark.

As it turns out Mac's crew for the day didn't arrive, so looks like cleaning / tidying / sanding and varnishing of timber, etc, on Maggie has been postponed. So out we go!

The winds started out as light and variable from the SW to SE. Once out, it becomes apparent that the better conditions are to be had to the west - out of the wind shadow created by French Island. The wind steadily rose during the day to a solid 15-20kts from the SW, requiring a reef in both the main and jib. Fabulous conditions - the only downer was the salt spray in the coffee...as if drinking coffee that isn't from an espresso machine isn't bad enough!

As you can see from the track output from my GPS, we didn't really go anywhere - but it was fun not going there!  

Here's me motoring back up toward the channel at days end.

And that is almost the end of today's story - once again i must remember my camera, as we were required to turn around in the Yaringa Channel due to a larger keel yacht being stuck in the mud! Quickly followed by another keel yacht being stuck outside the channel while trying to swing in to pick up the mooring buoy!

The current set up

Just a brief run down on how Maggie is currently set up.

Sails:

The main sail has a bolt rope on the foot and slugs on the luff. The main is reefed by a roller reefing system around the boom. I have generally had problems getting a good shape to the sail once reefed - however I may have just been provided with a solution by using the topping lift to keep the boom level - I'll have to play around with this out next time I go out. Another minor issue is that the vang can't be used when reefed - i have a bit of a thought on this but i'll have to check it out before making a tool of myself with a really bad idea!!

When I got Maggie she had a jib furler fitted - it was however on BACKWARDS!! So that was soon rectified. The next dilemma was that the furling line wouldn't all fit within the drum - so I replaced the 6mm line with 4mm Spectra - OK now we're getting somewhere. The furler was still struggling, so after pulling it apart and seeing how much of a dogs breakfast it was inside I decided it was time to go.

So now the headsails are all hank on. The headsails we have on Maggie are a Genoa - about 140%, a Jib - about 100% and a smaller Storm Jib.

One of the things on the list (for when I remember where I put my bottomless bucket of cash) is to get a kite - the big question is where to go conventional or asso???

Running Rigging:

As with all small yachts the "How many blocks, cleats, lines does one want / need to control stuff" dilemma exists. I've tried, and am still trying, to find a balance between which lines need to come back to cabin top cleats - thereby accessible from the cockpit - and which lines can terminate sooner and will require a walk to adjust. I'll start from the bow.

Headsail controls - the jib halyard runs back to a cleat on the cabin top, i've got a jib downhaul just to give the headsail a gentle reminder how to douse when it gets a bit stuck - this also runs back to the cabin top (mostly because it uses the use furler hardware) and the jibsheets obviously run back to the cockpit for trimming.

Mainsail controls - Although the mainsail halyard runs back to a cabin top jammer - it's lack of length dictates that the winch on the mast is used when required, the boom vang doesn't have any associated hardware and just connects between the mast base and boom when required - the main reason for this is that with the roller reefing main the vang can only be used when we are flying full main, a fairly poor excuse for an outhaul exists on the boom - however the age and decrepit nature of the main (once again where's that bucket of money!!) means outhaul tension has little value,the topping lift runs to a horn cleat on the mast - however since my discovery regarding the reefing of the boom - this may need to be altered??, and the mainsheet and the mainsheet traveller control line are both obviously in the cockpit - although they both have enough length that I can happily sit on the cabin top ready to ease or dump the main as required!

Maggie has three winches. One on the mast for the mainsail halyard, one on the cabin top for the jib halyard and the third attached to the front of the mainsheet traveller for the jib lines, as below.

Many people find the winch in this position awkward - I don't mind it. The line runs from the block, through the eyelet, to the winch and then cleats on the opposite side - it means not having to go too far to leeward when trimming the jib.

We also have blocks and cleats for a kite - but haven't bothered to go down that path yet...as mentioned before.


Toys / Extras: 

One of the greatest conveniences for anyone who does solo sailing is almost certainly an autohelm - I was lucky in that Maggie came with a Raymarine ST1000plus Autohelm. It gives you heaps of freedom to relax and not worry about holding the tiller the entire time - although I must admit once the wind comes up I still enjoy being in control. I was again lucky in that the autohelm has a set of controls on a length of cord making it possible to change course from anywhere on the yacht. However, my favourite feature has to be the autotack - which takes you through about 100deg. It makes solo tacks really easy!

GPS/plotter - The GPS is great. One of the advantages of it as i see is your ability to see how much headway you are making. Western Port, where most of my sailing is done, is strongly tidal and currents of to 2-3kts are not uncommon and when you only do 4-5kts most of the time you can go nowhere or even backwards fast, particularly in light air. The plotter is currently just clamped onto the rope bag - however plans are afoot to build a little swing bracket to attach just inside the companionway.

UHF and Marine radio

AM/FM radio tape deck - needs upgrading to one with a USB jack.

I think that is about it - I will add anything else I can think of at a later stage!

Oh Yeah, as you could probably see in the previous photo, the iron topsail is a 8hp Yamaha outboard in a well, which pokes out like this.

As you can see the rudder can be raised for storage. And as you can also see, it needs to be sanded and re-painted...boring!

And finally, James making sure the lifeline padding works.

Yep, all good!

The techncial stuff

For those of you who are interested in the technical stuff about the Jedda 22, here it is:

HULL Material GRP

LOA 6740 mm (22 ft)
LWL 5756 mm (19 ft)
Beam MAX 2081 mm (7 ft)
BM RATED 1940 mm
MASS 1510 kg

DRAFT approximately 600 mm (fixed) or 1200mm (swing)

INT BALLAST 204 kg
KEELS MASS 318 kg (fixed) 338 kg (swing)
TOTAL BALLAST 522 kg

AUXILIARY POWER
Outboard, Diesel, Outboard in well, (7.5 or 8hp)

SLEEPING ACCOMMODATION
1 double V berth - if you are shorter than me 
2 single berths

GALLEY
Metho 2 burner stove, sink, shelving.

TOILET
Porta Potti under V berth

STORAGE
Under bunks, side pockets, anchor locker, cockpit lockers

SAILS
Main 8.4 square metres
Genoa 13 square metres
Spinnaker 35 square metres

RIG TYPE
Single spreader, non tapered, mast head, LOA 7.3 metres

KEELS
Twin swing bilge keels, (patented action, 20 turns to lift)
Total weight with mechanism 338 kg.
Or Twin fixed keels

What is Maggie and why write about her?

I suppose for my first blog i should write a little about Maggie. As you have probably noticed from the main picture, Maggie is a yacht - a Jedda 22 trailer sailer (TS) to be exact.

The Jedda 22 was designed and built by Ozzie Whittley in the 1970's. I'm not exactly sure how many were made - but quite a few are still about now. They were built on the shores of Western Port in southern Victoria. The Jedda was built to meet the requirements of the JOG (Junior Offshore Group) class and, along with many other trailerable yachts of this vintage and class, is somewhat heavier than the more modern style of TS.

Also worthy of note is that the Jedda is a twin keel TS - either fixed of swing - which is a bit of a rarity in Australia.

Maggie is the only yacht I have owned, having got her in 2002 about the time of my 30th birthday. Claire - the Admiral - will gladly tell everyone that Maggie was my 30th birthday present! Over the past 7, or so, years I have done a bit of tinkering with the way Maggie was set up and even sailed her occasionally, this has been a bit hard over the last 5 years with the crew arriving - but hopefully they'll start to get into it soon!! When I bought her she was apparently owned by an elderly gentleman who was planning to sail her through the Pacific Islands - luckily his family stepped in and the yacht was put up for sale.

I suppose the main reason for my ramblings on here is that very little information on the Jedda exists on the interweb and I thought that it would be good to get it out there, along with the good - or otherwise - times spent on Maggie.

Stay tuned and hopefully i'll be back soon!!