The main focus of this week was to complete a series of maintenance projects after this first sailing season. Tréguier is a good place to meet other Boréal owners and we received a lot of precious tips.
Improvements
- mainsail track: we applied lubricant with teflon on mainsail track to facilitate the hoisting and lowering of the mainsail
- preventer set up: we changed the rigging of our preventer line in order to have one line on each side. In the previous setting with a unique line, the dinghy was constantly in the way of the line and we noted chafing on the stantions. With the new setting, the angle is much better and the lines do not touch the stantions anymore.
- dinghy fixing: we remplaced the ratchet straps that we use to maintain the dinghy on the front deck by stainless steel ratchet straps and removed the rust stains with oxalic acid
- anti-chafing: we discovered various ways to prevent the chafe on our mooring lines and sheets
- humidity: to allow for a better airflow under the mattresses in the aft cabin, we added a 3D mesh
In parallel, Boreal/TEEM repaired the watermaker (pressure amplifier needed to be changed) and replaced the AIS that was giving us failure alarms. We also took the boat out of the water to check on the prop shaft as a final verification after the shock we experienced in the Isles of Scilly against a mooring buoy chain. This gave us the opportunity to check on the antifouling and the anodes. We were happy to note that there was almost no growth on the antifouling. In addition, only the propeller anode needed to be replaced. Finally, while on the hard, we replaced the fixed propeller by the Featherstream. Having now used both, we feel that the Featherstream reduces the drag while sailing and improves the boat performance a little.
Technical room
The big event of the week was the reception of the lathe that completes the equipment that Yan wished to install in his technical room.
Lathe to autonomously fabricate spare parts
Have fun
In between the working sessions, we appreciated to chat with current and future Boréal owners. On a sunny afternoon, we had a joyful game of “pétanque” with Bryan (Willow 44.2) and David (Bubbles 47.2).
3 replies on “Boat projects”
Back in France ! Good. Thanks for sharing these. Were you able to note in knots the real difference between fixed propeller and folding propeller? And also, do you notice a difference for the maneuvers? In general, the fixed propeller reacts better and is better for the inverter.
Hi Sylvain, you are right that there are advantages and drawbacks for both types of propellers. We estimate that the speed difference while sailing is roughly 1/2 knot. With regards to manoeuvres, we were more powerfull in reverse with the Featherstream. But in forward, the fixed propeller seems more efficient. In addition, when going from forward to reverse with the Featherstream, you need to make a 1-2 seconds stop before engaging the reverse to prevent shocks on the feathering system. As a consequence, if your journey includes a lot of manoeuvres in harbours or locks, the fixed propeller may be a safer option. However, if you are planning on making longer passages, then the Featherstream propeller becomes interesting.
Thank you Sylvia and Yan, it’s a good summary of all the issues that I will keep when it comes to deciding the options for our future 44.2. Indeed, depending on the moment and the use, both have an interest. Former racer, losing 0.5 knots hurts me 😉 But without a bow propeller, I could find it useful to have a good fixed propeller for the U-turns in a restricted space in harbour where we play on forward-reverse. The idea of changing the propeller for the passages is to be studied, indeed. Thanks !