The list of things to do

Hello!

Our first months sailing Kvark on an inland lake gave us some invaluable insight. Among other things on how to sail, where to place horn cleats and camcleats, how to use them, why reefing is good, how to run lines and finally: railings are good for preventing people from falling overboard. I’m sure I missed some details.

With that said, I have started moving things along to prepare Kvark for a new, better and grander season on the Baltic sea. She really needs fore railings. The one in the back was a blessing to have. For this, I have bought some slightly thinner AISI 316 tubing in the form of a powerboat windshield frame. My running shoe is there for scale (that is a nr. 45 EU size, 12 US). That will be grinded, bent, welded and finally bolted to the fore of the boat. There will be no horizontal tubing to link up the fore and aft railings to save weight. Instead I will use rope and net.

Another thing we will need on the sea are anchors. Of course this must be made DIY. So I have started designing a Rocna-spade style anchor weighing 6 kg and having a total “spade area” of around 500 cm^2. Rocnas are marketed very well, but they also seem to stand up to tests (in user feedback texts and videos). And they are a very new design. That goes to show that you can innovate seemingly obvious things in life. Just keep your eyes and mind open for ideas of improvement. First 3D models have been built:

The roll cage is there to enhance setting even when the anchor initially settles “upside down”. I think I will put some thought into this design, try to improve it and perhaps make some plans to put up for sale. For now it has been modeled after scrap metal I have laying around (The whole thing is made of 6 mm cold rolled steel. All except the the 16 mm round “spine bar” running down the middle and the 12 mm rollbar). It would be very nice to make the shank removable. From what I have read the spade anchor sets very well in softer bottoms, moderately well in plants and OK in rocky bottoms. The spade design enables it to have large stopping power relative to weight. The negative aspect is that it only holds well when pulled in one direction. That is what I have read.

Our workplace is looking cleaner too:

So, here is a rough list of what needs to be done:

• Put railing in the fore.
• Antifoul the boat up to the waterline (This could prove a major task, since the boat needs to be flipped (!?), at least partially(!?). The heel of the keel needs to get a proper finish, some of it is bare wood at the moment. A metal leading edge would not hurt, or some layers of fiberglass).
• Think of a way to either antifoul the open ballast tanks from the inside or seal them up and fill them with fresh water. John Welsford brought to our attention the free surface effect which could be a problem if we do not remove all air from this seal.
• Put a lock on the companionway hatch.
• Think of a good sculling oar solution or fit an outboard motor.
• Get proper sails with reefing lines.
• Make an anchor.

There are more things to do, but keeping some things at bay will get us on water faster.