Sabre 28: Mast head

 

Sabre 28: Cabin top hatch

 The old smoked plexiglass hatch on the Saber was in need of attention.  I assume it was original plexiglass.  It appeared as though it could give way with a misplaced foot.

I ordered 1/4 inch thick Lexan for its replacement.  professionalplastics.com supplied the piece cut to exact dimensions down to the 64th.  You can specify how accurate you want the cut.  This is a great service.

All I had to do for the fit was round off the corners with a grinder.  We used DOW 795.  It is the correct sealant for sheet plexiglass  / Lexan.

After the frame was sanded and painted, the new part was bonded in and fastened mechanically with screws.

The clip in dog bed does double duty as a sun screen in hot weather.

 

Sabre 28: Mast head

 Our forestay tang failure last year made me suspect all of the stainless on the boat.

The original mast-head has a 1/8 ths strap of stainless that is bolted onto the cast aluminum top.  Both the forestay and the backstay hang onto this. While it looked fine, I didn't trust it so it was replaced with (2) 3/16ths straps. This allowed me to fabricate a simple way to attach my dyneema backstay and the Sta-Lok fitting for the forestay.  All the hardware was replaced.  The sheaves for the halyards were lubricated and new a new wire loom was installed.

The mast base was removed, polished and rewired.  Here it is ready to receive the mast.

Sabre: Dyneema Standing rigging

 Working with Dyneema is a lot of fun.  It makes you feel like Jack Tar working the lines.

The mast head is going to get some new stainless fittings for the back stay so I am waiting on that before we have an exact dimension for the stay.  The cap shroud fittings are unchanged so I am starting there.

We are using 5/16ths AmSteel-Blue 12 strand (SK-78)   Average Tensile Strength: 13700 lbs,

It is overkill but I didn't want the lines too thin. After calculating what creep to expect, I completed the eyes and we are now tensioning the stay with a come-along between two concrete columns.  We discovered the there are 2 types of creep to account for.  First is the manufacturers calculations for the weave.  For this diameter at 34 feet of length at 20% of breaking strength is .70 %.  This is about 3 inches. They second stretch to consider is the looseness you work into the weave with the 2 eyes and general handling.  After tensioning up to about 3000 pounds, we pulled about 12 inches of stretch.  After that it felt like a piece of rebar.

Another great thing about Dyneema is the fact that you can rework the eyes.  We loosened up one eye, shortened the line and re-wove the eye.

Rigging

 Having fun with Sta-Lok fittings.

Most of our new rigging on the Saber will be Dyneema.  The one exception will be the forestay.  This is because we will be reinstalling our furling system.

I went with Sta-Lok for the terminals.  Ordered them from Defender.

Got this nice photo of one in the vise......

Here are the strands after a test fit.  Prior to final assembly, Boat Life caulk is put in the fitting's cavity and LocTite is put on the treads.

Saber 28: Bulkhead heater

 Adding a heater to a sailboat can really lengthen the season for overnighting.  Without a heater it is mild weather only for overnight comfort.

The Saber is a small boat.  The difficulty is finding space to mount a unit.  On the plus side, because the interior volume of the cabin is small, a little heater can do the trick.

Looking at the commercially available stoves was off putting.  They can be compact but are expensive.

So after researching the options, I came up with the idea to make a "solid fuel"  heater with my welding abilities.  But for safety and convenience, the solid fuel turned into canned heat.

I found a type of chaffing fuel canned heat called XTremeHeat.  These cans are slightly oversize and are not jellied alcohol.  They are a liquid with a built in wick and put out significantly more heat than Sterno.

The heater will burn for 4 hours plus and warms the cabin comfortably in weather down to the low 40s.  In North Carolina this makes it possible to overnight comfortably all but a week or two a year.

I was happy to trade the heating limitations for the super safe form factor of this solution.

Here are photos:

The heater in action.  A crystal viewing glass allows for monitoring the flame.
The top will not boil water but will keep the pot nice and hot.  Notice the fan at right.  It circulates cabin air over the heater.

The flu exits the cabin on the side of the house to preserve limited deck space.

The brass key secures a tray holding the can. With a twist it tightens.

 

Sabre 28: Mast steps update

 A facebook page I follow is Classic Plastic: Vintage Fiberglass Boats.

A week ago I posted a photo of my steps and got a good bit of blowback on the weight.  At first posters though they were stainless steel.  Once I assured them they were aluminum,  I began to consider how to lighten them a bit.

I ended up drilling them and filing down the profile slightly.  I also bent the flanges to match the mast profile.  I am happy with the change.  One of the few times I have taken criticism well!  Here is a photo.

Sabre 28: Mast steps

 Mast steps may be a logical addition for a full time cruiser.  While we are weekenders only with our boat, when I have to go up the mast, I want the added safety and convenience of steps. We looked at the versions available commercially and rejected them.  So back to the shop to make our own.

We found several examples of the basic design we went with.  One thing I didn't like and we changed was the lower flange.  All the designs we saw had the lower flange turned down.  I thought it was ugly so we turned it up.  We ordered 3/8 x 1.25 aluminum rectangle bar from Onlinemetals.com   They are a little beefy but ok by me.  We are preparing to un-step the mast and re-rig.  When the mast is down, the steps will be one of several projects.  Here some photos.

  

   

New SUP deck plug

 Our new SUP is coming along.

It is a hollow structural skin design.  The hull was molded awhile ago and now our deck plug is taking shape.

Today we gave it a glass skin.  Soon this will get gelcoat.  The gelcoat will be sanded and polished up to a gloss before molding.   

Building Oars

 Our Dyer Dinghy didn't have a decent set of oars.  It was time to start woodworking again.  My wife and I planned a sail to Beaufort NC.  We would be anchoring out in Taylor creek and needed some oars for the dink.  

I had leftover wood from previous paddle building projects.  I found 2 nice long pieces of douglas fir for the shafts.  The blades were made from a glue up of pine and sapele bits.  After the blades were formed. I cut 2 sapele doughnuts for stops for the oarlocks.  Being in a hurry and not wanting to lose any strength, I skipped rounding the shafts.  I did take a bit of the corners off at the handles and then wrapped the handles in carbon fiber tow set in epoxy.  It has a nice feel in the hand.  Here the photos....

Rigging with Dyneema

With practice and tensioning
 the slice will improve in appearance.

 After our forestay failed last year we have been contemplating the best way to re-rig our Sabre 28.

I like to do things myself so I have been watching you-tube videos about dyneema rigging.

It is super strong, user friendly and gives a visible sign when worn.

This winter will be a great time to unseat the mast and re-rig.  The boat stays in the water all year here so I will have Sailcraft lift off the mast and tie up the boat nearby while I re-rig.

To get started I tried brummel splicing an eye in 3/16ths line for use as a lifeline.  The average strength of 3/16ths dyneema is 5400 pounds!

It's easy!

Awesome high quality thimbles from Suncor.

SUP: Molded

We molded the plug.  Made a video as well but way to long to deal with.
Here is a still photo of the completed mold prior to releasing and a photo of the mold itself.
We used black tooling gel-coat, vinyl ester resin, chopped strand mat, woven roving and glass tapes for reinforcement.