Boat Projects - Mr Marine Starboard - Rope Clutch

We decided s/v Honey Ryder really needs a rope clutch to help control the furling line on the head sail.  We happened to mentioned this to fellow Salty Dawg Craig off s/v Il Sogno.  "Don't go buy one.  I have several extra onboard.  What brand/kind are you looking for?"  What brand/kind?  OMG - awesome!  We didn't care what brand/kind.  The next day Craig popped by with a whole bag full of rope clutches.  Seems he replaced all his and saved the old ones just in case.  Sweet!

s/v Rum Runner's rope clutch

Since then, Tom has been kicking around in his head how best to install our new (to us) rope clutch.  We finally found the answer when walking the docks at Crown Bay Marina - St Thomas.  Fellow Caliber 40 owner and Salty Dawg s/v Rum Runner has a rope clutch installed using a stainless steel bracket.  That save evening Tom fashioned a pattern for ours out of paper.  Now we would just need to find someone to weld one up.  Maybe when we get to Sint Maarten.  Hum?

Mr Marine Starboard in action

Wait!  Mr Marine Starbard to the rescue!  Tom cut two pieces of Marine Starboard to length.  He also added a piece of leftover cutting board material from another project.

These three were through bolted as one to s/v Honey Ryder's toe rail.  Then he used large lag screws to attached the rope clutch to the through bolted piece.

Closed position

Open position

Voila!  Rock solid, simple AND he didn't have to drill through the deck - which would have been a PIA.

In action

We put it to the test the other day on our upwind sail back to Virgin Gorda - North Sound.  It worked like a charm.  Woo Hoo!  Thank you SO much Craig off s/v Il Sogno.

New Game Onboard SV Honey Ryder

Lots of portlights and hatches that open for breeze

We have a new game we play onboard sv Honey Ryder.  It’s called Open-Shut Open-Shut.  It’s not unlike a game we used to play with our old cat Reba back in KC.  That game was called In-Out.  She LOVED to play In Out.  It was a simple game – She would meow “Let me out” and we would.  She would then meow “Let me in” and we would.  Then she would meow “Let me out” and we would and so on and so forth.  Extra points were given for how fast she could get us to let her in and out.  This is not unlike a game played by babies called Drop IT And Have The Adults Pick Up.  I am told babies love to play this to ad nauseam.  

Our Open-Shut game is simple like the above two games.  We open hatches and portlights to let the breeze in, only to close them again when a squall comes through.  This happens at least once a day and sometime couple of times a day, often at night.  Extra points are given if it’s in the middle of the night and you close them all in time to keep major rain from getting in and without turning on the lights.  Points are subtracted if you fumble around and can’t even find the tabs to open the screens to get to the latches to close the hatch and thus letting rain pour in all the while.  However, sympathy points are awarded if said screen hits you in the head or lands on your foot….sorry Special K – I hope your foot has healed from that injury.  Double points are subtracted if one person is off kayaking and the other person is off snorkeling and a squall moves in with the hatches open.  D-oh!   

All joking aside, we are very glad we have so many hatches/portlights that open.  We have not been hot since we arrived in the Caribbean.  Until we started playing this game, I never realized how few opening hatches some boats have.  Calibers on the other hand, have a bunch – 12 portlights and 7 overhead hatches!    

Cheers Mates - from the BVI's

Yes.  We are back in the British Virgin Islands.  North Sound on Virgin Gorda to be specific.  We slogged our way upwind from St John's today.  No pics.  Slogging pics are...eh....plus...  We are in Leverick Bay and the internet is too slow for pics.  More on communications in a future posting but we are all about free wifi.
So we slogged our way up here so we could use North Sound as a jumping off point for our sail to Sint Maarten.  With that island being generally straight east'ish, that angle of sail is dead to wind, on the nose, slogfest!  Casting off from North Sound might give us a slight advantage sailing SE.  However we have no delusions.  The wind is ALWAYS on the nose.
Anywho.... We will probably cast off tomorrow or Friday.  Wish us fair winds and following seas....really...we could use that.....stay tuned!