This week on Luckyfish
We put the boat back together and fit a watermaker
Tour one of the largest sail lofts in the world
Get some rope custom made
And meet a couple of famous ladies at Yachtport
The foremast case on the Tiki 38 is a truss that straddles two beams.
I had sent it to an aluminum fabricator to fit new bow rollers, a mount for an electric
windlass and a box for the chain.
We set about refitting the case.
OK, is it just resting there guys?
Nearly.
Towards me.
Yeah, you're there guys
Wait, wait.
OK now we've just got to line it up.
Now this side here
Then, like a meccano set, we refitted the foredecks.
It goes into this.
We need to go up there first.
Now she's got to go up there.
[INAUDIBLE]
Go in.
Come down.
OK
Nice and square.
There we go.
That work completed, Alan arrived and began fitting the chain locker, windlass and bow
rollers.
I'm trying to record as much as I can of the different stages of work.
Ah, OK.
To save some weight up forward I changed these anchors for a 20 kg Rocna and a 10lb Fortress.
We now carry 40m of 5/16" high test chain and 60m of 14mm anchorplait rode on the primary.
For the Jordan Series Drogue, I installed two 3/4" stainless eye-bolts to take the
bridle.
These were heavily reinforced to the hulls with hardwood and epoxy.
[MUSIC]
I made a piping bag similar to a cake decorator and injected the epoxy into the holes
to permanently bond the eye bolts.
I couldnt source Nylon rode for the drogue locally.
Only low stretch polyester, or Dacron was available.
Rather than import nylon rode and pay the duty, it was cheaper to have it custom made
locally.
Greenwood ropes came to the rescue.
Incredibly, they designed and made a few hundred metres of 18,000 lb breaking strain
nylon triple braid for less than the cost of buying it off the shelf in Europe or the
US.
Sth Africa is full of such pleasant surprises.
South African hospitality has to be experienced to be believed.
I found myself at the local yacht club on more than one occasion,
just drooling over their braai's
and thinking how much Zaya and Tuya would love all this meat.
Beautiful.
And here's the chef, Mr Drew Campbell
who is backlit with a very bright fluorescent light to hide all his ageing, Oh !
Whether it was seafood or the local sausage, Boerewors my new friend Drew really knew his
art.
What are you cooking there Drew?
Tristan lobsters Jasus tristani, it's local lobster.
That's magnificent.
Yeah, they grow in Gruff Island as well.
You know, inaccessible and ?
Sweet as.
Beautiful mate.
And what's the fish.
Bluefish.
Southern butterfish.
Look at it.
Its just falling apart.
Beautiful.
Let's eat.
Look at it.
Help yourself.
We needed to upgrade the storm enclosure on the pod and make a trampoline for the foredeck.
I engaged Ullman Sails to do the work and had tour of their impressive loft.
When he has finished nesting, he takes the panels and puts them on this table
OK.
Here you can see the various panels.
Wow.
It's quite an operation.
More than a hundred sails leave here every week, for boats all around the world.
They do all the sails for Robertson and Caines Leopard catamarans and most of the charter
fleets around the world.
Someone else is making the batten pockets in another corner.
Someone else is making the reinforcing in another corner.
Sometimes we use double sided tape, or glue, and then once its finished,
the whole thing will go and be seamed.
Ullmans did first rate work on our small custom jobs .
While in Cape Town, I dropped the liferaft off for its 2 yearly survey,
And then went to look at watertanks for the new watermaker.
To make way for the Watermaker in the port side lazarette,
I removed the old 120L freshwater tank and replaced it with a 60L one from this impressive
selection.
Then I was able to begin work on the watermaker installation.
I went for an 12V unit so it could be run on renewables.
The membrane was a snug fit and allowed convenient positioning of the control panel, through
the bulkhead, into the galley
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Commissioning would have to wait as my time had run out.
Round and round and round.
Yeah, you dont really need that many
At least three.
Rory arrived from England and got straight to work on the remaining jobs.
To many of you Rory needs no introduction, having sailed the smallest catamaran around
the world in the 1990's.
To Wharram sailors he is the Wharram Whisperer and I was eager to learn what I could from
him.
Sometimes its useful to use a hammer handle
[LAUGH]
Kangaroo hop.
Nice
First we tightened some lashings.
Then checked the outboards, while the travel lift moved alongside to step the masts
And then all of these bolts eventually will get quite rusty if they are not taken care
of.
So, that's a heavy duty CRC corrosion inhibitor right, like a thick oil film
And I probably wouldn't coat the whole thing, but I would coat the starter motor, and these,
even just a little squirt on each little nut and anything that looks susceptible to a bit
of corrosion.
See that nut down there.
Thats your anode.
So you undo that and it withdraws the anode, like a pencil zinc.
So firstly you would take off these.
See the lock nuts, undo that bring it down to the maximum
and then you just wind this connecting nut up, so it starts to go up and releases off
this bottom
because that rod there is just connecting to the top rod like that
like a long nut, yeah
and so take off these four and thats the lower unit
Thats the lower unit, it comes all off
what you have is your shifter rod thats only up to here
but inside youve got your drive shaft that goes all the way up to the head
and youve got your water tube coming up the back
The main mast had a new Tricolour and wind instruments fitted.
The hounds received a grind to round the corners that take the wires.
Yeah, thats right.
Yes, thats correct.
Re-stepping the masts was easy using an arm on the travelift.
Although we must have damaged the new wind sensor wire as the instrument never worked
until I finally found the problem in Grenada a year later.
Here's the traditional way of using a winch,
look Mum, no hand dles..
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Rory had really got things moving.
In just 3 days,
the boat had gone from this
To this
The day had arrived to put Luckyfish back in her natural element.
It was a few days later than planned and we were really under the pump to clear out of
Sth Africa and meet the girls who were arriving in Namibia in a weeks time.
Ironically, Zaya's overstay appeal was finally upheld at this time, but it had come far too
late and we were now committed to the Namibia plan.
You can see how much work was left undone.
The sails were off, the tramp and storm enclosures weren't fitted, the watermaker not commissioned,
bow roller assembly needed adjustment, the wind instruments weren't working and the
rest of the new electronics weren't tested nor were either of us familiar with the use
of them.
However none of these things would prevent us leaving so I dashed to the supermarket
to stock the boat and we left that night for Cape Town, 100 miles in the wrong direction,
to clear out.
Before we left Yachtport, we said good-bye to a couple of famous ladies in storage there.
Golden Eagle was once owned by Elizabeth Taylor.
She is rumored to have lost one of her diamond rings somewhere in the bilge.
And anyone who was touched by the story of Robin Lee Grahams circumnavigation:
The Dove - will recognize this boat.
It's one of 7 or 8 Lapworth 24's that were built for the movie and shipped to shooting
locations around the globe.
[MUSIC]
Ahhh, who doesn't well up when they hear that bit of music?
That's not a sailboat, its a big safe channel marker
Dawn on the morning after the launch saw us off Cape Town after a good shakedown.
Next week Rory gets Luckyfish flying
and shares his sail setting techniques as we race against the clock to reach Namibia.
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Thanks everyone and CHEERS!