In time-honoured fashion, the work I had been meaning all Winter do do had to be finished today. Well, after a pretty busy day, I have fitted a compass, constructed a mast crutch and re-located all the equipment I removed from the boat after our last sail in October.
The compass was a pretty easy fit- I went against my better judgement and used a jig saw; neat cut and not too much mess. Hope that’s the last hole I make in our boat!
More involved was the construction of a mast crutch. I have shamelessly copied the design of the crutch that Russell made for his Cape Cutter 19, Zephyr. Interestingly, he tried his crutch on Aurora and it did not fit. It seems that the transom of his South African built boat is different to our Honnor-built CC (Aurora’s transom is thicker than the Zephyr’s).
Although the crutch is not especially easy on the eye, it offers three important benefits. Firstly, it provides a stable support when positioning the mast during the rigging process (hitherto I have rested it on the tiller and it usually falls off several times before the mast is ready to raise).
The second benefit is that the mast is now very easy to secure ready for trailing, removing the need for strategically placed pieces of foam. The third time saving benefit is that I can now get into the cabin when the boat is secured for trailing, which is a real help. All I need now is some water….
Travelling Aurora - journeys of a Cape Cutter 19 