Carbon reinforced tiller and self steering fitting.
Hand stitched and glued repair to inner staysail
Support beam which had begun to twist with carbon fibre sleeve and stainless metal threads in place of pop rivets
After a week of frenetic work and a few days of shitful weather I at last put to sea again. The "cancelled" strong wind warning was a joke as it blew and rained all night. Today dawned sunny and a bit calmer and after a few clean up jobs and topping up the water I set off for Great Keppel Island. The wind was on the nose (Quell suprise) so I motored all the way over. The self steering was a problem at first till I removed a steel handled broom which had been rested against the compass sensor. After sorting that out the steering was faultless and I did not touch the tiller again till anchoring in the lee of Great Keppel just in front of the resort. It was such a relief to be out of the wind, the sun was beaming down and I quickly hung out my washing that I had done the day before. I finally made some lunch around 14.00 hrs and enjoyed the sun and quiet.
Repairs during the week consisted of making an extension turnbuckle for the shortened backstay. This is a temporary measure until I replace the rigging. There was a major pin missing from one of the outboard "sleds " and I found replacement for that and tightened up all the support lines. I replaced the broken tang from the wire under the pod and retensioned all the wires. I used carbon fibre to strengthen the twisting beam and replaced all the pop rivets with stainless steel metal threads. I drilled new holes and tapped threads for the bolts. I opened up any cracks in the pod and filled them with epoxy glue and replaced the broken door handle. Both tiller arms were reinforced with carbon fibre, glass and epoxy and the bracket for the self steering was reinforced. I hand stitched and glued the torn batten pocket in the inner staysail and reinforced the torn port headsail. Over 5 hours of hand stitching. The support leg for the wind generator was re attached, bogged and glassed, and the on/off switch was removed as it had corroded and was faulty.
Hopefully these repairs will suffice to keep the boat safe
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