I’m falling behind! No progress update since January – sorry.
We have been working hard to get her ready for re-entering the water… This winter’s workslist has turned into quite a major refit.
The list below shows the work we are undertaking, and all is completed except installing the engine and the work on mast and rigging.
Befur home for winter work
Well, Befur is back in the fells for some winter work.
The pull-out and trip home was uneventful, thanks to Simon and Dean’s help, and the garage finally finding and fixing the leak in the Land Rover’s turbo pipes! Much less smoke and much more go!
We have a tentative list of work we want to do, and the game plan is to try to get back into the water before Heggerscale freezes (the lake is a milder climate to over winter in)! However, as I write this post, and document the work, it seems questionable if we will finish the work in 2022!!!
The work falls into several groups, some just inspection/maintenance and some fixing/improving: Continue reading
Well, here we are in May 2020, and we are actually looking like Befur will soon warrant her “S.Y.” prefix, being a real Steam Yacht and all!
Almost all 6 panels, but missing a few bits of string – hence the creases….
Nine years work, and we feel like we are getting close to the end – the lockdown has been a blessing, as it has removed the stress of trying to be ready for the 1st of April, when our Windermere berth became available, and allowed us to work through the near-endless list of jobs that needed doing…
Today we managed to hoist the sail for the first time, and while there are several more bits of “string” to be added, it actually looked something like the CAD drawings we have been working from for a couple of years. Rather satisfying!
Missing String List: Continue reading
Just a note to record the things we have been doing over the last month or so.
Most importantly we have secured a berth at Ferry Nab on Winderemere, so Befur will be exploring new waters this year. So, as always, the cosh is upon us, with the berth being available from the 1st April (yes, we know, not an auspicious date!).
The work has divided into annual maintenance, finishing/installing the sailing rig and finishing the fit-out of the galley – and sundry diversions. Continue reading
Today, the weather was calm (pretty unusual for Heggerscale), dry (very unusual for Heggerscale) and almost 8-degrees C (almost unheard of for January at 900ft), so it’s time to hoist the mast and cast the rubber foot for the mast to fit into the tabernacle…
It’s the second time we have hoisted the mast, but last time involved so much trepidation we forgot to take any pictures… So this time Louise (on light duties having tripped down the stairs yesterday) was pushed into being the team photographer.
The “running foreguy and bipod”, as recommended by PJR, can be seen doing it’s job. Once up we poured the casting rubber into a plastic bag surrounding the mast foot (to make sure it didn’t stick to the sides of the tabernacle).
The pictures tell the story:
The photographs make the bury of the mast look short, but it really is 10% of the mast as recommended. It also looks quite vertical (it should be according to the drawings and machining of the foot block… Now (once the rubber has set) we can drop it down, fit the masthead fittings and wiring, and then set about rigging the sail!
While January is pretty cold here in Cumbria, we have managed to make some progress on the Rig, here are some pictures and notes…
A quick note on where we are at, while we wait to hear from Windermere Lake Wardens on our application for a berth at Ferry Nab next year….
The boat is back in Heggerscale, and we are working on the following items:
Masthead fitting, with halyard crane, and other blocks for various parrels and lasy-jacks.
The next bit of this process, is to fit the masthead fitting (pictured above), (with navigation lights, VHF antenna and various shackles and blocks. Then we will cast a hard rubber square block at the foot of the mast, to secure it in the tabernacle base – the only problem with this is that the rubber components say they need to be mixed and poured at over 20-degrees C to cure, and it’s currently about -5-degrees C….
Following on from appearing to have (temporarily at least) sorted the steam plant, it’s time to get on with fitting Befur with her Junk-Rig sails, so that she can truly be the Steam Yacht that she was always intended to be. The embarrassment of having to be towed home on three occasions also sharpened our desire to get this job done. Continue reading
Today confirmed the order for the mast for Befur. A 6.4metre extruded alloy lamp post!
This is an unstayed mast, to support 16sqM of sail. Spent a long time trying to figure out how strong it needed to be – then suddenly realised it was much simpler than trying to figure the maximum wind load on the sail (guessing at maximum wind speed we might encounter) and realised it only had to be able to capsize the boat!!!
So the answer was a 177mm diameter, 4mm thick lampost, that tapers down to 90mm at the head.
Also reached the point where we could compile a list of the 70-odd outstanding jobs to finish Befur and divide these into Jobs to be done in Hampshire and jobs to be done once we have relocated to Cumbria. While it’s a daunting list, at least it’s fairly complete.
This is a hotchpotch of notes on progress we have made in the last few weeks.
I am now focusing my attention on the internal fit-out. We need to get Befur in a state to move her on a trailer to our new home in Cumbria in August, this is adding some needed pressure, to ensure we get everything done in time… Continue reading
SY Befur 