Boat Building Techniques
The Jib Halyard I made of 2.5mm 7×19 wire, is 5450mm long and it has a 585mm loop at the end that is closed with a talurit swage crimp. The 8m Halyard Tail is made of 3mm Dyneema. On the opposite end of the Jib Halyard is a T-Ball Terminal for 2.5mm wire. …
Merlin Rocket Final Installation of Hardware, Accessories & Rigging Read More »
My Merlin Rocket sailboat boom is a $20 barn yard find in a Texas Hill Country Ranch, not 20 miles from where I lived. Now, I searched and researched for a carbon fiber boom but there weren’t any available nearby me at the time and rather than ordering a custom boom I started to consider …
Installing The Hardware On My Merlin Rocket Boom Read More »
Installing The Hardware On The Mast Rigging my carbon fiber mast was a new and very interesting experience. I custom ordered the mast with the sail track included and had it shipped to my house. The rest was up to me to complete based on Keith Callaghan’s design and specifications. The first thing …
Installing The Hardware On My Merlin Rocket Sailboat Mast Read More »
Pícara Sails! Pícara, my Hazardous Zero-9 Merlin Rocket build and a Keith Callaghan design, was successfully launched and sailed this morning on Lake Travis, near Austin, Texas, USA. She gracefully sailed in light winds and quickly responded to mild gusts. More photos, videos and a big blog update (after a year in hiatus) will come in the …
Finishing the Spinnaker Chute… In retrospect, I should have provisioned for a more holistic approach to finish the spinnaker chute and make sure I designed a 1 piece cap to fit nicely over the rough opening, covering the breasthook, the stem and the gunwhales. I envision this piece now of solid Mahogany stock with pre-finished rounded edges …
The Carlins (Continued)… After testing the fit of the starboard deck carlin, I taped the deck edge and setup a dry run with the clamps to see where the clamps needed to go to ensure a tight joint. Prior to fitting the carlins, I scarphed both carlins’ ends to 13 cm off the ends to …
