Bristol-Blue Lake Michigan Sailing Adventures

Santa Clause was good to Woodstock this year. He brought me a new Sail Rite mainsail cover kit and some luff tape for a roller furler conversion.  After some debating back and forth on whether or not to just order the fabric, parts, and pieces I decided to go with the kit for the cover.  First I thought I would just make a copy of the cover I currently have but by the time I added it all up the kit was only a few dollars more and offered pre-laid out directions and patterns.  The first step is to layout the material. I went with Sunbrella silver to match the bimini I installed this summer.   Sail Rite  marks all the lines you need to cut right out for you on the fabric.  I lay a cutting board underneath so as not to mark up the floors. Then it is pretty simple to just follow the pre-laid outlines with a hot knife. My hot knife is not a $150 specialty tool. It is a harbor freight job that doubles as a wood burner. It does a really ni...

When taking the mast down for the season I removed the gooseneck slide from the mast. In doing so I split the solder job someone had done on it previously at the thumbscrew.  Given the condition of the part, I figured it was time to just replace it.  After looking around a few local places I ended up calling Rig-Rite. They shipped me one but it turned out to be the wrong size. I ended up shipping it back to them after talking with New Holland Marine Products in Canada. They told me they had the correct part. So I was relieved. Rig Rite had quoted me $300 for a custom-built replacement. Turns out New Holland didn't have the correct part either but it was a lot less expensive than the one Rig Rite sent me so I decided to modify the part myself.   The first step was to gather the tools and parts I need; saws, marker, bronze bushings etc.  Then I transferred my measurements to the new part.  I started sawing with my hack saw simply to get...

Sailing has been non-existent this September. With school back in session, I have time for very little else. The weekend weather has also been un-welcoming to sailing. It has either been raining or the waves have been huge. Lake Michigan is experiencing record-setting high water levels. When the waves on the big lake pick up they are crashing over the piers. I'm not interested in being picked up and set down on the jetty by a passing wave. Woodstock is now on her trailer and it is time to start packing stuff up and winterizing.   This means packing all the sails and cushions off. We are dropping the mast this year so I can change out the forestay. In the spring we are planning to install a roller furler and the forestay currently on the boat is set up for racing and won't work. Tidying up My homemade wood motor stand gave up the ghost last spring so I had to get a bit creative. I found I could hook my motor to my ladder for winterizing.  ...

Spinnaker Socks are super nice for launching and recovering your spinnaker.  My last two boats have had them and after using one the benefits are clear. 1st off, sail handling is much easier especially if you're short-handed. 2nd, safety spinnaker socks let you launch and recover your spinnaker without everything being perfectly packed in a turtle bag another word fewer things to tangle up keeps it safer. Woodstock does not have one so we have not used the Spinnaker yet and our trip to Lake Mac last week would have been the ideal time to use a Spinnaker.  So it is time to look into this.  $17.00 per foot x 28 ft =$476 plus tax.  Hum lets go see what's in the garage.  Any past readers remember this old post Boom Tent   Well this is one sewing project that didn't work out. However, I still have the material sitting here on a shelf and it is light enough and long enough to make into a sock. Now just to find one of those fancy fiberglass hoops they use to ...