The new bimini

It really is too hot to sail all day in a Northern Rivers summer without some shade. I investigated getting one made to measure but baulked at the price. Then Peter rashly offered to install one for me if I bought an off the shelf model. We measured up carefully and I scoured websites for a reddish one that would fit.

The end result is splendid. John Woods came down to the BRSC specially to help me check if the boom would clear the bimini and it does perfectly.

 A huge thank you to Peter. It turned out (as often seems to be the case) a fiddly and rather time consuming job.

You may wonder why the photo of the U bolt on the bow of my boat. The story is that after sailing hard at the Bridge to Breakers regatta I found the cabin soaking wet. The U bolt had pulled slightly loose and was letting water in. The bolt looked fine to me until Peter pulled it out and it was like a honeycomb - electrolysis. Old age. As often seems to be the case it was not easy getting a bolt that was just right. Even Whitworths don't stock them. However I sourced one that was nearly right and Peter managed to modify it to make it fit tight. Peter also fashioned a splendid bush out of some super duper black plastic (look closely at the photo). Yet another fiddly maintenance task. Thanks again Peter.

PS from Peter

"You forgot to mention the O-rings, although If you had been here when I fitted it I couldn't find ones that fitted perfectly, so I used some slightly larger rubber bushes with a taper on one end and with a bit of lanoline applied they seemed to squeeze nicely into the countersink I drilled on the inside of the nylon pad. I'm pretty sure you'll not have any prob's with it leaking now."

PPS From Peter

"It doesn't matter Pam but I was trying to explain (not very well obviously) that between that black pad and the stem there is a rubber bush (instead of an O-Ring) that has a 45 degree end to it. I have drilled a good big countersink into the back of the black pad where the shafts of the D-bolt or U-bolt (or whatever you like to call it) pokes through it. I then slipped the two bushes onto the u-bolt with a bit of lanolin on it and the 45 degree end facing forward into the countersink so that as I tightened the nuts on the u-bolt it squeezed the rubber hard into the 45 degree hole thus compressing it around the bolt very tightly. I had to take it out and redo the countersink a bit deeper as there was a little too much squeeze the first time. So there you have it fully explained (I hope).

I think that proves my point - these seemingly simple jobs never are. Pam