Saturday, September 26, 2015

600' Later

The catwalk I had made originally was rather heavy and fairly bendy. I was looking to drop the 60 pounds as well as remove the risk of damaging or breaking the catwalk when hauling anchor in a rough anchorage. The anchor had led thru the catwalk and will now launch off the forward beam. I have also added a small manual windless on the mast. I'll be carrying more chain 90' of 8mm high test on future cruises and the windless will be useful in deep anchorage. Its been a rainy past few months so haven't been rushing to get back sailing. I made this new net myself. It was much harder to make than originally envisioned, but is nearly complete. I was amazed it took a total of 600 feet of 1" webbing and I probably could have used another few dozen feet. I strung this one in place, but will built a jig and work on a flat floor of I ever do one again. Its also important to get the first few passes aligned just right, something I failed at. It was almost an epic failure and I nearly quit after the first 300' but a custom net like this would run around $2200 so that kept me motivated. Still probably had 60 labor hours in this one and still need to finish the lashings and UV coat it.