Workshop Notes.

So I used my expensive (3 euro a pair) foam rollers, for chemical paints (Ones for water based paints dissolve and disintegrate in turpentine based paints I discovered...). Now In understand Manfred's comments about bubbles from foam rollers. These can be removed by very lightly re-rolling after the paint has settled a bit. So the paint job is not great but it will do and it is starting to warm up here so time to get Flashheart finished.

The roller technique is going to stay in my book of Moth tricks because it saves so much time and paint compared to spraying. Which although leads to potentially better results I feel is is just not worth it. So a chemical paint foam roller is my 2nd favorite tool at the moment. Number 1 is the thermos flask full of tea.

I got some "Spalt Abdeckband" tape and it looks like if it stays attached to the foil it could really be a drag reducer. I will wet flat my flap then stick it on so that next layer of paint on the horizontal will but up to the tape leading edge. If this works well it could really be a good tip to reduce drag on 2007/2008 Fastacraft main foils. However if it is does not stay attached it could be another frustrating waste of effort.

Talking of frustrating waste of effort I thought I had done a great job on the repair of an Assassin main foil. However I managed to break it with my bare hands which is my scientific measure for if it is strong enough to sail with. The original problem and reason it broke again is de-lamination inside the T joint. I think that to repair this I would need to make a Bladerider type fitting so that the T can not de-lamination so easily. This can wait for next winter (I hope).

2 more paint jobs, wet flat foils, fix trolley cradle and rig a height adjuster so that I am ready to sail. However I still have the Yacht Club Weiden Start boat to silicon back together before the season starts as I removed all it's fittings, windows and woodwork and still have to attach them back on. I am doing this to pay off my entry fee into the sailing club. I do not fully understand how charging a lot of money to enter a sailing club helps promote sailing but I do not have a problem with being an active member of a sailing club and helping out with the club's work load. It should only take me 1 or 2 days to get the Start boat water proof and ready for the first race so that I avoid being keel hauled by the Commodore.

This time of year is always a tense one. The job list for the winter needs to be under control so that you can look forward to the spring with time and energy and not be spending warm sunny days in the workshop. With Touch Rugby World Cup training commitments this is starting to get a bit stressful but then it always does at this time of year.

Moth sailing is too expensive without sponsors.

Hairy Bum

I am slowly getting through the list of jobs for the new moth session. Nothing dramatic but tidying up stuff.

Opinion about the best way to paint a boat is divided. There are those that say spray painting is the way to go and there is me. Spray painting is lots of mess and waste and I can not be bothered so I thought I would just use a roller to get close enough to a good finish so long as you do not get to close. I have learned my lesson (the hard way) that rollers for water based paints dissolve in chemical paints so I bought the slightly more expensive ones. Now i am not saying that my workshop is a dust free environment but I am really disappointed that half the hair from the roller stuck to the roller and the other half did not.

So maybe it time to spend even more money on roller quality or give in and spray paint.

I have ordered some of this: Spalt Abdeckband and I hope it will give me that missing 3 knots of boat speed off the line. It better do it cost 30 Euros.

Trainspotting

I love Moths and I am a bit of a Moth trainspotter. That with my database geekyness has resulted in a Statistics Page of the Boat data in the IMCA Database:

http://www.moth-sailing.org/imca/faces/Stats.jsp

The first thing to notice is that this data is not a complete set of data of all Moths built since 1928. Does such a record exist? I know that year books contain some lists but I do not think there is a complete record.

I hope the Boats For Sale feature (see my last post) will feed more data into this but so far zero response. Maybe it does not work or no one is interested? Anyway I want to get this data and use it because it gives a nice picture of the class and the trends within it.

If you want to reuse this data there is a dump of it here: http://www.moth-sailing.org/imca/faces/boats.xml This can be used to sex up gear tables for events.

If you are a member you can log in to the IMCA site and add your boat into the database (if it is not there already). The problem with this is I do not know who is a member and who not as my centralized membership management features have at best failed miserably.

Am I the only trainspotter out there or are there others that are interested in this project? If so do you have data and time?

Content Havesting.

I have been meaning to finish this off for a while but there is now a new feature on the IMCA site that allows you to "Sell a Boat".

You have to login to the site. Then in the IMCA toolbar you can click "Sell a Boat". You search (by name, number and sail number) and select your boat to sell. If it is really not there please add it to the database. You can not add new designs or builders at the moment so send me an email if yours is missing. You can edit the boat data and enter advertisement text. The Contact details come from your Contact data which you can also edit with the toolbar link "Edit your contact details".

Boat for Sale can be found here: http://www.moth-sailing.org/imca/faces/BoatsForSale.jsp and on the National pages filtered to Boats in that country. Adverts run for 2 months then expire. To reactivate open and "Save" them and they will be active for another 2 months. Your adverts and their status is listed on your Home page.

The reason for doing the above is to use the Boat Data from Boats for Sale to feed the Boats database on the IMCA site. It is hoped this harvested data can then be used to provide data for gear tables at events, track boats and produce statistics. You can Search the boat database with the now open to logged in users "Boats Search." toolbar feature. Also the harvested contact data can be searched and viewed by Members and National Committee members.

As I blogged earlier I want to increase the content on the Side without having to do too much work and this initiative I hope will be a step in that direction.

Please continue to use the Moth Market and test out this feature as well. Feedback and bug reports are very welcome.

Ticks in all the important points boxes

I am really really really impressed with this video and how it ticks all the important points boxes of the wing issues.



I have nothing to add. I totally agree with everyone in this video. Unfortunately that leaves the wing issue unclear in my mind.

Great work guys.

Back in the workshop.

All the moth news from the worlds has got me all keen to get Flashheart ready for next season. So I have spent some hours in my workshop.



The picture above is the making of a trophy for an Austrian Moth event. It is a bit of an experiment so I am not sure how it will turn out but that can be said for everything that goes on in my workshop.



It is great that the Moth sailors take time to blog and tweet at the Worlds because when I go to an event I find it very hard to turn on a computer in my holidays. So thanks guys.