F25 mast upper bearing damage:

during the season the mast never rotated properly, and got some times would be very hard to rotate. I did a full upper and lower bearing service last winter, but this is what I found when I pulled the rig this fall

as you can see the sleeve which stays in the boat and hold the upper bearing and keeps water out of the cabin got wedged on the mast and needed to be cut out of boat in order to pull the mast.

*note: look to see how the mast is wedged to the left side of the tube, the upper bearing shifted causing it to get wedged

this is the upper mast bearing, as you can see it got pulled out of it's slot in the tube and from the pic below it forced the stainless bearing on the mast to be moved as well.

*note: my guess is that during the mast install the alignment got off and the to parts of the upper bearing where not true and over time they worked each other in to a pickle... luckly their is not real damage and can be easily fixed this winter.

you can see how the stainless ring on the mast which is the inner part of the bearing assembly was forced up and off its perch, which was part of the problem.

winter blues

missing my Freedom 25, with the tarp on the boat i can do nothing but dream about sailing this summer and all the trips I want to do. I plan to put Gonzo my boat into the shed in april or may to prep for the spring launch and hope to complete a few new projects I'm been working on this past year. I also was wondering if any local freedom owners in New England would like to have a winter gtging.

cheers,

yarrow

Gonzo if out of the water and prepped for winter, I also took this opportunity to remove the rear railing which made it easier to cover with tarp. here is what I did:

1. remove boat, power wash bottom and put on trailer

2. empty all holding tanks, and bilge

3. remove bilge pump and hose

4. flush 1GM and fill with antifreeze

5. remove all cushions, and gear from boat

6. made wood batton cover for cockpit

7. put 1 tarps over boat as protection and prevent rubbing

8. put 1 heavy tarp on boat and lash to hull

FAll Pull Out:

well the time is coming as to when to pull out Gonzo my Freedom 25, with putting in late in the season I want to keep her in the water as long as possible, but I also don't want to wait to long and get caught in a snow storm or worse and not be able to get her stored properly. I will keep you all posted on when I end up doing the pull and up date what I find during the process and include a full list of what I do in order to prepare for the long winter.

Hurricane Irene:

Well owning a boat and taking care of it is one thing but doing also trying to survive a Hurricane is an entirely new experience all together. The largest concern I had was how the boat would do having a winged mast which make power in 5 knots of wind and having no idea what it would be like in 50-70 knots was a bit over whelming. In the end I did as much as I could as for mooring prep, and boat prep and hopped for the best. Having a mooring in Wickford had a large part of the fact that it is one of the best protected harbors in RI and showed this during this storm. below is a list of what I did and how it turned out:

mooring prep:

. inspected chain and cleaned as much of it as I could

. replaced and upgraded the shackles and tackle hardware which attached chain to mooring ball and penants

. added a swivel to chain below all tackle which I could attach a safety line which went to mast

. added a 2nd penant, and added chafing gear

boat prep:

. took sail off boom and put in rear berth

. took boom off mast

. filled fuel tank

. filled water tank

. put mast in straight postions forward and aft

. attached jack line wires to forward pulpit rails

. tightened back stays

. attached main halyard to traveler for main sheet, centered and tightened

. removed as much windage as possible from decks

. tightened all hatches

. tied tiller to center

Result:

during storm est wind 30-50 mph the boat was tacking hard on the mooring sailing until penant pulled bow through a tack. interesting to watch concidering all other sailboats where staying straight into the wind. the boat came out with no issues or damage and very happy with resutl

2nd Sea Trial:

So after about 2 weeks of pulling the boat together, and getting her ready for round 2, with this being said what I'm finding with boating is that you just can't always be prepared even when you think everything is taken care of. I found this out the hard way during this Sea Trial.

2nd Sea Trial:

1. got motor running really well, and boy what a difference

2. sorted out sail issues, including setting up 1st reef as a Cunningham

3. wind was from NW 5-10knots, boat did really well sailed down to Jamestown bridge and back.

4. Everything great until we looked in the cabin to find about 50-100 gallons of water in the boat. in the end found the bilge drain tube was pumping water in the boat, I also found out that the OEM hand pump bilge hose was dry rotted and had holes so did not work properly.

5. with all of this going on and a bit of crazy time, the boat did great and got us home.

6. today will fix the problem with a 1.5" check valve and new Y connector, I will also service the OEM bilge pipe so it has sections which can be serviced.

Review: in the end I am really happy with the boat we were doing 5+ knots on reach with just the main. I have a lot of learning to do as this boat sails like a windsurfer, and the winged mast really does make a difference. can't wait to play with the Kite and staysail.

1st Sea trial: ups and downs

SEA Trials, the ups and downs:

Well for owning this boat and doing a good amount of work on the boat including changing many of the system, I am in the process of doing sea trials to make sure all the systems on the boat are working properly this is my record of accounts:

1st sea trial: (the day after the boat was launched)

1. got half way out of harbor, and found that the fuel lines were crossed and buried under the driveshaft causing it to hold the shaft from spinning not allowing the prop to open, it also was wearing through the fuel line causing air to enter the system.

2. battons for main had tension issues, and main had some fitment issues to the mast and spar:

a. the slide on the clew of the main would not enter the boom slot

(solution was to remove the end cap and pull sail out and put slide in far end)

b. tack needed to be attached some how

(used a strap of 12 strand with a ball loop)

c. their is a pin at the bottom of the mast track to to keep sail from falling out of track.