New rigging and other projects

- April 22, 2018

We've spent the week on the dock at FKG getting new rigging and doing a few other projects.

FKG Dock

Dangerously, the red building next door is the pub and restaurant "Lagoonies". Fortunately the red building next door also houses the sail loft where we stored our sails during the re-rigging project.

In preparation for having the masts removed, we took off the sails & booms. We disconnected the wiring that runs down the mast and made preparations for the installation of a new wind generator.

Dave working on the wiring

While the masts were off we worked like navvies. Here's a list of just a few things we accomplished.

We pulled out random wires that went nowhere
Removed the previous owner's cables for satellite phone that had been chopped off at either end
Ran new wires for a second VHF antenna
Installed a new VHF antenna
Removed old TV antenna
Removed the flag staff (colloquially known as a "pig stick") from the top of the main mast
Cut and polished the main mast, mizzen mast, main boom & mizzen boom
Waxed the main mast, mizzen mast, main boom & mizzen boom
Installed new steaming light and down-light on main mast
Installed new down-lights on the mizzen spreaders
Installed masts steps on top of the main and mizzen masts
Removed old analogue anemometer and wires
Installed new NMEA 2000 digital anemometer and cable
Replaced the masthead anchor light and tricolour light
Re-rigged the pennant halyards
Upgraded the mizzen masthead turning block
Got really tanned feet from working in the sun

and Oh!

Dave and the Rutland

We installed the Rutland 1200 wind generator on top of the mizzen mast! We're super excited to have free power from the wind. When I say "free", I mean the cost per kilowatt hour will reduce by each Amp hour it produces. Based on the first 16 hours of use the cost per kilowatt hour will be $7.77 by May 2021 compared the the cost per kilowatt in Brisbane of $0.30. Groan.

Researching wind generators started even before we bought Perigee. Many hours and much discussion went into deciding which one to get and where to mount it. Having narrowed our choice down to two, we settled on the Rutland over the D400 because of the weight (11kg vs 17kg). Many more hours went into planning the installation so to finally have the wind gen installed feels like a major achievement.

Here's some more photos & videos

Miguel loosening the back stays

Work begins

Perigee on FKG dock

Here is Perigee having the Mizzen replaced with the new Rutland wind generator visible on top. Photo courtesy Karl, Julie, Dan, Rory & Bo Flemming from SV Neireda. Neireda is a 64 foot Hanse and was on the dock behind us having her furler removed for a rebuild. The Flemmings are a lovely Irish family from a small village south of Dublin. They are taking a 2 year sabbatical to go exploring.

FKG stands for Frank, Kevin & Gordon. Kevin is a Kiwi and long retired from the business. Frank is an Aussie who is also retired. He lives in Tin Can Bay where we have a holiday house so no doubt we will run into him some day. Gordon is another Aussie who still works on the hydraulics side of the business. We met him and chatted to him most days in the yard. He plans to retire at the end of the year and will settle either in Tasmania or Portugal. I never did ask why it was FKG and not KGF or GFK. Maybe FKG is easier to remember.