The to-do list

After the first few trips out, it was obvious a few things needed doing. Here's my short list :

New car needed to tow the boat out - not really surprising, but my 1.8 litre front wheel drive car wouldn't tow the boat out successfully ! 

After talking to other owners previously, I knew I needed a minimum of a 2.4litre 4 cylinder auto 4wd car (such as a Mitsubishi Outlander).  I found a Nissan Rnessa, and a deal was done. Its a oddball japanese car with Nissan 2.4 litre KA24de engine, and full time 4wd. 
In the US the Nissan Pathfinder and Navara was spec'd with this engine, so I figured it might be up to the job. 

Tows the boat out of the water and up the ramp like a champ @ 1800rpm.  Its also got a 1650kg curb weight, which outweighs the boat by a safe margin, according to the previous owner, the boat and trailer weighs 1240-1300kg all up. I have since towed it down country, and provided the outboard and rudder is in the car, I get perfect weight distribution, and no trailer sway, even @ 100km/h.
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Boom topping lift - Need this to take the weight of the boom when raising the sail. Almost impossible without it, makes reefing more difficult. - Fixed ! Not sure why I haven't seen any other Farr 6000's with a boom topping lift, everyone seems to use the spinnaker halyard, wrapping around the mast and back to the boom end. This doesn't work for me, as you can't raise the mainsail all the way without catching the spin halyard on the way up!

 I have rigged up a single 50kg breaking strain kite line(sleeved for strength) to the top of the mast with a stainless steel eye strap riveted on.
 

It can be set at two heights, one under tension to hold the boom above your head, and one to take tension off the line, so it clears the main sail leech nicely in practise, even though I expected there to be a clearance problem when i first starting setting it up. You can hardly even see the extra topping lift line from a distance.

Its actually impossible to raise the mainsail without lifting the boom up to take the tension off. Without the topping lift, even if you can raise the sail up the track, it puts a lot of tension through the halyard hardware, and stretches the luff of the sail.  As a bonus, for light wind the topping lift can be left tensioned to give the sail a deeper shape.



Replace marine battery - the previous owner put a heavy 85aH marine battery, which is not sealed, and its a flooded lead acid type.  Not good in a boat that jumps around, and tilts all the time. - Fixed - Replaced with a AGM battery normally used in server UPS power supplies. A trademe seller was selling these new for much less than the new deep cycle battery I already had in the boat. I needed a solar regulator for this new battery. Sold the old battery for the same money as the new one cost!







Boom fittings - the outhaul pulley was knackered. - Fixed! Riveted it on with some heavy duty rivets.  The outhaul is almost correctly setup here, note the rope attaches onto a eye strap on one side with a bowline, and through the snap-shackle, then through the pulley on the side of the boom, to a cleat further along.  Should really have a pulley on the snap shackle.  This gives the correct 4-1 purchase for the outhaul, and pulls the sail from the centre on the boom.



 Main halyard - very stiff lifting the sail, my guess was the pulleys needed some lube along with the sail track. - fixed !

sharp things - the safety line around the boat had sharp bits if cable sticking out, nice for slicing your fingers on - fixed  ! replaced with nylon ties.

Outboard - adjust angle - easy. done!

Depth sounder/speedo - a previous owner had used horrible ducting to run the cable around the inside of the cockpit, with multiple screws instead of one hole for the cable.  - Fixed - rerouted, holes filled

Interior lights - some aren't working. - fixed !

Minor leak from transom - I think its coming from the rudder pintle. - update 05/03 - fixed ! 
I thought I would experiment a little, and adjust the cant of the rudder. A little forward cant is useful in reducing the pressure on the tiller when well powered, so I tasked myself with removing the top rudder pintle, and inserting a spacer, and refitting.  Sounds simple right?  Well I had to buy new longer bolts, as the original ones were only just long enough, and they didn't have the crucial load spreading washers on all 3 of them. I forgot to take the original bolts to the shop, but luckily I got the right size, and guessed they were imperial in the 70's! Refitted and looking good, photo to follow :

The spacers are 3.5m or 4mm.

The problems started when I looked at the lower rudder pintle.

Attempted drilling them out, but my plain high speed steel drill bit, and weak drill didn't work too well, and reached the point of no return, they were definitely loose now, and prone to shearing off. 
Next day I came back to the boat armed with a cobolt 5.5mm drill bit and a fully charged drill. 2 hours later and I had them all out. The original holes looked in ok condition, so I refitted new bolts into the original holes, and fitted everything with proper 3M Marine Fast Cure 4200 adhesive/sealant.  There was no previous sealant to remove, apart from on top of the bolts. The photo is during the fitting. 

boarding ladder broken - managed to break this last night, so another job, - Got the local welder (Steeliots) to do a spot of welding..05/03. They did such a good job, you'd never know. The extra angle on the boarding ladder makes it easier to climb aboard, but put more load on the ladder hinge brackets.

Spinnaker sheets/guys - I had one rope that looks like it was for the spinnaker.  I need two ! I have been using the one rope when poleing out the genoa, but when gybing its a lot of effort to swap the rope to the other side! If I'm running the spinnaker, I do need two. At least I've established the length of rope is enough for the spinnaker. The current one is quite a heavy diameter rope, so the second lengh I am buying is more like 6mm diameter instead of 8mm. Also needed an extra snap shackle. I have added a bobble on the end, as suggested in a magazine I read, so the shackle doesn't get caught in the pole jaws. 



Bow roller - After anchoring a few times its obvious a bow roller would be handy, and stop the chain and warp grating through my hull deck join strip.
It amazes me that no-one else ever fitted one. There was a existing cleat where the bow roller needed to go, so I unbolted it, and even managed to use one of the original holes for the new hardware. 
Its mounted to the right of the forestay attachment, which suits me fine, as the anchor locker opens to the left, so you stand on the right hand side of the bow when managing the anchor anyway.