UK Cherub Sticky Weekend Part 2
by James Ruddiman 16 Mar 2022 05:03 PDT
12-13 March 2022
Four Cherubists arrived at Andy's workshop early for a full day of fitting out the freshly painted EJ (see Sticky Weekend pt1).
First job, take the masking off and mop up some of the rain, we managed to do this in the sun where the pink combined with satin black really shined. We wrapped a narrow carbon tape over the ends of each rack to negate any splitting in the future.
Andy then started finalising the position of the new kickbar, carefully grinding off the paint so this could be bonded down. Meanwhile me and Chris set about applying Progrip to the racks and Oli stated sorting and planning out the control line blocks, cleats and runs. With the kickbar bonded into place a quick pit stop for tea was called for, then back to it.
Andy then proceeded to mark out and carefully grind away the paint for bonding in the new control line cleat pods, another fine example of Andy's top notch carbon work. Oli was busy splicing in the kicker primary line with Chris and Jimmy fitting out blocks and refitting the freshly modified and painted rudder stock and working out the best way to run the T-foil control lines, a new system was decided upon based on last week's experience fitting out Ducks.
With the cleat pods bonded and control line blocks in place it was time to drill the shiny carbon parts, as its my boat I got the unenviable task of actually putting holes in to carbon, but with some neat masking, checking and double checking pen lines I took the plunge and they look great. Chris had been busy working on the control line take-ups, Oli busy on more splicing of the spinnaker sheet blocks to the racks and Andy busy fitting mainsheet and kicker points to my new boom.
Previous to this weekend I had managed to get a friend to laser cut my Progrip in to heart shapes like the Cherub insignia, so with the doors now closed and the heater on, we set about laying out the pattern, tracing around each heart then with the aid of Oli, applying the contact adhesive to all 38 heart shapes. I placed them all back in their pencilled position while Andy continued with the boom and Chris worked on the spinnaker pole and ensured all lines and sheet takes ups were rigged.
It was now dark and some of us had to get back to our families, so the under cover went on, the workshop was tidied and the boat towed back to Stokes Bay where she will have final fitment of control lines, foot loops, and the new boom and rig ready for what will be an exciting season.
Thanks go to Andy and Fluid Composites for their excellent work fixing her after an incident at Nationals, stripping her back, fairing and doing all the extras I wanted for EJ. And thank you to Chris and Oli for getting stuck in and helping to get EJ ready to get back on the water, she's looking great!