Fortunately the weather has been remarkably hot and dry. A full inspection of the hull revealed three separate sites where the hull integrity of the hull had broken down. The pattern of the damage also pinpointed the cause; operator error. As the stern took to the water during launching it caused the dinghy to slew off centre, trip off to the side of the rear roller on the trailer, catching a steel bracket as it slid off.
A great technique for repairing the Mirror dinghy was posted on "People Love Sailing Mirror Dinghies" on FB. Basically, the hole is made square, the edges are bevelled to prevent the plug from being pushed through the hull, a plug with matching bevelled edges is fitted and a backing plate added inside. The Poster recommended screwing it together, but I have total confidence in epoxy to hold it all together.
So now I have her back in floaty condition. But first I need to redress the launching issue; how could I stop it happening again? I recalled some "modifications" that I made to the trailer, namely removing a hinged leg and extra-long safety chain. After scratching my head a while I figured that these fittings were necessary to allow the trailer to be disconnected from the car and tilted up during launching and retrieval. They have now been replaced and I plan to test it all out in the morning.
No comments:
Post a Comment