Home made tool

[Tiger Cub]

One thing has been bugging us since we bought her in February, the windvane was bent down:



Had an old spreader:



Drilled a few holes:



Fastened to the backstay. Attached the main halyard to the old spreader and tied the bitter end to the bottom to form a continous loop:



Ran it up the backstay but it wasn't high enough, just toched the bottom of the windvane:



So, I drilled another hole in the old spreader just a little lower. This time it moved the windvane but it sprang most of the way back:



So, I drilled another hole even lower and ran it up again. I compensated for the spring back but, it didn't! Now it was bent just as bad as before but up instead of down:



I decided to make a hook from a bolt and try to get it back down:



It worked:



My wife, who was predecting failure during the whole process, was impressed!

Jack

[Quetzalsailor]

Neat trick.

We have ospreys active around our marina. It's both annoying and a hoot to watch 'em fish. They like nothing better than to perch on mastheads or spreaders. There's always, every year, at least for a while, one young bird who thinks it's dandy to perch on the windvane. It swings around and he flutters to stay on. From 50' away, below, he could care less about you shouting and waving at him. The 'angle of attack' wands are often bent, but so far, no one has lost their vane.

Those things come with a bit of aluminum tubing instead of a strap. I had to re-mount mine because it was too low compared to the tricolor. I set the tube at an up angle, but then had to bend the thing down at the tip. I'd gotten away with bending that tube on the last boat, but not this time. Broke it, made a little strap to bolt on. Now, when it's tootin', the thing also flutters a bit.

[Hirilondë]

Your cleverness is matched only by your persistence. You have certainly proven again that necessity is the mother of invention.

[Robert The Gray]

I want to see the tool that will adjust the port/starboard luffing indicators (?). Under weigh if possible.
any way.....Good use of the greatest neolithic tools, the human brain and a stick.

r

[Tiger Cub]

"Good use of the greatest neolithic tools, the human brain and a stick."

That is the best comment, by far, from anyone (it's on a few other forums, too) and made me think .......... damn you: you made me think!

Our crow's seem to like it:

The resident Osprey hasn't used the windvane yet, but frequently rests on the masthead.

I'm keeping the stick.

DB

[Quetzalsailor]

Seems to me that Tiger Cub is one of Charley Morgan's famous and successful boats from the mid '60s.

I'll step a little further out on a spreader...doesn't she have a steel tube space frame inside her hull?

[Tiger Cub]

Seems to me that Tiger Cub is one of Charley Morgan's famous and successful boats from the mid '60s.

I'll step a little further out on a spreader...doesn't she have a steel tube space frame inside her hull?

She is one of Charley's early designs and her sistership, "Ginger," achived local fame in the 60's/70's by taking over 100 trophy's in local races. That's a time when sailboat racing was quite active in the Tampa Bay area. She has no space frame I can see but she is very stout and well built. I've met Charlie and he believes there were no more than 10 made, I've found three others.

My boat was purchased by a Morgan employee as a kit, then he completed he boat at the factory and owned her for the next 35 years. She was then sold to Billy Johnson and I bought her from him a few months before he passed away. Billy brought her back to reasonably good mechanical condition but she still needs cosmetic help. I'm working on it.

I do mostly solo or short handed sailing and wanted a boat easy to singlehand. Draws 2' 10" board up and 7' board down, great for Florida's shallow waters.

Hope to have her looking better for the next Morgan Invasion.

Jack

[Quetzalsailor]

I could not resist Googling 'Morgan "Tiger Cub"' and 'Morgan "Paper Tiger"'. The 40' Paper Tiger was the yacht with a steel pipe (not tube) frame. Here's a blurb out of the 1962 Sports Illustrated site: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/ ... /index.htm. The Tiger Cubs were more common and well thought of in their day. Paper Tiger begot Sabre begot the Columbia 40: http://www.columbia-yachts.com/c-40skeleton.html

Fascinating stuff from the early days of 'glass construction. When ideas like the ribs in Alden's Challenger 38, the foam strakes, and foam core deck in Tripp's NE 38, and mere mass some others, all competed for stiffness and light weight. Morgan's frame is now pretty typical in the form of a bonded-in structural liner.

[Tiger Cub]

Thank's for the link, haddn't seen that one. The Cub is also a fat little rule-bender. She's 28.5 LOA, 21' LWL with a 9' beam:



All that overhang really increases LWL when she's healed, even just a little. I've been impressed with her light to medium air speed. With 7' board down she points well also.

DB

[Rachel]

Sweet! Sure wouldn't mind seeing more of that boat.

Rachel