I'm the new caretaker of Ariel-109

[Ariel 109]

Making a new rudder post bearing on my old South Bend lathe.  Notice the new flat belt driving my old machine (ca. 1934).  I was able to get this new one made recently at the gear and transmission company that's across the street from my shop.  All the tooling to make the belt was at least one hundred years old.  The guys at the company were so proud they could help me.

Ben  

[Ariel 109]

Installed the new rudder post bearing yesterday afternoon and went sailing.  Even though my boat's original bearing was still in place, getting rid of the slight slop in the steering has made sailing Ariel 109 more "pleasurable".  

Much messing around with trying to get the old South Coast wire halyard winch to stop slipping.   I happy to report that I've seem to have fix the the problem.  I think what did the trick was using 320 sandpaper to lightly sand off the oxidation and crud on the clutch band.  The clutch seemed to be engaging the winch drum in only two small areas before I did this.  Mainsail didn't slip at all yesterday and we had some nice strong winds and a wonderful sail.  Something about sailing on a weekday late afternoon.    

Ben

[ebb]

GOOD ON YA, Ben!

For those of us who don't have access to an antique Atlas lathe,:cool:
our  Ariel Association here has ready made black delrin sleeve bearings for sale at cost.

The delrin sleeve comes with two O-rings that are integral to the bearing*
One O-ring is in a groove on the inside of the sleeve and bears against the bronze rudder post.
The second is in a groove on the outside of the sleeve - it bears against the fiberglass tube.

Not only will the rudder post loose its slop but the new sleeve will keep water from getting into the cockpit through the tube.

Pleasurable sialing!
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
*Believe that bearings and O-rings can be gotten separately from the Association.  Old bearings can be worn and/or broken as lit'lgull's was.  The O'rings supplied with the new delrins are neopreen, I believe.  I can mail free to anybody a double set of EPDM O-rings that fit the original and, of course, the new one.  
I believe they will last longer and will not flatten out as readily and want replacement as the regular rings.

[Ariel 109]

Thanks Ebb

I didn't use any O-rings on my delrin bearing.  The fit on the shaft came out so nice I don't think any real amount of water could push through.   And I like the small level of fiction / dampening on the tiller I ended up getting.  I wonder if the purpose of the internal O-ring is to provide some resistance on the rudder shaft.  Kind of like a motorcycle steering dampener.  

Here's a better picture of my old South Bend nine inch lathe.  Most of these were made for industrial art classes.  That was back when this country believed it's people should be skilled in something other than shoving stuff into shopping carts.  (Help, I beginning to sound like my father.)

Lathes are very relaxing to operate, almost hypnotic.  Still you need to be careful.  

There's this great picture of L. Francis Herreshoff with his lathe.  I can't find on the internet.  But I'll try and scan it when I get a chance.  He was well known for making small working model naval cannons with his.  I don't know how that would go over today.



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Old Francis working on his Hjorth bench lathe.

[Ariel 109]

Picked up this faded beauty from Trader John's antique shop yesterday before going out sailing.  Fits the threads of 3" deck flange up in the bow of 109.  Hope to pull out my body hammers and dollies and get rid of the dents.  Then solder up the small cracks in the wire bead around the opening.  I like the "aged" patina so I'm going to keep as is.  

I've been using a borrowed cast aluminum air vent from the old nearby Vanguard, quite stylish, and it has really helped keep the boat from getting too musty below.

Ben

[Commander 147]

That should force some air below and keep her ventilated. The scoop portion looks larger than I usually see.

[Ariel 109]

A bit of hammer and dollie work, some silver soldering and a patina.  Now it looks "older than the hills".      

[Commander 147]

How did you do the patina Ben?

[Ariel 109]

Jerry

After using the hammer and dollies to smooth out the numerous dents in the air vent the old pitted nickel plating was flaking off and shattered.  So I ran over to a friend's shop and borrowed an ounce or two of a pre-mixed brown brass and bronze patina.  I heated the air vent up with a propane torch and wiped on the patina mix with a natural fiber brush a few times.   Salt water should finish the job.  It's all kind of silly, really.  But fun to reuse old hardware.

[mbd]

It's all kind of silly, really.  But fun to reuse old hardware.

No, it adds lots of character and class, IMHO!

[Ariel 109]

Taken this morning.  I finally named 109, she's called Noesis.  I really like the way the word sounds.  It's got that greek "mythology" thing going for it.   I don't know her previous name(s).  And see no trace of old lettering on the transom.  

Ben

(If you want to know what Noesis means.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noesis

[Ariel 109]

Here's a shot of the air vent installed.

[ebb]

Obviously we would never use a common urban expression like 'BLING'

to describe a cowl of such character and forward position.


Just checked the urdan dictionary for what irreverence they  have,  Looks like

'BLONG' may be a word we can take back from the street to

characterize righteous and venerable fittings such as Noesis' refurb cowl.


Another oldie but goodie are the skene chocks (in post #67)
with those beautifully molded 'come-hither' fingers to hold the line.

The two in the foreground of the photo are the most perfect NO-CHAFE chocks I've ever seen.
They'd work in the bow AND the quarters at the stern of the Ariel.
Obviously MARINIUM  would love to have these beauties  in BRONZE!

If  I ever get around to it, it would be a gas to make models in clay for casting
almost exactly what you have there.
  Gorgeous stuff!

[Ariel 109]

Noesis (109) this evening at her mooring.

[Ariel 109]

Gusty sail on Eastchester Bay.  The main sail is rolled around the boom to about the reef point.  Fun sail.



My wife (professor of costume history) at the helm.  It was her ideal to get Noesis.