Fitting out Drifter 22
'Appuski Too'
On Deck
Deck fittings
Firstly
I apologise for the state of the Burgess on the gunwales in the pictures below.
Unfortunately cosmetics is pretty low down the priority list at present.
Here
there are two fitting ideas from the previous owner and one from me.
I
understand that the goodies that were on my jib sheet track when I acquired the
boat are not standard fitting. They comprise the roller fairleads in lieu of
bulls eyes, for which I am grateful, and the midships cleats which are fitted
on the track and which are in frequent use for fenders and more importantly,
for the initial connection to the shore or to the craft alongside before
attaching fore and aft warps. These cleats are especially useful when single
handed.
You
may also just be able to make out, fitted to the shroud which is laying outside
the gunwale, the 'clamp on' cleat which I use along with a small masthead cheek
block for a courtesy and event flag halliard)
The
one from me is a mod that I did on the Coaster and which I rate highly
successful. This is the replacement of the spray hood tie down straps with 6mm
cord and side entry clamcleats. This
makes raising and lowering the sprayhood a speedy one hand operation which is
very useful when single handed and entering harbour or in a sudden downpour.
The relevant clamcleats are CL217 Mk1 and CL 218 Mk1 for starboard and port
respectively. This was an urgent job on Appuski Too as the existing straps were
too short for easy attachment. Accordingly I used what was to hand with the
result that the cleat in the picture is the wrong hand as the rope should go in
from underneath. They will both be replaced in any case when time permits with
the dark anodised versions (CL217 Mk1 AN and CL 218 Mk1 AN) if I can find any,
as the darker ones should look more in keeping than silver.
Where
the strap fixing has been removed you will see that I have replaced just the
screws (with a little sealant) to await the first batch of minor gel coat
repair jobs - which could be some while.
Tiller pilot
This
was going to be near essential for long days single handed on the Viking
cruise. I had the tiller pilot from Appuskidu (See Drascombe
Projects - Electrics) but it needed a pin on the tiller and a socket on the
deck. I had the pin for the tiller but a special bracket was required to raise
it to the right height and position. Fortunately I also had the now redundant
mast hoop which was just the right thickness to make the bracket. The socket
has to be raised to get the right angle over the sloping deck so a round boss
fabricated from iroko scraps now graces the quarter deck. With no time for
trial and error, Churchouse kindly supplied details of where to fit them.
Boarding Ladder
The
boat came without a boarding ladder. A conventional stainless steel boarding
ladder can be fitted to the transom of a D22. These are relatively expensive
and the budget did not allow the purchase of everything at once, so the first
season had to be completed without one. However, I have now acquired one which
was chosen following the conventional wisdom of having "2 steps below the
water line". It is not pictured as it will not be fitted until the spring.
In the mean time I needed something to use for getting on board when making
ready whilst she is on her trailer. The step ladder from home was too big for
travel and the step fender that came with the boat is too short and can only be
used when the boat is dried out on the beach.
The
solution was the relatively inexpensive five step Lazilas alloy 'hook over'
ladder shown. This served well for getting in and out of the boat at the
slipway after repositioning the stand offs and a couple of the steps, and
shortening one of the stand offs slightly (surprisingly - the aft one).
However, I still need to fit the proper boarding ladder, as there was no
practical way of stowing the alloy one on board in such a way that I could get
at it from the water.
