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We are about to order a new set of sails from Ullman for Revelations - mainsail, genoa and spinnaker. Considering all the available materials is complicated and complex - with no easy right or wrong answers, nor a "perfect" solution. For blue water cruising, sails simply have to last – it is false economy using a cheaper product if it fails mid ocean. Most of us have sailed with a spinnaker or cruising chute at some time and you may remember the sail is flying unsupported from the spars, hence occasionally the sail will fill and collapse. Often this can be be with quite a 'pop' and for this reason we want the sail to absorb some of that 'shock' and so we choose a slightly forgiving fabric.

We usually choose Nylon as it has a little more elasticity as a fibre and it's usually woven in a form these days that we call Ripstop. Which means it has a square weave pattern that is formed by periodically twisting a few fibre together to increase tear strength, or occasionally by added a larger fibre into the weave at even spaces.

So, Nylon downwind sail fabric is very light, a little stretchy and surprisingly strong. The fabric weight is usually expressed firstly within a generic weight category - such as '3/4 ounce', or '1 1/2 ounce' and then as a style name with a more detailed weight that may well now be in grams.

Most importantly these materials are available in attractive colours so you can personalise your sail and keep the crew entertained! Either of the weight categories will 'fly' in quite light winds even as smaller sails - but often the heavier wind range sails (or more all purpose sails) will be in the 1 1/2 ounce weight range. Because the lightest material comes at the expensive of some durability and tear resistance if the sail handling isn't quite as slick as you had planned for!

In cruising sails usually 3/4 ounce is good for light symmetrical shaped spinnakers and 1 1/2 ounce is best for heavy symmetrical shaped spinnakers, asymmetric and cruising chutes. There are also heavier weights of downwind sail fabrics for bigger yachts and for racing sails there are lighter ones ... some are more heavily coated with a stabilising resin to make a harder 'crispier' feel and support that unsupported flying sail shape.

Upwind sail fabrics are more complex and since there are more variations in weight and factors of construction to consider. The absolutely most robust and longest lasting sailcloth available in the world is Dimension-Polyant ‘Hydra-Net’. If the boat is going to be extensively cruised, particularly long offshore or in adverse conditions we recommend a style of material called Hydra-net. This material is a woven mix of Polyester and Spectra producing the most rugged and reliable sailcloth available. This material is very low stretch and provides ultimate reliability; ‘Hydra-net’ therefore provides the most rugged long lasting Blue Water sail cloth available on the market. ‘Hydra-net’ is also the softest fabric option available and is therefore the easiest to handle; this is relevant whether the sails are for roller reefing or folded into Lazy Jack systems. All other materials will be quite firm and therefore bulkier than your existing older sails and would be harder to fold away, however ‘Hydra net’ is soft and pliable and easily rolled and folded, this means that ‘Hydra-net’ is ideally suited for short-handed cruising. The final advantage of ‘Hydra net’ is that it has excellent UV resistant properties. Hydra-net is the fabric of choice for blue water cruising yachts. The ‘Hydra-net’ fabric comes in two different styles, one suitable for cross cut sails and the other for radial constructed sails. The cross cut version is fairly balanced with Spectra/Dyneema running in both directions. This fabric is the absolutely most robust and softest/easiest to fold/roll fabric available on the market, for a Blue water cruising boat or an aging family crew where soft and easy to handle sails are desired then the cross cut version of ‘Hydra Net’ is absolutely perfect. This material also has a unique to Dimension-Polyant a UVi coating in the resin that helps to protect the sail from harmful UV exposure and can increase the materials lifespan by around 15%The fabric performs better than most woven Dacron but is stretchier and therefore inferior in shape retention when compared to laminates or the radial version. The stretch that does occur is fairly elastic so any elongation that does occur is not permanent, but it does mean that although a high quality product this material is aimed at ease of handling rather than performance.

‘Hydra-net Radial’ has far more Dyneema running along the warp and offers far superior shape retention and therefore performance, yet the fabric is almost as soft and easy to handle as the cross cut version. ‘Hydra-net Radial’ out performs all other woven materials including ‘Vectran’ and most laminates. For a blue water cruising yacht where performance and shape retention is desired ‘Hydra-net Radial’ is the perfect material. The radial version is far better suited for high aspect sails and this is the style we have quoted for This material also has a unique to Dimension-Polyant a UVi coating in the resin that helps to protect the sail from harmful UV exposure and can increase the materials lifespan by around 15%.

The glass and paint work on Revelations is now finally done. Garth Walker completed the glass and repair work during the last week of August 2016 and spend the past two weeks fixing all the deck fittings and doing final touch up work. What initially started as a small project, quickly ramped up and became a massive laborious and very expensive exercise. I am really happy that this work is now behind us, but soon to be replaced with another major project - replacing and repairing equipment damaged during the lightning strike.

However, our claim with the insurance company is still not settled and we cannot commence with this critical work. In the end, I gave up dealing with the insurance assessors as I find them to be a bunch of thieves. I had to resort to legal action and I am happy to report that our attorney is making progress towards a settlement. It is almost unthinkable how much difficulties one can have with an insurance company to get them to pay a fair settlement. Quite frankly, I am extremely disappointing and shocked at their cheating ways to reduce what they rightfully have to pay out. Hopefully, a settlement will be reached within the next month or so. We have in the interim repaired most of the damage sustained during the lightning strike.

Here are some final images Garth Walker who did the work at PowerBoats, Chaguaramas, Trinidad emailed me recently.

I received some images from Garth Walker, Trinidad showing some of the fittings being refitted to Revelations. Garth is now almost done with all the work he was commissioned to do on Revelations and he should complete the project by end of August 2106. There are still other work we have to do on Revelations but this will have to wait until we can get back to Trinidad.

Garth Walker from Trinidad emailed me some images of the anti skid work they have done on Revelations. As yet, I haven't seen the work but it seems like Garth has done a very professional job on Revelations. By sounds of things, they seem to be almost done with the anti skid and the next step will be to refit all the deck fittings they removed. According to Garth, all the work on Revelations should be done towards the end of August 2016. I certainly hope so as the Rand to US Dollar exchange rate is most certainly killing the available budget in leaps and bounds. 

Based on a timelime previously received, I thought that the spray painting would be done be now. But it is not. Unbeknown to me (or perhaps due to lack of clear instructions), besides respraying the entire topsides, Garth Walker also started spraying the targa bar and bimini. Perhaps the targa bar and bimini looked bad to the rest of the newly sprayed yacht. Anyway, he is almost done with the bimini, and targa bar, he also did a bunch of other small repairs and patch ups. He taped off the anti skid areas and will be applying the anti skid within the next couple of days. Here are some images he emailed me today.

We received some additional images from Garth Walker of the Awlgrip spray painting job under the bridgedeck.

We just received an update and images from Garth Walker in Chagauramas, Trinidad about the progress of the spray painting job on Revelations. They are now busy spray painting the upper deck and it should all be done withing the next week or so. After this, they will apply the anti skid on the upper deck - which will help with not slipping/falling when walking around on the yacht. This requires a lot of careful taping and masking to create the anti skid deck patterns. Once this is all done, all the deck hardware will be refitted.

This has been an expensive, long and tedious job stretching over the past 8 months. It would have been much cheaper for us to rather bring the yacht back to South Africa and have the job done locally. However, besides all the damage caused by the lighting strike making navigation difficult, we certainly did not fancy the long voyage of around 6 to 8 weeks across the southern part of the Atlantic ocean. So it is what it is and the work will soon be done.

Here are some pictures showing that Revelations is prepped and almost ready for the white Awlgrip spray painting job. It is taking far longer than anticipated, the work is going very slow, it is costing us a fortune on a monthly basis - but hopefully the job will be finished soon. But is fairness, there were lots of wet and soft balsa which had to be removed due to bad workmanship when Revelations were fitted out in Cape Town, South Africa.

Not only did they have to cut open large sections all over the yacht to remove the wet and soft balsa, all of this had to be repaired, filled and faired. A very big job indeed and hopefully never to be repeated. Garth Walker repeatedly stated that the spraypaint job cannot be rush, he seems to be quality orientated - so we hope the finished job will reflect these values.

Here is a video received today from Garth Walker, Trinidad (taken on his cell phone) of the Awlgrip marine paint spray painted on Revelations. Although the picture quality is not fantastic nor high definition, it certainly gives one an idea of what the end result will look like. Check that paint gloss!

The workers in Trinidad have now completed the charcoal colour coats of paint to the hull and they are now busy flattening these coats of paint - sanding it with a very fine grid sandpaper. This is a required process for the three clear coats of paint which needs to be spray painted on top of the charcoal base. The three clear coats will create a deep lustre in the finished paint work and help protect the charcoal base.

Once the clear coat have been applied, Garth Walker will apply the anti skid paint on the deck. This is detailed work and requires a lot of careful masking to paint the anti skid patterns over the entire deck. To minimize heat absorption, we opted to do the anti skid in a light grey colour - white and black paint mixed in a 9 to 1 ratio.

The past week or so, while we are waiting for yacht Entheos to complete her sail drive repairs, we have been doing some repair and maintenance work ourselves. Marcello from Bahia Boats Ship Chanderly replaced all the reefing and furler lines with new ones and the above picture shows him splicing the continuous line for the screetcher. We also had our macerator pumps removed, cleaned and installed again - but there is not much improvement, both pumps sound tired and we will replace them when we find a decent chandelier. We had new stainless steel cables made up for the dinghy davits and replace a fan belt on the Kohler generator. Still to be done are two leaking cockpit drain pipes - these will be replaced with solid fiberglass tubes which will be glassed in.

When drilling a screw hole into the yacht, one is supposed to dig out the Balsa wood around the hole, then fill the hole with epoxy and once cured, the screw can then be screwed in. This procedure ensures that water does not get into contact with the balsa wood which rots in no time. Very disappointing is that we are finding unsealed screw holes all over the yacht. Despite numerous instructions to and numerous promises from Jacque and Jonathan, his helper, that this work was properly done, sad to say this is not the situation. We will have to yet again pay somebody to do this work - hopefully then it will be done properly.

The heat was suffocating, sweat pouring out of every orifice, gulping air like a drowning fish and wishing for a breeze to cool down - it was time to sort out the broken bolt. Because of the heat, the timing is bad but this has been the story for the past week - exhausting, dehydrating and unabating heat. Other events took precedence doing this job at night, although the heat is constant, at least the baking sun is not adding to one's discomfort. But there is no such escape for me! We have plans to go sailing to a couple of islands so this job could no longer be delayed, it had to be done today.

As I gather all the tools required for the job, sweat is pouring out of my almost naked body, I'm glistening with sweat and it looks like I had a serious workout in the gym. Sweat is dripping onto the lenses of my prescription glasses, already half blind it burns as it also runs into my eyes. I feel dehydrated and quickly gulp down almost a liter of ice cold water, feeling better, I head off to the windlass in the front anchor locker to tackle the job of removing the broken bolt.

I contort my body like an escape artist into the cramped space and quickly strip down the windlass cover exposing the cursed bolt. I attach a metal cutting disc of about 30 mm diameter to the Dremel machine and carefully grind a slot, big enough for a flat screw driver, into the broken bolt. Unfortunately, also cutting into the actual component being bolted down but I am impressed that the damage is minimal and the cut is only about 5 millimeters in length and 2 millimeters deep on either side of the bolt - barely noticeable. Then with a short flat screwdriver, it was easy to turn out the remaining stud of the broken off bolt. New bolts were inserted, all the components bolted back into their respective locations, the windlass operation tested and I declared the job as successful. The windlass is working perfectly, the day is saved and we can go sailing tomorrow. But until then, it is back to the wretched heat.

The other day, we once again sailed to Ilha de Itaparica where we spend two days and nights on anchor. It was time to return to Terminal Nautico, the marina in Salvador and I started lifting the anchor with the Lewmar windlass. With the anchor nearly on board, the windlass started slipping - the windlass motor would turn but it now longer pulled in any chain. The yacht was now drifting in the current and Sue took over the helming whislt I tried to figure out the problem. I found that a bolt, holding the windlass cover plate, was sheared off. The cover plate, no loose, wedge itself against the windlass drum and with the running of the windlass motor, the drum turned itself loose. This meant that there was not enough friction for the drum to turn with the motor and thus the anchor chain could not be pulled in. It is almost impossible for the bolt to have sheared off by itself and it seems it sheared when somebody over tighten the bolt when the Lewmar chain counter was added. Typical sloppy workmanship dictates not to remove the sheared of bolt and to replace it with a new bolt - instead, it was left as is and for somebody else to fix if and when discovered.

Anyway, the sheared off bolt is in a most awkward location and it is impossible to drill a hole in the bolt and use an "Eazy-Out" to remove the stud. The windlass is installed adjacent to a bulkhead and the base upon which the windlass is mounted, makes it extremely difficult to unbolt the windlass and remove the part with the sheared off bolt. But the sheared off bolt must be removed and replaced with a new bolt as the windlass is no longer working. Bertie (owner of yacht Entheos) suggested to use a hacksaw blade and partly cut through the component and the center of the bolt - in that way one can fit a short flat screw driver and try an turn the sheared off bolt out. Although this was certainly an option, it is something I would hate doing - hacking away at a perfectly good component. We retired for the night and thinking about Bertie's suggestion, it struck me that a small cutting disc on a Dremel tool would be the prefect solution. The Dremel tool is small enough to fit into the tight space and the cutting disc diameter is so small it would only cut a tiny bit into the component.

The very next morning, we went shopping in Calcada (pronounced "Kalsada"), an industrial suburb of Salvador where one can buy most of the hardware required to do yacht repairs. So here we are in one of the shops, ogling hand and power tools and a variety of other stuff we might need. I ended up buying a nice Dremel tool with a range of fittings and attachments, a set of "Eazy-Outs", new stainless steel bolts and a couple of other things. I now need to start the job and see if it will all work out.