Pre-Islands Checklist

Time to start another checklist: things that need to be figured out before the islands trip:

* water tankage
* head (?)
* thru-deck conduit installation DONE
* battery capacity FORGET IT
* stern anchor DONE
* cooler DONE
* motor covers DONE
* weather stripping around cockpit and main hatches

Notes on the shapes and sizes of things

So I don't forget, here are some of the sizes I discovered during this latest maintenance.

Spreaders are aluminum tubing, 1 1/2'' o.d., 1/16'' thickness, 36'' long. Spreaders are installed with #10 tapping screws.

Clevis pins for fore- and back- stays are 5/16'' diam, 1 1/2'' fetch.

Clevis pins for lower shrouds *should* be 1/4'' diam, 5/8'' fetch (what's in there now is 3/4'' fetch, I believe).

Masthead hardware is installed with #10-24 machine screws and nuts.

Bottom of mast is screwed on with #10 tapping screws.

Mast up!

Yesterday I spent most of the day on the boat. I installed Constantijn's masthead fly, put the bottom of the mast back on, did a few odd-and-end things here and there...

Then this morning Ian and Dan helped me raise the mast. I thought the whole thing was going to be a fiasco, because harbor patrol was unavailable to sell us tokens for the crane, and also I wasn't entirely happy about the way the spreaders were looking, but in the end it all worked out. We got the mast up, tensioned the rig and took the boat out to the anchorage. She really really needs a bottom and side cleaning, but at least I feel better about the spreader situation. Plus, I think it's really really cool that we have a home-made masthead fly!

Masthead light installed

This morning I went over to Ian's and put another coat of brightsides on the spreaders. In the meantime he washed the halyards and mainsheet, which were both completely disgusting.


We then went down to the boat and had a pretty productive day. We made a new platform and installed the masthead light -- I'm very proud of this one. We took off all the sheaves, washed, lubed and reinstalled them. We washed the rest of the mast. Wait, that doesn't sound like a long list of accomplishments... Anyway, this stuff took all day, and I have my work cut out for me tomorrow: I'm installing the new spreaders and the masthead fly that Constantijn made.

Painting the new spreaders

Today Ian and I got together early in the morning and resumed working on the spreader situation. I decided to use zinc chromate spray primer and apply brightsides directly on top of that (skipping the epoxy barrier coat). So we set up shop in Ian's back yard and did a coat of primer, and 3 hours later a coat of enamel -- which, by the way, came out looking like ass!

In between the two coats we had some time, so we went down to the boat. We removed the other spreader (which was very hard to do, because of all the corrosion, and took 45 minutes of jiggling!). Ian then removed the platform that the masthead light is installed on (though the screw that was holding it on is still in the mast). We also checked the resistance in the wire that runs through the mast, and determined it to be 0.6 Ohms (it turns out that amounts to a 10% voltage drop, which complies with the old guidelines, but I would much rather it were the new guideline 3%...) Finally we took off the halyards and mainsheet so we can wash them tomorrow.

First thing tomorrow morning I need to check my good old boat and boatworks issues for a recent article I remember on how to recondition your ropes.

Unstepping the mast

This morning Ian, Tijn and I unstepped the mast. It went pretty well, considering that we had to use a different hoist from last time. The only notable difference was that the tabernacle was no longer tight, so the mast came out of it right away, no tugging necessary.



First order of business was to remove the loose spreader and figure it out. When I did that, the end practically c rumbled in my hands, it was that corroded!

So, I needed a new spreader. After calling some 8 or 9 places (machineshops and metal suppliers), I managed to locate a place (Ventura Metal Broker Inc) that had some of the aluminum tubing I needed (1 1/2'' o.d., 1/16'' thickness, 35 3/4'' length). It was 3pm by that time, so I got in my car and drove to Ventura to pick up the parts.



Constantijn asked a friend who is a machinist to make end fittings for the spreaders, so at 9pm, we went to Rudi's garage and he did an incredible job of machining those fittings. He then compression fitted them onto the spreaders, so that by 11pm we had a superb fix to a problem that we had discovered less than 12 hours before.

I am immensely grateful for the way this turned out!

Dinghy bottom cleaned

Today, after the CHRF race, I scraped the bottom of the dinghy clean.

Picture of the skipper

And a picture of the skipper, so people don't whine that I'm never in the shots I post :-)

 

Friday sail

Yesterday Ian, Tijn, Alli, Chris and I went for a sail to the westernmost platform. We had good wind on the way there, but it died on us a couple miles out of SB on the way back, so we motored in. There was also a pretty significant swell the further out we went. 

Midsummer maintenance checklist

I think Shadow's getting to the point of mid-summer/pre-islands maintenance. Here's the stuff that needs to be done:

* replace gooseneck pin (UNDOABLE)
* install masthead light and fix thru-deck connector (DONE)
* install windex (DONE)
* build anchor locker hatch
* install new halyard turning blocks (DONE)
* tighten loose spreader (REPLACING INSTEAD)
* check stays (DONE), potentially change out clevis pins (COULDN'T DO)
* remove @#$!@ piece of green tape from mast! (DONE)
* clean/test water tank (DONE)
* install eye on mast where we removed the old one
* run messenger line to masthead block? (DONE)
* check gauge of lighter connector wiring (can it take the full load of the lights?) (Redid the splice)

And the dinghy is definitely due for a cleaning! (DONE)

4th of July fireworks crowd