ALMOST SPRING ..... SORT OF!

SHIP'S LOG:

It was something close to Spring today . . . .well, sort of. The temperature actually got up into the 40's. It was a T-shirt sort of day... ... well sort of. The snow covering the ground gave lie to that thought. Moreover the snow covering ABISHAG insured that the temperature inside hovered somewhere around freezing if not below, but I was still able to take care of a few more little items.

First on the list was wiping up the moisture that had condensed everywhere inside the boat! It is really amazing how much condensation gets produced inside the boat. This week should be stellar for this as the temperature is supposed to be in the 40's during most day this week . It is not a problem one has all that much in the Caribbean!

I finally took all of the linens and stored them in the vacuum storage bags. They are truly amazing little items. A load of stuff that had all but taken over the forepeak was reduced to a plastic covered pile about the size of a bed pillow. I moved them into the aft cabin as there are a few little items that have to be dealt with in the forepeak. The chain from the windlass get stored in a little "chamber" just in front of the forepeak bulkhead. The chain fits but it doesn't quite fit right. It piles up right under the hawser pipe (the hole in the deck through which the chain runs) and as a result, unless you have someone in the fore peak guiding the chain, it "pyramids" and blocks the opening. I am considering an opening that would allow the chain to fall into the forward part of the bilge area. Gravity, in this situation, would do away with the need of someone in the forepeak guiding the chain. The major problem is how to drill the hole, followed by the second problem of having to drill another hole in the boat. Perhaps i should have named her "SWISS CHEESE!"

I dismantled the teak grating in the cockpit to get at the drain which drains the cockpit. The English engineers, in designing this boat, decided that rather than running the drain out of the boat, which would have necessitated two more holes so that the cockpit could drain on either tack, decided to have the cockpit drain into the bilge inside the boat. At first blush, it doesn't seem that this would be much of a problem as the cockpit is somewhere near 10 feet above the waterline and is in the center of the boat rather than at the aft end. This would lead one to the belief that the chances of water boarding the boat and getting into the cockpit and need to be drained away were rather remote. This seems perfectly reasonable so long as one doesn't allow the drain to become blocked. Dirt and items dropped in the cockpit( the odd candy wrapper for instance) easily slip under the cockpit grating and cover the drain in a most unreachable place. Ice will also work very nicely as it has this winter and successive layers of snow, ice, sleet and slush tend to bury the grating several inches deep. Made of teak and fragile due to its age, the grating waits for the forces of nature to melt the covering and evaporate the water away. Today it was actually sufficiently warm to get it up to clean the drain. The teak grating is in three pieces and simply lay in the cockpit . . . sort of. To keep them in place and yet allow them to be removed in case of need (cleaning the drain for instance), they are not affixed to the cockpit with any kind of fasteners. Instead, the English engineers simple created each if the three pieces just the tiniest bit larger than it actually needed to be. This way the pressure of each piece against the other two holds the three in place. It also means that breaking that pressure without breaking the pieces is a trick and a half. It doesn't help that the supports for the wheel go through two different pieces which means that the pieces cannot be fully removed. Suffice it to say that it was a fun time that everyone should get the opportunity to experience. Only slightly more fun was putting the pieces back in place, but that's another tale for another time. The drain was cleared and works very well . . . . thankfully so to does the automatic bilge pump.

MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:

The need to go sailing is getting into my sub-conscious. I actually dreamed about it last night. I was in Florida sailing down U.S. Route 1 which was how I knew it was a dream. Days like today, with a hint of Spring in the air, really get get the itch going. The frustration is lessening and the excitement is starting to grow. February has sped past and with March will come the sound of the sander as people start to come down to work on their boats. As soon as the weather allows for it, I just have to get out for a sail. As Jack Sparrow, . . .sorry, CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow said, "Show me that horizon."