LOTS OF LITTLE THINGS

SHIP'S LOG:

I got several "little" things done this week awaiting the weather to get further on toward Spring. Down at the Shipyard, the wind continues to blow in from the water and it is cold. And it really is blowing! Wednesday, it seemed to be blowing so hard that I actually turned on the masthead wind index and it was reading a steady 42MPH with gusts over 50! Now that's a fresh breeze!

I went through the boat and attached all of the water-proof tags on the thru-hulls. Now when one fails (it is never a question of "if" but of "when") I'll know exactly what is trying to sink my boat. The tags do make ABISHAG 's "innards" looks much better and it is less confusing when I pull up a deck hatch and look in. I am still going to have to finish off the plumbing as the sinks and shower drains all flow into the bilge. It is amazing just how much body dirt and hair can clog a bilge pump. When I replaced the manual bilge pump way back in the Fall, I took the old one apart and you wouldn't believe how clogged it was with human detritus. YUCK! There is a "grey water sump" in the bilge to which all the sinks and showers were originally led. Why the previous owner disconnected the hoses and let them drain into the bilge is beyond me. The "grey water sump" has a screen & filter set up which allows you to clean the "junk " out. There seems to be adequate access so I wonder if the "sump pump" broke or clogged and rather than repair or replace it, or fix whatever the problem was, he simply just disconnected the drain hoses and let them enter the bilge. It was the major reason for the "malodorous" state of the bilge before I cleaned it out. True, diesel and other oils from the "iron Genny"contributed but the "human grease" as the late Hunter Thompson described it, was the major factor. I hate to say it, because it never seems to be, an easy fix.

I took down most of the ceiling panels to find the leak around the hatches but the areas around the hatches seem dry. Leaks on a boat tend to migrate from entrance to exit and I will have to track them down though it looks as though it will be a case of negative diagnostics, eliminating possible sources until the "villain" is revealed. Fortunately, it appears that we will be getting more than enough rain over the next few days so that it will be easy to trace the water entering the boat!

I moved the GPS from its original location and affixed it to the bulkhead over the Nav station. Then, because I did a poor job of measuring and it was making contact with the SAT Phone dock, I moved it again. The because the bracket crimped the cables when it was mounted vertical, I removed and returned it to the original position. I am so glad I plan these things so well!

I went up the Mizzen mast to attach two flag halyard blocks to the spreaders. Now I now what a pinata feels like. It wasn't the ascent or the decent that was the problem, rather it was the hanging there doing the work. The "breeze" just blew me around, into the mast, into the shrouds, back to the mast, then the shrouds again. Got a great, large bruise on my left thigh. The really fun part was working with the circular cotter pins. Since the blocks are tiny, the clevis pins( they attach the block to the bracket on the spreader) tiny-er still and the the cotter pins are microscopic. I am 20 feet off the deck, swaying in the breeze, trying to open the round cotter pin with a finger nail to slip it through the hole in the end of the cotter pin and so secure the block to the spreader. Before going up the mast, a voice in my head said, "Take an extra cotter pin in case you drop one." Now how stupid was that advice! And of course, the very first attempt led to me dropping the pin. After a colorful expression of regret, I took the cotter pin off the second block and successful did the job. Of course, it still mean that I had to descend, get out of the harness, locate another cotter pin (not the one I dropped for that was gone forever), get back into the harness, ascend the mast and do the job again, carefully this time. Success! And it only cost an hour and half and a circular cotter pin.

I went around the exterior of the boat and safety wired every shackle and block on the boat. I run a wire-tie through the securing pin so that it can unscrew under pressure and cause a serious problem. I hate to say it but pretty much every single one was unprotected. I really do not understand why you would let such a simply yet important task go undone. Thank goodness all of the turn buckles for the shrouds are "locked' in place. Of course, I only discovered that after I had been up both masts a couple of times!

MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:

The time is getting closer. I can feel it. Even the rain is not as depressing as it was before. I ma getting that tingly feel of excitement-fear-desire and I will, I WILL, be away from the dock before the end of this month! I've contacted TYC and Geer Brothers and I expect to hear that the mooring is in and as soon as it is, and the yard finishes up it stuff, I am gone. Loading the boat and finishing up any work that needs doing can be done on the mooring or sailing. I need to really bond with ABISHAG and I am looking forward to moment the sails go up and she leans her shoulder into the water and takes off with a bone in her teeth. It can not happen soon enough!!!!!!!