ON & ON & ON! ! ! ! !

SHIP'S LOG:

More little projects getting done. The Hailing/Home Port was affixed under the boat name on each side of the stern. NOW she is officially documented.

I had to rebuild the Workmate Bench that came apart during the Halyard installations. It was no big deal, it just took time. The drill bits really had to work to get through the metal legs. I thought that it was rather mild metal that went into the making of the Workmate bench, but it seems to have a greater toughness than I anticipated. Again, a project that got done but which took a bit more time than anticipated.

I also installed shroud rollers, wooden tubes on the most outboard Mainmast shrouds. These are intended to spin as the Genoa Sheets pass over them, preventing the sheets from rubbing on the shroud and fraying. The look very nautical and will look even more so once I stain and seal them.

The was an actual owner working on his boat in the next slip. He was scrubbing down his teak deck and I queried him about whether he was going to oil it or varnish it or just leave it be. He said that seawater was the best thing for it and he never used anything else. He simply let it weather naturally. I am glad that he reinforced my own ideas and plans for ABISHAG's deck. . . . . .It is also a lot less work.

I am thinking about installing a SAMSON POST/Mooring Bit. This is a metal fixture behind the windlass to which you attach a line which is then attached to the anchor rode to take the strain off the windlass. The windlass is made for hauling the rode( chain and/or line) but is not designed to be a mooring cleat. Not that it would rip out of the deck, but the strain of the boat swinging on it can strip the gears of the transmission which does the hauling. The Samson Post/Mooring Bit is designed to take the strain and it is a relatively inexpensive solution to the problem. Hauling up an all-chain anchor rode would be quite a work out, something I would really like to avoid, hence the thoughts about the installation.

MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:

It doesn't quite yet feel like Spring down at the Shipyard. The wind is still off the water and is cold. There are still a host of little projects that need doing and the only sail that is in its proper place is the Mizzen, but feeling the deck move and ABISHAG floating and moving with the wind is simply marvelous! I would really like to get over to TYC for the Commission Day on the 23rd and probably will, but I would certainly like to do it with ABISHAG. O I so much want to have that first sail!!!!