Do You Believe It ?

SHIP'S LOG:

On both Sunday and Monday of this week I went down to ABISHAG. She is in the water and the engine has been run and the prop tested. One more run after a day rest and she should be ready to go. The bilge pump went on twice both days when I was one the boat and I mentioned it to yard boss. He'll check it out during the second running in to make sure the stuffing box ( the fixture in the the hole in the boat through which the drive shaft runs and connects the engine to the prop) and the rudder stuffing box ( a similar fixture for the rudder). It's a minor concern ( no, really) and it will be good to have it checked-out.

I am definitely going to have to put the yard boss on my Christmas Card list. He ate the extra cost of getting the prop right. It turns out that the the specs he got from the original prop manufacture were correct, correct in the sense that that what they should have been, but evidently somewhere between the building of this boat and the installation of the original shaft and prop and my encounter with the New Haven Breakwater the shaft was changed/replaced/re-milled or something. It probably is the reason why the prop and it connection to the shaft wore out. It would take a lawyer to figure out who actually had the ultimate responsibility for the problem, but he was willing to eat the extra, unforeseen costs. And it was an $800 meal!

I laid in the the first few courses into the on-board GPS Chartplotter. I find that it is interesting that the total mileage listed on the on-board GPS Chartplotter and the Offshore Navigation Program on the lap top on the first course differ by 8 miles. This difference is after laying in the same navigational waypoints by latitude and longitude. I am sure that it is a mistaken key-stroke and I will find it eventually, but it is also why I have paper charts as backups.

The main sail jammed again. It happened when I tried to furl it during the approach to New Haven. the wind was really honking and I made the mistake of trying to furl it while the boat was not headed into the wind, thus taking all the wind pressure off the sail. It will furl almost all the way but not completely. Unfortunately, while the sail can be furled in and (completely) out, ABISHAG was in a slip and the wind was blowing over the stern. It was between 10 and 12 knots, gusting to 20 knots, making the correction of the problem nigh on impossible. So I took the main down. when I get on the hook somewhere, with the boat ridding bow into the wind ( a light one to be sure), I'll put it back on. Til then, sailing will be done under "jib & jigger," that is sailing with the sail configuration of the Genoa (the front sail) and the Mizzen ( the back sail). According to everyone that I have read and spoke to, she will sail very well with such an arrangement. I will see.

The Genoa was bent on. I was beginning to wonder if they were every going to do that, but they did. I had to rearrange all of the lines and sheets, for while they were all back, they were not quite the way I have gotten used to having them and working with them. There are a dozen or so lines all over the boast that had to be readjusted and retied. It it amazing how long it takes to get it all done right. Hopefully some time today they will also reassemble the after cabin. They had to pull up all the cushions and hatch covers under the berths to get at the rudder. Of course that mean making a total mess of all the items stored there. Even if they restore the cushions and hatch covers, re-storing all the "stuff" will be my joy alone. Such fun!

A far as I can tell, ABISHAG is ready to go, at least as far as I and the Yard and the Insurance company can make her. It is time to go.

MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:

I'm ready. ABISHAG is ready or is supposed to be so. The weather is even co-operating a little in that it has gotten a bit warmer. Time to GO!