She Was In, Then Out, And Now She's In Again! ! ! !

SHIP'S LOG:

It was, I hate to say, two(2) weeks ago that ABISHAG was lifted from the water and setup on the hard. I hate to say it for I have been rather lax in getting out the word. While on the hard I was able to paint eh bottom which was remarkably clean considering that the "last scrubbing" was back in August sometime. It took two days to paint the bottom. She got one coat this year as the ablative paint( it wears away) was in good shape, I probably could have gotten away with just painting spots but gave her a whole coating from stem to stern. I painted the transducers with a special transducer paint that which protects against marine growth (well sort of) and still allows the transducers to function. The copper in the regular bottom paint would prevent the sending and receiving of signals rendering the transducers ( for the depth sounders) from working properly.

I cleaned out the thru-hulls removing the colonies of now dead marine critters insuring the water will go in and out as it should, especially through the engine cooling system and removed the built up marine growth from the prop and the shaft. The exterior zinc, which has been on the boat for 5 years now is in sound shape and didn't need to be replaced, which surprised the heck out of me! Evidently the galvanic isolator is doing one heck of a job!

There was a significant amount of mold inside on the walls and flat surfaces, especially in the fore-peak and the forward head. It must have come in through the vent that is in front of the mast and which I stupidly forgot to remove and cover for the winter. We had lots of rain and snow and wind this past winter and with the boat closed up during those bizarre hot days of March and April, produced some serious mold issues. However, a little scrubbing with "Simple Green" removed it all and made the interior smell wonderful too.

I removed the covering from the cockpit. The blu-poly tarp survived the winter but it has now seen better days. I doubt that it will be of much used other than as a drop cloth in the future.

One of the zippers that attach the bimini(the sun-covering over the cockpit) to its frame had torn away from the bimini. I had to remove the bimini and take it below and restitch it. A two minute job on a sewing machine was a one hour task by hand, though it should now outlast the rest of the bimini.

The stuffing box was re-stuffed and, considering it hadn't been touched for several years probably has an equal number of years to go for the future. working on the stuffing box (where the shaft goes from the transmission through the hull to the prop) requires that one be in two places at once. You can access it( partially) from the side of the engine through the doors of the engine compartment in the galley passageway and (partially) from a hatch in the floor of the closet in the aft cabin. It is a seemingly endless series of a partial adjustment from the aft cabin, followed by a further adjustment from the galley side, follwed by another from the after cabin, and another from the galley, etc., etc., etc, ad infinitum! You get the picture I am sure. Fun! Fun! Fun! ! ! !

I was able to free up the clutch for the chain gypsy on the windlass. Corrosion had locked it solid but a little, actually a lot of PT BLASTER, and some gentle persuasion with a hammer made everything hunky-dory. Unfortunately, the electric motor is still non-functioning and will have to be rewired or replaced, and who knows what that will cost!

My battle with the winch on the starboard side of the mast continues. I can only partially disassemble it so I can't get to what is probably the cause of its current non-function status. I talk with a rigger a couple of years ago and told him that the outer drum would rotate but that the winch handle would not grind the winch. He felt that the reason for this was the last time, whoever serviced the winch, put the pawls in backwards. Pawls are little pieces of metal that allow the winch to turn in only one direction. I can't fathom how someone could get them in backwards but it must be the case. I tried to disassemble the winch and remove the central shaft but it is stuck fast. I tried leveraging it out. No go! I tried wedging it out. Nada! I have got to find some type of "puller" to use on it. The shaft only has to move out about 1 inch and the pawls will be disengaged from the ratchet gearing but I can't get it to move move that a few centimeters. I would take the whole thing of the mast but corrosion has welded the base to the mast and it ain't going anywhere.

I found that a cable from the auto-pilot is rubbing ever so slightly on a metal tube where it connects to the quadrant, a triangular piece of metal attached to the top of the rudder shaft so that it can do its thing. It is imparting just enough resistance to make the wheel a little bit hard to turn. If I can come up with a solution, I will fix it but right now there seems to be no real necessity to do anything other than to grease the hell out of the cable.

The Single Sideband Radio won't go on but does make a sound that sound something like an alarm. I will have to remove it and get it tested. It may have reach the end of its life. I hope not as its replacement is 4 Marine Units!

I wasn't planning to go back into the water until next week, but space constraints in the yard forced me in on Wednesday past. I won't get the sails back until next week and anyway, there is an issue with the "oil temperature'" that needs looking at and friend Ray is coming to paint the And the mooring hasn't been set. The ball will go in over the weekend so I will have someplace to go when I can go. Ah, the fun of boat ownership!

MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:

Strangely, I never expected that I would be launching ABISHAG this year. I thought for sure that she would have been bought (Curses on the horrid economy and Bernie Madoff) and i would have spend the summer on the beach or something. I would have been comforted by the fact that my financial house would have thus been in sound order but it didn't happen. Now, with the yard bill paid, unless I want an even large bill or am just willing to walk away from the boat, I will be sailing. I spent so much time convincing myself that she would sell and accepting the fact that I would be boat-less for the first time in 30 years that it is somewhat hard to grasp the fact that such is not the case. It is all very strange! What happens next, I have no idea!