Busy! Busy! Busy!

SHIP'S LOG:

     The weather has cooperated, at least a little bit, and work on ABISHAG has begun in earnest. There is a lot to do and it didn't help when the yard added to the load. Somehow, for reasons not fully understood by them or me, the batteries went flat! They were stored in place on ABISHAG and the yard was maintaining them over the winter.  For some reason they let them go flat and I first discovered this when friend Fred and I went to tackle the pressure water system . . .  for which having power on-board would have been a real good thing. The yard electrician came down ad hooked up a battery charge and started to re-juice the batteries. Hopefully there was no damage done and they will take and hold a charge but the reason for the discharge is still a mystery. It is a bit disquieting to say the least, but perhaps it was just "one of those things!"

     Fred and I spent some time tracing hoses in the pressure water system. It is not as easy as it sound as they run under the deck with limited access but we got it pretty much pegged out. Once we have power and water (that is still not on in the yard yet. Too much a danger of frozen pipes, so they say) we can do a better job of tracing where the possible leaks are. I will, according to Fred, probably have to rebuild the water pump in the system. Fred doesn't feel that it is providing enough suction.

     While he was poking around, Fred also found what is probably the cause of my non-functioning oil pressure gauge. The wires running from the sender to the gauge are broken at the send connection. That makes it rather tough for it to work. Fred also found a sheave for the steering system that needed cleaning and lubing and a connector on the shaft that needed lubing too.  I don't think that Fred grasps the idea that I want him to help me with things that need doing not find more work for me to do!

     Friday was paint scraping day.All of the reachable areas of the bilge had to be scraped of lose and flaking paint in preparation for painting. The painting of the bilge is not just for appearances, though ABISHAG could use an upgrade in that department. Not many people are going to see the bilge. The main reason for the paint job is to seal the bilge so that the oil and fuel and grease and water that get into it do not get absorbed into the fiberglass. It will help to keep "bilge breath" - the halitosis of boats - at bay.  So I scraped and vacuumed and wire-brushed  and vacuumed and got the bilge already for the paint. Only the areas under the engine, in the sump and under the galley decking will not be painted, at least not right away. they have to be decreased before the paint goes down or it will simply be a waste of paint. Once the yard water is running, the degreasing can begin.

     Saturday was spent at TYC on the barge build. The club is constructing a barge that will be used to move, re-move and set moorings. The Mooring committee is in the midst of an ambitious plan to finally grid the mooring filed. For the most part the moorings for the boats are set rather randomly in what could be be described as in " a willy-nilly fashion." As a result, we are wasting a lot of space. The plan will fix that but it required the moving of a lot of mooring and rather than contract the job out -  it would cost some major bucks which we don't have - it was decided to do it in house. To lift mooring, some of which are 1,000 lbs, and reposition them requires a floating platform hence the need for the barge. It took most of the day to build but we got it done and it really look quite good and if form follows function, the mooring job should go rather well and rather smoothly.