Little Things

SHIP'S LOG:

     It was a beautiful day and I spent it doing a lot of little tasks on ABISHAG. The boatyard was over-run with  boaters who had as yet done not one thing to get their boats ready for the season. True, the weather had a lot to do with it  but this is a late time to get started. Then again, at least they are getting started. And there are still bunches of boats still all wrapped up, safe and snug, against a winter that is already gone.

     None of the tasks today really caused me to break a sweat, but as with lots of boat jobs, they did all take longer than one would have thought. Despite, or perhaps in spite, of all my careful measuring of the wood for the new caprail, I had a pie-shaped gap between two sections that could not be ignored. Too big to fill with wood filler, it required the cutting a shaping of a piece to fit. I still have the teak remains of the old rail so I cut out an appropriately sized piece, trimmed it, set in in place, trimmed it again, and glued it in place. Along with inserting one piece, I had to trim off the fixes I made for similar gaps the other day. When this was done, the rail was ready for sanding which I will do today. Then it is stain it and varnish it and the job is done. Huzzah!

     The area under the galley counter and sink, wherein formerly resided the water maker, is/was a rather abused spot that needed painting. Painting is often better than cleaning as many times, even after cleaning, painting is required to make something look descent. Again this was a simple task as I had a spray can of primer and a spray can of paint  already, something that I had picked up for some project that didn't get done and is now forgotten. The fumes were awful but dissipated quickly and the finish coat was done and dry in 12 minutes. Anything is better than the fumes from the bilge paint which is still off-gassing.

     The next job, though easy, was messy - cleaning and lubricating the winches and the shackles. Exposed as they are to the weather and the salt air, they need yearly cleaning and lubing or they don't work. It may actually be the reason why the main halyard winch will not turn when cranked. Perhaps corrosion has "welded" it in place. If i could get it off the mast I could find out but the stainless steel machine bolts that hold it to the aluminum mast are corroded in place and nothing I or Fred have tried will loosen them up. Hence, I can't solve the  mystery of the non-function main halyard winch because I can not disassemble it "in situ."

     The strange thing about lubricating grease, the very element that you put on something to make it move easily can/will/does turn in time into a think, sticky goop that actually retards movement. Disassembling a winch to clean and lube it, sometimes a fun job in  and of itself, requires that you first that you clean it. If it hasn't been done in awhile, it requires cloths to wipe off the grease, "picks" to get the harden old grease out of those places where the cloth can't reach, and something to cut and remove the remains of the old grease and no matter how careful you are, grease gets everywhere. In the end you must give yourself to the mess knowing that you will eventually have to wash down the boat anyway.

     Following the winches there comes the shackles. Shackles on the halyards, shackles on the topping lifts, shackles everywhere. And then there are the blocks: blocks on the Genoa track, blocks for the furling gear, blocks for the spinnaker,blocks for the outhauls.  Lube, Lube, Lube! Not difficult work but messy, messy, messy.The trick in all the lubricating is not to use too much as it can be worse than not using enough. This flies in the face of the American ethic that if some is good, more must be better. In this case it is definitely not the case!

      Monday's pan of attack is to sand down the new caprail. The next plan is to do the touch up  sanding so that the rail is one continuous "perfect" rail from stem to stern. The plan then is to fill any remaining gaps with wood filler. Once that dries, the plan is then to stain the new wood and then varnish, always remembering that Custer had a plan too!