A Week Of Work

SHIP'S LOG:

      Last Saturday, I had the day off and had the chance to do some maintenance. I got to do maintenance on all 7 winches, which means dismantling them, cleaning all the parts, re-lubricating them and re-installing them. Then there was the  the re-lubricating of the recently installed the furling system. And this was followed by lubricating all 32 of the blocks that control the sails when sailing ABISHAG. While it doesn't sound like all that much to do, it took all of seven(that is 5) hours. Then there was all the sanding that needed to be done on the toe rail, and those places n the interior that need to be re-varnished. It was a total pain in the butt as I had to assume some rather contorted positions in order to apply the sand to the wood. It was no fun whatsoever. All the detritus from the sanding came home with me and eventually got washed down the shower drain. It itched all the way home.

     Today begins a week (almost) of real work. Today was easy in that most of the work was cleaning. This yard is a particularly "dirty" yard.  Lots of sand and dirt gets blown around and. of course, ends up on the boats. I took the last of the tarps off and hosed down the whole topsides. Lots of dirt, lots of sand, lots of green mold. Lots of "Fantastic"  and water. The topsides fairly sparkle now. Gone is the dirt. Gone is the sand. Gone is the mold. Gone are the bird droppings. The funny part about it is that even when ABISHAG is on here mooring, 200 yards from shore, the dust and dirt gets on the boat. where it comes from, I have no idea. In addition to the cleaning the boat, there was the cleaning of the cockpit floor under the grating in the cockpit which is where so much of the "dirt" ends up for some reason.

     Once all the cleaning was done, I had to correct a problem with the lifelines. When the boat mast/tree landed on ABISHAG, Friend Fred and I did "a quick and dirty" repair of the crushed bow pulpit and ripping up the life line on the port side. It allowed us to sail for a good part of the season. But the life lines in particular needed to be repairs.  I didn't have the cash to redo the life lines, as it it would have cost somewhere in the area of two and 1/2 Marine units. I had rigged a temporary fix with some line as some of the stanchions were bent and on the port side made the lifelines too long and the lifelines on the starboard side to short. The most economical fix was to use "U-shackles" to extend the lifeline reach to make them workable. The result was not perfect, but 110% better than it was.

     The nasty part of the day was to open up the ceiling tiles over the sink in the galley and in the stern bunk. It was clear that there were leaks coming form somewhere over the winter even with the tarps wrapping up ABISHAG.  Taking down the panel over the sink seemed to show that there was a leak coming form the boils that held the  main winch in the cockpit in place. It means that the bolts need to be removed, new caulking put in place and screwing the whole thing down. The only problem may be that when the winch was installed, whoever did it cut of the bolts below the nuts which will make it difficult to remove the, will require either using a tap and die set to re-cut the threads or installing new nuts and bolts.

     In the stern bunk area, along the transom/stern of the boat of the boat, it appears that the stern pulpit and the davit bases are leaking. It wouldn't be too big a job but again, it appears that the bolts were cut off and it will require a tap and die set to correct the problem . . . . if possible. Ah, thew joy of boat ownership!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!