ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER JOB DONE

SHIP'S LOG:

It got upwards of 58 today(Tuesday). Slowly things are getting back into shipshape. Picked up the outboard from the shop. For sitting in the great wide open for over a year on the stern rail on the boat, it was in surprisingly good shape according to the mechanic at the Mystic River Boathouse. It looks as though it was never flushed after its last use and the salt deposits were everywhere. But now it runs fine and will provide good service til I get back up this way.

ABISHAG is 99% legal. The carved official documentation number has been affixed and the only thing that keeps her from being absolutely 100% legal is the home port is missing. It is too cold for the vinyl to stick so it will have to await the warmer climes to get put on.

The aft head has a leak in the seat seal. It will empty the bowl but doesn't have enough suction to refill it. I am not sure if the seals have to be replace or if the seat merely needs to be realigned. Of course, the seat adjusters are metal and corroded in place and located behind the bowl and are a pain to get at, but it is one of those tasks that needs doing. I won't be able to test the forward head until the electrics are up and running as it has an electric pump system. Hopefully that will be today(Wednesday)!

Yes, the batteries are in, as is the batteries switch. when I say in, I mean at WEST Marine and I will be picking them up this morning. Then we shall see what we shall see.

Also spent some time storing items on the boat, tools and repair items specifically. Unfortunately, they seem to take up a lot more space than I thought. It is definitely going to be a sorting out process that will take time and have to be redone several time until I finally get a system that works.

MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:

Even if everything goes perfectly with the electrics, I probably won't be getting away this weekend. It is possible but not probable. While I can't ever get the entire list done, there are still a number of small things that still have to be done and I can't, I won't go until the boat is ready. It is less frustsrating now than it was a couple of months ago. I have come to understand that time spent now to get the boat ready and right means there will be less time spent fixing problems later. Again, I am not looking for perfect, but ready.

IT'S GETTING BETTER ALL THE TIME!!!

SHIP'S LOG:

Having had a great Thanksgiving, I could think of nothing better than to do more work on ABISHAG as I await the arrival of the new batteries. Hopefully, these will be here Wednesday next and then, again hopefully, I will be off.

Good Friend Ken came by to help with installing the wiring for the speakers for the radio. In that he knows what he is doing and I do not, he threw me out while he did the work. Like I said, he is a good friend! With nothing much to do other than act as cheerleader, I decided that I would rig the signal halyards on the port and starboard spreaders of the mainmast. This would entail my using the self-propelled "Top-Climber." This little device is composed of a couple of rope clutches, a boatswain's seat, and stirrups. By running a line to the head of the mast and down through the clutches and using a "standing-up-&-sitting-down-slide-the-clutches" procedure, one is propelled up the line to the desired height for whatever purpose one had in mind. Since I have a fear of heights and this whole procedure has something of bungee-jumping about, I have been reluctant to do this particular repair. Ken was very good about laying on the guilt trip and since it was clear, sort of warm and absolutely still, I really had no reason to offer for not going up the stick.

It is not a difficult task, at least in wasn't on the video, but it took awhile to develop a rhythm and get moving up the line. The biggest problem, aside from the paralysing fear that increased with every foot up I went, was that unlike the video I kept swinging from side to side. While this turned out to be very helpful in completing the task once I got to the spreaders, it was getting to the height of the spreaders that proved painful. I would get up a couple of feet and then for some reason swing away from the mast and then slowly swing back. If I wasn't quick, I would whack a body part, usually my knees, once my head, against the mast. It was not painful except in a figurative way but it would always knock me off my climbing rhythm, making the ascent longer than it needed to be.

Eventually I got up to the spreaders, about 25ft off the deck and I paused to look about. It was actually a great view and despite my fear of heights and the climbing harness, I really felt secure and could actually do the work. This was a good thing too for I had to let go of the mast with both hands and stretch out to reach the clip where the blocks for the signal halyards were to be affixed. When I pulled out the first block, I discovered that I had rigged it wrong. (Nasty word!)

I had run the line, not through the block, but through the clip that was to attach the block to the spreader. I had woven both ends of the line into a eye-splice and attached shackles. Naturally, I couldn't simple re-run the line correctly, instead I had to undo one splice, remove the line, re-run it correctly, then re-attach the shackle, and finally affix the block to the spreader. I had to do all this laying out in the climbing harness 25ft off the deck. I have a new a profound respect for those in the sailing community who do this all the time, especially this who do stuff like this 110 feet in the air in a squall!

The procedure went off without a hitch save one. Half way through it, I let slip the block More Nasty Words) and it fell to the deck, missing the water I am not sure how. I had forgotten one of the most basic rules of sailing, gravity works! Kenny popped out to check on me just as I let the block drop. He slipped it on the halyard and I got it back without having to descend and reascend.

With the port halyard done, I swung over to starboard, laid out and pulled out the second halyard only to find (Lots of Nasty Word) that I had rigged this one wrong, just like the first. Correcting the problem was no big deal and in a lot less time than I thought it would take, it was done. Then came the fun part, getting down. Actually, it should be easier, a lot easier in that you have gravity working for you. My concern was that gravity would take over and not just assist the descent. It is funny how such a simple procedure of standing-up-&-sitting-down while moving the rope clutches would seem so difficult to coordinate. Once I got a rhythm going it went pretty well . . . . well almost. When I got to the level where I thought I could stand on the deck, I tried to get out of the harness and got hung-up. It was the first time I ever messed up and nobody saw it. It was something akin to the Dance of the Seven Sails but a lot less painful. However, aside from that, everything went well.

Kenny was just finishing up the wiring and it was time to split. I await Wednesday and the arrival of the batteries and battery switch. Once they are in, I will know if the windlass, propane solenoid and refrigeration work. If they don't, corrective measures will have to be taken before departure. I can do without the refrigeration as I have never had it before and have always sail without it. No big problem. The propane solenoid is necessary if I want to cook anything and I have no desire to raise anchor and chain back on the boat by hand, so the windlass must work too. All should be revealed by Thursday.

MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:

Hanging some 25ft off the deck in the climbing harness, I realized that I would have to be willing to do this again. Though the next time I do it, I may not be tied to a dock and it may not be sunny, warm and still. I wasn't scared though I thought I would be. In reflecting on "why not," I came to the conclusion it was because I trusted the equipment, rigged it in the right way, and used it in the way it should be used. But, in truth, it was because I trusted myself. I knew what I was doing and I knew I could do it, and this came from this past summer of learning. I have gown in my sense of self confidence and self-trust. In fact, going up the mast, I kept waiting for the fear to really hit. Heck, swing on that line was enough to give anyone a certain twinge of shall we say concern, and I had that, but not the real fear, fear of falling, that I had expected. Both before the work at the spreaders started and after it was done, I took some time just to hang there and enjoy the view, no rush to get down and "safely" on deck. I really found it surprising and enjoyable. One of the things this whole trip is about developing confidence in myself and dealing with my fears. It may not seem like a big step but it was.

SOME GOOD NEWS!!!

SHIP'S LOG:

I woke up this morning and it was snowing!!!! This did not make me happy. I had to chip ice off my car. This did not make me happy. And it was COLD and this definitely did not make me happy! But there is good news too. Going through a cruising guide that covers from the Chesapeake to Florida, I have found that the route through the Dismal Swamp is NOT the only route South on the ICW. In point of fact it is not even the route used by most cruisers. The other, more popular, and still open route, is the Ablemarle and Chesapeake Canal. There is little chance of this canal being shut down for lack of water as it would take the Chesapeake Bay and Ablemarle Sound drying up for that to happen. That in turn would take the Atlantic Ocean drying up and the chances of that happening are slim and none, and slim has just left town! So the way South is open if I can get there.

Speaking of that, the new batteries and switch will be here by Wednesday and with any luck, and more than a little cooperation of the yard, everything NECESSARY, necessary to make the trip, will be done!!!!!! Basically it means, as soon as I can load up I can depart! Leave! Shove off! Head South!!!

I spent the day figuring out the storage, or at least trying to figure out the storage. There are lots of places to store stuff but not much of it is standard in size. I will begin Friday really trucking stuff down and finding places for it all. Of course it will also mean creating a book to record where all the stuff goes. It will take more than a little time to be comfortable with where stuff is and remembering what I have and where it is. The book will be essential.

I did find out today that the gas generator will run for about 5 hours at top load before running out of fuel. I also found out that the electric space heater will take the edge off the cold but doesn't really do much more than that. Unfortunately, there is no arrangement for a combustion heater in the cabin. Then again, I didn't really think that I would be in need of one.I may have to look into one of those oil filled portable radiators. Perhaps it will throw more heat. Of Course, once the batteries are in, that electrical load should be doable. True it will me that I'll have to shut down the plasma TV but, what the heck....and no, there is no plasma TV.

I succeeded in whacking my head twice getting out of the companionway. You would have thought that the first time would have reminded me of the lessons learned on the trip up from Annapolis, but NOOOOOOOOOOOO!

I still have a list of small items to purchase but I pretty much have everything I need, or shall I say, can afford. But hey, it's only money.

MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:

By the end of next week I could be on my way. It is exciting to think that such will be the case. The course to the Chesapeake is all laid out and it requires only the going. I am trying to imagine what it will feel like to finally set out. Even going cross-country on a motorcycle doesn't compare. I can't wait!

MORE LITTLE STEPS

SHIP'S LOG:

With the bilge pumps now connected, pumping the bilge is a snap . . . . though I seem to have discovered some new cache of foul-smelling something - or-other that has created a new need for more bilge cleaner. I would suspect that that leak in the gear oil filter in the transmission has been there for some time and has been "poisoning the well" so to speak. It is a minor if pungent inconvenience and I have the time to do it as I await the yard workers to finish up their end of the deal.

With a little help from a sander I was able to refit the "newly discovered" engine panel. For the life of me I cannot figure out how something that fit correctly when in place suddenly "grows" when it is removed and requires as much effort as it took to get it back in. A couple of days of wind and rain have indicated that the ports and hatches are all tight which is a good thing as you want to keep water out of your boat.

I have begun the process of loading the boat. As I mentioned before it is more of a process than simply dragging stuff down and putting it in the boat somewhere. The "somewhere" is rather important as there is nothing worse than ripping the whole boat apart to find some little doodad that has become necessarily important in the moment. Here is where being a pack rat can be a true draw back. One can't really prepare for every contingency no matter how well one tries and

trying often leads to overloading. Right now I am in possession of three (3) high output alternators which are hefty little items. There is one on the engine, naturally, and two backups in lockers, one working and one in need of repair and repairable. Question: do I repair the repairable and bring it along, providing 2 working back ups or get rid of it? You just know that if I deep six it, the one on the engine will go bad and the back up will be on the fritz. What to do? What to do?

O, the latest fun fact can be found it the Dismal Swamp. The Dismal Swamp, quite beautiful I am told inspite of its name, is an area in south-eastern Virginia/ Northeastern North Carolina transversed by the Intercoastal Waterway ( the Way SOUTH!!). While most people think of the ICW as a big ditch on one level like the Suez Canal, it rises and falls and uses locks, more like the Panama Canal. The locks in the Dismal Swamp Section use water from a local lake to operate the locks. Well, the dearth of rain in the south east has evidently effected the level of this lake to the point that as of October 31st last, the Army Corps of Engineers has stopped operating the locks effectively closing this way south and at the same time "trapping" north of the locks. They will not begin to operate the locks again until there is sufficient rainfall to raise the level of the lake. To get around the blockage means going "outside" and outside at this point means rounding Cape Hatteras, know by the cosy nickname of "Graveyard of the Atlantic." The basic reason most people use the ICW is to avoid this very spot! O Joy!

MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:

It looks rather certain that I will be in Newport for Thanksgiving. I was planning to be here in any case, though I thought that I would have to fly in from somewhere South and get caught up in some airport mess somewhere. I had not quite expected to still have not yet, at this late day, to have made a start South. I had expected to hear about the leaves falling but on the radio and not from the locals, let alone see it happen in person. It's a good thing that I hadn't been more efficient in disposing of my stuff. At least I still have some winter (good grief) clothes available. It would have been a real financial drag to have to buy more new winter clothes. I had actually wondered how I would get to see the World Series if the Red Sox had made it!

It seems that I have been "10 days to 2 weeks away" from leaving for the longest time now and I find myself swinging between " well, when all is ready I leave" and " Damn it, I want to go now!" Of course, if I was to leave tomorrow morning I would be a mountain of jello. Then again, as the Chinese like to say, the journey of a 1,000 miles begins with a single step." Then again, if that step is off the edge of a cliff, the second becomes completely unnecessary! As much as I know that as soon as I get three hours into the trip I will remember all the stuff I forgot to bring and do, I really want to get started. The weather reporters keep using the "S" word and I want to get south before any of it starts flying.

GENTLEMEN, START YOUR ENGINES!!!

SHIP'S LOG:

Well, today, for the first time since we docked ABISHAG at the Mystic Shipyard back in August, the engine was fired up today! Sounded really good, too. The yard mechanic got a chance to check out the temp gauge and the tach, both of which were working just fine. Wouldn't you just know it! Actually, we couldn't get the engine hot enough to really register on the temp gauge, even running the engine under load. The mechanic suspects the location of the temp sender is in the wrong place and that it is influencing the readings. Hey, it's all Greek to me.

Running the engine under load, that is with the transmission engaged made the gear oil pressure gauge do strange things and after crawling around in the engine space, the mechanic discovered a pin-hole in the transmission oil filter hosing. In that the transmission is English like the engine, he had to take a couple of hours to track down a new transmission oil filter housing, or at least he tried. He discovered that they haven't made filters for the transmission for more than 20 years and that the standard procedure for changing the transmission oil filter is to remove it and seal it off. It was decided two decades ago by the builder that the filter was an unnecessary appendage, sort of like an appendix and the transmission was better off without it. So a transmission appendectomy will be performed and I will have one less thing to worry about. The mechanic was also loud in his praise of the engine as was the guy who readied it for the trip north from Annapolis. Evidently the engine is in first class shape.

On the down side, and there is always a down side, the batteries are going to have to be replaced. In point of fact, the mechanic, who is also the yard's #1 electrician, says that the batteries in the boat are the wrong size and need to be upgraded in amps and amp hours (more technical stuff). It makes sense as that battery compartment is so much larger than the two batteries in it. I have suspected that there was something amiss here. The previous owner made some off-handed comment about the "seeing the batteries I use for cruising." With everything going on I sort of let it pass and it didn't impact me until now. I guess that when he was cruising full time he had a much larger battery capacity and that when he came back he down shifted for some reason, probably replacement cost. So, it will be new battery time soon.

Marked and oiled the anchor chain today. It tops out at 125 ft and seems to be in decent condition. I've got 300ft of 3/4" braided anchor line. I also have three anchors, a CQR on the chain and two Danford types connected to nothing. While I think the 300ft of braided 3/4" is actually for the GALERIDER drouge I found, it could work with either of the two unattached anchors, that is if I can separate it from a rusted shackle that is currently attached. Nothing a hammer, vice and hack saw can achieve.

I also have my bilge pump hose connected again to the thru-hull. The chances of sinking are now greatly diminished. It is exciting to see the boat coming together more and more.

MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:

I have to admit that I am getting very itchy about getting started on the sailing part of the journey. Today the temp was in the high 50's and it seemed warmer and I toyed with the idea of taking her out for a little spin. I didn't of course as the mechanic would have been a bit distressed but it was tempting. I still have a ton of stuff to load on the boat and find places for, not counting food and drink, and the final few things to get up and running ( read "watermaker"). While I know a lot about the boat I really haven't had the chance to sail her and get a feel for her yet. The cruise south will be the chance to do that but it is just that itchy feeling is setting in, especially when the weather was so nice today. It was something akin to those days in summers passed when I'd be out sailing and everything was perfect and it literally was all I could do not to throw the helm over and head to Bermuda. Truth is that the first Waypoint on my GPS on every boat I have had was always Bermuda. I used to sail most days with the GPS locked on that Waypoint just in case the urge overwhelmed common sense.

It is strange how God works things out. I had hoped that everything would be ready for me to join the Caribbean 1500 Rally that left on November 4th from Hampton, VA. From what I hear now, they left in the aftermath of NOEL (Hurricane) and have been battered more than a bit and they are still some 600 miles out from Tortola. Long ago I decided that sailing was not a survival sport and I still no sense in pitting myself (and boat) against the ravages of nature. As I have mentioned before (I think), schedules have no place in cruising, at least not for me. After all, the most inefficient way of getting some place is by boat and the most inefficient type of boat is a sailboat. If the weather isn't good, there is no reason to go anywhere, a perspective which I don't think would have fit in with the Rally mentality. Still I want to get going, but not until the boat is ready to make the trip. Not perfect but ready.

FROSTY THE SAILOR

SHIP'S LOG:

Another task has been completed by the yard! They have connected the exhaust hose from the engine to the "new" seacock! Now, I can run the engine and charge the batteries! Well, I could if there was enough juice in the batteries to turn the engine over and if the batteries would take and hold a charge! Unfortunately, neither is the case. Too bad about the batteries too, as they are AMGs and will be EXPENSIVE to replace. Considering my precarious financial situation, such will not be the case and I will have to go with wet cells. Another one of those unexpected surprises that keep cropping up to keep me on my toes.

I have discovered a panel on the side of the engine space that allows access to the top of the engine when removed ..... and allows for great frustration when one tries to put it back in place. For some reason that I have yet to figure out, the panel, held in by four screws, popped out rather easily yet refused to go back into place. It is going to take some work with a plane or a sander to get it to fit. while it is out, I am trying to come up with a way to fix it in place and yet still allow it to be readily removed. Screwing and un-screwing doesn't seem to be the way to go.

Of course, getting the panel off in the first place was a chore. It was not so much the the panel was tough to get out, clearing the way for it was. A previous owner had placed a cup-holder ( actually a piece of 3-inch diameter PVC pipe) on the counter in front of the panel and affixed it to the bulkhead with screws. It is great for holding cups but it had to be removed to remove the panel. In addition, not satisfied with the amount of light generated by the flat light fixture over this counter, a previous owner had installed a swiveling light fixture which hung down just far enough to prevent the panel from being removed. It too had to be removed too. Unfortunately, it was not installed all that well and literally came apart when I took it out. Solves the problem of what to do with it after I get the panel back in. Fun! Fun!Fun!

The name is on and it looks great. It is done in silver foil and outlined with white. It looks impressive but it does provoke the obvious questions. Perhaps I should put the scripture notation below it or something.

I have found that I cannot re-install the floor in the "in-law apartment" - the large cockpit locker. The new thru-hull for the exhaust changes the angle of the hose raising it above the previous floor level. I guess that I will have to re-cut the floor to allow for the new angle but I wonder if I should do something to "protect" the hose. There is, after all, a lot of "stuff" that used to reside in that locker and I wouldn't want to get that hose punctured. This is also the home of the battery bank and the future home of the new and increased-in-size battery banks. it means that I am going to have to rethink storage. You would think that there would be a lot of storage on a 39 foot boat, and there is, but you still have to have a place for everything and have everything in its place, or you'll never find anything. I "lost" a Maglite flashlight for almost a week on the boat and the only reason I didn't buy another is because I knew that it was on the boat somewhere. Eventually it turned up and it now sits in its own place whenever not in use. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for the bungy-cords I "lost" yesterday. I am going to have to start bringing things to the boat and finding places to store them but that is not as easy as it sounds.

First of all, every boat is weight sensitive. ABISHAG can carry a lot of weight but it is not just how much but also where. How and where you position the weight on the boat affects its sailing characteristics, especially its stability. You have to keep the weight as low as you can.

Then, there is access. How do you get to the things that you need when you need them? Things that you don't use a lot can be buried deep in a storage space and the stuff you use a lot has to be readily available. Then again, safety equipment, which you hope you will never use, has too be instantly accessible.

This all gets even more confusing when you get to food supplies. Items you use a lot have to give way to stuff that can go bad . Fruits and veggies last for different lengths of time before they go bad and where you store them, deep in the cool bilge or high in a dry hammock, affects that time line. There are whole books written about how to store stuff on your boat. Like many things in boating, there is almost too much info. The simple truth is just the fact that I still have too much stuff.

MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:

It is frustrating that I am still here. When I get up in the morning now and there is frost all over my car, I really get pissed. I should have been away by now but I am still here. today, I went out to get some milk for breakfast and had to warm up the car and defrost the windows. i was not happy about it. And really, it is the yard and there is not much I can do about it.

One good thing, one very good thing in all of this is that I will probbaly get to spend Thanksgiving with the family. I seriously doubt I would whip up a turkey if I was on my own at anchor in the Cheasapeake.

Once the boat is finally ready, I will have to hold a "Going Away" Party and give everyone a chance to say "Good-bye.' Maybe I should have a "Boat Warming"?

IT IS GETTING COLD!!!!!

SHIP'S LOG:

It is getting colder as fall comes in. The downside of this is that the late-hauling boats all want to be hauled now and since this is a yard where most of the work is done by the yardworkers rather than by the boat owners, I am a bit of an oddity here, all that is involved in winterizing the boats is being done by the yardworkers. What this means is that the work that they got half done on ABISHAG remains in that state. And the weather gets colder. It is not that much of the work is beyond my skill but if I step in now and finish it and something goes wrong, it is my fault. Basically I have to let them finish what they have started and I hope they get around to it soon.

This doesn't mean that there isn't stuff for me to do, oh there is plenty but really it is stuff that can be done at any time. It would effect the trip or the departure date. It really rained on Tuesday and I discovered all of the leaks that I thought I had plugged we still active. Well, not all but three: the port in the fore-cabin, the main salon hatch and the portside port in the main salon. I couldn't do anything so long as it was raining so Wednesday became a re-caulking day, ripping out the old and putting in the new. Almost as much fun as fiberglassing but at least it stops the drips on your head.

With the electrics still out, I bought a small Honda generator for juice while tied up at the dock. Actually, I was planning to do so anyway as I doubted that the wind generator alone would allow me to run the engine significantly less. I really don't want to run the main propulsion engine simply to charge the batteries. It's not good for the engine in any event and until I get a chance to live aboard for a couple of months, I won't have much of an idea of how big an electrical load I will have to deal with on the boat and what is the best way to generate the power.

ABISHAG is officially ABISHAG. Not only do I have the official documentation but I put the name on her yesterday. I have no idea quite how it looks as the "coolness" of the weather requires it to dry out completely before removing covering. I will be going down today and will be stripping the paper off. I'll let you know how it looks. And I have started bringing stuff down to the boat now. It is fun to begin to do this at last.

MASTER'S PERSONAL LONG:

It is beginning to bother me that the weather is getting so much colder so quickly. It is making the prospect of the trip south much more of a chore than I hoped it would be. Heading south in near-freezing weather is not something I am looking forward to doing. I will have to winterize the boat for frostbite sailing and that would be an unanticipated expense. Of course there are two other options, winter over here in Connecticut or hiring a delivery crew and have them take the boat south to say Norfolk, VA. Neither of these two option would be cheap on top of everything else. This is getting more than a bit frustrating and I am trying to get a sense of what this is all about. There is not a lot I can do about and will have to wait it out, making plans for all of the options. It is not fun to think about staying here for the winter nor going south in the freezing cold. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.