PRO-PAIN DONE! ! ! ! ! !

SHIP'S LOG:

Though it took most of the afternoon, the propane locker is all finished off. . . . . well, 99% done. The regulator and solenoid ( they control and regulate the flow of propane safely) were installed, bolted to the side of the propane locker. It is a tight fit getting the tanks in afterwards but the placement was dictated also by a strut inside the boat where the blots come through. Half an inch further and the bolts would exit straight into the strut and would not be able to be anchored properly. So it becomes a question of compromise - a half an inch here and a half an inch there - and it all fits and better yet, works! The hoses from the tanks to the regulator and from there to the solenoid and from there to the stove were run and again, while a bit tight, they work. The 1% that remains to be done is to put in place a means for securing the tanks. It really shouldn't be a problem, but typically, I have another project done, 99% done.

One really good thing about this project being done is that a box of parts is now gone. It is great to be able to see the cushions in the forepeak. Basically, all that remains in the forepeak are the Genoa and sheets, the mainsail, a trash bag fill with trash bags, several rolls of paper towels, the kit bag for the dingy and two shroud rollers. In the main salon, there are three boxes eating up space. The first contains all of the items needed to finish off getting the watermaker system up and running. The next two contain all of the accouterments for installing the dock for the Satellite phone. I should be able to make those boxes disappear today. However, as some guy working on his brightwork on Sunday noted, everything you do on a boat always takes longer that anticipated. So, I'll settle for making at least one of the boxes disappear!

MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:

As nice as the weather has been the last week, it is still surprisingly cold, or cool, down at the shore. The wind is coming off the water and the water is still quite cold. The wind is also rather strong which can be helpful in finding out which of the lines on the boat I haven't secured properly. The energy to tackle the projects is increasing and, while there are still bunches to goes, they are getting done. And it feels great. Then again, all it is going to take is a real rainy day to bring back the blahs. Hopefully before that happens, I'll be out of Mystic and back to TYC and be living aboard.

FINISHED!!!!

SHIP'S LOG:

Finished! Well, at least the fireplace. Today I installed the reflector plate below the fireplace, as a safety measure, and now the fireplace is usable and functioning . . . . .as the temperature hit 70!!! Why am I not surprised? The downside of the installation was the time that it took . . . . . . . . . .almost 3 hours! Three hours to drill 8 holes! It took 3 hours to drill 8 holes and cost 7 drill bits! All were dulled, a few were scored, and 2 got busted, but the holes were drilled. The brackets were fitted and now the fireplace is absolutely done. And I am thankful for the shop vac I bought for the boat as there were all sorts of stainless steel bits, fragments, etc. scattered in the cabin by the fireplace. . . .and stuck in my fingers. BUT IT IS DONE!!!!!

The reconstruction of the propane locker is done, the weather stripping is installed and the tanks are in place. What remains for that project is installing the regulators and wiring up the solenoid and that will be done. And next week will be dedicated to the plumbing of the water system, wiring the SAT dock(Satellite phone) and then it will be clean-up time!

MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:

There was some type of boat show (small time) going on in the Shipyard. The Shipyard shares space will Sailing Specialties which sells ISLAND PACKETTS and BENETEAUs. There were several of the boats on the far dock all flagged-up with "For Sale" signs on them. I presume that this weekend will really be active as the weather is supposed to be nice and the time is coming to at least uncover the boats. Warm weather brings out the owners and the buyers, and since the areas devoted to parking have boats stored all over them, it will be difficult to fine a place to park . . . .at least until they drop more boats into the water.

Spring is coming fast, if it is not here already (I'm not quite sure) but it is still surprisingly chilly at the shore. The water, of course, is still very cold and would induce hypothermia quite quickly should one take a dip, and the breeze is coming off the water. As a result, the breeze is cold. Several people have asked when I will start sailing, or why haven't I gone sailing yet. Well, it is cold out on the water right now but the time is coming soon. And I can't wait. As soon as I can get the new mooring set at TYC, and the yard finishes what it is supposed to do, I am sailing!

WELL, IT'S A GOOD DAY . . . . . .

SHIP'S LOG:
Yes, it's a good day for singin' a song,
And it's a good day for movin' a - long;
Yes, it's a good day, how could anything go wrong,
A good day from mornin' till night.

Well, it was a good day, just like yesterday, but even warmer. This Spring type weather does things to one's mind and not many are good. That became clear when I had to rip out the recently installed weather stripping ( put it in yesterday) and replace it. Rather than installing as few pieces as possible, I used about as many as I could . . . unintentionally, of course, but, like I said, that Spring weather will do crazy things to your mind. This time, it took a lot more cutting and trimming of the weather stripping but the job should be a lot more effective. This will keep the water, rain water of seawater, out of the propane locker. Now I will be able to install the solenoid and the two tanks and the stove will be up and running. Huzzah! It's a good day . . . well, except for the rather awkward position I had to get in to do the job. Not the most comfortable position, especially for my right hip, and it let me know about it all night!

I installed the last of the Hypervent - the plastic system that goes under cushions to keep them dry. It is an inch thick plastic wire mess that is a beast to cut but it really does the job. I put it in or under, the cushions in the aft cabin and forepeak and it really works very well. It is just enough to allow the air to circulate under the cushions and keeps the moisture from building up. Thus, no mildew and no mildew smell. Huzzah! It's a good day. . . . . .

I still can't get the mainsail halyard winch to work. It will spin if the halyard is pulled but it will not turn if you use the winch handle . . . . .. which doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I have taken it apart as much as I can. I have cleaned it, greased it, cajoled it, threatened it and still can't seem to get it to work. It looks as though I will have to remove it from the mast and take it to a shop. YEAH!!!! It is not that good a day.


When I was leaving the boat, I turned of the battery switch and heard something like someone hitting the hull with a hammer. It caught me by surprise and, to overcome my boating paranoia, I turn the switch on and off to show that the sound had nothing to do with the switch. BANG! It happened again. The sound seemed to come from the aft part of the boat but I couldn't tell for sure. And trying to isolate it from sure, would require turning it on an doff several time and even then, it wouldn't necessarily isolate it. I got a hold of Don the electrician for his help. It only took him a bout five minutes to discover that it was the autopilot jerking the steering gear as it cycled on and off. Evidently one of the yard guys must have accidental flicked the switch for the auto pilot on the "voyage" the other day. Huzzah! It is a good day ! ! ! ! !


MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:

Actually, it was a good day. Just getting out in the great weather and working on the boat was a great way to spend the day. Someone asked me recently what I was doing with my time and I said "Working on my boat." The response came ," You can't work on your boat all the time." Obviously the guy has a clue about boats. Maybe I can get him to come and help out. Probably do him a world of good. May I can get him to work on installing a new holding tank!

THE FIRST VOYAGE OF THE SEASON! ! !

SHIP'S LOG:

Today I took the first voyage of the season! With 2 yard guys, I backed out of the slip on "C" Dock, turned right into the Mystic River and headed toward the Sound. The wind was blowing and the temp was in the low 60's. We passed "B" Dock and then . . . .turned into slip # 12 and tied up again. A short trip engendered by the fact that the guy whose boat goes into the slip I've been in since November, got his boat splashed and need it. So it was that I had to move again. The good thing was that the engine ran fine and the boat didn't sink, and even though I only "voyaged" about 200 yards, it was great to be underway.

Back on the boat and back to work again. I fabricated a doohickie to hold the aluminum tube in the main mast around which the main sail furls. Seems to work just fine and when the wind dies a bit, I will re-install the mainsail and see if it actually works.

I also took the time to install weather stripping around the inside lip of the propane locker hatch. The water had been getting in to the locker and that is just rain and melting snow. Seawater rushing along the rail might really pour in, though if the boat is heeled that much, water in the propane locker will be the least of my problems.

I also took the time to begin the actual clean up of the boat. Stuff either had to be stowed or removed. It is tough to do for a "packratter" like me. I always save stuff on the off chance that I might need it sometime someday. That's fine when you have a house and a garage, but a little difficult when all you have is a 39' X 12' boat. I now have more than one place to sit in the main cabin which is a good thing.

MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:

I can't quite begin to express what is was like to be "underway!" To be able to look out over the bow and see Fisher's Island Sound . . . .well it just sent chills of excitement up and down my spine. It won't be long now, not long at all.

WORK, WORK, WORK!!!!!!!!!!!

SHIP'S LOG:



Here was yesterday's "Things To Do " list:

1.) Trim the flu;[]

2.) Install the bottom reflector plate;[]

3.) Install weather stripping around the deck hatch for the Propane locker;[]

4.) Install the solenoid in the propane locker;[]

5.) Rig the flag halyards on the mizzen mast;[]

6.) Re-rig the mainsail clew;[]

7.) Re-install the boarding ladder on the transom;[]



Here is what actually got done: #1, #7, and some part of #6.



Installing trim around the flu is just to make it look better, more finished. The project itself was also something akin to trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. What I had decided to use to trim this hole for the flu exiting the cabin was a leftover piece of trim from the installation of the ports in the aft head. However, the piece of trim was a 6" X 15" rectangle and the hole was a 5" diameter hole through which exited a 4" octagonal flu. It took a lot of measuring, cutting, fitting, trimming, screwing and cussing before everything was in place. It even came out pretty decent if I do say so myself. . . . and I better for no one else will.



Ken came by to help with the re-installation of the boarding ladder. This ladder on the transom was removed last fall so I could install the wind vane steering system. I do not recall why I did not re-install the ladder at that time but the delay meant that while the ladder was removed while ABISHAG was out of the water, it would be reinstalled when she was in the water, making everything exponentially harder. True, it only require the drilling of 4, count'em 4, holes but there ain't no such thing as a simple, get-it-right-the-first-time, no snafus boat project.



The first two hole along the cap rail on the transom were easy to do. The bracket on the ladder was place on the rail, spots were marked, holes were drilled . . VOILA!!! The last two were just a bit more tricky. The screws were a part of the lower bracket itself and you couldn't simply lay the bracket against the transom, mark it and drill. Nope, you had to lay the bracket "gently) against the hull, mark where the screws touched, and then guestimate how much further to extend the mark so that the bracket would lay flush to the transom. No a particularly difficult task for someone with a good eye and Ken has a good eye. True, he had to hang over the transom in a safety harness two feet above the water, but he has a good eye. I went below to the aft cabin to remove the large upholstered cushion that is set against the transom inside the boat so Ken wouldn't drill into it. And there we ran into our second difficulty. It was not really a difficulty so much as a bit of a challenge.



Originally the the bottom screws of the ladder bracket were drilled through an aluminum bar that was fiberglassed into the transom. This acted like a backing plate spreading the pressure of the ladder loads. Now with the ladder off-set, only on of the screws would penetrate this bar and we either had to hit it square or miss it completely. It took a bit of measuring but we ran the hole for the screw straight through the bar. Both holes were drill and the ladder was lower over the transom to be fitted and screwed in place.



Challenge number three: the bottom screws would not fit through the holes. Swinging the ladder into place meant that the screws came in at an acute angle and they just wouldn't fit through the hole. The ladder had to be swung out of he way and the holes drilled out with the next largest bit. Back went the ladder and it still didn't quite fit. Move the ladder again and work at the hole with the drill bit to enlarge them just a bit more. (You don't want them too big as it will make the ladder wobble.) We had to do this 3 or 4 time before the crews went in as they should.



Challenge four: While enough of one screw came through to fit it with a washer and nut to hold it in place against the transom, the one that passed through the aluminum bar came through flush, with no way to fit washer and nut to it. Remove the ladder again, and grind down the fiberglass covering the aluminum bar. Refit the ladder. Better but no good enough. Remove the ladder and grind down the aluminum bar. It took two or three more shots before there was sufficient threads exposed on the screw to fit it with a washer and nut. Finally the just was finished . . .well, almost. The ladder is has an extension that swings to the level of the ladder to use in getting on and off the boat and which swings up out of the way the rest of the time. The extension is held in place by a little piece of line but now it makes contact with a lifeline stanchion and it bangs! SO I will have to find and fit a little block of wood to fix it in place. A I said, most jobs never quite get 100% finished no matter what you do.



The mainsail furls into a housing behind the mainmast. For some reason it would not furl, retract completely, leaving too much of the clew of the sail exposed. In the heavy wind of a week ago, it unshackled the shackle and I had to tie it too the mast to keep it from destroying itself. It was in trying to reattach it that Ken and I found that the reason the furling system wasn't retracting the sail completely was that the rod, around which the mail wound itself, was detached at the bottom. We had to unfurl the mainsail and take it off completely. It appears that a small doohickey which connects the rod to the thing-a-ma-bob is absent without leave. We are going to have to come up with a brilliant fix and get the system working again.



And that was as far done with the list as I got. It doesn't seem like a great deal but it was about 6 hours work all told. But the weather was beautiful and sailing is getting closer all the time.

MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:

Now that it is almost tax day and the weather is getting warmer, the boats are getting unwrapped and some are even getting afloat. It is old a matter of time until I am asked to "vacate " the dock and head off. Un-winterizing the boat is a rather simple thing . It just takes doing. I am getting twitchy about the prospect of getting underway at last. I just want to make sure that the surprise, freaky, unexpected-but-anticipated Spring snow storms it off the books before I do so.

AHOY! ! ! !

SHIP'S LOG:

It has been awhile. Sorry about that but the crappy weather really stripped me of any enthusiasm for working on the boat. But the weather is changing and Spring is definitely coming and it just fills one with all sorts of energy.

The fireplace is in . . . and the weather is now approaching the 60's. Isn't that just always the way!?! We did it in the rain and it actually went rather smoothly, though cutting that hole in the deck was truly a mental struggle. It went well, looks great and hopefully even works. A small trim job on the insulation around the flu, a trim plate around the flu in the salon overhead, the installation of the bottom reflector plate (four screw holes) and it will be perfect.

Today's job list is as follows:
1.) Trim the the flu;[]
2.) Install the bottom reflector plate;[]
3.) Install weather stripping around the deck hatch for the Propane locker;[]
4.) Install the solenoid in the propane locker;[]
5.) Rig the flag halyards on the mizzen mast;[]
6.) Re-rig the mainsail clew;[]
7.) Re-install the boarding ladder on the transom;[]

It should be an interesting day.

MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:

It is amazing how the weather changes how I feel. I am really on of those people with SAD - Seasonal Adjustment Syndrome. Now that there is more sun, and the weather is getting warmer, I feel great and can't wait to pull away from the dock. Can't wait! ! ! !! ! !! !

RADAR LOVE!!!!!

SHIP'S LOG:

Good News! I am not going to have to shell-out a couple of "Marine Units" to pay for new radar. The old unit, and I mean old (20 years at least), still works just fine. The guy at Dockside Electronics said it was an "entry level radar unit" something they don't make any more worked just fine and when I reinstalled it, he was right. True it can't make "toast" but as a radar unit, it worked just fine, even if in just black and white....or sort of a light blue-grey and a dark blue-grey. It worked which is the important part!!!!!

The wind was cranking so hard the other day that ABISHAG was heeling at the dock. Of course, had she been at a mooring, she would have just turned into the wind and never have really been impacted by it. However, she is tied to the dock and she heeled with the wind and didn't like it at all. She is really straining to get free and move and I can only say that I am thankful that her deck cleats are set as well as they are. They would pulled the deck out before they let go!

I am really hopeful that the weather will warm soon so I can start on the few projects that remain on the outside of the boat that have been put off by the weather. Also there are a few small ones that require the boat be commissioned before they can be tackled. To put it simply, they are projects that can be done only when the weather is sailing weather!!!!!

MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:
I can sense a change in the weather. It is clear that the weather is warming though slowly. Hopefully the wind will die down as the weather warms and I can get to work on the boat. the best part is that there is little or nothing that can not be done while sailing the boat. ABSIHAG and I need to put some sea miles under out collective keel and get away from the land. I have been ashore too, too long and I just need that freedom and release that sailing brings. I can almost sense that ABISHAG feel the same. She doesn't rest well at the dock and wants to be moving. It is a strange thing to say and no one who doesn't sail would understand, but there comes a time when you need to "get to sea." I won't bother quoting John Masefield but there is an imperative that I feel respond to and the sooner I am able to follow it the better. My sister Sue and her husband Mike just got back from a recent trip to the Abacos and brought me all sorts of info on Green Turtle Cay. I really want to personally check it out to see exactly how accurate it is!!!!