SHIP'S LOG:
Stuff is going back into ABISHAG at last. All the stuff (or at least most of it) that was still present has all been moved to permanent locations around the interior, locations selected with an eye to item usefulness and need for ease of access. The new stuff is basically clothes and shoes. I quite surprised myself that I had room for everything I brought. I expected that I would run out of space and have to take a number of items back for storage or disposal but there was plenty of room. In fact, I will be bring a few more items that I left out - cold weather clothes - which look as though, with the ever-lengthening of the time before departure, they might come in useful.
Friday will see the arrival of the remaining tools, books - for pleasure and reference, and assorted odds and ends, many of which I am not sure I will need but am taking anyway. After all there are trash cans everywhere in the event that their usefulness comes into question.
Saturday will see the fueling of the boat - diesel and propane, the final tuning of the rig, and the completion of a dozen or so simple projects.
Sunday will see the last of the items necessary for the trip, as well as food and water coming abroad and stored.
And Monday, well Monday will see the installation of the holding tank for the aft head. A delay in its arrival has forced this delay but all departure plans are arbitrary and flexible. I expect that the the day will be consumed with the installation and "the testing," with makes departure Tuesday Morning - weather permitting.
So Tuesday should be it.
MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:
I feel strangely peaceful about the coming departure, and that's saying something considering finances and the never ending projects list. The boat is ready though not perfect. Money is tight. The weather is getting a little bit iffy. And I have never done anything quite like this. This time God's got the plan and I'm just trying to follow it.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
CLEAN-UP!
SHIP'S LOG:
Today was spent doing the major clean-up of ABISHAG. It is really amazing how much "dirt' ends up on a boat surrounded by water! The clean-up also involved finding a spot for all the "stuff" currently on board. That was a little more of a challenge. It would be easy to place things in the first available spot but I couldn't do that as it would create chaos in the future. I have a lot of plumbing stuff - connectors, valves, pumps, hoses of various lengths and diameters - and while it is important the odds of needing any of it anytime soon are slim. So it was that i had to move it out of a locker over the settee in the salon to locker under the LECTROSAN unit in the fore peak. All the electrical stuff - wires, connectors, switches - were moved from a settee shelf to a locker under the settee. There were several other shifts of stuff that went on and as a result, the interior is a lot cleaner and ready to receive the stuff that is coming. Space for a load of books and clothes and tools and provender has to be found and the stuff put in place. A good blow will make clear what items are in the wrong spots and which are.
Had a long chat with "CHUCK THE LAUNCH DRIVER" who was planning to leave for the South on Monday(9/15) but who put it off as the weather was a bit iffy. It was bright and sunny but the wind was honking between 15-20knots and gusting up to 30 - not particularly bad, (actually probably sounds pretty good) but coming out of the North would make the trip down Long Island Sound a little rough and there was no real reason to get beat up. I like Chuck's approach - go when the weather is good and don't when it isn't. We talked about the where he was planning to stop for the first few days and I was glad to find that his plan was a match to my own - New London to the New Haven Breakwater - New Haven to Willet's Point, New York(Throgg's Neck) - Willet's Point to Mannasquan Inlet, New Jersey. Of course, it will all depend on weather and that's up to God. I'll go with what I am given. Chuck and I traded cell phone numbers and we'll keep in touch as we go. Chuck's delay turned out to be a good thing - much like my own - as he found a leak in his anti-freeze/cooling system that he was able to fix. He will now be leaving, or is planning to do so, this morning (9/16).
As of this morning, I am planning to be leaving on this coming Monday Morning(9/22). Even if the weather keeps me in New London, it is always a possibility, I will have everything down that I can get down, everything needed to be done, and will be ready to go. There is always the possibility that chuck and I will meet up along the way and will trip together. If not, I will at least have "a scout" ahead of me on the journey.
MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:
Well the last financial option for getting out of debt before leaving came a cropper. Evidently, I have too much credit card debt to get a loan and so I will just have to make the trip on shaky financial ground. I will buy a Powerball ticket for the Wednesday drawing but I am not expecting to win the big prize or even a smaller one. I think God is trying to get me to trust that he will take care of everything. Perhaps it is part of God's plan that I win the Powerball and there is no way I can know if I don't play, but I suspect that it won't be the case. I am just going to have to trust that God is in charge. Self-surrender, giving up control, taking steps with trust is a tough, tough thing to do.
Today was spent doing the major clean-up of ABISHAG. It is really amazing how much "dirt' ends up on a boat surrounded by water! The clean-up also involved finding a spot for all the "stuff" currently on board. That was a little more of a challenge. It would be easy to place things in the first available spot but I couldn't do that as it would create chaos in the future. I have a lot of plumbing stuff - connectors, valves, pumps, hoses of various lengths and diameters - and while it is important the odds of needing any of it anytime soon are slim. So it was that i had to move it out of a locker over the settee in the salon to locker under the LECTROSAN unit in the fore peak. All the electrical stuff - wires, connectors, switches - were moved from a settee shelf to a locker under the settee. There were several other shifts of stuff that went on and as a result, the interior is a lot cleaner and ready to receive the stuff that is coming. Space for a load of books and clothes and tools and provender has to be found and the stuff put in place. A good blow will make clear what items are in the wrong spots and which are.
Had a long chat with "CHUCK THE LAUNCH DRIVER" who was planning to leave for the South on Monday(9/15) but who put it off as the weather was a bit iffy. It was bright and sunny but the wind was honking between 15-20knots and gusting up to 30 - not particularly bad, (actually probably sounds pretty good) but coming out of the North would make the trip down Long Island Sound a little rough and there was no real reason to get beat up. I like Chuck's approach - go when the weather is good and don't when it isn't. We talked about the where he was planning to stop for the first few days and I was glad to find that his plan was a match to my own - New London to the New Haven Breakwater - New Haven to Willet's Point, New York(Throgg's Neck) - Willet's Point to Mannasquan Inlet, New Jersey. Of course, it will all depend on weather and that's up to God. I'll go with what I am given. Chuck and I traded cell phone numbers and we'll keep in touch as we go. Chuck's delay turned out to be a good thing - much like my own - as he found a leak in his anti-freeze/cooling system that he was able to fix. He will now be leaving, or is planning to do so, this morning (9/16).
As of this morning, I am planning to be leaving on this coming Monday Morning(9/22). Even if the weather keeps me in New London, it is always a possibility, I will have everything down that I can get down, everything needed to be done, and will be ready to go. There is always the possibility that chuck and I will meet up along the way and will trip together. If not, I will at least have "a scout" ahead of me on the journey.
MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:
Well the last financial option for getting out of debt before leaving came a cropper. Evidently, I have too much credit card debt to get a loan and so I will just have to make the trip on shaky financial ground. I will buy a Powerball ticket for the Wednesday drawing but I am not expecting to win the big prize or even a smaller one. I think God is trying to get me to trust that he will take care of everything. Perhaps it is part of God's plan that I win the Powerball and there is no way I can know if I don't play, but I suspect that it won't be the case. I am just going to have to trust that God is in charge. Self-surrender, giving up control, taking steps with trust is a tough, tough thing to do.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
MYSTERY SOLVED ! ! ! !
SHIP'S LOG:
I was up bright and early and down at TYC to meet with the "The Diesel Brothers" - Chuck and Cliff, who care for the Club Launch and who had volunteered to help my iron out my diesel problem.
I let Chuck and Cliff into the boat and left them to their investigations and mechanical magic while I went to work on the Mizzen Mystery. Like it is with cooks in the kitchen, too many mechanics in the engine room is a recipe for disaster, especially when one of the (yours truly) ain't no mechanic.
The Mizzen Mystery(ABISHAG still has lots of mysteries) was that the Mizzen Sail, the sail furthest aft on the boat, wouldn't go all the way to the top of the Mizzen mast. I could raise it about 3/4ers of the way up and them it seemed to snag on something and would go no further. In such a position, the Mizzen was worse than useless and trying to use it would only wear the sail. I needed to be able to rise it all the way or not use it at all and yet the whole reason for having a ketch in the first place was to be divide the sail area of the boat, making it easier to handle. I had to fix it as it made no sense to haul around something that didn't work.
I checked the halyard, the line which is used to raise and lower the sail. It went up and down freely, with no strain, no snagging, no catching anywhere. This is very good news as it means that the problem was not in the mast through which the halyard ran. If it had been inside the mast, and it could not be freed with the mast standing, it meant a trip to a Boatyard, dropping the mast, locating the problem, fixing the problem, re-stepping the mast. . . . . . . . The sound you just heard was a couple of marine units going bye-bye.
Secondly, it meant that it was a problem of lubrication. When a sail is attached to a mast, there are usually slides affixed to luff (edge) of the sail that slide up and down in a track in the mast. Dirt, salt, and other assorted detritus end up in the track and can impede the slides making the sail hard or all but impossible to raise. In that the problem wasn't the halyard, lubricating the track and the slides should do the trick. Out came the graphite lube, incredible slippery stuff. No Joy! Evidently, the graphite just added to the problem by putting more "crap" into the track. Next up was the racer's friend, MACLUBE, a dry, spray-on lubricant that is used to lube everything from Genoa track and blocks and other such items on go-fast boats Well, the best that could be said in this case was that it washed some of the gunk out of the track and off the slides but the sail still wouldn't go all the way up. Last came old reliable - WD-40! This is rather remarkable stuff. It is technically not a lube but a water expeller - something gets wet that shouldn't, hit it with WD-40 and the water goes away. Still, everyone uses it a a lube and so I tried it. I sprayed the track. I sprayed the slides. I pulled the halyard and the Mizzen shot up the the top of the mast like it was coming out of a canon. Mystery solved. Let's hear it for WD-40!
Back in the engine room, The Diesel Brothers" - Chuck and Cliff - had found the problem! It was the engine being sneaky! When you change the oil in your car, you put it on a lift, position a container under the oil pan, unscrew a plug in the sump and the oil drains out. Simple! On a car yes, but rather impossible on a boat. in years past, before the EPA, it was common to remove the sump plug, drain the oil into the bilge, replace the plug, fill the engine with oil and pump the bilge - pumping the old oil overboard. It is not something you can do anymore - thanks goodness. There are a whole host of devices to catch the old oil or to remove it - with varying degrees of success and ease - from the engine. One of the simplest and most common is a small hand pump attached to the oil pan. Pumping it removes the oil and directs it into a container for proper disposal. On ABISHAG, this pump has a bracket which is attached to a bracket on the front of the engine. A rubber hose runs from the pump to the sump. A simple and efficient system. Evidently though, the screw connecting the two brackets vibrated off sometime and disappeared into the bilge.
Now this is the sneaky part! As long as the engine and oil was cold, the hose from sump-to-pump was ridged and remained upright, holding the pump on place. When the engine ran, the oil heated, as did the engine, and sump-to-pump hose softened and drooped under the weight of the pump. It would slowly lower itself to a point where it was below the oil pan sump, allowing the oil to run out of the sump through the pump. But when the engine shut down and the engine and oil began to cool, the hose stiffened and returned to its original position, leaving no indication of what had happened. Nice! Re-attaching the bracket, topping off the engine oil and the problem was solved. . . . except for the oil that had accumulated in the bilge! ! ! ! !
MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:
This coming Friday is September 19th, International Talk Like A Pirate Day, and one year from the day I had intended to leave . . . last year. It also should be the day that I find out whether my final attempt at getting funds the pay-off the Marine Units Bill from the winter yard work comes through comes through. I like the way God seems to be folding everything together into a nice neat package. So this week will be the clean-up, pack the boat week and then ADIOS! solvent or not!
I was up bright and early and down at TYC to meet with the "The Diesel Brothers" - Chuck and Cliff, who care for the Club Launch and who had volunteered to help my iron out my diesel problem.
I let Chuck and Cliff into the boat and left them to their investigations and mechanical magic while I went to work on the Mizzen Mystery. Like it is with cooks in the kitchen, too many mechanics in the engine room is a recipe for disaster, especially when one of the (yours truly) ain't no mechanic.
The Mizzen Mystery(ABISHAG still has lots of mysteries) was that the Mizzen Sail, the sail furthest aft on the boat, wouldn't go all the way to the top of the Mizzen mast. I could raise it about 3/4ers of the way up and them it seemed to snag on something and would go no further. In such a position, the Mizzen was worse than useless and trying to use it would only wear the sail. I needed to be able to rise it all the way or not use it at all and yet the whole reason for having a ketch in the first place was to be divide the sail area of the boat, making it easier to handle. I had to fix it as it made no sense to haul around something that didn't work.
I checked the halyard, the line which is used to raise and lower the sail. It went up and down freely, with no strain, no snagging, no catching anywhere. This is very good news as it means that the problem was not in the mast through which the halyard ran. If it had been inside the mast, and it could not be freed with the mast standing, it meant a trip to a Boatyard, dropping the mast, locating the problem, fixing the problem, re-stepping the mast. . . . . . . . The sound you just heard was a couple of marine units going bye-bye.
Secondly, it meant that it was a problem of lubrication. When a sail is attached to a mast, there are usually slides affixed to luff (edge) of the sail that slide up and down in a track in the mast. Dirt, salt, and other assorted detritus end up in the track and can impede the slides making the sail hard or all but impossible to raise. In that the problem wasn't the halyard, lubricating the track and the slides should do the trick. Out came the graphite lube, incredible slippery stuff. No Joy! Evidently, the graphite just added to the problem by putting more "crap" into the track. Next up was the racer's friend, MACLUBE, a dry, spray-on lubricant that is used to lube everything from Genoa track and blocks and other such items on go-fast boats Well, the best that could be said in this case was that it washed some of the gunk out of the track and off the slides but the sail still wouldn't go all the way up. Last came old reliable - WD-40! This is rather remarkable stuff. It is technically not a lube but a water expeller - something gets wet that shouldn't, hit it with WD-40 and the water goes away. Still, everyone uses it a a lube and so I tried it. I sprayed the track. I sprayed the slides. I pulled the halyard and the Mizzen shot up the the top of the mast like it was coming out of a canon. Mystery solved. Let's hear it for WD-40!
Back in the engine room, The Diesel Brothers" - Chuck and Cliff - had found the problem! It was the engine being sneaky! When you change the oil in your car, you put it on a lift, position a container under the oil pan, unscrew a plug in the sump and the oil drains out. Simple! On a car yes, but rather impossible on a boat. in years past, before the EPA, it was common to remove the sump plug, drain the oil into the bilge, replace the plug, fill the engine with oil and pump the bilge - pumping the old oil overboard. It is not something you can do anymore - thanks goodness. There are a whole host of devices to catch the old oil or to remove it - with varying degrees of success and ease - from the engine. One of the simplest and most common is a small hand pump attached to the oil pan. Pumping it removes the oil and directs it into a container for proper disposal. On ABISHAG, this pump has a bracket which is attached to a bracket on the front of the engine. A rubber hose runs from the pump to the sump. A simple and efficient system. Evidently though, the screw connecting the two brackets vibrated off sometime and disappeared into the bilge.
Now this is the sneaky part! As long as the engine and oil was cold, the hose from sump-to-pump was ridged and remained upright, holding the pump on place. When the engine ran, the oil heated, as did the engine, and sump-to-pump hose softened and drooped under the weight of the pump. It would slowly lower itself to a point where it was below the oil pan sump, allowing the oil to run out of the sump through the pump. But when the engine shut down and the engine and oil began to cool, the hose stiffened and returned to its original position, leaving no indication of what had happened. Nice! Re-attaching the bracket, topping off the engine oil and the problem was solved. . . . except for the oil that had accumulated in the bilge! ! ! ! !
MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:
This coming Friday is September 19th, International Talk Like A Pirate Day, and one year from the day I had intended to leave . . . last year. It also should be the day that I find out whether my final attempt at getting funds the pay-off the Marine Units Bill from the winter yard work comes through comes through. I like the way God seems to be folding everything together into a nice neat package. So this week will be the clean-up, pack the boat week and then ADIOS! solvent or not!
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
I SUPPOSE IT COULD BE WORSE! ! ! ! ! !
SHIP'S LOG:
Hanna came and went and delivered a lot of rain but not much in the way of wind . . . so I am told. I haven't had the chance to get down to ABISHAG before today as I decided to come down with a Summer(?) cold. Saturday, Sunday and Monday were spent in healing. For me that means curled up in a lump in bed, sweating it out. No fun and no chance to get down to the boat and restore it to ready condition. That will be done this afternoon and I am not looking forward to it to any great extent. Of course, if I had not done all deconstruction, Hanna would have been terrible. As it was, Hanna was merely nasty and I do not expect to find any damage or anything to cause concern. Thank God for that! I suppose it is my terminal laziness to wish that I had, been like so many, and had not gone through all of the effort storm-proofing ABISHAG. Had that been the case, I could go sailing today. As it is, I will spend this beautiful day bending on sails, resetting cushions, unwrapping lines, pumping up the dinghy and re-setting the dinghy retrieval system at the dock. Ah, the fun part of boating!
The financial situation has gotten clear and the answer is "NO!" I keep getting turned down for refinancing + cash out for one of three(3) reasons: 1.) my condo is an investment property, not a primary residence; 2.) one entity( the Spa at Norwich Inn) owns more that 10% of the condo units; 3.) my condo hasn't been off of the market long enough. That is 6 possible combination of reasons why the loan is not approved. The talkers, the individuals who take the initial info and begin the process for you, are all hyped and positive, and they tend to get you to believe that you'll get the loan no problem. Even when I don't believe them, I sort of believe them. I just wait for the other shoe to drop and, so far, it always has. Thud!!!! It is just really weird! that I can't get this to work. I'll just have to keep trying. Who knows, maybe I'll win Powerball or something!
MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:
There is an old sailing proverb that goes something like " Good Harbors rot ships and men!" It suggests that it is too easy to rest comfortably in a good place to the point there is always something that needs fixing, or purchasing, or is not quite right such that you never move. That is kind of what I am feeling like right now. I want to go but something always springs up to keep me in port. It's all legitimate. The Mainsail repair, the engine oil question, the holding tank, finance and several other things and they all seem intertwined, each depending on one or more to be "solved" before departure. And now, creeping into the picture the prospect of unstable fall weather. I trust that it will all work out but I am not sure what to do to cooperate with the process in a helpful rather than hindering way.
Hanna came and went and delivered a lot of rain but not much in the way of wind . . . so I am told. I haven't had the chance to get down to ABISHAG before today as I decided to come down with a Summer(?) cold. Saturday, Sunday and Monday were spent in healing. For me that means curled up in a lump in bed, sweating it out. No fun and no chance to get down to the boat and restore it to ready condition. That will be done this afternoon and I am not looking forward to it to any great extent. Of course, if I had not done all deconstruction, Hanna would have been terrible. As it was, Hanna was merely nasty and I do not expect to find any damage or anything to cause concern. Thank God for that! I suppose it is my terminal laziness to wish that I had, been like so many, and had not gone through all of the effort storm-proofing ABISHAG. Had that been the case, I could go sailing today. As it is, I will spend this beautiful day bending on sails, resetting cushions, unwrapping lines, pumping up the dinghy and re-setting the dinghy retrieval system at the dock. Ah, the fun part of boating!
The financial situation has gotten clear and the answer is "NO!" I keep getting turned down for refinancing + cash out for one of three(3) reasons: 1.) my condo is an investment property, not a primary residence; 2.) one entity( the Spa at Norwich Inn) owns more that 10% of the condo units; 3.) my condo hasn't been off of the market long enough. That is 6 possible combination of reasons why the loan is not approved. The talkers, the individuals who take the initial info and begin the process for you, are all hyped and positive, and they tend to get you to believe that you'll get the loan no problem. Even when I don't believe them, I sort of believe them. I just wait for the other shoe to drop and, so far, it always has. Thud!!!! It is just really weird! that I can't get this to work. I'll just have to keep trying. Who knows, maybe I'll win Powerball or something!
MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:
There is an old sailing proverb that goes something like " Good Harbors rot ships and men!" It suggests that it is too easy to rest comfortably in a good place to the point there is always something that needs fixing, or purchasing, or is not quite right such that you never move. That is kind of what I am feeling like right now. I want to go but something always springs up to keep me in port. It's all legitimate. The Mainsail repair, the engine oil question, the holding tank, finance and several other things and they all seem intertwined, each depending on one or more to be "solved" before departure. And now, creeping into the picture the prospect of unstable fall weather. I trust that it will all work out but I am not sure what to do to cooperate with the process in a helpful rather than hindering way.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
PREPARING FOR THE STORM!
SHIP'S LOG:
Friday's tasks were oriented round preparing ABISHAG for the Hurricane/Tropical Storm/ Tropical Depression that will be Hanna. First and foremost among those preparations was to get the Mainsail unstuck from its messy furling that has rendered it all but immovable, partially in and partially out of its furling tube enclosure.
Kenny was coming down to help me "fix it." I got down early and began to strip the deck of all things movable or those potentially subject to damage from the winds that may be coming. It will probably be a waste of time, not that it isn't a smart thing to do for an approaching storm, but rather my doing it will probably insure that the Hanna will be more of a tease that a real threat. Conversely though, if I did nothing, you just know she would be seriously nasty. Sigh! So stripping the deck of sails and cushions and lines and Bimini and dodger was begun. This is actually not the bad part, that comes when everything has to be put back in its place. Tearing down is always significantly easier that re-staging.
In the midst of this, a 40ft sailboat, HIGHLAND LIGHT, went by and low and behold, she sported "in-mast furling" for her mainsail. I literally flagged the boat down and got on the horn with the skipper. I explained my situation with my mainsail and he agreed to come over and give a hand once he got his own boat moored. This was marvelous and fortuitous as no other boat at TYC had a similar setup so know one really had any experience dealing with a major screw-up of an in-mast furling system. Now I had an expert, or at least someone who had experienced that same screw-up as me and had solved the problem.
Jan and Gail came on board and I showed them my problem. Having walked around the mast several times, while I applied tension to the outhaul(which drew the mainsail out of the mast) he worked the lines that turned the rod around which the sail was wrapped. It was like doing a root-canal anally, but slowly the mainsail began to emerge. Kenny showed up in the middle of the process and the work seemed, and I do mean (seemed), to be progressing quite well, when Gail remarked, 'You got a tear in your sail. Was it there before?"
I gave a look and found that the sail had torn along the edge of the patch I had just put on the day before. What had happened was that the mainsail was unwrapping along the bottom edge, but the side outer edge, the leech, was under was still wrapped and under a great deal of tension. The new patch was acting like a ruler placed on a sheet of paper and the sail (the paper) was tearing along the edge of the ruler. We had a good part of the sail out of the mast, but the more we pull on the outhaul, to get the sail out of the mast, the more the sail ripped. The sound a sail makes as it rips is hard to describe. If you really want to know what it sounds like, get several $100 bills and tear them length-wise and you get a good approximation.
We took the chance that we had enough of the sail out so that we could lower the whole thing to the deck, pulling the rest out of the mast as we did so . . . . and it actually worked. True, I had a brand new 3-4ft tear in the Mainsail, but at least it was down. I thanked Gail and Jan and they left to secure their own boat against the storm. Kenny and I finished storm-proofing the boat and then I hauled the sail off to the sailmaker's shop.
I was expecting to just drop the sail off(after all it was late on a Friday afternoon and a "major storm" was approaching) and pick it up once the sail was fixed and I had found the money to pay for it. But, having worked in this particular shop for a couple of years and being good friends with the owners, a new patch was sewn in place in about 30 minutes at no cost! It pays to have friends.
One last onerous task remained . . . the dinghy. According to the requirements of the Hurricane plan of TYC, dinghies had to be out of the water, thus I had to move my dinghy. It didn't make a lot of sense to leave it in the path of the storm, so it meant that I had to deflate it, pack it in its carry-bag and haul it away in my car. That sounds a lot easier than the reality.
The dinghy weighs 90lbs devoid of air. I have no idea how much it weighs when it is fully inflated, but it is a lot more than 90lbs.( I find it amazing how much air weighs!) I hauled it up on to the beach, semi-difficult, drained out the accumulated water and opened the five valves to let the air out. Easy. I removed the seat-bench. Very Easy. Next, I had to roll the dinghy up, stern to bow. The dinghy is 10'10" long and about 4'6" wide. Rolling it up meant i got covered with sand. No fun. The best part came when I discovered that the bag into which the dinghy was to fit was 4 feet long. The dinghy, when rolled up was 4"6" long. You can see the problem. Rather than unrolling it and figuring out how to re-roll it to fit the bag, I got as much of it into the bag and, with the help of strapping young man, an option that should be included with every dinghy when purchased by someone of 50 years of age, put it into a dock cart and wheeled it to my car. My little auto was just able to handle the semi-roll dinghy, the oars, the seat, the dock lines and fender, the newly repaired mainsail and me, covered with sand. What a day!!!! And next week, I will have to reverse the entire process, though that will wait until I am absolutely sure "Ike" and "Josephine" will not be paying the area a visit!
MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:
People keep asking what my plan is. I keep telling them that I really don't have a plan. There are things I would like to do, but God is in charge and right now, I can figure out what God has in mind. The refi looks like a lost cause and it will be really tough to try the trip with my current financial situation. The weather, which was so great for the summer, now seems to be deteriorating in a hurry. I still need to install at least one holding tank and still solve the mystery of the disappearing engine oil. It seems that as soon as i set the date, things have really gotten screwed up. O well, I am sure it will all work out but just how, I have no idea.
Friday's tasks were oriented round preparing ABISHAG for the Hurricane/Tropical Storm/ Tropical Depression that will be Hanna. First and foremost among those preparations was to get the Mainsail unstuck from its messy furling that has rendered it all but immovable, partially in and partially out of its furling tube enclosure.
Kenny was coming down to help me "fix it." I got down early and began to strip the deck of all things movable or those potentially subject to damage from the winds that may be coming. It will probably be a waste of time, not that it isn't a smart thing to do for an approaching storm, but rather my doing it will probably insure that the Hanna will be more of a tease that a real threat. Conversely though, if I did nothing, you just know she would be seriously nasty. Sigh! So stripping the deck of sails and cushions and lines and Bimini and dodger was begun. This is actually not the bad part, that comes when everything has to be put back in its place. Tearing down is always significantly easier that re-staging.
In the midst of this, a 40ft sailboat, HIGHLAND LIGHT, went by and low and behold, she sported "in-mast furling" for her mainsail. I literally flagged the boat down and got on the horn with the skipper. I explained my situation with my mainsail and he agreed to come over and give a hand once he got his own boat moored. This was marvelous and fortuitous as no other boat at TYC had a similar setup so know one really had any experience dealing with a major screw-up of an in-mast furling system. Now I had an expert, or at least someone who had experienced that same screw-up as me and had solved the problem.
Jan and Gail came on board and I showed them my problem. Having walked around the mast several times, while I applied tension to the outhaul(which drew the mainsail out of the mast) he worked the lines that turned the rod around which the sail was wrapped. It was like doing a root-canal anally, but slowly the mainsail began to emerge. Kenny showed up in the middle of the process and the work seemed, and I do mean (seemed), to be progressing quite well, when Gail remarked, 'You got a tear in your sail. Was it there before?"
I gave a look and found that the sail had torn along the edge of the patch I had just put on the day before. What had happened was that the mainsail was unwrapping along the bottom edge, but the side outer edge, the leech, was under was still wrapped and under a great deal of tension. The new patch was acting like a ruler placed on a sheet of paper and the sail (the paper) was tearing along the edge of the ruler. We had a good part of the sail out of the mast, but the more we pull on the outhaul, to get the sail out of the mast, the more the sail ripped. The sound a sail makes as it rips is hard to describe. If you really want to know what it sounds like, get several $100 bills and tear them length-wise and you get a good approximation.
We took the chance that we had enough of the sail out so that we could lower the whole thing to the deck, pulling the rest out of the mast as we did so . . . . and it actually worked. True, I had a brand new 3-4ft tear in the Mainsail, but at least it was down. I thanked Gail and Jan and they left to secure their own boat against the storm. Kenny and I finished storm-proofing the boat and then I hauled the sail off to the sailmaker's shop.
I was expecting to just drop the sail off(after all it was late on a Friday afternoon and a "major storm" was approaching) and pick it up once the sail was fixed and I had found the money to pay for it. But, having worked in this particular shop for a couple of years and being good friends with the owners, a new patch was sewn in place in about 30 minutes at no cost! It pays to have friends.
One last onerous task remained . . . the dinghy. According to the requirements of the Hurricane plan of TYC, dinghies had to be out of the water, thus I had to move my dinghy. It didn't make a lot of sense to leave it in the path of the storm, so it meant that I had to deflate it, pack it in its carry-bag and haul it away in my car. That sounds a lot easier than the reality.
The dinghy weighs 90lbs devoid of air. I have no idea how much it weighs when it is fully inflated, but it is a lot more than 90lbs.( I find it amazing how much air weighs!) I hauled it up on to the beach, semi-difficult, drained out the accumulated water and opened the five valves to let the air out. Easy. I removed the seat-bench. Very Easy. Next, I had to roll the dinghy up, stern to bow. The dinghy is 10'10" long and about 4'6" wide. Rolling it up meant i got covered with sand. No fun. The best part came when I discovered that the bag into which the dinghy was to fit was 4 feet long. The dinghy, when rolled up was 4"6" long. You can see the problem. Rather than unrolling it and figuring out how to re-roll it to fit the bag, I got as much of it into the bag and, with the help of strapping young man, an option that should be included with every dinghy when purchased by someone of 50 years of age, put it into a dock cart and wheeled it to my car. My little auto was just able to handle the semi-roll dinghy, the oars, the seat, the dock lines and fender, the newly repaired mainsail and me, covered with sand. What a day!!!! And next week, I will have to reverse the entire process, though that will wait until I am absolutely sure "Ike" and "Josephine" will not be paying the area a visit!
MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:
People keep asking what my plan is. I keep telling them that I really don't have a plan. There are things I would like to do, but God is in charge and right now, I can figure out what God has in mind. The refi looks like a lost cause and it will be really tough to try the trip with my current financial situation. The weather, which was so great for the summer, now seems to be deteriorating in a hurry. I still need to install at least one holding tank and still solve the mystery of the disappearing engine oil. It seems that as soon as i set the date, things have really gotten screwed up. O well, I am sure it will all work out but just how, I have no idea.
Friday, September 5, 2008
STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES! ! ! ! !
SHIP'S LOG:
I went do to ABISHAG to await the "Chuck" who was going to come by to help me solve the mystery. I also had to fix a tear in the Mainsail that revealed itself on the Labor Day Sail. The tear extended from the hole that existed in the sail that I had already tried to repair. The only sail repair tape I could find was a nylon rip-stop tape more appropriate for fixing a spinnaker that a Dacron mainsail. I stopped by Farrar Sails in New London and got a two foot strip of heavy Dacron sail repair tape and headed down to the boat.
As the launch is not running, I rowed out to the boat and set up to fix the mainsail tear. I unfurled the mainsail to expose the tear and lowered it on top of the Bimini ( sun shade over the cockpit). It took a few minutes to apply the tape to both sides of the tear (overkill) and then re-furled the sail. BANG!! I shot myself in the foot ! ! ! ! !!
The furler for the mainsail rolls the sail around a rod in a tub attached to the rear of the Mainmast. It is something akin to a window shade though set vertical rather than horizontal. Rather than being completely exposed(and to give the sail a more aerodynamic shape) the sail rolls(furls) itself around a rod in a tube. And in an effort to keep the good aerodynamic shape, the tub is as narrow as possible leaving not a lot of room inside. Somehow, when I was rolling the sail up, it folded over itself and kept on doing so. And I only realized what had happened when it jammed to a stop, not quite in but not really quite out. BANG! Right in the foot!
There it sits(?) immovable and I have got to figure out some way to get it functioning again. Fiddling with the lines that control the furling process only seems to have made it worse and I am really at a loss as to what to do! I called Kenny and he will join me Friday afternoon and hopefully the two of us will come up with a solution.
Chuck didn't show up and I have been unable to contact him. I hope there is nothing wrong.
Friday is also a day to ready the boat for (Hurricane/Tropical Storm/Gale) Hanna which is do sometime Saturday. I am not planning to move ABISHAG as everything holding her in place in brand spanking new. I will storm proof her and let her do her thing.
No further word on the refi except that another lender said "NO" as the condo had not been off the market long enough! ARRRRRGH!
MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:
I am really feeling set up today. Nothing seems to be going right and whole bunches of little things are going wrong. It really seems as though every choice I am making goes bad and I can't seem to find a good path to go down. I am amazed that something so simple can get so confusing. I am sure that it will all work out, but when ?
I went do to ABISHAG to await the "Chuck" who was going to come by to help me solve the mystery. I also had to fix a tear in the Mainsail that revealed itself on the Labor Day Sail. The tear extended from the hole that existed in the sail that I had already tried to repair. The only sail repair tape I could find was a nylon rip-stop tape more appropriate for fixing a spinnaker that a Dacron mainsail. I stopped by Farrar Sails in New London and got a two foot strip of heavy Dacron sail repair tape and headed down to the boat.
As the launch is not running, I rowed out to the boat and set up to fix the mainsail tear. I unfurled the mainsail to expose the tear and lowered it on top of the Bimini ( sun shade over the cockpit). It took a few minutes to apply the tape to both sides of the tear (overkill) and then re-furled the sail. BANG!! I shot myself in the foot ! ! ! ! !!
The furler for the mainsail rolls the sail around a rod in a tub attached to the rear of the Mainmast. It is something akin to a window shade though set vertical rather than horizontal. Rather than being completely exposed(and to give the sail a more aerodynamic shape) the sail rolls(furls) itself around a rod in a tube. And in an effort to keep the good aerodynamic shape, the tub is as narrow as possible leaving not a lot of room inside. Somehow, when I was rolling the sail up, it folded over itself and kept on doing so. And I only realized what had happened when it jammed to a stop, not quite in but not really quite out. BANG! Right in the foot!
There it sits(?) immovable and I have got to figure out some way to get it functioning again. Fiddling with the lines that control the furling process only seems to have made it worse and I am really at a loss as to what to do! I called Kenny and he will join me Friday afternoon and hopefully the two of us will come up with a solution.
Chuck didn't show up and I have been unable to contact him. I hope there is nothing wrong.
Friday is also a day to ready the boat for (Hurricane/Tropical Storm/Gale) Hanna which is do sometime Saturday. I am not planning to move ABISHAG as everything holding her in place in brand spanking new. I will storm proof her and let her do her thing.
No further word on the refi except that another lender said "NO" as the condo had not been off the market long enough! ARRRRRGH!
MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:
I am really feeling set up today. Nothing seems to be going right and whole bunches of little things are going wrong. It really seems as though every choice I am making goes bad and I can't seem to find a good path to go down. I am amazed that something so simple can get so confusing. I am sure that it will all work out, but when ?
Thursday, September 4, 2008
A GREAT MYSTERY! ! ! ! !
SHIP'S LOG:
I am faced with a great mystery . . . who or what is stealing the oil? On Labor Day, before taking a sail, I had to put 4 quarts of oil into the engine. Having already filled it up last week, I was wondering where it went. In truth, there is only two places it could go: 1.) into the bilge, or 2.) out the exhaust.
Now if it was dripping into the bilge, it would be rather obvious. A gallon of oil would make a mess, smell terrible mixing with the other stuff dwelling in the bilge, and be quite visible, filling up the sump(the lowest part of the bilge). But simple observation did not indicate the presence of a gallon of oil. So it does not appear that it is dripping/leaking into the bilge.
Secondly, if the oil wasn't staying in the engine and/or the boat, it had to be exiting out the exhaust. If the engine was burning it, it would show up in the exhaust. It would be blue-black and heavy, yet running the engine produces no visible exhaust! Of course, it could simply be leaking and being blown out of the exhaust. If that was the case, there would be an oil slick but I am unable to see one.
So the oil is going away and I have no idea where or how. I got in touch with a couple of guy at TYC who are into diesel engines and we will see what we can find tomorrow. I am sure that we will find the answer and hopefully it will be simple and inexpensive to rectify.
I took the afternoon to clean the bottom again and it needed it. The prop was encrusted and it took the long time to clean it all off. My hands got pretty nicked up by the barnacles and other crustaceans whom I evicted from the prop and shaft. The funny thing about removing the slime and marine growth was that it was much heavier on one side of the boat than the other. I guess that it is probably a function of which side "get the most sunshine," or something like that.
I am still trying to get refinanced and it sort of looks as though it is going to happen but right now, having gone through half a dozen underwriters after talking with the guys who take down all the info, it always seems to fall apart. It is just seeming to take forever and it could delay departure.
Then again there is the congo-line of tropical storms that have suddenly appeared ikn the Caribbean. The first one, Hanna is projected to come up the East Coast over the weekend and there are two more behind it, with the potential for others forming in the South Atlantic. Depending on how many storms develop and which way they go, ther could be more delays. It is amazing how such a simple thing is getting more and more complicated.
MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:
Delay! Delay! Delay! Unexpected-potentially-expensive problem! Weather Delay! Weather Delay! It seems as though from the moment I selected a date to depart, things have poped up that could possibly delay the trip. At this point it is getting to be a bore. The refi will happen eventually. The glitches will be fixed and sorted out. The weather will pass. And the trip will happen.It is just one thing after another and it is not even frustrating anymore. It is "BORING!!!!!" I am sure that all of these little potential delays will be helpful in teaching me important things, but enough is enough! I really need to go!!
I am faced with a great mystery . . . who or what is stealing the oil? On Labor Day, before taking a sail, I had to put 4 quarts of oil into the engine. Having already filled it up last week, I was wondering where it went. In truth, there is only two places it could go: 1.) into the bilge, or 2.) out the exhaust.
Now if it was dripping into the bilge, it would be rather obvious. A gallon of oil would make a mess, smell terrible mixing with the other stuff dwelling in the bilge, and be quite visible, filling up the sump(the lowest part of the bilge). But simple observation did not indicate the presence of a gallon of oil. So it does not appear that it is dripping/leaking into the bilge.
Secondly, if the oil wasn't staying in the engine and/or the boat, it had to be exiting out the exhaust. If the engine was burning it, it would show up in the exhaust. It would be blue-black and heavy, yet running the engine produces no visible exhaust! Of course, it could simply be leaking and being blown out of the exhaust. If that was the case, there would be an oil slick but I am unable to see one.
So the oil is going away and I have no idea where or how. I got in touch with a couple of guy at TYC who are into diesel engines and we will see what we can find tomorrow. I am sure that we will find the answer and hopefully it will be simple and inexpensive to rectify.
I took the afternoon to clean the bottom again and it needed it. The prop was encrusted and it took the long time to clean it all off. My hands got pretty nicked up by the barnacles and other crustaceans whom I evicted from the prop and shaft. The funny thing about removing the slime and marine growth was that it was much heavier on one side of the boat than the other. I guess that it is probably a function of which side "get the most sunshine," or something like that.
I am still trying to get refinanced and it sort of looks as though it is going to happen but right now, having gone through half a dozen underwriters after talking with the guys who take down all the info, it always seems to fall apart. It is just seeming to take forever and it could delay departure.
Then again there is the congo-line of tropical storms that have suddenly appeared ikn the Caribbean. The first one, Hanna is projected to come up the East Coast over the weekend and there are two more behind it, with the potential for others forming in the South Atlantic. Depending on how many storms develop and which way they go, ther could be more delays. It is amazing how such a simple thing is getting more and more complicated.
MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:
Delay! Delay! Delay! Unexpected-potentially-expensive problem! Weather Delay! Weather Delay! It seems as though from the moment I selected a date to depart, things have poped up that could possibly delay the trip. At this point it is getting to be a bore. The refi will happen eventually. The glitches will be fixed and sorted out. The weather will pass. And the trip will happen.It is just one thing after another and it is not even frustrating anymore. It is "BORING!!!!!" I am sure that all of these little potential delays will be helpful in teaching me important things, but enough is enough! I really need to go!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
