AH! The Fun Of Boat Ownership!!!!!

      At this time, ABISHAG is still uncovered as the winterization of the engine has not yet been done. As I noted before, I did cover the deck hatches with blue-poly tarps but the foredeck the stern and the cockpit have not. If they get covered, it make entrance and egress rather difficult and much easier to take a header off the boat and 10 feet to the ground. The weather hasn't lent itself to much in the way of projects either. 

     I had to go for a orthopedic check up yesterday as I have been having pain in my right hip and my right knee, both of which have been replaced. The x-rays  showed that the joints were find which means we are talking sciatica irrriatation which could be from spurs, disc-compression, spinal stenosis or several other things that sadly you can't do much about. So it some physical therapy and Tylenol.  If it gets really, REALLY painful, it is MRI time (which I really can't afford) and a cortisone injection . . . which is only a part but not permanent fix.  

     Since I was down near Essex, I went over to Sound Rigging and made arrangements for new halyards for ABISHAG  as they are approaching 40 years of age.  There is also a problem with the "behind-the-mast-furler." This system furls the main into a tube similar to the furling of the head sail. The problem is feeding the luff (Front edge) of the mainsail into track that runs it up the mast. It gets about half way up and then becomes very hard to get it the rest of the way up. It is not something I am willing to tackle  as the problem could be at the top of the mast . . .  53 feet in the air. I just hope that whatever the problem is that it will not require dropping the mast. All of the electronic wires would have to be disconnected along with all of the shrouds and it is an expensive thing to do. Hopefully, the main halyard is just getting caught on something and that it will be a simple fix. Everyone who believes that will be the case please stand on your head. Replacing the halyards might be as much as $500, not including the cost that will be charge to take them off, build the new ones and re-install the new halyards. Like I said, AH, THE FUN OF BOAT OWNERSHIP! ! ! !

HAPPY NEW YEAR . . FOUR DYS LATE!

     Well it is a new year at last. Have you noticed that the days are getting longer. Funny thing though, it seems that though the sun is going down later, it really doesn't seem to be rising any earlier yet.
  
     The engine will be winterized this Sunday so the final wrap will take place on Monday . .  . so long as there is not much in thew way of a breeze. It probably means that there will be a gale. It is just the way things seem to go.

     ABISHAG was haul and set in the yard about as tight to the boats on either side as I have ever experienced. I doubt that there is a foot separation from the boats on either side. It shouldn't make any real difference doing the bottom or anything on deck, but any work on the topside will be a little on the difficult side. Of course, this was going to be the spring that it was finally going to fill-in, paint and buff-out all of the scratches and dings. Right now it looks like a non-starter but perhaps the other boats will leave early and I'll be able to get to it. It will make sanding an interesting experience as where the wind blows the results is hard to say and I am rather certain that at least "a little"will travel to the other boats. Hope they are not planning to varnish or paint come the spring.

     Eric the Shaman did make one task easier. According to his professional expertise the batteries can stay on the boat so long as they get charged. With the wind generator that should not be a problem and it will save the effort that would have been necessary getting them out of ABISHAG and hauled off to a winter location and then bringing them back in the spring to install them once again. Huzzah!
 

Well, Ths Has Been Fun!

     Since Thanksgiving, I have been suffering from the "plague." Someone(s) at Thanksgiving Dinner shared it with everyone and it really hung on with me. It put me to bed twice over 10 days, first for 7 days and then for 3.  It is almost all gone now though the cough is struggling to take up a permanent residency.

     As a result, all of my best intentions to get  ABISHAG ready for the winter have pretty much been delayed. I actually got to the yard yesterday and packed and removed all my tools and all the electronics from the boat. I had hoped to wrap the boat as well, but unfortunately the winds were blowing at a steady 20 or so which would have made wrestling with the tarps an exercise in futility, especially doing it by myself. I was limited to putting up the rope frame. This is a web of clotheslines from the rails to the masts. These would offer some support to the tarps, allowing the snow and rain and sleet and other forms of precipitation to run off. It keeps the water in its various forms from collecting on the deck and other spots and then freezing and doing damage. It also keeps the water out of the boat where it would freeze and do damage inside. I also filled the bilge and the holding tank with antifreeze for no matter what I do water will get in somehow somewhere.

        Now granted it was blowing 20+ mph and ABISHAG was swaying a bit in the gusts, but I found that moving around the deck a little perilous. It happens every year when the boat is on the hard and I am moving about working on it. Strangely, I never have this problem when she is afloat. I guess sea-legs don't translate well to being aboard on the hard.

AFLOAT

      Yes, we are still afloat! It seems as though ABISHAG is really right out side the door of his office, Eric the Mechanical Shaman has not quite got around to giving her engine his full attention yet.

     Nor have I for that matter. I  really haven't been able too. I got an early Christmas gift from one those pint-size germ factories . .  . my grandnieces & nephew during our Thanksgiving family gathering. I get the impression that they were equally generous with others at the gathering as well.  It laid me abed for a good 10 days. It had all the biggies: sore throat, fever, congestion, muscle ache and my get up and go really got up and went. In addition, the weather was either rainy and cold or rainy and freezing or rainy and warm but turning cold, not the type of weather for working outdoors even when healthy.

    I have pretty much shaken it off now and I hope that tomorrow, after a trip to the dentist, that Friend Fred and I will actually be able to make at least a start of stripping her out for the winter. It should have been done a month or moer ago but you know that tune. AH! THE JOYS OF BOAT OWNERSHIP!!!!!!!

 

UPDATE!

     It has gotten colder, freezing actually, and ABISHAG is still water bound. Not only are there a dozen boats ahead of her to get hauled, Eric the Shaman Mechanic still has t work on her engine which really has to be done in the water.

     I will be heading over tomorrow(Monday)to get started on emptying everything out that needs to got into storage. I am always amazed  at how much stuff get aboard despite my best efforts to keep stuff out, I know, for instance, that there are two boxes of wine aboard that Fred and I never even got to tap on the "cruise" to Newport. There are also the sails that have to be rolled and folded and stored. Unfortunately, in the rush before th Nor'Ester we had, they just got stuck down below with no rhyme or reason. And as it is supposed to rain again tomorrow, trying to get them rolled up and stuffed in their bags should be a hoot! I am sure that I will discover things I didn't even know were aboard and will wonder how they got there in the first place. 

AH! THE JOY OF BOAT OWNERSHIP!

At Last!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

       Just this morning, ABISHAG got towed over to Ferry Slip Marina to be hauled out.  Yes, just today. Three days before Thanksgiving. After a snow storm last week.

     We overcame a sink hole in the Marina lot right where the travel lift had to go.  We overcame a blown clutch on the travel lift transmission. We overcame some seriously lousey weather including a Nor'Easter, a snow storm with 5 inches of  heavy wet snow, winds of 40 mph and just regular rain. All of these delightful scenarios combined to put Eric the Shaman well behind, so far that he still has 30 boats to be hauled after hauling ABISHAG this morning.  But she is ready to be lifted out of the water and snugged down for the winter. That snugging comes next and begins tomorrow. Maybe. It is suppose to rain  like hell. AH, THE JOY OF BOAT OWNERSHIP!

Well, It's Winter . . . .Sort of!

     I always considered that winter arrived once I hauled my boat from the water.  ABISHAG was supposed to be hauled on Friday last but she still is afloat. The reason for this is that BOAT/US who was supposed to do less-than-a-mile less haul to Ferry Slip from TYC, got kind of busy. 

     I was working my last Launch Driving shift on Friday and a whole host of boat owners at the club decided that it was the perfect day to get their own crafts haul-out. True they were probably inspired by the weather news which forecast the first Nor'Easter of the season on Saturday. It seemed a good idea. Unfortunately, a number of boats had mechanical problems and would not start. True most of them had been sitting unused for weeks and just wouldn't fire. And like most wise boats, they had bought "TowBoat US" towing insurance and made the call for a tow. That kind of used up the time BOAT/US had for doing the towing, so ABISHAG sat there through Friday, through the Nor'Easter on Saturday, on Sunday through the remains of the storm and on Monday for some reason. I am hoping that today will see her towed and hauled.  Waiting is a pain!