ABISHAG. . . . . LIsten To Her Roar! ! ! !

     Yes, Friday afternoon, Eric the Mechanic was able to get ABISHAG's engine to run and run at high speed. It was a very good thing  as it made clear that there was nothing wrong with the engine. Well, most of it any way. While it did run well at high speed, feathering it down to a lower normal running speed had the same effect as turning it off. It is more and more clear that the culprit in this whole nefarious affair be the fuel injection pump. It is not producing sufficient power and pressure to run the engine at any speed other than full-bore, wide open. And so, it means that the fuel-injector pump will be the focus for the coming few days for Eric.

      I went down to ABISHAG today even though it was brutally hot. There were several  small items that  needed to be finished off. Tied as she was to a dock, ABISHAG was an oven inside. She couldn't swing with the wind and point into it, so little air got inside and it was like a car left in a parking lot with the windows closed. But all of the little items got taken care of.

     I got a chance to check out the job done by the riggers. They replaced the  jib halyard,a fusion of wire and rope, with a new shackle. They replaced the furling line that wraps and unwraps the Genoa. They replaced the main halyard which is also a wire-rope fusion and replaced the shackles on it as well. The replaced the furling line for the main which furls into a tube behind the mast. Both of these procedures required a trip to the top of the mast to replace and lubricate the sheaves over which the halyards run. They also replaced the mainsail out haul, a line that draws the mainsail out along the mast. They also lubricated all of the block involved with the sail handling system. And since I couldn't bring ABISHAG to them, they had to come to her and that added just a little bit more to the cost. And the cost? $1,465.87! AH, the joy of boat ownership.

SUMMER IS HERE! ! ! ! ! . . . . WELL, SORT OF . . . . .

      Yes, Summer is here as ABISHAG has gotten her bottom wet at last. But as I said,only sort of as the engine is still not up and running and Sound Rigging has not put on the new halyards and corrected the problem raising the main sail, if indeed the problem is more than just a bad halyard. She will sit(float) at Ferry Slip Marina until the weekend when she will motor back to her mooring at TYC either on her own engine or being towed. It is not the best situation but it is better than it was. So three "HUZZAHS" for the sort of start of summer!

Would You Believe ? ? ? ?

      Well, I am recovering, I think. On Friday last, after the early shift running the launch at TYC, I decided to push fate and go paint the bottom of ABISHAG. ( figure that if I got her ready, the engine would finally be fixed and all would be right with the world. It was 87 degrees hot and it took 90 minutes to get the job done. I consumed 1.5 gallons of water during the 90 minutes but I must have sweat it all out because afterward I couldn't even pee! I drank another gallon at home sitting in the coolness provided by my fan but just sat and couldn't move. Sounds worse than it actually was but my get up and go definitely got u[p and went. I actually went to bed about 8pm and getting out of bed the next day was a chore.

     Of course, on Saturday morning, I had the early shift on the launch and it was a bust shift as we had a major race on Saturday. Drank lots of water and juice all through the shift and when I got off at 3pm, headed home for more fluid and sleep. 

     I was still feeling rather blah on Sunday so it was a total veg - day. More fluids and more sleeping and by Monday I was feeling pretty good, good enough to got to that sail loft.

     On Monday, since it was the 1st of July, I went and had a chat with Eric. He said that the boat would be in the water on Tuesday or Wednesday. The engine wasn't fixed, but if I stayed on the hard  any longer, I would started to get charged of "Summer Storage."  So ABISHAG will be towed back to TYC and hopefully be fixed there.

AH, the joy of boat ownership.

Still On The Hard

     Yes, ABISHAG is still high and dry, though there is some hope that this will change soon. At this time I have come to accept that it will happen when it happens. 

     I will be heading down to ABISHAG after working at the Loft and a fiend of Kevin will be coming down to work on a mast winch. This particular winch has been jamed for a couple of years and part of the reason for this is that I haven't been able to dismantle it to work on the problem. "Uncle Peter" is good at taking nautical things apart and will make his best effort to take the winch apart and help me get the problem, whatever it is, fixed. The weather is "iffy" so that will rule out bottom painting today but I will be able to do a lube job on all of the shackles, blocks, tracks and other such items so that they move and functions easily as they should.

     Tomorrow and Saturday will be launch driver days. Saturday will be particularly busy as we have a major ECSA race at the club. I doubt that I will get out of the launch one I get into it on Saturday.  Right now the weather look very good which will be a blessing. There has been a lot of wind, fog and rain the last week so I hope we won't see any of that Saturday ( or Sunday).

IT IS SUMMER . . . BUT NOT FOR ME!

     Yes,"astronomically" it is summer. "Atmospherically" it is summer. But for me, summer was/has/is always when the boat goes in the water. Sadly, ABISHAG is high and dry. Pretty much  the myriad of little jobs and task have been completed. Somethings that I have been putting off for years have been done. Indeed, the only major piece of work that needs doing is painting the bottom and I'll probably do that tomorrow afternoon after my launch shift at TYC.

     The holdup in the engine, the problem that goes back to last August. Eric the Mechanic, who has a excellent reputation, has been stymied by the engine. It is an English piece of work, a FORD Transit and the problem has been getting information. It is a foreign engine, it is 40 years old and there is no manual for it. Eric has narrowed the problem to the injector pump but that's as far as he has gotten.  You just can't wing it without some sort of direction. Luckily today he discovered a rusty, oil-and-dirt covered manufacturer's plate  which gave him a serial number, a designation, and other bits of information that will now allow him to go online and get the rest of what he needs. Once he gets the info, it should be too long. Hopefully, it will be a simple fix. We'll see.

      Of course, once the engine is running correctly and ABISHAG is launched, SOUND RIGGING gets its shot. They will be replacing the halyards for the Main and Jib. Hopefully, that will be that. There is an issue with the main halyard; raising the main has become a real task. It could be something as simple as the main halyard, because of its age and wear, kinking making the main hard to raise. Of course, it also could be that the sheaves at the top of the mast are galled or broken or something that will require repairs. That won't be cheap either.

      SO I continue to work in the loft on those days I am not running the launch and the money comes in and goes out rapidly.  AH! the joy of boat ownership.

Would You Believe it? ! ?

      I haven't had the chance to get to ABISHAG to do any work, but it is not for lack of trying. Ever time over the last few weeks when I have planned to go ns do work aboard, it rained. In some cases, it stormed . .  .lots of rain and some serious wind. The best days have been during the week and then I am at the loft. I can't blow off the loft as there is a ton of work and I also need the buckaroos. And spending all that time afoot is not the best for my bad knee or sciatica in my back.  I am beginning suspect a conspiracy of some sort.

     I haven't heard back from the National Maritime Document Center as of yet, except for the letter saying that I owed them another piece of info from my doctor that he forgot to include in the physical.  I would expect that the Credential will come soon though my current on is good until July 31st. I also have a document from the Coast Guard, as a result of the government shutdown, that technically extends the Credential for a year,  so I am not all that worried.

     

      

A Day Late

      Yesterday, it was a perfect day and I was going to finally "undress" ABISHAG. The sun was out. It was warm. There was some wind, but not a lot. Noe of my teams were still alive in either of the NCAA Tourneys. But then, Jim Avery called. Jim Avery is 88 years old and these day looks it. Jim Avery needs help sailing his boat. Jim Avery has had his boat in the water since April 1st! Actually, that is not much of a surprise as every year Jim Avery has his boat launched on April 1st and I mean every year. And Jim Avery wanted to go for a sail. Who am I to deny my good friend such a request. SO rather than work on ABISHAG, I went sailing with the old man of the sea. We also took Mike Passero, mayor of New London and another member of TYC, who was introduced to sailing when he was 12 by Jim Avery, with us. 

     It was a short sail, a scant 2 hours but then as warm s it seemed ashore, out on the water the wind was rather chilly blowing as it was over the 45 +/- degree water. But it was wonderful. Spring is definitely here.

       And yes, today I did unwrap ABISHAG and the work will soon begin in earnest.