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!!!!

BACK TO WORK

SHIP'S LOG:

Well, it was back to work. And before you ask, "NO," the fireplace has not been installed. Skip and I just can't seem to get our schedules to jive but they will eventually. By the time they do though, it probably will be time to put it away for the warm weather.

Got the word from Fred at Dockside Electronics that the Radar works just fine . . . for a 20 year old unit. Evidently the problems with the unit ( the lack of contrast and brightness of the image) is the result of a dead battery in the unit. This battery "remembers" the setting on the unit and with it being "dead", once the unit is turned on, I will have to go through all the set-up procedures to set it up as I want. Fred said that taking the unit apart to replace the battery would be a $145 charge so I decided against it. I am perfectly able to manually set the parameters for the unit each time it goes on. This radar unit is referred to as an "entry level" radar unit. Such a things actually existed 20 years ago. Nowadays, you simply buy a radar unit that, as Fred noted, does everything but make toast in the morning. So as long as this unit works, I'll use it and when it breaks for good, I'll buy one of those "toast making" units.

I spent the afternoon looking for leaks in the overhead in the aft cabin. The antenna tuner for the SSB is affixed the to headliner in the aft cabin, as close as possible to the antenna. Such an arrangement supposedly enhances the output and reception of the SSB transceiver. I took the tuner off the headliner and affixed it to the nearby bulk head and in so doing, found the interior of the headliner, it is a type of acoustic tile, covered with mold and mildew. Yuck!!!! Taking the entire headliner down, it became clear that the water was leaking in from the thru-deck fittings for the GPS, SSB and the VHF. Damn those anagrams! I'll have to pop all the thru-deck fittings, re-bed and re-caulk them. The temperature is getting to the level will the "goop" will actually begin to take hold and work as it should. Another week should do it, though there is supposed to be torrential rain today and even some snow possible over the next few days. It will just make it more fun . . .though I am not sure that I can stand any more fun.

I found out that the automatic bilge pump actually does work. A good thing, a very good thing. As I mentioned before, the cockpit drains into the bilge (strange English design) and the rain of the last few days evidently put enough rain into the cockpit and thus into the bilge to activate it. I was getting off yesterday when the pump activated and pump the bilge dry. Outstanding! At least ABISHAG won't sink at the dock!

MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:

Doing the little jobs around the boat are getting frustrating. For the most part it is busy work and I am more than eager to finish-off the last few items and get out of Dodge(Mystic). I can't wait. I can't wait. I can't wait!!!!!!

IT'S GOING TO BE A HOT TIME IN THE OLD BOAT SOON!!!!!

SHIP'S LOG:

At last, at last, Crown Manufacturing and Metal Fabrication called to say that the heat shield for the fireplace is complete! I will be picking it up on Monday (tomorrow) and as soon as good friend Skip can find the time to help, we will install the whole shebang and ABISHAG will be warm enough (hopefully) to live on. That being the case, all the little things that need to be done can e begun and finished and then we are away. Well, at least for a test sail, shake down cruise type of sailing. But who cares, sailing is sailing and that is what counts. Huzzah!!!!

There was a hell of a blow last night, preceded by several inches of rain. I have to get down to the boat to she how she handled it all. I really have no doubt that it was a piece of cake for ABISHAG but hanging on the dock is not what she likes. I am sure that the leaks are still going on in the aft cabin. I am beginning to think that the water is coming in through the old thru-deck connectors for the old electrical cables for antennas and the like that got cannibalized last fall. I probably didn't plug them as well as I thought I had . Of course it means taking down the overhead panels but what the heck, I haven't had a lot of "fun" over the last few months so this might be the time to do so.

I wish that there was more to report but such is not the case. Of course, there should be a lot more coming up in the days ahead. I am still awaiting to hear from the diesel company that is trying to find out what sort of lubricating filter I need for the 12 year old re-powered English Ford engine that was installed in Bermuda in 1996. It will be another opportunity to practice patience waiting on someone else to do something before I can make a move. Of course, it is always possible to jury - rig a filter system but I would rather have the system in place that was intended. Then again, it is an English system and so far some of the English engineering approaches on this boat have been inventive and entertaining to say the least. So it comes down to waiting to see what will happen.

MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:

And on it goes. The weather, as crazy as it has been, seems to be heading towards being more like spring than winter. I feel as though I can knockout the list of items that need to be done rather quickly which means doubling the time I estimate, but with all the built up energy I have stored, I can't wait to get started. This week, doing the fireplace will be a great thing, getting my psyche geared for the Spring work. I want to get it started. It can't happen soon enough.

IT'S MARCH . . . BIG DEAL!!!!!

SHIP'S LOG:

I wish I could share that many new things have been done on ABISHAG but unfortunately such is not case. In fact, with the crappy weather of the last week or so, I haven't even gotten down to the boat. So things are unchanged and the most work I have done is create a new list of things to do in the Spring, along with coalescing the files I have put on my computer from various Sailing magazines and books. Along with become a stud at HO 229 and HO 249, that is what has occupied my time.

MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:

I am chomping at the bit. I want to go sailing. Actually, right now I would settle for nice weather so I can commission the boat, live on it and get it ready to sail. Strangely, if I had made the trip "South," right now I would be beginning the planning for the trip back. Sometime in the next few weeks, I will be sailing if only a day at a time, but it will be sailing.

Another little something that I have to begin to plan for is that soon, exactly when I don't know, but soon I will have to vacate the slip in which ABISHAG currently resides and leave the Mystic Shipyard. To where exactly is the question. I can go back to TYC but I will have to set a mooring which will run 2 Marine Units, plus the 6 Marine Units I need to pay the sales tax on the boat and register her here in Connecticut. I may have the use of a mooring in Newport Harbor which would be something but I would also probably have to register ABISHAG in Rhode Island at several Marine Units (I'll have to check.)

Just the thought of getting back on the water is worth it all. And I can't wait!!!!!

IT DEFINITELY AIN'T SPRING . . NOT BY A LONG SHOT!!!!

SHIP'S LOG:

It was a rather crappy day to work on ABISHAG, gray and rainy and cold . . . . and that was inside the boat. I dropped 1/2 a marine unit to pick up 1.) a smoke alarm; 2.) a CO detector; 3.) 3 yards of HyperVent Condensation Preventer and a bunch of screws and some hose.

The Smoke Alarm and the CO Detector are the last two items required by the insurance policy. Almost 6 months after the fact, I am now "legal" in the insurance sense. The Smoke Alarm went into the ceiling in the passageway from the galley into the aft cabin. That was an easy setup. The CO Detector was a little bit more of a logistical problem. According to the installation literature, you could not put it: 1.) too close to a hatch companionway; too close to any heating element; 3.) to close to a stove or hot water heater; 4.) too close to the head compartment; 5.) or too close to the engine compartment. On a 39 foot by 12 foot boat, it doesn't leave you a lot of options for a location. It ended up in the aft cabin which is probably a very good thing anyhow. When I hit the test button after installing it, it produced an alarm tone that would wake the dead. So it now appears I am safe from burning to death and suffocating to death, both of which are very good things. It certainly makes the insurance company happy.

The HyperVent Condensation Preventer is a 3/4" mesh that you place under the cushions on the boat. This allows air to move under the cushions and prevents the pooling of condensation building up under the cushions. I am not sure if the stuff actually works but the theory sounds pretty good. In the aft cabin especially, where it is often the "warmest" because the stern points South, it is always wet under the cushions. If the stuff works there, it will work anywhere. The stuff comes on a roll 40" wide and as long as you want. Trying to battle the stuff into submission and get it into place so you can cut it to fit was a bit of a bear. It is not what you call extremely flexible and the mesh itself is sort of sharp. I received lots of little nicks all over my hands and, because it is made of some type of spun polymer, it is a beast to cut. The only thing that really cut the stuff, and not all the well, was a pair of kitchen shears. The aft compartment and the forepeak cushions are all done and I still have some stuff left over. I am not sure that I will do the cushions in the saloon. Right now, I am constantly removing them to get to the lockers underneath and it would be one more headache if I used the stuff there right now. Perhaps after I am underway, I'll install it but not right now.

I took the radar unit to Dockside Electronics to have them look at the unit. The image resolution on the unit is very faint and hard to see and some of the controls don't seem to work. We used it on the way up from Annapolis and it worked enough so that we could use it but it is far from dependable and easy to use. The shop owner didn't laugh out loud when he saw the unit and asked what I wanted him to do, so hopefully it is fixable. If not, it means the expenditure of more Marine Units.

MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:

It was good to get a few more items taken care o0f on ABISHAG. Each little thing that gets done creates a feeling that soon, soon I will be sailing. Even though it was raining and cold and sitting for awhile in the cockpit before leaving for the day made me feel warmed. I can see palm trees and feel warm breeze and see azure water. Coming out of that reverie is no fun but as the days count down, the dream come closer to reality.

ALMOST SPRING ..... SORT OF!

SHIP'S LOG:

It was something close to Spring today . . . .well, sort of. The temperature actually got up into the 40's. It was a T-shirt sort of day... ... well sort of. The snow covering the ground gave lie to that thought. Moreover the snow covering ABISHAG insured that the temperature inside hovered somewhere around freezing if not below, but I was still able to take care of a few more little items.

First on the list was wiping up the moisture that had condensed everywhere inside the boat! It is really amazing how much condensation gets produced inside the boat. This week should be stellar for this as the temperature is supposed to be in the 40's during most day this week . It is not a problem one has all that much in the Caribbean!

I finally took all of the linens and stored them in the vacuum storage bags. They are truly amazing little items. A load of stuff that had all but taken over the forepeak was reduced to a plastic covered pile about the size of a bed pillow. I moved them into the aft cabin as there are a few little items that have to be dealt with in the forepeak. The chain from the windlass get stored in a little "chamber" just in front of the forepeak bulkhead. The chain fits but it doesn't quite fit right. It piles up right under the hawser pipe (the hole in the deck through which the chain runs) and as a result, unless you have someone in the fore peak guiding the chain, it "pyramids" and blocks the opening. I am considering an opening that would allow the chain to fall into the forward part of the bilge area. Gravity, in this situation, would do away with the need of someone in the forepeak guiding the chain. The major problem is how to drill the hole, followed by the second problem of having to drill another hole in the boat. Perhaps i should have named her "SWISS CHEESE!"

I dismantled the teak grating in the cockpit to get at the drain which drains the cockpit. The English engineers, in designing this boat, decided that rather than running the drain out of the boat, which would have necessitated two more holes so that the cockpit could drain on either tack, decided to have the cockpit drain into the bilge inside the boat. At first blush, it doesn't seem that this would be much of a problem as the cockpit is somewhere near 10 feet above the waterline and is in the center of the boat rather than at the aft end. This would lead one to the belief that the chances of water boarding the boat and getting into the cockpit and need to be drained away were rather remote. This seems perfectly reasonable so long as one doesn't allow the drain to become blocked. Dirt and items dropped in the cockpit( the odd candy wrapper for instance) easily slip under the cockpit grating and cover the drain in a most unreachable place. Ice will also work very nicely as it has this winter and successive layers of snow, ice, sleet and slush tend to bury the grating several inches deep. Made of teak and fragile due to its age, the grating waits for the forces of nature to melt the covering and evaporate the water away. Today it was actually sufficiently warm to get it up to clean the drain. The teak grating is in three pieces and simply lay in the cockpit . . . sort of. To keep them in place and yet allow them to be removed in case of need (cleaning the drain for instance), they are not affixed to the cockpit with any kind of fasteners. Instead, the English engineers simple created each if the three pieces just the tiniest bit larger than it actually needed to be. This way the pressure of each piece against the other two holds the three in place. It also means that breaking that pressure without breaking the pieces is a trick and a half. It doesn't help that the supports for the wheel go through two different pieces which means that the pieces cannot be fully removed. Suffice it to say that it was a fun time that everyone should get the opportunity to experience. Only slightly more fun was putting the pieces back in place, but that's another tale for another time. The drain was cleared and works very well . . . . thankfully so to does the automatic bilge pump.

MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:

The need to go sailing is getting into my sub-conscious. I actually dreamed about it last night. I was in Florida sailing down U.S. Route 1 which was how I knew it was a dream. Days like today, with a hint of Spring in the air, really get get the itch going. The frustration is lessening and the excitement is starting to grow. February has sped past and with March will come the sound of the sander as people start to come down to work on their boats. As soon as the weather allows for it, I just have to get out for a sail. As Jack Sparrow, . . .sorry, CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow said, "Show me that horizon."