Mainsail Back Up and Head Bolts Tensioned

On Wednesday Barry told me that he had completed his work on my "stack pack" sail cover. Together we put the cover, which is attached to the boom with slides, on. Then we bent on the full batten loose-footed mainsail and tied on the lazy jacks.

Barry had done more than simply repairing chaffed areas of the cloth. He strengthened the corners of the openings for the mast steps, added cloth on each side of the zipper near the mast, and added a flap that covers the peak of the sail. Zipping up the sail cover near the mast where the sail stack goes up was always difficult. However, the problem became worse when a second slide was added at the peak of the sail back at Port Townsend. This was an excellent measure that I support, but it had the unforeseen effect of raising the height of the stack, making it extremely difficult to fully zip up the sail cover and leaving the peak of the sail exposed to the sun.

Barry, a self-taught canvas man, has solved these problems.

At about 5 PM Mark Jochems, Principal of Shoreline Marine Diesel in Port Townsend, arrived with his tools to tension the head bolts on the SABB diesel. It was good timing because my records show that I had put 45 hours of running on the engine since the heads had been fitted. Mark got to work and soon that job was done, with at least 2 of the head bolts turning for their proper tension.

Mark gave me a mild scolding for not having checked the transmission oil. ("I'm not lazy, I'm just terrified of screwing it up" I replied.) He patiently showed me what to do and we found that the oil level was at the bottom of the stick.

He noted that I had a very drippy stern gland. I told him that Zee and I had noticed a lot of play in the propeller shaft during our sea trial and Mark said that it would have been a good idea to at least re-pack the stuffing box while the boat was out of the water in Port Townsend.

He wasn't happy about a bend in the throttle cable. I told him that I hadn't been able to get full revs out of the engine lately. I gave him the OK to straighten out the cable, even though it might weaken it, and all of a sudden the throttle was easier to move and I could take the engine up to 1700 rpm instead of the 1200 before. Mark didn't think that the cable would go the distance and advised me to get a spare. He told me to look for some numbers in white lettering at the other end of the cable. He also gave me a potentially very important advice to go easy on the throttle and to not use the lever to exceed the cable travel. (So from now on, instead of stopping the engine by pulling back hard on the throttle lever I will use the proper shut off cable which I had replaced in Fremantle and rarely used.)

He also thought that an oil and filter change would be a good idea, given the recent work on the engine.

Afterward we drove to the nearby Italian restaurant and had a couple of good meals (chicken breast for him, veal for me). The house red (merlot) was surprisingly good. It was good to sit and chat in the warmth and comfort of the restaurant.

Before I got out of his car back at the marina I thanked him again for taking the trouble of making the drive to Richmond through heavy traffic and doing the head tension work after a full day of class with Volvo. I really appreciated it.

The photo is shows Mark holding the work light over the engine, which he's just put back together.