Another Good Day

I started the day by dropping by the club office and asking Martha about moving the boat into the inner marina for the winter.  She told me that she didn't like my chances.  The slips are all privately owned and Carlos will have to make inquiries on which if any slips are available.  I mentioned the issue of the draft of the boat and this too will have to be discussed with Carlos.  She threw it back at me to see Carlos and when I find him I'll have to drag him into the office so that Martha can act as translator.

I set  myself up the in the restaurant for some email work and soon Pato of North Sails and his family arrived and he sat at my table and explained the problems with the headsail that he picked up for repair a few days ago.  The back half of the sail has a webbing of Spectra or some other strong material sandwiched between two thin layers of Dacron.  The fabric has deteriorated in that part of the sail and there are limitations on what he will be able to do.  He confirmed that I will need a new sail, although the one he is repairing will presumably act as a backup.

He knew from my blog that I was considering Hood in BA for the new sail and surprised me by telling me that he could produce a better sail than Hood was likely to quote.  I was surprised because I had been under the impression that he dealt with only small sails.   He would be happy to go head to head with Hood on price if they met his specifications, which he would supply to me.  The other issue was time: Hood might deliver in 2 weeks, he would need 6.  I told Pato that the way things were working out time would not be an issue.

I like Pato, we have a good rapport, I have confidence in him, so after our discussion I asked him to produce a quotation for a strong cruising sail.  He knows that I want the best and am willing to pay the price as long as I get my money's worth.

We then discussed other things.  Yes, he can repair my spray dodger, Yes, he can produce a new sail cover with lazy jacks, and Yes he will  check out my mainsail.  This will happen after the headsail work is completed.  (I'd better explain my change of heart on lazy jacks.  I was determined to avoid them in the future until I encountered an unexpected problem.  When I drop the mainsail it drags across the spray dodger causing chafing to both the sail and the dodger.  So after the drop I must quickly bind up the aft part of the sail to the boom.  No matter how much effort I put into this, it is not foolproof and many times I found that part of the sail had dropped off the boom and there had been more destructive chafing.  I could see that this was one war I could not win.)

I then asked him if he knew of any riggers in MdP and as luck would have it a man from Harken is visiting tomorrow, and they will pay a visit to my boat early in the morning.  The rigging would be genuine Harken out of Buenos Aires if I understood correctly.  The trick is getting good measurements and we'll discuss the possibility of  dropping one of each stay and supporting the mast with ropes. 

Because of Martha's pessimistic outlook I walked over to Club Argentino and asked about a slip for the winter.  Yes, a slip would be no problem.  No, by draft would not be a problem.  However, a stay beyond 2 months would present difficulties.  I explained why I would be wintering the boat in Argentina (i.e. the repairs and waiting for summer) and I'd rather be in the more sheltered inner harbor.  They understood this and asked me to come back after they finished their lunch.  I returned to the boat and spent some time getting good "I" and "J" measurements of the foretriangle for Pato (I=1490 cm, J=474 cm) then had a quick lunch. I then returned to Club Argentino and was given an estimated monthly price (which is lower than Club Nautico's) and was told that the proposed long stay would have to be approved by the club's administrators.  I am to return tomorrow for their answer.

I then proceeded into town to have some photocopying done then followed John's directions to find "Tallero Naval", the stainless steel fabrication company. The object was to have fabricated a sturdy stainless steel deck fitting for the inner forestay, to replace the Micky Mouse U-bolts that kept sheering off.  I made two passes looking for the office then someone stepped out and directed me to the "office" in the bowels of the workshop.  I like metal workshops and the men who work in them.  The sound, smells, look and feel of the premises transcends cultural or language differences.  The men I dealt with were the same solid, no pretenses, no bullshit men of tools that you'll find in Australia, the US, Mexico, and probably everywhere else. 

I told the first man "Lo siento, hablo poco Espanol."  He got a worried look on his face so I said "Pero hablo suficiente Espanol".  What won the day was the excellent set of plans that I produced.  Once again the course in mechanical drawing that Arnold had been forced to take in high school (in that school at that time we were told what courses to take, with no negotiation) had paid big dividends.   I presented a sketch of the boat's foretriangle with everything labeled in Spanish, focused on the problem area with another sketch, again labeled in Spanish, then produced the mechanical drawings.  With those drawings I was talking his language and we had no problem whatsoever.

The fitting will be of 10mm (3/8") thick stainless steel plate above the deck and 6mm thick s/s below deck.  The vertical section above deck will have two 15 mm holes, one to take the forestay, and the other to take the strop of the sail.  The footprint of the fitting will be 150mm x 60mm (6" x 2.4")  The vertical plate to take the headstay and sail will be 35mm high and 80mm long.

He asked if I wanted a quotation or just to do it.  "Hacer" (Do it.) was my reply.  Once again I put my trust in the contractor.  I figure that if I ask for a quote somebody has to put in time making the estimates, which are likely to be high just to make sure that they don't under quote.  Besides, I smelled metalworkers in that shop, not sharks.