Productive Sunday

I had a very productive Sunday. One thing led to another and I didn't want to stop so I managed to get a lot done.

Although the wind speed from the south was predicted to be 36 km vs 43 km the day before when it had been so windy, the actual conditions were much milder, even though there was a bit of a table cloth on the mountain. I sat I the cockpit watching the wind clock around three complete circles and decided that it was safe enough to drop the headsail. The first step in dropping the headsail is to roll it out completely, which means that any wind from aft can be lethal.

New Boat Fenders

At Bottom, new 90 degree twist Harken Shackle at Peak

2nd shackle at tack of sail, eliminating strop twist

What deteriorating fenders can do to the side of the boat

Plate at right to be welded to look like left.  Note rope damage.

Beautiful Aussie Flag Under Beautiful SA Flag

The main reason why I wanted to drop the sail was to fit a shackle with a 90 degree twist at the peak. From the time that I have owned the boat the strop at the peak of the sail has lined up with the shackle so that there was a cruel 90 degree twist in the strop, which seemed to me put undue load on it. In Brazil I had added a second shackle to avoid this twist, during my recent visit to the boat shop I had purchased a harken 8mm shackle with a 90 degree twist. It was a similar story with the lower (tack) end of the sail.

I managed to drop the sail and was pleased to see that the new shackle fit perfectly. After I had fitted it I let the sail lay on the side deck and took the opportunity to tighten the headstay. While under sail I had judged the headstay to be too loose but for me,  judging the tension of the headstay is much easier without the enormous weight of the headsail on it.

I first eased the inner forestay by 3 turns then tightened the backstay by 2 turns, using the biggest screwdriver I had because of the enormous force required to rotate the Gibb turnbuckle. I then tightened the lower and intermediate shrouds by 1.5 turns and judged the cap shrouds to be OK. I then tightened the inner forestay and was pleased with the result. The rigging is tight but this is not a wooden boat susceptible to hogging and sagging, and can take the loads, particularly with the strong and well fixed chainplates. Looking back, my rigging failures have been due to metal fatigue at the swages rather than tensile loads. We arrived in Hawaii with broken wires at the headstay swage (we're lucky we didn't lose the mast, actually). Dan at Port Townsend Rigging told me that the failure of my lower port shroud at the swage during the run to the Horn and been due to fatigue. It was the same case with the failure of the inner forestay at about the same time. (Dan told me that I didn't lose the mast because it is stepped at the keel and had it been stepped at the deck I would not have made it to Argentina. Also, I've mentioned before that the mast is a “lamp post” with big cross section and thick walls.)

The wind had picked up while I was tightening the rigging so I made plans for lashing the sail to the rail until we got a calm day, but right on queue the wind died down as I finished the rigging work and it had steadied from the bow of the boat. I have always worried about feeding the bolt rope into the track while working alone at raising the headsail, probably because in my early days of sailing I was dealing with badly deteriorated bolt ropes with practically non existent feeders on various boats. Profurl provides a decent feeder, the new sail's bolt rope is in perfect condition, and I little trouble in raising the sail at the mast while keeping an eye out that the bolt rope was roughly aligned with the track. Things got too heavy when the sail was 3 meters from the top so I cleated it off at the mast, took up the slack to the winch, then released the cleat which caused the sail to drop maybe a half meter, then winched the rest of the sail up.

Once the sail was up I removed the shackle at the tack and added a second one to remove the 90 degree twist in the strop. I'll probably leave this setup at the tack as is because Profurl has provided a special shackle for the tack and I don't want to replace it with a Harken with 90 degree twist.

After a lunch break (with obligatory nap) I went over the stern and removed the Monitor watervane. The top plate had separated and one of the lines had been damaged after working its way into the gap (see photograph). I hope to have the plate welded in the coming week.

Then I went to the galley and dropped the ceiling panel go get access to the underside of the side deck where the vent will be removed and the hole fiberglassed. In order to be able to completely remove the panel I disconnected and removed the twin-tube neon light serving the galley. I had a good look at the neon light, saw that it was tired looking with the ends of the tubes getting dark. I have spare tubes but know from past experience that when they fail they do so suddenly with no warning. The light had been on Pachuca when I purchased her in 2005 and had served me well, but maybe it was time to retire it.

I had purchased two strips of LED lights at Fisheries Supply in Seattle and did the preliminary work to fitting one of them for the galley when I put the ceiling panel back up. I used a much improved style of crimp-on connectors that are fully insulated, meaning that plugged or unplugged there is no danger of either the positive or negative wires coming into contact with anything.

Anyway, the site is now ready for the fiberglass people. David had spoken of somehow fixing a plastic sheet under the opening of the vent to capture all of the material dropping down from the work but I figure that simply laying my blue tarp over the stove and icebox will be sufficient.

The main gas cylinder had run out this very morning. It had served the boat for at least a month in Argentina, during my passage to Brazil, my stay in Brazil, the passage to South Africa, and several weeks here RCYC, so I certainly could not complain. I switched to the smaller backup cylinder after breakfast and in the afternoon got down 'n dirty and removed the empty cylinder. I've been told that I can drop the cylinder off at Action Yachting to get it refilled. … Let's hope that I don't get hassles due to compatibility or certification issues. The large size cylinder that Rick gave me in La Paz is on the stern rail, full, and ready to go.

Then I attended to the sad looking Australian flag flying off the stern of the boat. It was faded, the end starting to tatter, and two stars worn through. I go to great lengths to show flag respect to my host countries but had shamefully fallen short of the mark with my own Australian flag. I mounted a new and bright flag that Brenda had brought on her Argentina visit and it looked great.

As darkness approached I was showered, shaved, beered, and enjoying a wine, very satisfied that more steps had been taken to prepare Pachuca for sea. The headsail was set up as I wanted it, the rigging was tight for the next departure, and preparations had been made for the fiberglass work, repair of the Monitor watervane, and refilling the gas cylinder.

I'll have to end on a sad note.  Rick, a member of the Palapa of Truth, Wisdom, and Knowledge  at La Paz, for whom I came to feel privileged as a friend, is fading away  in a hospice in the USA from cancer.  I understand that Rick is comfortable, surrounded by loving family and friends, and is ready to depart, which sounds like the Rick that I know.  Farewell my good friend. 

As for the rest of us, let's be good to each other and ourselves while we're still on the planet.