Pachuca's Pushpit

In most if not all ports that I have visited I have had favorable comments on the stainless steel frame over the cockpit of Pachuca, including two jocular threats to remove it from my boat and put it on theirs.

Before I left Fremantle I told Keith Scott ("Scotty"), the designer and fabricator of the pushpit, that I had seen bigger boats, newer boats, more expensive boats, but I had yet to see a better pushpit. After travelling almost half of the world to Hawaii my statement still holds.

Today, John of "Impulse", a Columbia 43, and my neighbor at the end of the jetty, told me he was planning to have a pushpit very much like Pachuca's put on his boat. He had already taken photos of Pachuca and was expecting a young stainless steel man just getting his business of the ground to discuss the job. Leonard ("Lenny") arrived soon afterward and I invited them on the boat for a closer look and Pachuca's setup. I then went to resume the anchor well work with Wally and left them to it.

Afterward John seemed very pleased and told me that the first time he saw Pachuca he told his wife that that was the stainless steel work that he wanted for his boat.

Before John and Lenny began their discussion I was given a chance to describe two small jobs for Pachuca with Lenny. One is the modification of a little stainless steel deflector arm whose function is to peel the chain off the windlass Gypsy and direct it into the hawser pipe. There is enough of a corner between the deflector and the windlass body to allow the chain to jam every few feet when I am weighing anchor. This problem manifested itself after we replace the windlass motor and gear box with a larger unit which I assume results in a faster spin of the gypsy. Since New Zealand I have been forced to weigh anchor with a hammer in my hand to free the chain every few seconds. The other job is to extend the hawser pipe so that the chain drops in the middle of the chain locker instead of near the rear of it, which causes it to stack up until it gets to the hawser pipe and jams up the works. (I then have to reach in and push the pile of chain over.) These are small jobs that will make my anchoring life much easier and safer.

Attached are photos of John's boat "Impulse" and he and Lenny discussing the job on Pachuca.