Rigging and Sails

I started the morning by removing the organizer blocks from the cabin top. Fortunately Dan came by and saved me from big task of removing the foremost cabin ceiling panel by suggesting that I pry open the aft edge only and reach in with a wrench to undo the nuts. That worked fine.

After handing in the cleaned-up traveller and deck gear I turned my attention to dropping the mainsail. Dan and Lisa were too busy to drive the sail to the loft so they gave me directions and the keys to the business Toyota pickup truck. I told them that I would be driving with a Western Australia driver's license but that it was my understanding that there was a reciprocal agreement between the US and Australia on mutual recognition of each other's driver's license. Lisa overcame her doubts and gave the OK then I wondered out loud why everyone drove on the wrong side of the road and had their steering wheels on the wrong side of the car. The pickup had a floor manual shift and thanks to the 25 years with my VW Beetle I had no problem.

The loft was very interesting. There were six people at work and they were all women. The place was cheerful with great music coming from somewhere. I asked about the building and it had been a US Coast Guard armory many years ago. The brief regarding the mainsail was simple: check it out to a standard for rounding the Horn and sailing back to Australia.

I returned to the boat and decided to drop the jib so that I could recover the halyard for a replacement. The wind speed was 3-4 knots coming from directly ahead which was good for rolling out the entire jib before dropping it. I rolled it out OK and dropped it but 2/3 of the way down the system jammed up and I could not get the jib either up or down. Fortunately the rigger shop was still open and soon Lisa came over for a look. She noticed that some of the screws holding down the extrusions (a series of tubes going up the length of the headstay) had backed out and were standing proud.

Soon Dan was up doing his Spider Man act and unshackled the jib to let it drop. The using a rubber hammer he loosened things up and screwed down the proud screws. Everything was safe and soon he will bed the screws with Loctite after perhaps reinstalling all of the extrusions.

What can I say? This was supposed to have all been fixed in Hawaii and I thank my lucky stars that we found the problem at the right place and the right time. If something like this were to happen at sea I'm not sure what I would do.

In the middle of the day Doug Roth came by to gas up the refrigerator. Unfortunately there was a third leak! It was in that same area where the tubing passed through the wall. Doug was undaunted. He sanded the entire area and epoxied the that entire section of tubing. He'll be back.

Busy Monday

The first thing I did this morning was to investigate the possibility of moving two of the batteries in the rear of the boat so that I could get good access to the stern of the boat below the cockpit to look for possible sources of water leaks. I removed the wooden clamp holding them down and moved one of the batteries around go gauge its weight. It was seriously heavy. I managed to slide myself on top of the batteries to get a good look at the area in the back with a strong light. Everything was dry and the hosing appeared to be in order. The design and construction of the rudder post housing seemed to prevent any possibility of leaks. There was some minor leakage from the cockpit around the binnacle into the lower area. I felt the two clamps at the top end of the muffler and they were secure.

It did not make sense to me to go to the effort (and risk) of removing the batteries for a closer while I wasn't sure that there was a leak in that area. Now that I knew that I could squeeze in far enough for a good look I decided to inspect the area when when we are sailing hard to windward.

I've included a photo of the four batteries in the stern. The two lower ones are the original Delkor batteries for starting the engine. The two upper ones are two of the four gel batteries installed in Opua, New Zealand. That black pad on the side of the battery with two attached wires is the temperature sensor, required because gel batteries can overheat and burn.

After that I removed part of the ceiling on the starboard side of the cabin and exposed the area to be treated for leaks. The problem appears to be identical to that on the port side which Arnold and I successfully treated in Hawaii. I'll do the same fix with epoxy and am fairly optimistic about the result.

Then Dan from Port Townsend Rigging paid his visit and my task list was significantly changed. The good news was that he thinks that my rigging is OK. The age of the rigging (about 4 years) and the mileage on them (8000 nm perhaps?) is well below the expected life of the rig. I attribute to the failure of my headstay to excessive flexing because it was allowed to get too loose. I cannot explain the corrosion failure of the inner forestay.

Dan then turned his attention to the various deck fittings with the thoroughness that I have come to expect. Many of my blocks are undersized. Three of them have sheaves for wire and not rope and must be replaced. The blocks on the traveller are in particularly bad shape. I knew this when I left Fremantle but was too busy to take the time to lift the track off to get access to the blocks.

The four wooden platforms on the cabin to accommodate winches for serious ocean racing were cracked and would not last much longer so it was agreed that I would remove them and the two wooden bases for the stainless steel manager of the lines between the mast and cockpit to be replaced with synthetic material.

The attachment of the topmost slide of the mainsail was badly frayed and would have to be repaired by a sailmaker. I would drop the sail, pack it, and lower it to Dan who would take it to the sailmaker in his vehicle.

We agreed that a new topping lift arrangement would be set up using an external sheave at the top of the mast and the freed internal sheave would be used for a second halyard. This would act as a backup for the main halyard and would allow me to set up the trysail complete with its own halyard and ready to go up at short notice.

I would drop the headsail and remove the halyard for inspection and possible replacement.

Changes would be made to the boom vang. A new attachment would be made on the mast to replace the awkward one at the base of the mast. Also, one of the ropes would be replaced with spectra or similar standard.

Dan would try to find a short section of track compatible to what is already up the front of the mast in order to carry the spinnaker pole at the front of the mast instead of on the deck.

The first thing I did after Dan's visit was to remove the traveller. I have enclosed photos of the removed traveller and a closeup showing the pitiful state of its sheaves, this on a boat trying to circumnavigate the world.

Then I removed the four wood winch bases on the cabin. The photo shows the first one that I removed. You can see that the original base was of fiberglass molded on the deck. The wooden bases were put on top of the fiberglass bases to accommodate bigger winches. The plan is to clean off the fiberglass, fill in the holes, then sand the area smooth.

This will extend my hardstand time well into next week.

Oh, and I got word on that gear that I need for my port spinnaker winch. The good news is that the part is available. The bad news is that it will cost $237 USD.

Boomer Encounter

Last week, returning from Port Townsend, I had to wait at the Hood Canal bridge while a span was opened for a boomer submarine from Subase Bangor.

The first photo shows the entire sub; the second photo shows several of the crew on the conning tower (note that one is looking at me with binoculars); the clip shows the sub moving past the bridge.

If you want to see one of the subs, come to Washington State. Once the subs submerge off the coast, they stay submerged.

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Refrigerator

I forgot to mention that the man had a look at the refregerator yesterday. He said that there was absolutely no pressure in the system which was a bad sign. He then injected some gas and immediately I heard a hiss from the part of the unit that is inside the food section. Not good, he said. He found a pin-hole leak, sanded the area to bare metal, then patched the aluminum with epoxy. He expects to return tomorrow to see if the patch held. I could be lucky on this one.

... Did I mention that the new main halyard cost me over $340.00? Yep, 115 ft at $2.99 per foot (plus tax). That is about the same price as 3/8" chain.

Chain Plates Final

Today I reinstalled both chain plates. Dan the rigger recommended using 3M 5200 as a sealant because it has stronger adhesive qualities, is stronger, etc. After thinking about it I decided to use 3M 4000 which is a medium strength adhesive which is suitable for fittings above or below the water line. I just did not want to put either the boat or a future owner through the ordeal of trying to loosen those chain plates if they are glued to stay. It is impossible to hammer the chain plates from below and to pry them from the top would involve damaging that section of the deck. As you can see, I'm pretty liberal with the sealant. The green tape on the shrouds was to mark the original position of the turnbuckles.

I worked to the company new neighbors: a pair of charming fishing boats named Petrel (from Oregon) and Neper (from Poulsbo, WA)

Chain Plates OK

The rigger has checked out the chain plates and has declared them to be OK. Phew! That's $2,000 that I don't have to spend. I plan to reinstall them tomorrow.

Dan the rigger will visit Pachuca tomorrow to discuss other possible work. At this point he does not seem to be concerned with any part of my rig. I'll know more tomorrow.

Hull Work Completed

Almost.

BUMS (Bottoms Up Marine Services) has antifouled the hull and polished above the waterline. They brought the propeller and shaft back to the bare metal and put a coating on it that is supposed to be better than antifouling. The antifouling has a high copper content that is supposed to last for two years. (It is not allowed in Australia.)