June 16, 2016

It's been a hectic, stressful week, with not much to show for it; but at least it ended on an up note. All the various venders I had been nagging for weeks all decided to get moving this week. So, while that's good, it kept me hopping. Double booking myself didn't help. The sun awning is done. I now have the chemical cleaning cartridges for the watermaker. Ace Sails in Connecticut is making the extension for my Jordan Series Drogue. Gary from Ullman sails checked out Circadian's sails and came up with a good solution for downwind: keep the old genny just for running twins downwind; use the new same-size genny the rest of the time. The main is not in bad shape, just too light and not well made in the first place. Hope I don't have a coronary when I get a quote! My friend/crew Steve and I tried roller reefing the existing main, and found it to be a real pain. Actually takes 3 to do it. So, I'm thinking I'll try to find a way to do slab (jiffy) reefing. It will definitely require some additional gear and work, but should be worth it. We also tried to take down the genny, but ran into problems. The sprocket on the bottom was frozen, but I eventually freed it by removing it. Fortunately the bolts securing it came out without a problem. Also good, the sail slid down the slot easily, meaning the shiv at the top is free and so is the cable in the slot. Still couldn't remove the sail, however, because the pin securing the tack was corroded in place.  PB Blaster, torch and sledgehammer all failed to break it loose.  I now have PB Blaster soaking in overnight while a clamp is applying pressure to push it out. If that doesn't do it, I'll have to cut the ring on the sail's tack and replace it with a shackle.

I spent a couple of days shit-shifting and working the boaters swapmeet. It was a slow day, with cold and drizzly weather, so I didn't sell much. I even had trouble giving stuff away. After throwing away a bunch of stuff, I was at least able to cut the total volume in half.  Only thing I bought was a $10 propane bbq in bad shape and missing parts. A friend noticed and offered me a bigger and better one. It seemed complete (even had a cover), although the burner and spreader were rusted. I gave him $30 for it. As of an hour ago I was able to get it together, mounted and working. Nice way to end the week: $40 gets me a $189 bbq!