Boatwork and Bowels

Due to continued intermittent intestinal issues, I didn't do much exploring this week. I have been eating a very limited diet this week and keeping records to see if I can find a trigger for the problem. So far I've been doing better.  Time will tell.
I did manage to get a couple of nice sunrise photos and a nice video of the most torrential rain yet.  The rest was boat projects.  HOWEVER, the big victory this week was Chava FINALLY finishing my new stern rails.  As usual, his guys did really good work, and it's a great improvement.  But, it took almost three months!  Jorge is half way through putting turnbuckles on the lifelines so they can be properly tightened now that the stanchions are solid.  Still waiting for parts from the U.S. to finish.  Maybe next week.  I finished up the engine maintenance and started swapping out the turnbuckles and T-fittings for the main shrouds.  One side done so far.  It feels good to be making some real progress, but I'm getting itchy feet!

Early in the week I went down to the beach before daybreak in

the hope of finding some nesting sea turtles.  I had no luck,

but did get treated to a great sunrise!

There have been a lot of kiskadee flycatchers around the

marina lately.  This one was on the fence near the public dock.

On some days, doing the this was about all I could handle.

 Got more than 4 inches of rain in a couple of hours!

This is the gouge I wanted to cover with new trim.  I found just

the right piece of used molding last week in a marine junk store.

Same spot with newly refinished used molding in place.

Looks good!

Last item of engine maintenance after having changed oil, oil

filter, fuel filters and checking the engine zinc: changing the

raw water impeller.

The old impeller was fine, unlike my neighbor's that had missing

blades.  But that's why I change it every time I change the oil.

Mating surfaces on raw water pump cleaned and smoothed with

600 grit wet sandpaper.

New impeller and gasket installed, closed up and painted.

Jorge and his helper of SVS Marine install new turnbuckles on

the upper lifelines.

The lowers will be done as soon as the right turnbuckles arrive.

Chava's crew finally arrived to weld up new stern rails.

Here the welder is grinding off the old brackets that were used

for attaching the old lifelines.

Measuring and marking the new tubing

New top rail tack-welded in place

Welding the lower rail

Checking the weld

After tack-welding everything in place, going back and completing

all-around welds.

Buffing everything to remove the welding discoloration

and make it all pretty.

The end result (starboard side) is a great improvement.

I had decided to replace the turnbuckles and T-fittings

for the main shrouds, so on her latest visit Carol brought

new ones that I had ordered earlier.

Although the turnbuckle was looking bad, the real driver

was the T-fitting.  According to both my rigger and a knowledgeable

circumnavigator, this design is prone to failure because the threading

of the bolt into the pin is vulnerable to corrosion and cracking.

The new Hayne fittings eliminate that issue with a wrap-around design.

I've changed out the port side so far.  It's made more

complicated because I don't have a tension gauge, so

I need to go through more process to get both sides

back to the same tension as they were when originally

tensioned with a gauge.