June 14, 2010

Now that the new cockpit sole had replaced the old stained carpet, it made the rest of the decayed, corroded and worn cockpit accessories look even worse. The crude cockpit table grated on me and was singularly insufferable. While the cast bronze folding bracket that supported it was definitely cool, the table itself was obviously crudely fashioned in haste. It was a poor use of what was once a nice piece of teak and holly veneered plywood. Sadly, due to neglect and rough treatment, the veneer was beyond salvation. Besides, the shape was ugly and a cockpit table should be built of material that can stand abuse and neglect without showing it. So, with measurements taken last week, after work on Friday I stopped by Tap Plastics and bought $38 worth of light tan Starboard. I was up early on Saturday morning to get started cutting the pieces. Strangely, my beloved Inca saw was non-op. When I jiggled the plug to see if that was the problem, a pop and mini lightening flash told me the plug was toast. Oddly enough, while there was enough juice to disintegrate one tab of the plug, the breaker didn't blow. I now had another errand to add to my Saturday list: buy a heavy duty replacement plug. I spent the rest of the morning handling my errands and going to my Tai Chi class. By evening, I had fabricated a new cockpit table. Not perfect, but close enough. I was already tired and hadn't even been down to the boat yet!

Despite the tiring day Saturday, I was up and on the road early on Sunday. In retrospect, I would have to say that the theme of the day was "One thing leads to another." I had planned to see what would need to done to finish getting the standing rigging in place and do some more wiring for the radio, navigation lights and a cockpit switch for the windlass. The good news was that I found the fittings I needed to complete the standing rigging. HOWEVER, the starboard forward lower shroud was about two inches too short for everything to come together. That necessitated my determining if the mast was vertical relative to the hull by measuring from the top of the mast to the chainplates. To do that, I had to sort out the tangled running rigging. To do that, I had to climb the mast as high as the spreaders at least three times. With the lower shrouds either lose or missing, it was a little shaky and a bit unnerving. And I swear it was at least 10 feet further by the third time. After making the required adjustments and doing a rudimentary tuning of the rig, everything was finally in place. I thought I deserved some relatively instant gratification after that unglamorous job, so I mounted the new cockpit table in time to use it for lunch on board. A little PB Blaster on the folding mechanism and it worked like a charm. It fit perfectly and was handy to both the port cockpit seat and the helm seat.

By the time I had finished my lunch, it was getting pretty hot. That led to my digging out the awning and installing it between the aft edge of the hard dodger and the stainless boom gallows. There was at least a slight breeze on deck, while it remained pretty miserable below. I decided to get the wiring and new radar cable from the base of the mast into the cabin. That led to getting another stainless steel rail base fitting for the entry point at the base of the doghouse for the radar cable, which led to drilling more holes, etc, etc, etc. The handful of old wiring from the mast was a tight fit, and I wasn't able to cram it through the protective hose until I taped it all together and lubed it with soap. I was having waking nightmares that when the mast was taken down by the yard apes in South Carolina they might have simply cut the wires at the most expedient point, without regard for having to reconnect them later. What if the wires were too short or had to be spliced inside the connecting tube? There was no way that could be done and still get the bundle through the tube. Finally, after I had gotten the wires through the tube and into the inside of the cabin, I could see, much to my relief, that there was plenty of wire to allow an easy splice. I mounted the new stainless base fitting on the doghouse, inserted the radar cable through the new tubing, and put it all together. While hose clamps need to be added to ensure real security and water-tight integrity, the job was basically done. More importantly, I was exhausted from the heat, so it was time to call it a day. I spent another half hour or so cleaning up and headed home.