June 30, 2016

Another mixed week, jumping from project to project depending on which gear arrived and which vendors were ready to work. I got new charger connectors for the scooter wired in and mounted, and it finally took a charge and worked. Yeah!!! Even got a storage bag for it. More of the line and shackles for the drogue came in, and I did some more eye splices for the bridle. With peak loads on the drogue bridle up to 14,000 lbs, getting gear that is up to it takes research, care and money. But it may save my hide some day, so it's not a place to scrimp. Still no action from the sail-maker, and I'm still battling to get hull identification numbers for my documentation. I thought I was home free until I read that it would take them 4 to 6 months to issue the new documentation. I hope that won't really be the case as that would be too late. Still trying to find out what to expect.

I hired Jose (who did the painting of the deck and cabin) to buff and wax the hull. He's including waxing the cabin and deck for the same price. So far he's done one side and it looks great. He even was able to get out many more of the scratches than I thought possible.

On Saturday I went to a second boaters swapmeet this month and got rid of some more stuff. So, things are moving along mostly. Who knows, I might even make it! 

  

June 23, 2016

It's been a much less stressful week, thank goodness.  I got a few minor projects done, ordered some more needed gear, did a bit of research and even got to get out on the water a bit.  Another boaters swap meet to prepare for on Saturday.  Hope to unload some more junk (I mean transfer a few rare gems to others).

 

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!

 

June 9, 2016

A bit of a mixed week. Finished the lee board for the v-berth (in more ways than one), got the rudder for the Hydrovane painted with antifouling and installed, and the new deck awning was trial-fitted by the canvas-maker. I've also frittered away quite a lot of time getting ready for the boater's swapmeet on Saturday. I tried gettiinng my electric scooter to charge, but the connector just fell apart in my hand. I'll have to try replacing the connector. If I can't get it to work, I'll just have to junk it, despite it's relatively high initial cost. I also cleaned up my old surf kayak and started going through my storage unit, sorting, pricing and loading up the first load in the Mini. Speaking of the Mini, while I was able to pick it up, it turned out the fog lamps were not working, so I had to bring it back. I sat waiting for a couple of hours while they tried various fixes. They think the new replacement light was bad out of the box, so I'll have to go back yet again when the parts come in. I struck out getting any information on hull identification numbers from my friend Clark or the Salar Owners Group. Clark's Salar doesn't have an HIN either, and the only response from the Salar Group was an Englishman, whose Salar has only the English system number. I tried one more email to the Coast Guard. If I don't get a clear answer, I'll try making up something as I said last week.  No call-back from the sailmaker after two weeks, so I'll have to start pestering them next week. Still plenty to do, but I'll make it.