Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Day 36-part 2


I messed up on my dates last night.  Oh well.

Here's a picture I took on the way to Astoria Tuesday.  A small break in the gloom.  Once in a while, we got to
 see some nice views of the shore.  

At least the trip was worth while.  The six batteries we bought were installed today.  I carted the batteries down to the boat.   It was actually sunny today.  We had to strike while the sun was hot.  Unfortunately, I had to take the batteries up and down while we were at low tide.  This made getting them up and down the ramp a real exciting trip.  With it being low tide, the ramp to the dock was very steep.  Having the sun out is such a rare event that there was no way I could wait for high tide when the ramp would be a lot easier to go up and down.  The old batteries were shot.  Water had leaked out from the batteries into the battery boxes and the lead plates were exposed.  Even the side and tops of the batteries were bulging. 
 Not sure what went wrong but it was really wrong.  Now I get to monitor the new system and see how they react.

Late this afternoon, Tracy went up the mast!! How's that for guts!!!  We had been planning on installing the cutter rig( a wire for hoisting sails between the mast and the bow) on Zephyr.  Bill (previous owner) had taken it off several years ago and put the rigging into storage.  The way we will be sailing(long hauls), we will need as much sail area as we can.  Plus, it gives us the ability to put up a storm jib should the need arise.

Unfortunately, after she got up there, the pin we needed for attaching the stay(wire) wasn't long enough to go thru the fitting on the mast.  Plus, we found that the messenger line(small line used to reinstall the line for raising the jib) had broken over the Winter so we couldn't get it installed.    
Down came Tracy and away went the rigging until we get to Port Townsend.  With the mast off the boat, we can get it installed much easier. We will find the right fitting and run the necessary ropes right up the inside of the mast while it's horizontal.

The replacement pump for our fresh water system showed up this afternoon.  I checked it out this evening and will get it installed as soon as I figure out the wiring.  The existing pump has three wire while the new one has only two.  Not sure what wire has to go.  I'll figure it out.

Since the weather is to be bad again tomorrow, we figure we will head to Portland to check out the DuoGen I talked about in yesterdays post.  Solar panels are  also on the docket.  

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