Friday, August 29, 2008

Day 122 Getting there.

We're getting there.  Slowly but surely.  

The bearing I had been waiting for showed up yesterday.  This allows me to complete the #48 Lewmar winch I screwed up  a while ago when I dropped it(the bearing, not the winch) over board and on to the pavement under the boat.  It took it personally and broke.  Go figure--a simple 12 foot drop.  It took two tries at getting it but all is well now.

The hailing decal--Denver, CO that has to go on the stern also showed up.  They  had sent it to our house and not the boat yard.  The great thing is that they duplicated the order and sent another "Zephyr" graphic along with it.  They had already sent the Zephyr part but had forgotten the Denver decal.  Now we have a spare "Zephyr" decal in case anything happens to the one we've already installed.

Jack--the electrician--stayed home sick yesterday as expected.  He sounded awful on Wednesday when he left.  If he shows up today, we are jumping ship as quick as we can.  We sure don't want to catch it.

Terry--the transmission guy did come back yesterday and finish the exhaust installation.  We didn't see him as we were out.  Sure hope his dog is ok.  At 14, the chances aren't good.

The "Hudson Effect" is in full swing here at Port Townsend.  We are setting records for the most amount of rain for August.  We bring it where ever we go.  I would bet that Newport is experiencing one of their best Summers since we left.  I'm not sure what will happen to the worlds climates as we travel around the earth, but if we ever get to Africa, that desert( the Sahara) on the North side of that continent could be in for real trouble.  It has started raining again just since I got to the ice cream parlor.  It's closed, but has a nice back porch I use for doing the blog in the early morning.  There are times I just can't get out and do it in the evening.

The wood worker is set to install the fore peak on Zephyr this morning.  That's the extreme front peak of Zephyr where the teak had splintered  years in the past and dry rot had set in.  He's been working on it off and on for the past few weeks.  He has also refilled the hole for the "stem fitting".  This is the piece that holds the big sail at the bow of the boat as well as the anchors.  Over the years, with the strain of sails and anchors, it had pulled the bolt that went through the hole over and over and over again and had made the hole more of an oval than round.  Now that it has been filled with epoxy, it can be re-drilled and put back to its original position.  We don't want that fitting coming loose anytime.  The mast would come crashing down.  With it raining again, I'm not sure he will do the install.

That's about it for now.  The repairs proceed and the date for launch is approaching.  Let's hope they get us done in time. 

I almost forgot, the mast and boom are still in the paint booth.  They have filled the holes in the boom and taped them off, but no paint yet.  The new spreaders are there to.  They hold the wire that make up the rigging at an angle so there is proper pressure in the wires.  Tow of our had cracks in the aluminum when we took the mast down.  Tracy had seen them when she went up the mast back in Newport.

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