Day 96 All bright and shiny!

The mast got finished today.  We have been working on it yesterday and today.  Over the years, it has suffered a good bit of oxidation.  The beautiful deep blue color was all faded and covered with a chalky covering.  After coats of rubbing compound, rubbing it into the paint and buffing it out, the mast looked much better.  Today, we put on the wax.  Again, rubbing it onto the mast with a buffer, then making it glow with  a polishing cloth, not only using the machine but hand rubbing and  polishing it to a nice high gloss.  You can now see your reflection in the mast.  She is back to where she started.  Nice and shiny.  All the oxidation is now gone.  We started at 10am and finished at 4pm. 

During that time, we went thru numerous cloths and the buffer gave up the ghost.  It developed an electrical problem.  It would work with the cord one way and only one way.  Back to the store it went for replacement.  Since we plan to do the entire hull this week, we will need to have it working no matter where the cord in hanging.

Zephyr has been hanging from straps over the weekend since the cabin sole started to split on Friday when they put us on the "hard"(the keel gets put on wood blocks and then the sides are held in place with metal racks).  We're not sure what they will do with us next week.  Since we have been in the straps, the splits have come back together and the floor looks fine.  They may have to put us back in the water  to equalize the pressure on the  hull until it is time to have the thru hulls(valves drilled thru the hull for water to come in or go out of the boat) replaced.  Three need replacing--leaks or broken handles.  Sometimes they have to be closed so water won't come into the boat.  I guess we will find out tomorrow.  We just don't want to be charged for every time they have to take us out and put us back.  That can get expensive.

Jack--the electrician-- will be back at it again tomorrow morning.  He's almost done--at least we hope.  More wires are getting installed and many useless one are getting removed.  The electronic energy control unit should be back at the service center tomorrow.  I plan on calling to see if they found anything wrong and an approximation as to when we might get it back.  I plan on paying extra for fast shipping when ever they get it done as every extra day delays us farther.  

With luck, the transmission man will be with us next week also.  The sooner the better.  Since we still have to have the SSB radio installed, there is still much to do and we don't want to be here more than the next few weeks.  We still have to get to Astoria to have the wind electric generator installed.  

Tomorrow, I plan on servicing all the winches on Zephyr.  We have six of them.  From small to very large, they all will need to be cleaned and oiled for the up coming cruise.  Broin Toss dismantled one while inspecting the boat last Thursday.  Looked great, just need some lubricating.  We expect to be meeting with him tomorrow also to lay out a plan for the new rigging.  It won't be right till Tracy can get the main sail up to the top of the mast all by herself. 

Tomorrow, bring on the oil and grease.  The winches await.