Day 160 More odd jobs done.

Today was "odd job day".  Started out by cleaning up inside Zephyr.  An on going chore on a weekly basis.  Tracy can bring order out of chaos a lot better than I can.  It's amazing how things can get in so disorganized so regularly.  Then on to other chores

I marked the anchor chain with 1/2" nylon strapping pieces sewn on at 30 foot intervals.  That one for every 5 fathoms.  A fathom being 6 feet.  Most charts list the depth in harbors in fathoms so this will help as we come into a harbor to determine how much chain to let out.  The normal length of chain to depth ratio is 7 to 1.  For every 1 foot of depth, you let out 7 feet of chain.  With 225 feet of chain on Zephyr, we can anchor safely in 30 feet of water.  You can let out less, but a 7:1 ratio is the normal.

I was going to paint the last 25 feet red just as a safety marker to let me know when I need to slow down letting it out but it got too chilly and there was no way it would have dried enough to allow me a second coat.  It will get done today.

Broin Toss, our rigger took an hour or two off from his inventory job at his loft on Sunday to come over and splice on the rest of the line for our new running backstays.  These are lines that attach to the mast about 2/3 of the way up the mast that will control the flex of the mast when we hoist the jib sails when we need that extra power while cruising.  Previously, we had just had another wire led to the mast from the rail.  Now we will be able to compensate for any mast bend caused by the pressure of the jib.

Technical stuff don't ya know.

I had to go back to Radio Shack to exchange the switch I bought on Saturday as the toggle on it was too big to fit through the hole in the lamp.  Plus, I wasn't thrilled that the toggle was plastic and was illuminated.  That just eats battery power and is guaranteed to break off at the worst possible time.

On Saturday, while at Radio Shack, I talked to a sales person about my needs for the switch and asked his opinion.  His comment--"I don't know anything about electronics"!!!  What the heck is he doing working at Radio Shack??  There was a second gentleman there but he was busy.  Yesterday, when I went back for the exchange, the same second guy was there.  I asked him about which wire needed to be attached to which post on the switch--his answer-"I don't know anything about electronics"!!!  Apparently, both salespeople that had been there on Saturday--normally one of the busiest days of the week, knew nothing about electronics in an electronics store!!!  I don't quite understand the hiring policies of the local Radio Shack. 

I got another switch--metal toggle this time.  The attachment fitting was to big to fit the existing hole in the fixture so I drilled the hole bigger.  It fit fine and after some soldering, the lamp works just fine.  The old switch had rusted out due to water coming down the wall where it was mounted.  There are two other lamps on the same wall that don't work also.  For some strange reason there is no power is going to them.  Now the detective work begins to figure out why.  Another project!

Tracy taped off the boot stripe with painter tape.  That's the big white stripe that separates the blue of the hull from the bottom paint.  She put another coat of "bottom" paint on the hull right at the water line.  There is always less paint there because of  wave action as the boat goes through the water taking it off faster than farther down the hull.  This is not your average Sherwin Williams paint at $30.00 a gallon.  Oh no--this stuff is special paint at $80.00 a quart!!!  It contains special chemicals that stop(or at least slow down) the growth on the bottom of a boat by the little buggies that live in the water and are always looking for a new home.  Algae, barnacles, and lots of other gross stuff that has to be scrubbed off regularly or it will foul up the underside of your boat.  YUCK!!!

People stroll through the yard here all the time.  Yesterday, while cloudy and overcast, was no exception.  It amazes both Tracy and myself how many people know that this boat is a Liberty.  They only made 31 of them and that was back in the 80's.  We had another group through the yard yesterday that knew all about our boat line.  I guess while there aren't a lot of us, we stand out in any anchorage and marina.  I haven't seen any boat that compares to the looks of Zephyr. 

Todays jobs--install a backing plate on the new fitting for the end of the anchor chain.  I'm going to need a nice piece of stainless steel about a foot square.  Once it is installed with the "U" bolt I bought and the anchor chain gets painted, it can be brought back on board and stowed.  

I have four new "mast steps" that will need to be bolted to the base of the mast so we can get high enough on it to stow the mainsail after it has been lowered.  Now, you can't just drill a hole and mount these things.  Oh no that would be too easy.   A special goo has to be used to cover the screws that you use to stop the chemical reaction of using two different types of metal to each other.  Now I'm not a chemist so I don't understand why this happens(if you know, please leave a "comment") but in an ocean climate you can't attach stainless steel to aluminum,  or stainless steel to bronze, etc,  without using some kind of "goo"(don't know what it is actually called but I have some somewhere) that isolated the two metals to stop the reaction.  Since my new drill/tapping bits came in, I can install these myself.   I also have to drill a hole in the underside of the boom for the boom vang fitting--this gizmo holds the boom horizontal as we sail instead of it swinging upwards in a arc as the mainsail gets filled with air.

With Jack the electrician gone to the boat show this week, I'm not sure we will have anyone from the boat yard working on Zephyr this week.  We do have a list of things that still need to be done but I guess time will tell.  Hey, Troy just showed up!!!  He's one of the new electricians they have hired over the past few months.  Nice guy and fresh out of electronics school.  He's been on Zephyr before and the best thing about him is that while not only is he good, but he doesn't get called away like Jack does so he can get more done in a day that Jack can.  We just leave him to his work.  He had his tonsils out last week.  I don't envy him the pain he went through.  I've still got mine and hopefully I'll be buried with them.  I'm just a bit too old to have them removed.

Well, it's breakfast time and then off on jobs.  Have a great day!!