Day 162 Closer.

We're getting closer.  At least things are getting wrapped up.

Troy, the new electrician, was in today working on more items on the "punch list".  It gets a bit shorter each day.  Since he is still recovering from getting his tonsils out, he's not here all day but the time we have him is very productive.  Monday, he was here till about 1:30 and left totally wiped out.  Yesterday, he cut back to 12:00 so he could go home and get some rest.  Apparently, they had to put him under the knife twice while in the hospital.  The first time to take out the tonsils and then as he was about to be discharged, he developed a blood clot where they had done the surgery and he had to be rushed back into surgery to get that taken care of.  At least they caught it before he had gone home.  Once is bad enough but twice is really bad.

Troy bundled wires together down in the bilge and installed new solenoids under the floor boards so the pumps that empty the sumps will run more efficiently.  Before, the wiring was routed all over the place over quite a long run.  Now they are on a heavier line and run correctly.  I ran a new wire yesterday for Troy for the sumps after he left.  I'm a lot cheaper than he is and since I had already stripped out lines previously, running them was a piece of cake.  Since he has a fewer interruptions during his day, he gets a lot done.  We made sure he was out and on his way home on time.

We finally put on the main sail yesterday.  Gordon brought it over on Monday and on it went yesterday.  We had a new fitting put on the outer end of the boom that pulls the sail out to the end of the boom since the last fitting was about ready to break.  Now, our "out haul" runs inside the boom on a block and pulley system so it's easy to adjust whenever necessary.  High tech stuff don't ya know.

We hoisted the sail on the boom.  Nathan, one of the riggers, pulled on the main halyard as I fitted the slides into the slot on the mast.  We slid in the battens (long rods of fiberglass that hold the sail out from the mast) and up she went.  It was still all Nathan could do to get it up to the top of the mast so there is still some adjustment that needs to be done there.  The goal of getting this rigging done is so that Tracy can do all the hoisting and pulling by herself and control the boat without my help.  We're not there yet.  It was great to see the main back on board.  Again, one step closer to being done. 

I took off for West Marine late in the morning to get two more block for the main halyard and the boom vang lines.  They will both be led to the cockpit so that we can control them from there while out sailing.  We needed two new blocks to make the turn from the base of the mast across the deck to the cockpit.

I installed two more folding steps on the mast yesterday afternoon so that we can now climb high enough to cover and tie down the sail after it gets lowered.  Even after the main is lowered, its about 8 feet off the deck.  The last steps that were on the mast were just too small to allow a proper foot hold when climbing to put the sail away.

I had to re-drill the fittings for the boom vang as I had placed it at too large an angle to make it properly do its job.  This "handy billy"( a nautical term I learned yesterday from Brion Toss for a block and tackle set up---consider this the "Readers Digest" word of the day) requires a 30 to 45 degree angle to work efficiently to hold the boom horizontal when sailing downwind.  I had set ours up at to close to a 45 degree angle.  Brion wanted it much closer to 30 degrees, so off with the old fittings, drill new holes and refit it to the base of the boom at the proper angle.

Yesterday was quite the change in weather from Monday.  Winds from the South all day long as the cold front came blasting a shore on Monday.  Yesterday, the winds turned out of the Northwest as the new high pressure starts pushing the low pressure to the East.  We try to pay attention to the weather patterns as a lot of our passages in the future will depend on it.  Before you set out on any ocean passage, it is important to have some idea as to what you will be facing after leaving the protection of the harbor.  There are countless books written on how to observe and forecast what may be coming.  From the current clouds that are on the horizon to reading you barometer.  Each has their own way of doing it.  Many cruisers subscribe to a weather service that they can download off their satellite phones or their SSB radios into their computers.  Many use a weather fax machine that will download and print charts of what is currently happening out there and what they "think" is coming.  It works just like the weather people you see on your tv every night.  They have the same information at their finger tips.  It's all how you interpret what you read.

The remaining three red/white light fixtures came in yesterday so I can get them installed when time permits.  It will be nice to be able to see while inside the cabin at night while on passage without ruining your night vision.  It's important to be able to see what is happening when you go on deck for your "watch" without having destroyed your night vision by being in bright light and having to wait for it to return after a while.

This morning I'm off to West Marine to get some 3/8" rope for the reefing lines.  These lines attach to the boom, go up the sail and pass through grommets in the sail, come back to the boom and then go forward to the  mast.  When pulled on, they help you to have less mainsail exposed to the wind.  During big blows, it's important to be able to make your mainsail smaller yet still able to use some of it to help propel the boat through the water.  Our mainsail has three reefing points so it can be made substantially smaller as is necessary as the wind increases.

Well, its off for another day of projects aimed at getting us close to "splashdown".

Have a great day everyone.