Day 332 Up she goes.

We arose this morning with the plan to hoist the mainsail here at the dock(calm winds).  If you have been following our blog, you know that we have had problems getting it up to the top of the mast ever since we bought Zephyr back in August of 2007.  Even with the new rigging, it was well nigh impossible to get it up to the top of the mast.  

During the refit and replacement of the standing rigging(wires that hold the mast up) we found out that the mast was bending forward instead of slightly backward as is the normal.  We chalked up the problem to a slight pinching of the track as it bent forward.  Well, now that the rigging is long since done with the mast being corrected, it was still tough to get the sail up to the top.  We have a product on the boat called "Strong Track" which is a special plastic product of some sort that allows the slides on the sail to run very easily.  Ours, not so much.  I'd been sent a special slide by the manufacturer to run up and down the track to "clean" it and make sure all the burrs in the plastic were "cut" off and the track smoothed back in February but we have not had the chance to go out sailing and raising the main ever since.  Since we're back in Port Townsend where we had the rigging replaced, we felt it was well past time to see if we had solved the problem.  We took off the sail cover, hooked up the primary main halyard(line that pulls the sail up) and while Tracy used the winch in the cockpit with our electric drill gizmo that turns our winch from a manual(has to be cranked by hand) into an electric winch, I pulled down on the halyard.  It was just as tough if not tougher to get it to the top of the mast.  OK, same problem.  We hooked up the backup main halyard(one is not enough) that Brion Toss (our rigger) had installed--we have backups for just about every line on the mast used for the sails.  This time, I was at the winch while Tracy pulled down on the backup halyard.  While the "electric" winch had really strained getting it up the first time, this time she went up smoother than I think we have ever seen it.  OK, that means that there is a problem somewhere in the mast.  Brion had a already taken out and rerun the lines inside the mast to try and fix the problem.  It didn't do it which is why we tried the track "cleaner" down in Brownsville.  This only meant one thing, there was a problem with the sheaves at the top of the mast.  These are decent size wheels that the halyard runs over to assist in pulling the line up. 

When the mast head was changed out during the re-rigging, we noticed that one of the wheels didn't rotate smoothly but thought it would run fine once all was up and settled.  Apparently not.  It apparently still binds up which means that instead of it going round and round as the line goes over it, it sits still which means the line drags over the wheel instead of rolling with the sheave as it goes around.  

We walked over to see Brion--right across the street to discuss the situation.   He could not have been nicer.  Brion had hurt his back years ago and it flares up causing him a good bit of pain from time to time and yesterday was one of those days.  As active as he is as a rigger--up and down masts and all the bending and stooping that goes with his job, it must be very tough when your back is killing you.  We sat and chatted about what has been happening over the past few weeks.  He's not happy that Sea Marine is treating us this way as it could well affect his business.  When people bring in boats for rigging, many times they need additional work done and it's much better to have a boat yard close by to take care of their other needs instead of having them have to go elsewhere to get the jobs done.  Brion offered to go up the mast and fix the problem as soon as he could but we told him to wait till his back was better.  He has been nothing but nice and kind to us and having a slight delay in getting this problem addressed isn't going to kill us.  We still have to take Zephyr out for "sea" trials once the transmission is installed again.  At least he is now aware of the problem and we're sure he will get it addressed and resolved as soon as he is physically fit enough to do so.

While on our walk to see Brion, we were met by Larry(the mechanic for Sea Marine).  He had just gotten off the phone with Great Lakes Power(transmission people).  According to them, our transmission left there back on March 19, the same day we were told it had arrived.  Larry pushed them more and they have agreed to "participate" in paying the labor charges on removing and installing the transmission--GREAT NEWS!!!  They want an accounting of the charges once it is all done and will evaluate it at that time--hey, that's a lot better than "NO".  They are stepping up to the plate and taking responsibility for the problem.  

According to Larry, they admitted that two screws inside the transmission were not set right and that had caused the clutch plate to become warped(really bad)--hence the prop drag.  They rebuilt it again and shipped it out.  If we had not had it pulled and shipped back, it would have failed in a relatively short order(insert far out to sea in some far off land).  We had made the right decision to listen to Norm from Pat's Marine in Seattle that it was bad and needed to be pulled.  At the time, it was the last thing we wanted to hear.  We thought we had already had enough delays.  Sometimes it pays to listen to the "experts".   I guess my paranoia about them not admitting to any problem was unfounded.  This is one time I'm happy to be proved wrong.

We have another boater behind us(power) that has had work done on his boat by Sea Marine.  He's planning on getting out of here today and asked us to help him turn his boat around so he can make a quick and easy get away this morning.  He's gotten his bill and knew that if he had asked Sea Marine for the help they would bill him for additional man hours.  We were happy to help him with the lines as we swung the boat around.  

Poor Snowshoe(one of our fur people) is feeling ill and is even more listless than he normally is.  He's sleeping even more than normal.  Hopefully he will feel better today.

The freezer is down to -1 degrees this morning!!  Now that is cold.  We're still adjusting the thermostat till we get it at a good temperature that won't break the "amp bank" of our batteries.  It now takes about 2.8 amps to run.  That's half of what our old one used and it keeps the box MUCH colder than the old one ever though of.  I'm glad we have 6" of insulation around the box.  

A few days ago, I'd filled out a questionnaire from Jeppesen Marine about how I felt about their product.  They make the software that is our primary navigation software for when we are out cruising(all in good time).  I'd noticed several bugs in the program late last year and had emailed them about them.  All I'd gotten was a quick brush off that they  knew about the problems and were looking into them and would get back to me.  Don't send me a questionnaire unless you want the unvarnished truth.  I told them my feeling about their product.  Amazingly, I got an email from them urging me to call them as soon as I could so that they could address my concerns!  Go figure--some one actually cares about a product they put out.  This economic downturn may have an upside as companies are actually standing behind their goods to avoid bad press.

I spent a good 80 minutes on the phone with him trying to solve the problems I had found.  We finally gutted the program out of the computer and did a full reinstall.  Not something he likes to do.  Once the program was reinstalled, it was still experiencing the same problems.  He's conferring with tech folks higher up the chain to see what needs to be done and has scheduled another phone call next Tuesday.  He expects to have answers by then.

Now I run two versions of the navigation program--one on each computer.  One the old version and one the new.  We discussed the problem with the old version--almost a year old.  He's sending me a new program disk with the latest version on it free and feels that will solve the problem as they have made many corrections to the last edition of the program.  What's going on here!!!  This is good customer service and all done without an Indian accent!!!  Unheard of in this era!!

West Marine also sent me a survey about my experiences with their company.--hey, don't ask unless you want an honest answer.  While I do feel that their prices are higher than just about anyone else, the quality of service I get from my local store could not be better and I told them so in the survey.  I've yet to find another store that treats both Tracy and I as well as our local West Marine.

That's about how the day went--oh, I also took another shower--after all, we're living the dream!!!

Have a great day!