For those of you that have been following our blog for a while, you know that I have talked about the "Hudson Effect". Wherever we go, strange weather follows. From the very high(80 knot) winds that slammed into Newport during our short stay there, to last August(our being the wettest August that Seattle has ever had. Last Winter was the 5th worst that they have ever had up here. Record cold and snow. This time we have brought on the heat. We are expected to set new records for heat up here. We may even hit 100 in Seattle tomorrow. The forecast for the next 4 days is temps in the mid to high 90's. They have never had more than 4 days of consecutively being in the 90's. Seattle was there yesterday and it is expected to continue. People out here--even though we are only in the mid-80's are just melting under the heat and Sun. I can't imagine the effect we will have as we travel the world.
We spent yesterday morning working on replacing the zincs on the stern down by the rudder. In the past, they have been tear drop shape and needed to be custom drilled to fit over a bolt that goes through the keel. Tracy went to the local chandlery and picked up some rectangular ones and they fit the keel perfectly with one on either side of the bolt.
You can see both types in the picture(remember to click on the picture to see it bigger). The tear drop is to the right and the two rectangular ones at the bottom of the picture. We put the zinc on the Max Prop with the corners painted with bright red nail polish. We'll see if it makes a difference.
In the afternoon, we started in on the top teak fitting for the Hydrovane. We fitted and sanded it a bit more and slid it in just fine. Then the pilot holes were drilled to make sure it fit through the hull in a good place(not that there was a choice)and we could have a backing plate made. We then drilled the 3/8" holes and put in the new stainless steel bolts and fitted the nylon nuts to hold it in place. Now the problems started. The nuts would go only about half way on and then locked. And I mean LOCKED!! They wouldn't go on any farther and wouldn't come off. I broke the ratchet wrench trying to get them back off so we could attach the backing plate once we get it made today. I finally got one off but the second had to be cut off. A new blade in the hack saw and off it came. The local chandlery is ordering in new bolts today. I don't think I will use the nylon nuts again and will probably take off the ones I just installed ion the rudder post if they are that nasty.
The new slides came for the mainsail came yesterday and are about to be fitted. The one on the right is the old one. It would move side to side but not up and down. Too much salt in the fitting. We just installed them and Tracy can now(with some grunting) get the sail to the top of the mast. When I went to the metal fabricator to have the backing plate made, I showed him the fittings and he thinks he can get then loosened up so they will move correctly. If so, they will go into the spare parts bin for use if something happens to the ones we just installed.
Well, it's back to work. More things to do and people to see.
No comments:
Post a Comment