Last night I visited the boat at the lake, after a horrible grey, damp, slightly chilly weekend. I was disappointed because Friday after work, I had plans to finish projects! But then a friend visited, and that opened us up to chatting with a few other people on the dock, and next thing you know, I didn't get everything finished.
But as of last night, I think I can honestly say I've finished all my fitting out projects.
Friday, I installed my external style Mast Gate. This makes up for my second sail of the season, when I dropped my sail stop and it plink plink plopped overboard. While I was at it, I ordered and installed one of Tom Luque's quick release stops, so that my sliding gooseneck can be easily adjusted, instead of the wingnut stop that came with the boat. I also finally cut my downhaul/Cunningham to length.
Sunday night the Admiral made me go visit the boat, because I was far too grouchy. We only sat on it for about 15 minutes because it was damp/misty and she got very cold, but it was like getting a fix - I was happy and pleasant the rest of the night.
So, last night I finalized placement of my topping lift hardware. Doh! I forgot to take pictures! Anyway, I have a single block hanging from the masthead on 3/16" polyester. I attached a single with becket to the endboom strap that the backstay pigtail clips to. The line runs from the becket up to the hanging single, back down to the single, forward through 2 eyestraps used as fairleads, to a fairlead clam cleat screwed to the boom a few inches aft of the reefing cleat. The topping lift runs just above the eyestrap fairlead for the reefing line. This positioning keeps it close to hand when striking sail or reefing, yet just out of the way of the reefing cleat. I also tied the hanging single high enough that I can crank the boom up to give me standing headroom in the cockpit for motoring and such.
I also shortened the main outhaul line. Fewer dangly lines is good.
But I fear I have made a mistake. Over the weekend, I went to gobs and gobs of trouble to remove old stitching and the rotted remnants of velcro from the hem of my main cover. Then I re-stitched zig-zag where needed with UV resistant polyester thread, and sewed new strips of velcro between the common sense toggle fasteners. I think this was a big mistake, because I just read that having loose closures such as common sense fasteners or clips allows more airflow and reduces mildew. So, it looks like I'll get to spend some windless day with a seam ripper, picking out all the stitching for that velcro to remove it again. DOH!!!
Yeah, and I guess the one final thing I need to do is to take some of the nylon twisted line I have and splice some new dock lines. I had just bought some swanky double braid dock lines to keep on the boat, for raft-ups and such, but I found I needed to use them. Besides, if I custom splice lines to length, there's less spaghetti monster around the dock cleats.
Brian
But as of last night, I think I can honestly say I've finished all my fitting out projects.
Friday, I installed my external style Mast Gate. This makes up for my second sail of the season, when I dropped my sail stop and it plink plink plopped overboard. While I was at it, I ordered and installed one of Tom Luque's quick release stops, so that my sliding gooseneck can be easily adjusted, instead of the wingnut stop that came with the boat. I also finally cut my downhaul/Cunningham to length.
Sunday night the Admiral made me go visit the boat, because I was far too grouchy. We only sat on it for about 15 minutes because it was damp/misty and she got very cold, but it was like getting a fix - I was happy and pleasant the rest of the night.
So, last night I finalized placement of my topping lift hardware. Doh! I forgot to take pictures! Anyway, I have a single block hanging from the masthead on 3/16" polyester. I attached a single with becket to the endboom strap that the backstay pigtail clips to. The line runs from the becket up to the hanging single, back down to the single, forward through 2 eyestraps used as fairleads, to a fairlead clam cleat screwed to the boom a few inches aft of the reefing cleat. The topping lift runs just above the eyestrap fairlead for the reefing line. This positioning keeps it close to hand when striking sail or reefing, yet just out of the way of the reefing cleat. I also tied the hanging single high enough that I can crank the boom up to give me standing headroom in the cockpit for motoring and such.
I also shortened the main outhaul line. Fewer dangly lines is good.
But I fear I have made a mistake. Over the weekend, I went to gobs and gobs of trouble to remove old stitching and the rotted remnants of velcro from the hem of my main cover. Then I re-stitched zig-zag where needed with UV resistant polyester thread, and sewed new strips of velcro between the common sense toggle fasteners. I think this was a big mistake, because I just read that having loose closures such as common sense fasteners or clips allows more airflow and reduces mildew. So, it looks like I'll get to spend some windless day with a seam ripper, picking out all the stitching for that velcro to remove it again. DOH!!!
Yeah, and I guess the one final thing I need to do is to take some of the nylon twisted line I have and splice some new dock lines. I had just bought some swanky double braid dock lines to keep on the boat, for raft-ups and such, but I found I needed to use them. Besides, if I custom splice lines to length, there's less spaghetti monster around the dock cleats.
Brian
