But the weather has not held up the repairs process. I continue to work the boat along with all the other projects I have going at the same time. Seems spring is a busy time of year for me, not that I have a slow time. Between a small tree project across the road(small as in the removal of ten large trees around a pool), building our new bed, continuing with our basement renovations, I find(make or steal) time to work on the boat projects we want to get done.
With the bearings replaced and the hubs modified we just need to order our new tires and wheels and the trailer will be ready to hit the road. I finally got all the coats of clear poly on the tiller handle and it looks pretty good. Then it was onto the rudder which had some issues. I repaired the nicks and cracks in the rudder blade and repainted it. Then I discovered that the aluminum rudder box, if that is what that part is called, had taken a pretty good hit at some point. The lower part of it where the rudder blade attaches to it had taken a good side load and bend the ears of it to one side. That made it hard to slide the blade into it and when it was in place forced the blade to hang off from vertical. It was not very easy and took some thought but I finally was able to get the ears straightened back out and now the blade is inline with box and slides in and out with ease.
Then there was this curious bungee cord inside the box. Having very limited experience with sailboats, like none, I was not real sure what it was for or how it was intended to work but after looking at it I came up with this. The bungee cord attaches inside the box towards the tops then runs down to the rudder where it passes through a pad eye back up into the box. There it attaches to a line that runs back up and out of the box.
It is my thought that when you drop the blade you pull the line tight stretching the bungee. Then you tie off the line to the cleat. That holds tension on the blade keeping it vertical. In the event of hitting something solid the blade will be able to pivot back and hopefully not damage the blade too badly. The person we got the boat from showed us a large 5/8" diameter steel pin that went in a hole in the rudder box through the blade to lock it down. That would work fine but if you ever hit something really solid all the load would be transferred through the blade, into the rudder box, and onto the rudder pins on the stern of the boat. I have read stories of sterns being ripped out of the boat by hitting some thing solid with the rudder. Hopefully the new bungee will prevent this from happening to us. Not that we plan on hitting anything but if it is going to happen it is going to happen OUT THERE!
With the rudder and tiller done it was time to bring the mast into the shop for upgrades and new paint. The really nice thing about having a workshop 36 feet long is that you have room for a 25' mast and still be able to work around it! The boys(tails visible in the lower right of the pic) were being shop supervisors making sure I did it right.
Last night we ran the wires inside the mast for the new mast head/anchor light and our LED spreader bar cockpit cabin top lights. Cindy helped me pull the wires as both wires had to be ran together since they were tied together below the spreader bars. With the wires ran it was time to install the spreader bar lights. I made it harder on myself using double insulated wire but I wanted the added strength and wear protection. It was a real bear getting the wire through the spreader bars, especially the port bar as the wires for the starboard bar ran it as well. I finally got them ran and wired the lights up. I was excited to see them light up and can't wait for our first night on the boat and we flip the switch and can see what we are doing onboard the boat!
Not the best pic I have take but you get the idea. The lights work! The are small LED lights about 4 inches long. Not super bright but it won't take much light for us to be able to see what we are doing. I predict these lights will be on a lot when it is dark and we are outside. Not only will we be able to see but they will really add to how visible our boat is to other boats. With them being about 10 feet up on the mast it is my hope that they draw the bugs up away from us. Being LED they only draw a 1/4 amp each so battery draw is very minimal, leaving plenty of power for Cindy to blast the tunes on the stereo, which has yet to be installed.... Tonight the anchor light gets wired and installed. Then everything will get masked off and a coat of new paint will cover all the worn and faded paint that is left on the mast, which is not very much at all.
Last week I went under the winter cover and investigated the winch issue. I knew the handle was loose but never paid much attention to it. Well after closer inspection I discovered the handle was worn to the point you were probably taking your life in your own hands if you tried to use it with a 400 lb swing keel. I think previous owners probably left the handle loose so it would be easy to remove when not needed making it easier to move onboard in the cabin. I pulled the winch out and after a fruitless search for a new winch that would fit, I finally broke down, i.e. wised up and did an internet search of the winch and it's part number. Funny thing, the winch had a stamp on it saying it was made in the USA in April of 1983. My thought was what are the chances that company is still in business. Surely the Chinese had undercut them into extinction. Well, luckily I was wrong, GASP!!!! Yes, it happens on rare occasions LOL!!! They are still in business and even stock the parts we needed. What a deal. Once the parts arrived I did have to call them as the gears on the input shaft were a bit different but it turns out they had made a design change so it was all good. It was during this conversation that the engineer encouraged me to install a braking winch in place of the pulling winch for obvious safety reasons. I would really like to but there just isn't room in the boxed in area to do so.
As you an see the size of the winch is determined by the aluminum mast support box. It was probably built around the winch. My biggest concern with Cindy and the boat is not if she will be able to learn how to sail her, that I think will come very easy for her, but it is lowering and raising that darn keel. I just don't want her to get hurt if the winch slips or if her hand slips off and the handle gets away from her. I have been bit by winch handles before and it hurts like hell, not to mention it can break whatever it hits. Once we get the boat on the water and see how bad it is I might have to rethink a way to get a braking winch to fit if it looks like it is really dangerous.
In the pic above you can see that the winch cable is actually a half inch rope. That was a concern of mine from the very beginning. After talking with the owner of our boat's sister ship out on the east coast who is going through their boat like we are ours, and hearing that theirs had a steel cable I was really concerned. But after looking at ours and see how it is made it was designed to have a rope instead of a cable. And with the exception of where the rope goes through the winch drum the rope is in really good shape. There is enough extra that I can shorten the rope to remove the worn area and still have enough to lower the keel. Over all I am really impressed with the design of the keel and how easy it is to access the keel line and repair it if needed.
There is a access opening on the port side to get to the keel line attach point and a small hole on the starboard side to get to the pin. The attach point is a very strong ear about a inch thick that it cast into the keel and since it stays up out of the water 99.9% of the time it is in great shape. I plan on making a plexi glass cover for this access just so I can peak in there every now and then. Helps that I have a scrap piece of 1/4" plexi in the shop looking for a home.
So over all the boat is in great shape for her age. A few stress cracks in the cockpit here and there but nothing that can't be repaired if and when we paint her. Just have to finish out list of repairs and up grades and it will be time to see if she floats. I am curious if there is any water that seeps in around the keel pin bracket bolts. The sealant on them is old and hard. If the leak a lit it will be a fairly easy fix. Both Cindy and I are really looking forward to our first trip on the water. Probably for different reason as Cindy just can't wait to get on the water and I just want to make sure it floats!
