The Snowball Effect

As we get closer to launching the boat we seem to be ticking finished jobs off the list faster and faster.
Not quite at the speed of light, perhaps more of a snail's pace, but still faster than they were.

A BIG job that we ticked off recently was putting the mast back on, complete with new rigging and electrical wiring.
Using the original mast we had to thread several wires through two small conduits inside it. Also several larger
pieces of running rigging went up through the main body of the mast. All had to be free from tangles and move easily.Then we had to attach our new standing rigging to the top of the mast and to the spreaders, in correct order and with a fairly accurate estimate of what their finished length should be.

The red line's connected to the.....??

Raising the mast onto the boat took a crane to lift it and to hold the weight of it while it was guided into place.

 

 Raising it.

 

 

 Placing it.

 

 Making sure it stays put.

We temporarily kept it up with lines attached from the top of the mast to each corner of the boat until we could get the standing rigging attached to the chainplates on the body of the boat.  We were so glad that George of sister ship Grace was nearby as his help and advice made what could have been a painful learning experience fairly easy and straightforward. It could otherwise have ended in tears! Thank you George :-)


With the mast up we were able to put the boom and mainsail on, then our brand new furler and our head sail. She is looking like a sail boat again!

By golly! It IS a sailboat!

This was a huge psychological boost made even bigger when we finally got the antifouling paint on the hull. Isn't she lovely!

 

 Boat for Sail

Every day life

During the summer we have had tarps covering the boat in a vain attempt to keep some of the heat out. A side result of this is that it also kept the rain off. So we couldn't pin point where the leaks in our windows were.
Taking the tarp off for Hurricane Irene and the downpour that came with her fixed that dilemma for us - nearly every window had a leak somewhere! This, after twice trying fix the problem.
We think we have it licked now though. We have caulked all around the outside of each window with 3M 4000 UV, as well as taking out each screw and injecting the 4000 into each screw hole. So far, fingers crossed, no leaks.

                                                                             

                                                                                     

 Taping around the outside of the windows

 Screws replaced after filling holes with black 3M 4000

We woke up one morning to find this handsome spider had spun a web from our car radio antenna to the ground below. I'd reckon 2.5 - 3 inches in length. 

Over-packaging, perhaps? The tiny item in the center of the picture is all that was in this postal delivery.

In another lifetime I think I would like to work with wood. Look at the difference between the sun-bleached, scruffy wooden seat above and another one that has had nothing done but been sanded. Once they get varnished again they will look like new.