On Tuesday Jon and I finished rigging up the windvane with all new blocks and spectra line. It runs very smooth now. The broker who is always on the dock even asked us if it was new! Its amazing what a little elbow grease and never-dull can do!
Jon started on finishing the wood for the aft cabin, but I left it out in the rain and the wood warped
and twisted. opps :/ My Bad. He had to punt on that, it will just have to wait till we are back in Cali.
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it is no longer square :/ |
We spent the rest of the day trying to come to a conclusion of what we were going to do about our rigging situation. We finally decided that we would replace the bobstay, outer shrouds and backstay. Jon did our old boat TARA with the hi-mod mechanical fittings and really liked them. The next morning Jon hiked it to the bus station and made his way to fisheries to buy all the wire needed and all the fittings. Fisheries was short one fitting and was put on back order. Once he made it back to the boat we got to work on the bobstay so that we could at least go sailing while Jon’s sister Tess and her husband Jason and their boy Troy were here.
When the family got here we made use of their truck and went out to fill up the propane tanks and jerry cans along with getting found for the next couple of days. By the time Jason and I were back to the boat the bobstay was done! It looks so new and shinny!
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New bobstay next to the old |
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all done and looks AND works great! |
We made dinner and hung out on the deck till it was time for bed. On Thursday morning we took our time getting up and running allowing the wind to pick up and the sun to come out. We heading out with Troy at the helm, our destination was Quartermaer Harbor for the afternoon. We had just enough wind to move us along at 3.5 knts.
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Troy boy at the helm |
When we dropped the hook we ate some lunch and dove into the warm water. The temp was reading 70.5, and the sun was out, making it a perfect afternoon! We pulled the hook and found a stray trying to hitch a ride back to Tacoma, a big old shrimp!
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Jason and the stow-a-way |
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Tess and Jason |
We headed back to port with the auto pilot doing its thing and Jason playing the guitar. Right before we got to the bridge we hoisted Tess up the mast. ( She wanted to get a shot from up there while so close to the top of the bridge) We left here up there till we were all tied up in our slip.
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Tess at the top of the mast |
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Cool shot of Prism coming into her slip
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We went out to dinner and by the time we got back to the boat we were all pooped! All day in the sun really did us in and we were all asleep by 10. The next morning we joined Tess, Jason and Troy for breakfast, said our good byes as they headed to sight see in Seattle and then go camping on Rainier.
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The Erdman Family on the glass bridge |
Jon and I did not waste anytime getting started on replacing out outer stays. Jon said we would knock it out and be done by 2 with the rest of the day to relax. HA! The rigging went very smooth, no hick-ups or set backs, but we did not finished till after 6pm. 🙂
Our rigging process:
-Secure the main halyard to the side that we plan on working on first. (STBD side)
-Mark with tape where the turn buckles are tuned ( so we know how much to tighten the new wire)
-Send Jon up the mast, we used the windlass to winch him up cause he went up 3 times and I don’t have it in me to hoist him up that many times. 🙂
-Loosen the turn buckle just enough to get it off the spreader.
-Jon tied the end of the stay with a rope so it does not come crashing down. and I slowly bring him down
-Lay the old stay down and measure, and measure
-Measure the new wire, 3 or 4 times, and then measure again
-Tape the part of the wire ( which will be the 2 new ends) and using a hacksaw, saw the wire at the correct length.
-Spread the wire out, place the cone on the inner coil and then place the sprawled out wire on the fitting with the teeth, twist and screw on the fitting.
-Take the fitting off to make sure all the wire set correctly and nothing moved, if it looks good screw on the fitting again
-Screw on the turn buckle and make sure the threads are even
-Attach to the chain plate but do not tighten the turn buckle
coil and put the wire on deck, make sure it has a clear path when you start to bring it up the mast
-Sent Jon back to the top, he attached the top fitting to the tang
-Moved down to the spreader, placed the new stay in pace
-Now I tightened the turn buckle making sure the threads stay even
-Move the main halyard to the other side and repeat
-Once both sides were on Jon did the last tune and tightening of the turn buckles
DONE!
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Jon and the mast climber |
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old stay laid out to be measured |
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the wire split apart ready for the fitting |
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the cone around the center coil and the outer wire in the teeth |
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the fitting screwed on and all the wires in place. Perfect! |
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laying out the port side, measuring |
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new stay attached to the chain plate and ready to be raised |
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He also cleaned the bottom side of our spreaders while he was up there |
Jon left for Alaska today, and will be back on the 16th. On the 17th we are heading out on our cruise. First stop will be Seattle so we can pick up the last fitting we need to finish the back stay. Then it is the San Juan Islands then we are making the left and sailing home.