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.

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. 

Jon when he just got back from his walking and bus trip to Fisheries

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!

New bobstay next to the old

 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. 

  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!

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.

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.

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!