Seems like there are a lot of those 😉

But, that’s the reality of living in a boat that really sails. There is a lot of wear and tear. I’m fairly convinced that a month of cruising takes about a year’s toll of regular day sailing (the kind where you sail on weekends) on a boat.

Anyway…today we did the following:

-Ann took out all the cushions and laundered the covers and washed the foam. They all had saltwater on them and would never dry out unless we could remove the salt. Unfortunately the sun decided to hide behind some clouds so the cushions are not completely dry – here’s hoping for a sunny day tomorrow! -Ann cleaned all of the shelves on the port side of the boat. This is the side where the chainplate keeps leaking so mold and mildew can be a problem. So all shelves and the shuttered doors got a good scrubbing. -Ann did laundry -I bought some boat parts that we haven’t been able to find. Fairly trivial but very important stuff that we haven’t been able to source in Polynesia like clevis pins and cotter pins. -Had a rigger down and he did an end for end on the main and jib halyards and put new splices in them. I can splice, but for such an important splice I wanted a pro job -I re-did the tag line on the yankee jib. There was a 3/16 wire. It was fraying and I didn’t like how it chaffed the headfoil when it furled, so I changed over to Dyneema which I spent a couple hours putting two splices in (Ann says they look very professional and she watched the do-it-yourself YouTube video so she should know). It’s much softer and won’t damage the headfoil as much. -The rigger and I took off the backstay adjuster. We have a Harken mechanical adjuster and about the time we left Mexico it jammed. I’m guessing the grease inside mixed with salt and just created a glue, but will know tomorrow after the rigger takes it apart. I would have done it, but it takes a specialized tool that I didn’t want to have to fabricate for just one use when for 30 bucks (the cost in time he’ll spend opening it) I can get him to do it.

I think we did a couple other things but they escape me for now. More stuff for tomorrow. The dinghy motor is getting a new prop and I’m getting a block and tackle rig so I can haul myself up the mast. I need to change the steaming light and in general want to be able to go aloft when need be. I’m also going to have the rigger do a “one hour inspection” of the rig. They were offering this for $30. I’m going to get him to go to the top and come down inspecting all the swage fittings to make sure none are failing.

OK, enough techie boat talk for now. I WILL at some point write up a “what works/doesn’t work” bit, but for later.

Ta ta for now.