OK, boat geek out time.

We were working on maintenance projects (as usual) today.  Ann is polishing still.  I decided to tackle the leaky chainplate.  I’ve re-bedded this thing about 8 times since Mexico and it keeps leaking.  I think I might have found a solution – but that’s not the neat trick.

I was unscrewing the screws that hold the chainplate covers down on the deck (four very small screws) and as I got to the last one the head twisted off.  Oh, great!   It’s about 1/16 wide and 1 inch long and broke flush with the deck.  Nothing to grab onto with pliers.  I tried to drill a hole in the end of it to insert a screw extractor, but it was too small and stainless steel is too hard.  Usually the only solution is to start hacking away around the screw until there’s a big enough hole to grab it with vicegrips and twist out.  The only problem with that solution is then you have to fill the huge hole that is left with epoxy and let it cure for a couple days and then redrill the hole, etc., delaying the whole project a couple days.

But…a mechanic friend once told me about a trick that I used successfully today.  When you have a situation like this, you put a cutting wheel on your trusty Dremel tool and cut a groove on the top of the screw.  Then using a standard head screwdriver you can back the screw out.  It was a very awkward angle I was left with but – Yay – the trick worked.

Try it sometime when you have nothing to lose.  It works!

Yup, I beat Ann again in cards! That’s six to two.

Oh, wait that’s not it. We’re lucky in that we’ve been married for one glorious year so far. Yup, that’s it! Tonight we officially celebrated that with a lovely dinner out at Amici’s (late celebration but lots of fun…had to wait for a break in the weather and the boat work). Really nice Italian food and spectacular desserts! Ann had a monster Mocha something or other and I had a chocolate, pistacio sundae with whipped cream, sliced almonds and Frangelico poured over.

Just for the fun of it...a picture from our actual anniversary and the lovely brunch on Orcinius!

Ann is doing the final polishing of the cabin top now that the varnishing is done and the tape is coming off. She has also starting the provisioning and today also cooked up some peppers to make three large jars of pepperocini. You can’t find it anywhere in NZ or Fiji and it adds so much to canned tuna which is a convenient lunch staple when we’re cruising.

Lately, I had a bit of a triumph today when I was able to take apart the hydro gen. I bought a bearing puller a couple years ago and haven’t had a chance to use it until today when it was called upon twice (!) for duty in pulling the casing apart and then a recalcitrant bearing. Yay! I have a bearing replacement kit so that’s good. The bad news is the Ferris Hamilton unit has the crappiest paint you can imagine for something that’s made for sea-going use, so I’m going to have to strip it and start from primer with a proper paint job. That will add a few days to the project.

Lots of other stuff getting done. Looks like we’re a week or so from being ready to leave for the tropics. Well, at least ready for a weather window for leaving. The reality is it may be a few weeks before there is favorable weather for the ten day voyage back up to Fiji.

OK, that’s enough for now. See you later.

Today, Ann had the dubious pleasure of going into the “pit”.  This area of Charisma is also known as the lazarette but when you see the pictures, you’ll get the idea.

One of the items on our project list is – “tighten wind vane bolts”.  It’s one of those projects that sounds simple, but the reality is this:  you have to empty the lazarette of all the junk that accumulates down there; you have to remove some cockpit drain plumbing and then someone “slim of frame” (note: this is not me) has to slither into the “laz”, then aft pass the steering gear to the farthest aft reaches of the boat to hold a socket wrench against the bolts that hold “Wilson” firmly to Charisma.  Check out the process.

Everything has to come out before we can go in.

Some of the stuff even has to go on the dock.

Here we go, got the headlamp on and everything.

You know I give Ann all the fun jobs. Here she's about to enjoy lazaretto diving with her socket wrench.

All I can say is; “Ah Oh!”

"Did the big one go with the little one, or the wide one?"

Fortunately, I had a picture of what it looked like before I took it apart.

We’re celebrating today.  Three days of winch tear-down and eight winches.  Done.   Now onto those other projects…

The storm blew through last night.  Lots of rain and wind into the high 30’s but no damage at least around here.  Today was partly cloudy with occasional rain so we couldn’t finish the exterior varnishing, but I have the dorade boxes and some wood frame screens up in the workshop where I can varnish those without threat of rain.

Two other projects:

1. Lisa gave us a couple hard drives with movies and we spent some time downloading them to our drive so we have some “rainy day” entertainment.

2. Winch maintenance.  All the winches need some work, but the big cockpit winches haven’t been overhauled down to the gears in a few years.  It’s very time consuming, detail work, but cleaning out all the old grease and crud helps the winches last longer and work better.  We got the starboard one done.  Tomorrow the port side and maybe a couple others.  Depends on the weather which is supposed to be cloudy with some rain all weekend

The gears were pretty cruddy. I did the rough clean with a toothbrush in mineral spirits and then Ann used polish for the detail clean.

The trick is remembering where all the little gears, bearings and shafts go back together. I lay them on a towel on the deck in the same configuration as they come off.

Here's the brains of the operation. No, not me - the thing in my hand. This has four pawls with little tiny springs that engage the gears and let the winch operate at two different speeds. The trick is not to let the little springs fly out over the side when you're disassembling the thing.

Back in the water!  No more climbing up and down the ladder just to go to the toilet.  Yipes.  It was fun once, some years ago, but I’m over it (as is Ann).

So…we’re back in the water just in time for the remnants of a tropical cyclone to pass over us (not Passover).  Heavy rain should hit at midnight tonight and maybe some wind, but since we’re on an inland river, maybe not too bad.  On the coast they might get over 60 knots of wind and 25+ foot seas.

We’re happy to be back in the water.  We’re snugged up tight.  I put chafe gear on all the lines and tied anything that was loose to the deck.  More tomorrow…

Here's what we're looking at for 0600 tomorrow morning.

Always great to take that crane ride back to the water. Charisma's looking good with a new coat of bottom paint and waxed and buffed topsides. (Photo credit: Lisa Danger, Orcinius)

I think "Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy" comes to mind. (Photo credit: Lisa Danger, Orcinius)

Setting up to back in the dock. (Photo credit: Lisa Danger, Orcinius)

Whew, back in - no crashing. Those of you who know Tayana know that backing in is not a trivial exercise. Especially with wind and a 1 knot river current. Many thanks to those who came to manage our lines! (Photo credit: Lisa Danger, Orcinius)

As I have written this the wind is starting to come up (2200 local time) and the barometer has dropped 15 mb since this morning!

Bring it on!  We tucked in and going to watch a movie tonight on board.  Possibly with some Scotch, Baileys and chocolate.  Yay for cyclones!

Yup, a day early.  We’re done with the “out of the water” stuff.  Ann has finished polishing the hull and the bottom paint is on.  She timed the final polishing in between squalls today polishing in the lighter areas of rain.  What a trooper!

We’re hoping to get in the water before the remains of a cyclone that’s due to hit New Zealand gets here.  Looks like it will start mid-tomorrow and go through the next day (Friday here, Thursday in the US).  For our area, heavy rain and wind into the 30’s is what’s in the forecast.  Further south though, NZ will see some 50+ knot winds.

All the new varnish on the deck looked so good Ann convinced me to completely strip all the dorade boxes. More work (strip, sand, bleach, sand, sand sand) but they are going to look great. First of four coats went on today (the picture is after stripping and bleaching, but before three rounds of progressively finer sanding).

Spraying on the paint...

Charisma is looking good with new bottom paint, and polished hull.