Water and Stove

On Saturday we took the boat out for a sunset sail with my coworkers,
Ellen, Danielle, and Josh. We had a short sail, then went over to
Cantler's for some crabs. Josh suffered rope burn during our sail, but
it turns out that a cold beer in the hand is a good treatment!

Suzan cleaned the oven yesterday, while I took on 150 gallons of
filtered water. This week we will load on provisions and clothes for
the trip.

Nearly Ready

After replacing batteries in our personal strobes we have completed
our boat checklist. We just need to work on provisioning and doing
some cleaning to prepare for our guest crew. Two weeks to go...

MOB Pole

Will and I installed the new MOB Pole on Monday evening.

Liferaft

Over the weekend Jim helped me get the liferaft onboard and into its
cradle. We also brought a spare genoa onboard, and set up the dinghy.
We ran the outboard for an hour around the creek to make sure that it
is running reliably.

To Do List

The to do list is getting shorter each weekend. This weekend we bent
on the high cut jib (good in waves and higher wind ranges), rigged the
inner forestay, and repaired the mainsail furler electronics. I also
built a new emergency tiller to replace the rusted out one that came
with the boat. Phew, that was a big weekend!

Hatch Gasket

Another little issue popped up over the weekend when I was laying in my bunk. We had a rain shower in the morning and I was awakened by drops of water hitting my forehead (after I had closed the hatch). Our hatches are made by Bomar, so I looked them up on the web, and I was able to order new gasket material. Hopefully, replacing this gasket will cure the leak.

In Mast Furler Problem

A few weeks ago we noticed that our electric furler for the main sail was only working in one direction. Last weekend I checked the control switch, which turns out to be working fine. Next I checked the control box to see if I could hear the solenoids clicking. I only hear the click when we actuate the system in one direction. Next, I opened up the control box, and traced the problem to a potted board which accepts the signal from the switch, performs load limiting, and sends the signal to the solenoids. This system is about 25 years old, from Hood which is no longer in the furler business. Getting a part is pretty unlikely, so I am looking into a way to just drive the solenoid directly from the switch. The only issue is that we have to be careful to avoid overloading the system, because there won't be any protection.