When I’m not out sailing, I’ve been chipping away at a long list of projects. The boat was in remarkably good condition to start, but she needs some liberally applied elbow grease and a fair bit of equipment before she'll be ready to head offshore.
The first project I tackled (figuring that my anchoring gear was the most important system on my boat) was overhauling and upgrading all of my ground tackle. When I bought the boat, the primary anchor it had was a 22lb claw - which was in line with the manufacturers recommendations, but hardly a sufficient anchor for cruising down the coast. It had a miserly 30 ft of chain attached to it (which was 5/16" high-test, not half bad!), which would also need supplementing. In the end, I decided on a 45lb CQR and 150ft of 5/16" hot-dip-galvanized high-test chain which ought to allow me to anchor on an all-chain rode most of the time. After the chain, I've got 250ft of nylon rode if I end up needing to anchor in really deep water. I've also got the claw and a 16lb Danforth for backup and kedge anchors should I ever need them.
The first project I tackled (figuring that my anchoring gear was the most important system on my boat) was overhauling and upgrading all of my ground tackle. When I bought the boat, the primary anchor it had was a 22lb claw - which was in line with the manufacturers recommendations, but hardly a sufficient anchor for cruising down the coast. It had a miserly 30 ft of chain attached to it (which was 5/16" high-test, not half bad!), which would also need supplementing. In the end, I decided on a 45lb CQR and 150ft of 5/16" hot-dip-galvanized high-test chain which ought to allow me to anchor on an all-chain rode most of the time. After the chain, I've got 250ft of nylon rode if I end up needing to anchor in really deep water. I've also got the claw and a 16lb Danforth for backup and kedge anchors should I ever need them.
In the process of working through my ground tackle, I found a lot of corroded metal, so I replaced the eye-splice and all the shackles and swivels. I broke out a splicing fid that happened to be left on the boat and I found splicing directions in an old book lent to me by a friend in SLC called The Marlinspike Sailor. I was expecting eye splicing to be exceedingly difficult, but it wasn't half bad. Eye splices are only supposed to degrade the strength of a rope by a few percent whereas a knot can reduce it by 40 or 50%.
Before and after
I was feeling pretty salty at this point
Another day, I decided it was about time to scrub out the bilge, which had been painted a long time ago, but had since built up a good amount of gunk and grime. I'll spare you the pictures, but it was a pretty unsavory task. I also took a day or two to scrub away all the growth and weather staining from the deck, once I can get a rainless day or two lined up, I'm going to give the topsides a good waxing so that I'll have to do less scrubbing the next time around.
The kitchen is one of the greatest areas of deficiency on the boat, both in layout and storage space. There are no drawers for storing utensils and the sink is shallow and in a fairly inaccessible place. Thus, I decided I would build a storage box to store underneath the stove in the foot-well of the starboard berth. It has space for a garbage and excess plates, pots, and pans and also slots for cutlery and silverware. It slides into the foot-well perfectly so that you can access everything once the stove is deployed out. I'm in the process of varnishing it and putting weatherstripping along the lid so that I can store it on deck (and count on the contents staying dry) if someone needs to use that berth. The lid will double as a big cutting board and work space.
Lots of projects stacking up on a rainy day
The kitchen box before stain and hardware
After a few coats of polyurethane...
I also overhauled the bronze water pump, whose leather diaphragm had atrophied to the point that it no longer drew water. After a little strip of spare leather and some bacon grease to seal it off, the pump is working like new again!
You might've noticed that my mast has steps and I've put them to good use in going up to inspect the swages and fittings. The rigging appears to be in good shape. It is oversized and I can't find any serious corrosion, cracking, or split wires. That said, I'm still a bit dubious of it because I know its about 12 years old. I talked to a rigging company about coming out to take a quick look at it, but the $300 price tag for a simple inspection nixed that idea. Instead I bought a couple books on rigging and I've been trying to find someone around the marina that has more extensive knowledge than I. Whether I replace it or not, I'm planning to put together a repair kit in case I need it at sea.
The boat came with a wide variety of different sails and I decided I should practice raising them all to make sure I knew the process and had adequate fasteners. All of the smaller sails show little to no use (the previous owners appear to have been mostly fair-weather sailors) and everything is ready to go.
The storm trysail bent on in place of the main.
My latest accomplishment was the mounting of the Monitor Windvane I bought second-hand last week. It was built in the 80s, but appears to still have plenty of life left. Its built like a tank, with thick stainless steel tubing and good strong linkages. I drilled and sealed all the mounting holes and it is good and snug. I'm excited to put it to use sometime in the next few weeks.
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