Finally, old man Winter is dead. It was great to get some warm days and plug away at my lists of sail boat chores to get done.
Life Lines
I decided to remove the life lines from the boat. These are the wires that run about waist high around the edge of the sail boat. As the Palani is an older model, the side decks are narrow. While the lifelines define the outline of the sail boat and offer some assistance with your balance, I’m finding it’s easier walking around the deck without them.
At first, my thought was to just “try it out” for a few day sails and then replace them if I felt they were still needed. But as I removed them a number failed (the welds gave way when I used the stanchions as levers to break the seal of the bases and the deck). These pieces are pretty expensive (in my mind), so I’m 90% they’re off the deck for good. When solo sailing I’ll have a line running up the middle line of the deck that my harness will tether to. Much more secure than the life lines.
Epoxy and Fiberglass Tasks
After the removal of the hardware needed when the boat was a cutter rig, I started teaching myself how to work with epoxy and fiberglass. Those first few repairs were ugly to see, but the nice thing about plastic is that you can just overbuild (on non-structural items) and then sand down the excess. It’s a little more work and a waste of material, but I’ll get more efficient as I get to practice. Learning how much filler to add to thicken the epoxy for application is more of an art than a science.
Line Tamers
Added a few line tamers to the cock pit. When done there will be four lines running from the mast to the winch on the cabin top. A line tame is a hook with a small line for attaching the running rig to the cabin backside to keep the lines organized in the cockpit. I have a couple of extras that I will use to hang extra lines in the engine room.
Halyards
Replaced the last two halyards (lines for raising the sails) this week as well. That leaves only the main sheet to be replaced. I’ll do that when I move the mainsheet traveler from the stern to over the cabin roof.
Rigging Project
And that leaves me with my latest issue, the rigger who was changing the sail plan on the boat decided to get a day job. While I’m not any money or having any direct work needing to be done, it is kind of a pain. We had a game plan laid out, and I was going to finish up the last phases in April (as well as get the backstay fixed). Now I have to locate a new rigger to help me with the last of the re-rigging tasks.
Insurance
Finally got the settlement papers for boat repairs. I signed them and returned them to the insurance company. So just waiting on the arrival of the check so I can get up the coast and get the fiberglass work done on the boat. While the insurance will make the boat whole again, it’s been a pain waiting two months for this to happen (and another month of repairs) where I’d rather be sailing.
