The never-ending project to fill my hole in the ocean while bailing it out

Preparing for Season ‘05 ... already

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Description

One of my upcoming winter projects this year will be reconditioning Chip Ahoy's rudder:  there's too much "slop" in it, which means I'll have to disassemble the blade from its housing and shave the housing down a bit. I'd hoped I eliminated that "slop" last year, but failed.

Wally Riddle, while here yesterday, pointed out that my rudder could be pulled up higher out of the water than I've been able to do at my mooring. With even a little of it affected by the water when I thought I'd had it "all the way up," the thunking was annoying, and not doing any good at its pivot point.

Still, there remains the problem of being unable to get it all the way up and out of the water (see the waterline marks in the photos left and above) based on the poor lifting leverage provided in its design. I'm going to have to find a more efficient means than its current attachment point to lift it higher.  (Oct. 27, 2004)

See:   Solving the Rudder Slop Project
See:   Increasing Rudder Lift Leverage

All the lines and sheets are removed, coiled and hung in the enclosed front porch until next spring and the beginning of Sailing Season '05. (Note the snow shovel ready for action just below them!)

This has nothing to do with the boat directly -- it's one of those many annual projects that has gone untended since I got the boat two seasons ago! Finally, I lightly sanded and put another coat of Cetol on the picnic furniture that I bought unfinished and committed myself to a few years ago. Back then I sanded everything down to perfection then applied four coats of Sikkens Cetol. At the end of each season I'd lightly sand and apply an additional coat -- until two years ago. The finish had almost worn through in spots, bare wood had begun to show.   (Oct. 31, 2004)

If I didn't take care of it now, alas it wouldn't make it through another winter without going to seed -- like the other old picnic table (left, and above in greater detail).  Lesson:  You just can't let everything else go untended forever! Like "The Grasshopper and the Ant" fable, there's a lot of catching up to do after a season of fun-time. The refinished picnic table furniture was covered yesterday to protect it from winter. (Chip Ahoy's rudder rests on an old picnic table-turned work bench.  (Nov. 7, 2004)

Three cords of wood are still waiting to be stacked in their racks (left of the pile). Chip Ahoy is parked in the back waiting to be covered. Its mast is between the boat and the house on three sawhorses, also awaiting covering. The "pro" -- Bob Erbetta of Marblehead Structures, Inc.  -- will finally be here this week to build a PVC pipe frame over the boat.

I've got about a cord (covered) left over from last winter so I ought to be all set for the coming winter. With the temperature at a toasty 60° today and no gale winds for first the first day all week, I'm moving right along with my catch-up projects.

My backdoor lean-to cover took a beating Friday with near-hurricane force winds. I've got a new (heavy-duty) tarp that will soon replace this old one, and more firewood needs to be stacked on the pallets.  Yeah, that's the snowblower in the foreground; it resides under the lean-to year-round and started right up this morning!  The "Grasshopper" is steadily catching up to the "Ant"!  (Nov. 7, 2004)

Bob Erbetta of Marblehead Structures came by on Tuesday evening, Nov. 9th, to belatedly inform me that he'd just figured out he "won't be able to cover Chip Ahoy after all and sorry for the three-week delay just to tell you." I thanked him for at least not waiting until December or January before finally letting me know he wasn't going to do the job. I declined his offer to help me put the mast back on top the boat, told him I didn't need his help and won't again in the future either. Wally Riddle and I put the mast back up on top before taking his boat from Nahant to Marblehead the next morning.

This year, after the mast was up and supported, I build a skeleton of rope tied from lifelines, stanchions, cleats, even the jib cars, over the mast and to the opposite side. Hopefully this will disperse the weight of the water, snow and ice, let it fall over the lifelines and off the boat. At this late date (thanks to the utterly unreliable  Bob Erbetta) it's the best I can do.   (Nov. 11, 2004)