Deck Joint Continued

[rfrance0718]

Final test. Since I finished my deck joint overhaul with installation of the new rub rail my work has been through 2 tests. The first was several heavy rainstorms without wetness in the cabin. Before the work, heavy rain would result in water in several places. We would have moisture under, on the shelves behind the settee back rests our cabin cushions and the other was on the floor in the head. 

The second test was sailing the boat in heavy air and chop, when before the work, the combination of a lot of heal and waves pounding the hull would create the same result. On Monday we sailed in 16 knots with 3 foot chop and the cabin, including our new cushions, stayed totally dry.

We had put off replacing the cushions until we got the leaks stopped, so all is well!

It was also nice to have such a nice sail on our first trip of the season. We  sailed on all points of sail, and put in a single reef when it built to about 16 knots. We were using out new jib and it looked great. The luff is a bit long, so not perfect. The fix for that is replacing the fore stay, which needed to be done anyway.

It is two parts, including a pigtail at the top and then the rest of the stay that runs inside of the furler extrusion. I'll get exact lengths when I drop the mast, but I'm thinking that I need to lengthen the stay about 6 inches and then shorten the pigtail by 8 inches. That will give me enough stay length to have good tension along the luff and also allow me to cock the mast forward a bit. The rig has always had a bit too much rake and i had already gone to the end of the existing settings.

With the new jib and improved tuning the boat should handle better than ever, I hope. 


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[Timm R Oday25]

What an awesome feeling that must be . I've been chasing a leak for the better part of 15 years . Finally this spring , I tracked it down to a replacement traveler had new hole drilled through the bridgedeck . Womever installed it never plugged up the old holes from the original traveler !

[rfrance0718]

I should probably be careful about claiming victory.

[Riley Smith]

YAY! Don't you love it when the plan comes together? Note here: There were some planning activities in a past life. Professionally, as in they paid me to scope out jobs and get all the cats herded and lined up to do it. And needless to say, there was often a fly in the ointment. It was a really good feeling when it all went well and you weren't blindsided by what are called in the lingo, "discoveries". (And along with those), my distrust of the whole shebang. Some rules to live by when a project shows over the horizon.
1. It's going to take twice as long as the best estimate. My usual way of bidding time was to figure out how long it would take me and then doubling and maybe tripling the estimate.
2. It's going to cost twice as much. (Don't whine, it could be 10X)
3. Nothing is going to come easy and you'll have to move heaven and earth to get the dang thing done. Include here the people that were SUPPOSED to know what was going going on and didn't have a clue.

But sometimes Providence smiles and you bask in the glow, or in this case, the dry interior!

[Wayne Howard]

Famous Project Lie:

I need 5 minutes of your time.

[Norm L.]

What I really like is that you were out in weather and took a bit of a beating and it stayed dry. Who knows how much historic flexing in an old boat may bring a leak or two back. But by your time-consuming process I think you will be good for a good while.

As I have told customers, if you want to save time you have to spend money. If you want to save money you have to spend time. You could have sent to boat to a yacht yard for those repairs, gotten it done quickly, and rested. Except for getting a second job to pay the yard.

Leslie loves to give me easy jobs, then I set aside a half day.