Little make do and mend session..

With neaps at the moment, and a 9 o'clock high tide on Sunday, coupled with baby sitting the grandson and it meant no opportunity to go sailing...   needs must though and I managed to get put to the boat in the afternoon for a couple of hours of faffing round, err, essential maintenance...  

First off - I had recently got lucky on eBay with a pair of decent blocks that I intended to use for the genoa sheets - the old ones were OK, but largely plastic, and the friction level was fairly high - the new ones (Barton, 45mm, swivel type) are more robust, and the sheaves turn more lightly....  I swapped the old ones over for these new ones..  what I'm hoping for is that this will give a faster recovery of sheets through the tack - one of the problems I am seeing is that the sheets are now so long so as to accommodate the bigger genoa that the sheets are dragging as I go through the tack - so I have to manually free them half way through the tack ... I'm also thinking that when I upgrade the sheets - which I will do as they are on the short side - I may also go for a slightly smaller diameter as the current ones are fairly big, 10mm or 12mm, when 8mm might do just as well...

Second, I'd ordered some new line to replace the furling line for the genoa - the new sail (being bigger) uses a lot more line on the drum when fully out - either way, 15 mtrs of 6mm braid on braid will be more than plenty...  this was fitted and I also took the opportunity to use one of the blocks I freed up by the genoa sheet upgrade to replace a furling line pulley (which looked like one of those blocks you used to use for washing lines in the old days!)...  should also be a net improvement....

Lastly I took the opportunity to do a job I've been wanting to do for ages - I've finally drilled the stem fitting for a pin to hold the mooring chain in the fitting - just need to get a pin to fit....

Last I had a good look at the cabin top as I still want to lead the lines aft for main halyard and topping lift - my problem is the mushroom vents - this is an old picture but shows the issue...

• the handrails go right forward, thus blocking off the area outside of the them to feed lines (unless I feed the lines under the rails)
• the area between the hatch sliders is blocked off
• which leaves the gap between hatch sliders and rails - which the vents sit right in the middle of...!

I reckon I have about 2" or so between vent and hatch slider, and even less than that when the hatch is full open.... the issue is that the lines might catch under the vent cover, or hatch....  more thought is needed...

I have Friday off for some sailing - midday tide, not looking to exactly be gale force, but it does look sunny...