Stand up and be counted..

 No I haven't bought a stand up paddle board..

Rubbish tides over the last weekend - 7.30 and 8 quite possibly the worst time for a tide, and they were neaps as well, so not much water..  on Saturday (storm) Hannah was tossing her hair about and having a right teenage strop, so Sunday afternoon late (half four/five was the first I could get aboard) saw me back on the boat to finish the last bits and pieces...

Noticeably cooler than last weekend, but significantly calmer than the day before, the first job was to get the genoa/jib up -  I was interested to see how this was going to look as I had it re-cut over the winter at my local sail maker (Batt Sails) - lots more detail here [clicky]...  long time readers will know I gave the sail three seasons before finally accepting that it really was too big..  it's a fine sail, but 90% of the time I sailed with at least three rolls in purely because the clew was too far back/deep and made short tacking onerous, not to say a pain in the nethers when it caught on the stays.. not only that it was dramatically changing the sail area as three rolls in would remove almost all of the top half of the sail.. anyway job done I was interested to see what the changes were...

Sail went up in a trice, in itself a good thing and indicative that it is smaller in area as previously it would be all over the place while raising it..  luff is perhaps 2 or 3" shorter - which is no bad thing -  and at first sight it looks eminently more manageable..  the cut line is hardly noticeable as it runs the length of the bolt wire..  looking forward to trying it now...

Having done that and rigged the furling rope it was time to tighten up the stays, and that was done as well, but not before losing a screwdriver over the side...   Neptune must have a damn good tool kit by now!

Next/last, on to something that had been niggling, the other genoa fairlead..  the first one had gone in an absolute treat but the niggle was that the other had not and it was offending my inner obsessive compulsive...  these cars go for forty to fifty pounds minimum each, and although it looks like a standard 1" track there's no guarantee a new one would fit, so the decision was taken to modify the current one..  First job, get the old one off.. can't get the car off the track without removing one of the stopper bolts at the end of the track so got my biggest screwdriver, with a spanner to help with torque, and went at it...  and sheared the (bronze? copper?) bolt...  gah (first job for next winter..  there's half a dozen more bolts holding the track so I'm not concerned until then)... either way the car was freed, so I bought it home for some remedial action in the garage..

Before shot..  original car from when the boat was built I'm guessing.. fitted with a tufnol (?) lined bulls-eye fairlead on a 360' swivel..

...took a powered hacksaw to the join and it came off in one, smoothed it off, marked the drill holes for the bolts for the new fairlead (that I had had sitting in my spares box months, if not years, for just this event), drilled them, lightly counter sunk the reverse of the hole so the bolt head would sit flat with the inner surface, and then through bolted..  to keep it neat I then trimmed off the bolts to sit flat with the nut..  job done..  pleased with that, and my obsessive compulsive can now start niggling about the missing end bolt..  

After shot..

Now... can we go sailing please?! 

...and it's up....

...and so the jolly boys convened on a beautiful sunny Monday Bank Holiday for the annual (as that is all three old men can manage) effort, to get a successful (mast) erection.. 

I was on board from 12'ish (HT was 3'ish), and while I waited for the guys to arrive I got on with a few jobs..  First I completed the much needed replacing of the fenders on the tender - I use old fishing floats on a line tie-clipped to the thwart for this, but the old line was frayed beyond being of any use..  all line was replaced, and the floats re-attached with new tie clips..

With time to spare I then moved on to a little job that I really hadn't thought would be quite as successful as it turned out to be..  at the Southampton Boat Show I had bought a couple of stand up block springs with the aim of making the jib sheets run better in the tacks, with a bit of time to spare it was time to see if I could make them work..  50% I would say, as one fitted perfectly due to an old breakage on the sliding car in the past, that had been repaired (successfully) by a previous owner with an eye strap - bottom line the spring was a perfect fit, and I ended up with exactly what I wanted..

Boom! Perfect..

..the other side however still has the original large eye (which I have subsequently found to be called a Bullseye fairlead) which on the port side at some point had sheared and been replaced by that eye strap...   come next winter, or sooner if I can find something, I will do the same or figure out a way of replacing it with something similar as clearly the spring would not fit over the bullseye...

Mine is a considerably older version of this..

....the track is original and 50 years old - I'd rather not have to replace it all, so a replacement car is what I'll be looking for...

...at which point Rod and t'other Dave turned up - this year powered by his new Torqeedo Travel outboard [clicky] which is a thing of some amazement - amazing bit of kit and stupidly quiet...

Now many lessons continue to be learned about this whole process despite the fact that it must be at least the 15th or 20th time we've done it over the years, and this year was absolutely no different, but I am delighted to say up front, that the mast is up, and in terms of "pain in the ar*e'dom" it was a 7 out of 10 year...

Remembering Rod the Mods athletic efforts last year I opted to leave the mast entirely roped down until they were all on board, so happily the windex managed to survive the arrival.. after that,

1. unwrap everything, 
2. make sure all ropes and rigging wires run straight, 
3. slide the mast back, 
4. attach foot to the tabernacle on the top hole, 
5. attach the back stays remembering to run them under the back board (lesson learnt previously),
6. attach the cap shrouds leaving them loose (lesson learnt previously), 
7. attach the A frame feet to the chain plates for the forward lowers
8. attach the rear lowers leaving them loose
9. attach main sheet from bow roller to bottom of A frame peak - ensure it's fast
10. attach jib halyard to top top of A frame peak - ensure it's fast
11. adjust jib sheet so that the A frame sites at about 120' to horizontal (ie. inclined towards cockpit) as that means when the mast is up the A frame is not on the foredeck and you have room to detach..

 ...and then we hauled and up she went to 45' with Rod checking for fouls, and 'tother Dave heaving..  "all stop"..  uh oh...  down again..  new lessons learned for #8 - make sure they are run behind the cap shrouds (or just leave them off, period.. ), hauled again and up she went sweet as a nut...

Forestay was a pain in the wat'sit however, but freed up lots of back stay, freed up the cap shrouds a bit, stood on the roller, and after having lost one clevis in the oggin, Smithy (who had turned up on his kayak) managed to get a full set of washer/pin/washer combo's in and secure... done..

Pork pies and beer were then consumed, libations made to Neptune and the boat for a good season, and having said good bye to the team (seriously - thanks guys, much appreciated) it was tidy up time...  all stays attached and tightened up to support the mast, A frame and crutch cleared away, main sail bent on and hoisted (super happy with the new new sail numbers and class insignia), new sail cover put on (very happy - good quality cloth and manufacture for the price), all squared away, washed the deck and cockpit down, and home in time for fish and chips..  it doesn't get MUCH better.. 

Damn they look good... ooh, and a windex where it should be!

Next - put the jib back on, tension up the stays to the correct levels, and then go sailing..  but not before Storm Hannah rolls through, so aiming at Sunday...

...and we're in....

...thank goodness for that..  need a rest!

...that officially ends the winter maintenance...

...grabbed a couple of hours on Tuesday evening for one final splurge..  managed to get a second coat of paint in the bilges, a coat of paint in the forward bilges, and that officially, is that...   there's no foot fall so hopefully the titivation exercise will be in good shape by the end of the year..  it certainly looks neater...

....I brought the hoover down, so I then finally managed to get the rubbish out of the bottom of the keels, and also out of the transom locker..  it doesn't do anything for the boat, but it makes me feel better!  

Done...   harbour sticker on, and go home for a beer.. 

So this morning I troll up at 9 for my lift-in, and find half a dozen boats on the slipway already..  looks like I was an hour late..  I blame t'other Dave who'd also told me 9, and who trolled up 15 minutes after me, so was even later... 

Just time to whack the engine on the back, load up fuel tank, bag of basics, and she was lifted and plonked on the shingle....  I was going to grab a lift out on the rescue boat to put the mooring gubbins on my buoy, but the tide was haring in so I headed for Sparrow and reclined in the cockpit with a coffee to have a chat with the owners in the boat next to me..

Scarily short time after and with a helpful shove from Ray the beach-master and we slipped off into the harbour, engine burbling happily..

15 minutes later I was on the mooring, putting the gubbins together (and I applied that water proof grease to the shackle again, as that was a success story last lift out)..  time to stop, smell the ozone and the salt (I've missed it), and then, joy of joys, I used the VHF in anger for the first time ever and called up the rescue boat for a lift back to shore..  and it worked!! Amazeballs... 

Beautiful sunny day - fastest lift in ever - 3 hours from arriving to going home -  mast goes up Monday hopefully!

Last check list of the winter.. how did I do?

Well not too damn bad actually... so in addition to the following, I also transferred sails, sail cover, and two humungous cushions (that were going to be thrown out as being too "tatty" but were far too comfortable to do that, and to be honest improved the overall ambience of the cabin - which says a lot about the cabin...)..   we also now have a rather natty "Hurley Owners Association" sticker in the side cabin window..!

1/. Finish the tiller pilot fitting - done...

Rather than use the attachment that came with it, I had a bit of a brain wave, so rather than drilling another two holes in the boat (never a good idea, even above the water line) I've used the eye strap that was already there (that is use for tying off the tiller)

Used a scrap of hard plastic sheet from the spares box to give me a little more clearance and jobs a good'un..  rock solid, but hinges out of the way when not used..  the hook dangles, but it clears the cockpit sides so won't mark...  the cockpit locker opens almost completely in hinged back mode..  a triumph this one...

2/. I have decided a switch IS needed for the dri plug, so that when it's not in use I have an easier way of turning off the magic wand than physically unplugging it...  also done, very pleased with this one as I was again trying to over engineer it - 25mm hole, and the switch was mounted behind the bulkhead, with the actual switch in the cockpit locker just above the plug...

...the washers are over engineered but I happened to have four with the right sized hole..

..there's access through the bulkhead anyway, so I just re-opened the join above the inline fuse and lead one to one side and the other to the otherside of the switch, and got it right first time...

Had to test it with the magic wand of course, and as that was out I connected everything up, and all worked ..  looking forward to trying it in anger..

3/. Windex..  assembled and attached...  I wash my hands now - it is in the hands of fate, but she is as solid as I can now make her...

4/. Coat of floor paint in the bilge over the stringers - one coat on and already looking good - sods law of course as I was painting under first stringer it dislodged some crap I'd missed with the hoover so I've left it, and when it's dry I'll hoover it out before putting in a second coat...  I'll do that one morning/evening this week...

..and as a reminder this is what they looked like before!

5/. If there's time I'll do the tender with any leftover floor paint...  there wasn't unfortunately - Tesco beckoned with open arms (other weekly supermarket shop locations are available)

6/. Stick on the harbour sticker (the topping out ceremony) - funnily enough forgot to do this, but as I'm down for the second cut at some point before I go in Thursday I'll do it then.

Just the two things left then..  second coat, and harbour sticker..  I'll put the mooring back together on Thursday, either when I'm on it, or just before...  mast goes up Easter Monday...  fingers crossed...

Last check list of the winter..

...that appealed to me...  might struggle to make three though... well unless you include family... 

Less than a week to go, one more maintenance day left (Sunday)...  priorities, priorities...  in order...

1/. Finish the tiller pilot fitting - it needs to be screwed to the hinge and the cup hook fitted..

2/. I have decided a switch IS needed for the dri plug, so that when it's not in use I have an easier way of turning off the magic wand than physically unplugging it...  I have a switch, it'll go in the locker behind the plug...

3/. Windex..  shudder...  assemble and connect to the mast head..

4/. Coat of floor paint in the bilge over the stringers, and in the bilge sections in front and behind to keep it neat..

5/. If there's time I'll do the tender with any leftover floor paint...

6/. Stick on the harbour sticker (the topping out ceremony)

Let's see how we get on..