Wednesday 28 Oct, HHN, boat winterizing day 28:
Up at 6:30 this morning. OMG, it’s still dark! And I remember this is what people with jobs often do every day!
This morning I head off to Baltimore Galvanizing to pick up the anchor chain. It’s really a rough looking place, but the people working there are very pleasant. Even before I speak to anyone, I find the forklift approaching Ray’s pickup with the newly galvanized anchor chain ready to load. I have departed again within 10 minutes, $318 lighter in my pocket. Seems reasonably good value for a 100m long heavy chain. Certainly, a fraction of the price for a new one. The galvanizing isn’t as smooth as when the chain was new, but significantly better than the mess of rusty chain I took there 2 weeks ago.
On the way back, I intend to pick up the new hydraulic hoses from Annapolis. But I find the technician hasn’t actually made them yet. Clearly, he is waiting to see my money before he commits his swaging tool onto these expensive stainless-steel end fittings. And it’s a good job, because I notice that although the end fittings are the correct specification, they are much bulkier than the original ones, and the hose diameters are bigger too. This could be a problem, because I have some very tight holes to feed them back through. So, I ask him to hold off and I take some of the fittings to try once back at the boat.
As I drive away, I pretty much decide that I will decline the hoses from here and instead get new ones made by Selden in Sweden and have them delivered via HR-Parts. Then I know they will be the best and will fit correctly. They are not going to be cheap (quote here was $1,300 for 10 hoses) so I’d better get it right.
Just as I’m about to start work for the day, a car rolls slowly to a stop by Cloudy Bay. It’s a gentleman called Mario Bohorguez. He is a fan of Sail Cloudy Bay on YouTube and lives just up the road in Annapolis. He has previously emailed us offering any help we need while we are here. But today here he is, bearing gifts! A Thankyou card, a bottle of Cloudy Bay wine (from New Zealand) and a bottle of the finest Barbados aged rum. So very generous and very unexpected. He says we have totally inspired him and his wife to do similar cruising when they retire. I feel quite humbled. I think I even blushed! We chat for quite a while and I show him around Cloudy Bay. He is thinking quite seriously, on the back of our videos, about purchasing a Hallberg Rassy, and has been looking at several for sale in the local HR dealership here, Free State Yachts. Thanks again Mario, and it was very nice to meet you in person. We’ll meet up again, next time when Oana is here too.
Today is the last nice-dry-warm day before the remnants of Hurricane Zeta arrive tomorrow (it’s hitting New Orleans as a Cat 2 as I write). So, I’m determined to finish painting the outhaul cylinder and also get the last 2 remaining swivels out of the mast for servicing.
After spraying the undercoat, I move my attention to removing the base of the mast, while the paint dries. I need to do this, plus remove some cleats and other fittings, so that I can get the mainsail lower swivel out the bottom of the mast. Not sure I feel good drilling out all these rivets, but it’s certainly a lot easier than removing corroded bolts. And re-riveting should be easy too.
With rivets and some bolts removed, the mast foot comes off with a bit of persuasion from my hammer. And oh boy, what a mess inside. 12 years’ work of everything that got inside the mast and fell to the bottom. Lots of dead bugs, sand (presumably from 8 years in Lanzarote – Sahara sand), remains of hornets’ nest and lots more. It must have been at least 4 inches (12cm) deep in crap! Again, clearly what I’m doing, is ready to be done!
Finally, via quite a bit of destruction on the lower mast, I get the swivel out. And it’s certainly ready for a service, because it doesn’t rotate smoothly at all.
Back to the outhaul cylinder, I spray on the topcoats, in matt black. It’s very satisfying to see the cylinder looking like new again, compared to the rusty mess I removed a week or so back. Man …. I can almost tick off a job as “done” here.
Final task of the daylight is to remove the simple swivel at the top of the luff extrusion. I didn’t even know this existed until I was reading Selden’s in-mast furling manual last evening. The swivel is riveted onto the top end of the luff tube. So again, rivets have to be drilled and punched. I’m going to need a lot of rivets to put this lot back together again.
Just as it gets dark, I have finished putting the 2 swivels through their diesel cleaning bath. They are now ready for a rebuild tomorrow, on the aft deck work area, as it rains outside.
With everything covered up in preparation for tomorrow downpour (they are predicting 3-4” of rain), I head inside for a welcome shower and my favorite childhood food: Heinz Baked Beans and 2 fried eggs on whole wheat toast with plenty of butter. Oh, these childhood joys!
It’s been quite a productive day today. Hence lots of photos to show.
2 comments
Mechanically speaking, the in-mast furling is awesome. Just one very “very” long tube anchored only by the ends holds all the force created by the wind when pushing over the sail when it is fully extended. Nice pictures Glen, cheers!
Yes, its an interesting system when you have it all apart and see what is what. In reality, with the in-mast system, 95% of the sail pressure on the system is still on the mast itself: The luff of the sail is trying to pull that luff tube out the mast and the mast-slot wont let it out. That’s where the main force is. The luff tube itself is tensioned but that tension is only really there to make the furling efficient.
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