Sunday 25 Oct, HHN, boat winterizing day 25:
Woke to the sound of rain hammering on the tent at 6am. Indoors work only today, it’s only 9degC outside, brrrrr! “Indoors” also includes the aft deck workshop, inside the tent.
First job is to put back together the lower genoa and cutter swivels, and also the mast halyard swivel that we took out and cleaned just yesterday. It’s a nice feeling to be putting something back together again after weeks of only tearing things apart and cleaning. The only real difficult part about rebuilding these swivels is inserting the individual balls into their bearing races.
It’s a numbers game: the trick being to get more balls into the race than balls that fall out again … until finally you win the game of attrition and get each race with a full compliment of the blighters! Actually, that’s how it went with the first one, but then I got smart: by pasting a good dollop of Selden grease in the race and planting each ball into the goo, the stickiness stopped them falling out. And of course, by the end of the operation my hands are just as greased as the bearings themselves. But at least it’s clean grease today!
The only odd event is on the genoa swivel, where I appear to have one ball too many! But how the hell can that be? Lose balls, yes. But gain balls? How? And I’m so convinced my eyes are deceiving me that I force the extra ball in and close it all up, only to find it doesn’t swivel smoothly – the balls are now too jammed-in to allow smooth rotating. And of course, to get a single ball back out ends up with ALL the balls falling out again. Little buggers! While I’m doing all this, I am listening to my music collection (on shuffle) and just at this point the song that comes on is Elton John’s Pin Ball Wizard. Creepy eh?
Once all 3 swivels are finished (each with 2 ball races), I stack them with all the other large pieces of rigging that are polished and ready to go. There is getting to be quite a collection here on the aft deck – like a stack of shining trophies …. trophies of my efforts.
Next, is a small job – to fit the sheaves back into the boom end fittings which I took out and cleaned up last night. Making sure the worn sheave is put in one of the positions that barely operates. I like simple jobs for a change.
By now I’m getting pretty chilly. I’m just not used to being in 10 degC air, and now I’m almost shivering. So the workshop, tools and me, all move inside for a hot coffee.
The inside job for today is to take a very close look at the multipurpose masthead antenna, which I removed 2 days ago, to decide if we need to replace it or not. It all worked OK, but it looks very tired after 12 years exposure to the weather and low latitude intense sun. Some of the plastic parts have cracks, and there are severe rust stains wherever the stainless antenna parts enter the plastic.
This antenna is called a Pacific Delta-22, made by a company called RR-Electronic in Germany. It provides us with signals for: VHF radio, AIS, DSC, SSB, AM/FM, TV and GSM via an additional array of electronic boxes and gizmos below decks. But last week I found that this original manufacturer no longer exists. Then my man in HR-Parts (thanks Ludvig!) managed to get hold of another company who now makes the products. Sadly, parts for my antenna are no longer available and the equivalent modern full replacement is a staggering Euros 2,500! So today I’m quite incentivized to resurrect our current one.
As I take it apart, I discover the simple electronics inside look in pretty good condition. There are a couple of corroded solder joints that I easily re-solder, but other than that the antenna is fine internally. I also check insulation and continuity from the PCBs to the actual antennas, and that seems good too. So, I set about gluing the cracked plastic parts, cleaning off the rust marks, polishing the stainless bits, and finally wrapping the more delicate plastic parts in self amalgamating tape to seal them up and give sun protection for a few more years.
With the rest of the plastic polished and the electronics resealed in Dowel compound, it’s all ready for rebuilding. But for now I’ll leave it in parts, because once it’s all back together with antennas protruding in all directions, it becomes hard to stow. I really need to test it though. I wouldn’t like to find out it doesn’t work (as things often happen, after I tinker with them!) only after the mast is back up. Trouble is, all the coax cables are inside the mast right now. Hmmm …. thinking cap needed.
In the process of doing this antenna, I’m shocked at how quickly I’ve made a total mess in what was my nice clean saloon. A big evening tidy up is in order because tomorrow I have VIP guests arriving from Denmark: Mr & Mrs Elvstrom! Mainsail, Genoa and their kid, Cutter (AKA 3 new sails ). The saloon must be clean and have a clear space to accommodate them. They are a large family, and once in place on the saloon floor, free movement is going to become quite restricted.
I go to bed quite excited to receive the new sails. I just wish Cloudy Bay was on the water and with a mast to put them up. I can’t wait to sail with them. Well, I also want Oana to be with me when we first use them, they are her sails too. Getting a new set of sails for a yacht is like getting a new engine for your cherished automobile. Well, I guess no one does that these days … Like getting a new kitchen installed maybe? Whatever, I’m very excited!