Holding...

When last I wrote, the big item left to check off before departure was to get the VHF/AIS working. Some testing showed that the transmission lines were bad in each mast. Monday, December 9th,  Hansen Rigging came to the boat intending to replace the lines without pulling the masts out of the boat. That attempt failed. The coax cable in the main would not come loose. We decided to pull the masts. The earliest opportunity would be Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Mario was busily working on the anchor roller assembly. It was coming together well - a bright spot in the ensuing chaos.

On Wednesday, I pulled the boat back into the boatyard to have the masts pulled out. It seemed like a pretty straightforward procedure - pull the masts, remove the old transmission lines, install the new ones and drop the masts back into the boat. At worst, it should be a two day effort.

It was not to be. It took almost four hours to pull the main. The main mast goes through the cabin top and is seated on the keel. There is a small gap between the mast and the cabin top that has to be sealed to keep water from running into the cabin. The gap was sealed with a new Spartite collar when I had the standing rigging replaced and the masts reinstalled in the boat. Spartite is one of those miracle compounds that is poured into place and allowed to cure. The result is a collar that exactly fits the space. It is also somewhat adhesive so part of the procedure for pouring the collar is to coat the sides of the hole through the cabin top with a release agent - some sort of slippery agent that keeps the Spartite from bonding to the cabin top. Apparently, the release agent was not properly applied and the collar did bond to the cabin top. When the crane went to pull the mast out of the boat, it lifted the entire boat up a few inches before we realized that the mast was not going to come out easily. When it did finally come loose, it pulled the old coating from the hole around the mast along with the mast. Messy - but fairly easily repaired. In the picture above, right, you can see the hole through the cabin top and a fragment of the collar. Below, left, is a closeup of the hole from below decks.

With the mast lying on horses, the riggers tried again to pull the transmission line. Unfortunately, it had been installed in such a way the it was necessary to pull all of the wires out of the mast. Hansen carted the mast off to their shop to work on it still thinking that the mast would be back in the boat by Friday.










While all this was going on, I moved the boat back to Mario's slip so he could finish the installation of the anchor roller assembly. Here he is at the right, welding the assembly to the anchor roller platform. It is SO much better than the old arrangement - it is much stronger and it will work when the boat is yawing and pitching during anchor deployment and retrieval.





That done, I moved the boat back to the boat yard so their worker could repair the damaged hole in the cabin top.

Friday came. Along with it came the news that the mast could not be ready before next Wednesday, December 18th. Some parts are needed that are not readily available. When they do arrive it will take some time to install them.

So, there is nothing to do but to postpone the departure. Even if the mast is in place on the 18th, it looks like there will be high winds offshore for the next several days so that pushes the departure even farther down the road. It now looks like the earliest I could reasonably hope to depart would be the 21st. That would mean Christmas at sea instead of being with Judy and other family members.

That left me without a place to keep the boat unless I signed up for a $45/day slip at a nearby marina. The boat yard people suggested that I ask Mario if I could sublet from him. He agreed to that saying that the slip will be unused until after New Year. When I asked him what he wanted for rent, he offered it for free! What a generous act of kindness - but it doesn't seem quite fair to him since I am using about $5/day of electricity to heat the boat. He suggested that I give him whatever I think is fair.

The boat yard had finished the repairs by then, so I pulled back into Mario's slip. That gave me the opportunity to install the anchor into the anchor roller assembly and see the finished product. See the picture to the right.





The change in schedule affects more than just me. Howard Brunnings was planning to come with me to San Diego. He had made arrangements to be off work for the trip. I don't know if he will be able to rearrange things to be able to go later. He also wants to be with family at Christmas so leaving on the 21st would not be an option. It is not clear whether he will be able to rearrange his life to accommodate this latest change.

It looks like the earliest possibility will be after Christmas. The good news it that it will give me some time to do some rearranging of storage and take care of some projects that I was going to postpone until San Diego. It will also give me some time for a better shakedown. I can move the boat to Sausalito and do day sail trips outside the Golden Gate. I may move the boat to Pilar Point Marina in Half Moon Bay where I can anchor out while waiting for the next break in the weather.

Once again, everything is up in the air. Stay tuned...