The best laid schemes of mice and men.....

My reader(s) may have wondered where I've been for the last three months, but I have a good excuse.  Stage 4 Colon Cancer - beat that with a stick.  I felt a little run down during the summer and went to my GP.  The short story is 2 operations, ascending and transverse colon removed (the necessary bits are still there), 21 days in hospital and am now on my second dose of chemo.  Over all feeling pretty good.  I'm blessed to have an amazing wife, great friends, good insurance and outstanding doctors and medical professionals.  The prognosis has gone from "not good"  to "not so bad".  The next year will tell a lot.  The boat plan is as follows;

1.  Continue to work on the boat to the existing standard with one of two possible ends;

      a.  Lynne and I will go cruising when I am cured.
      b.  The boat will be sold at some time in the future if plan a. does not work out.

I am quietly positive that plan a. is the one. 

So, dear reader(s) I will take all the good wishes, prayers from any source, Voudou incantations etc. that are sent my way.  After that the blog will revert to boat work.  If anyone wishes to put their name of a short list to buy the boat, that would be perfectly acceptable as long as you have a long time horizon.  If and when she is sold the sale price will not be the deciding factor.  I will be looking for a kindred spirit with the resources to finish the project.

If there has to be a positive side affect of being turned into a pinata by a bunch of surgeons is an almost immediate weight loss.  In my case a well needed 30lbs in 20 days.  That's me to the right of the pig.

Taking a break from boatwork for the next few months....

to sort out a few issues.  Plan to resume early 2012.

PB200 - Major extravagance....

Sailors can be poor, cheap or both.  I am firmly in the last group.  It is therefore with much trepidation I dropped 10 boat bucks on an Airmar PB200.

The thought of this lovely piece of technology perched on top of my mast, in the way of lightning, bird poop, UV rays and bridges is enough to cause me sleepless nights.

If you haven't heard about the PB200  Click here.

Its main task will be to drive the autopilot under sail.  For that reason alone I think its worth the money.

Mast overhaul....

When I splashed TIH three years ago, I re rigged the mast but did not overhaul the fittings.  I took the opportunity during this hurricane season to pull the mast again and carry out some work.  This will include adding 32 mast steps (folding type), overhauling the sheaves and replacing the tangs.

 

I am still trying to ID the mast manufacturer, all suggestions welcome.  Dimensions are 9 7/8" by 6 3/8".

I will install a spinnaker bail on the forward end of the masthead (right hand side of this photo). This is to take a roller furling Code Zero (Facnor FX 2500). 

I really, really want to remove the SS bolts that hold the tangs on the mast (masthead and spreader) but they are proving a bear to move.  The Kroil releasing fluid is excellent.

Spreader holder.  The four rivets on the upper side had corroded away.

Spinnaker boom track.

Masthead sheaves (2 by 5"diameter by 3/4" rope sheave + 1 by 5"diameter by 1/2" wire sheave in the middle.  As I don't plan to use wire halyards I may try and swap this sheave out.

Dual backstay connection.

Movable goosneck connection for boom.

New Rocna owners getting their act together...

Canada Metals

Working on OPBs' (Other peoples boats)...

So not much time for TIH.  I did manage to get the mast pulled.  Three years ago (time flies when you etc.) when I splashed TIH the mast was stepped with new rigging and new wiring in the usual  boatyard scramble.  I had always planned to have a second go at some of the 34yo fittings.

The first part is the very nice fiberglass mast step molded into the hull.  For any W42 owner who has not gotten up close and personal with these, this is what you will face.

Mast step which may or may not have an aluminum plate on the bottom.  Teak chocks to stop the base of the mast moving around.

Aluminum plate removed.

Chocks removed.  They may have been gooped in place at some stage but I'm not sure it was necessary.

Now the fun part.  The holes (arrowed) were the original limber (drain) holes which are;

a.  Too small
b.  Covered by the aluminum
c.  Then covered by the chocks.

This resulted in a nice stagnant pool of water covering the base of the mast.

I have now drilled 4 larger holes, enlarged the originals, I will notch the aluminum plate and ensure the chocks do not obstruct the drain holes.

A tale of two anchors.....

TIH came with two 45lb CQR anchors.  One I traded and the second one has hung on the bow for the last three years.  These are not my favorite anchors but I know they do have their supporters.   My anchor of choice was to be the ROCNA with a possibility of the very similar MANSON as an alternative.  ROCNA has recently been in the wars due the use of a lower spec steel after it outsourced production to China, see;

http://www.sail-world.com/multimedia/RocnaRecallAugust20111.pdf

I'm not convinced that the issue is major but ROCNA appears to have made little or no effort to address the situation. As a result I am happy to default to the 60lb MANSON.  The Supreme 60 is specked for 45' to 55' Boat Length but the company does recommend moving up a size if you plan to anchor in testing environments.  I will only be keeping one anchor on the bow so weight will not be an issue.   

My backup anchor will be the CQR 45 (or its replacement) stowed below decks, a Fortress FX-55 partially assembled in the V-Berth and a steel 35lb DANFORTH secured aft as a kedge anchor.