Yes, I am a little late with my greeting but better late than never. I also noticed that it had been 10 days since I last posted and had told myself I would like to make this close to a weekly deal so I'm just plain late.
I did have a nice Turkey Day with my kids - Liz and Michael visiting along with my sister from Charlotte, NC. I cooked a 20 pound turkey and it came out great!.
Now back to the Westsail. I have been busy working on it, but unfortunately nothing too exciting to report. On Thanksgiving morning I cleaned the storm jib and the main sail. The jib had been in the boat underwater - full of salt.
A couple of weeks ago I had the drifter, cruising spinnaker, and tri-radial spinnaker all washed in my bathroom whirlpool tub. Those light fabric worked well in the tub. After washing, I hung them from a third story window to dry. The cruising spinnaker is huge!
I have continued to remove wood from the boat. After removing all the easy items (drawers, shelves, doors) I moved on to the more difficult. The cabin walls were made up
of horizontal battens, which are screwed to vertical stringers. Most of those screws came out easily but the end trim had to come off as well. They had their screws behind wooden plugs which had to be dug out. At first I struggled with that process but now have a small chisel and a method that works rather well. I know I have plenty of more hidden screws like that to come.
I did attack the plumbing in the bathroom as well. I removed all the hoses, sewage transfer pump, and head to be kept in storage till later. My plan is to remove all hoses and wiring. Most of the hoses will be reused but the wiring will all be replaced.
So next time I will tell you of my progress with the engine control panel. It is coming along nicely and I may have taken it for a test run by the time I write again.
Sailor Jim
Looks like you have nice sails -- keep up the good work -- how about some interior photos?
ReplyDeleteI have a couple today - but I need to get my good camera with flash - and it isn't very pretty. I will be posting more.
ReplyDeleteBut I am pretty happy with how things are going.It's just going to be a total overhaul - something a 1976 boat could stand anyway - in my case a must.