It has been a hot and sunny day here in St. Mary’s. This morning I put a second coat of Bilgekote on the cabinet below the galley sink. I also completed the work on our freshwater system, installing the last of the hoses, hooking up the filter, and securing everything in place. Lots of sweat resulted from both projects, especially the freshwater filter and hoses, which were all located in the lazarette.
I will be leaving St. Mary’s tomorrow morning. We are not certain of our plans yet, but I will probably return around the 22nd of April. Margaret would then join me on or about May 10th. And, if all goes well, we will splash the boat on May 15th. With all that in mind, I spent some time this afternoon taking stock of what is left to do.
The shiny, newly painted galley sink locker.
Obviously, we need to install the chainplates. I just ordered a set of bronze plates from Port Townsend Foundry. These are the external chainplates, so we will need to epoxy behind the knees and then drill through the hull to install them. Getting to the chainplate for the backstay will also involve dismantling our starboard aft locker, which should have the side benefit of giving us better access to the steering quadrant.
I also need to purchase and replace the rigging. After getting some advice from a fellow Tayana owner (hello, David!), we will probably replace one set of shrouds with running backs using a 4:1 purchase. This is an easy and cost effective way for us to get a running backstay setup, providing more support to the staysail, something we will especially welcome if we encounter heavy weather offshore. Tomorrow, I will be leaving the yard with the rigging in my car. That will allow me to carefully measure it and begin to do some of the new rigging before returning south.
As you can imagine, the two jobs above are the really big ones, but a number of other things remain as well. We need to install our new washdown pump, finish replacing the last of the raw water hose, and attach and secure most of the fittings. I also need to redo the electrical connection in the head; I had used wire nuts in January, and we are now going to replace them with heat-shrink butt connectors. Another thing I need to go back over from January is the re-bedding of the stanchion base along the bulwarks. That will allow us to re-install the starboard lifelines. I also need to put the galley back together including installing new hose, securing all the hoses to the walls again, and securing the sink. We also have to repack the stuffing box and fix a little ding/missing barrier coat on the leading edge of the keel, which has been there since we bought the boat. Finally, we have the regular commissioning tasks like lubing the seacocks and putting on the sails. Of course, there are also all the sewing that Margaret has been working on at home still to finish. And I still need to overhaul our autopilot, which is waiting for me back in Peoria.
Our new washdown pump, just waiting to be installed.
All of this constitutes a lot of work, but I am confident we can get it all completed on schedule. I just hope late April and early May are not oppressively warm and buggy here in the yard.
If you have not already been watching them, check out our new videos of work on Bear, sewing cockpit cushions, and dehydrating provisions on our YouTube channel.
What ever happened with the Margaret’s lazarette hatch rebuild project? I have to tackle the same issue soon and was hoping to glean from your lessons learned. On another note, Lauri and I are taking 30 days to cruise the Chesapeake Bay starting on 6 June. We will go where the wind takes us. Perhaps we can link up.
Sorry it took me so long to reply. Margaret has not finished the hatch cover, but she is planning on doing just that in the next couple days. I imagine she will put up a video about it. As for meeting up, that would be excellent. I will send you an email with our phone number. Hope all is well.