Sorry that this posting is so very lately publishhed. It's because it was not ready before we left on our recently completed Alaskan adventure (not aboard ILENE but largely waterborn, so subject of future posts).
So the work days: A lot of arranging with Mars Metals of Ontario Canada (for the castng and shipping) and with the Great Island Boatyard in Casco Bay Bay, Maine (for the installation, by lag bolts and epoxy) of an 1100 pound lead slab under the flat bottom of ILENE's keel. I also spent some time arranging for storage of ILENE at a dock at Minneford's during the Alaskan trip -- more protected from storms than the mooring. But this had to be abandoned at the last minute when I learned that the slip in question, though it berthed a sailboat last summer, was not deep enough at low tide for ILENE. To paraphase George Orwell: "All sailboats are not equal."
But most of the work invovled wiring up the new Raymarine electronics -- which process is not yet complete. Each problem, when resolved with the help of ever helpful Ed Spallina and the Raymarine tech reps, led to the next. The white cable from the new Ray 70 radio mounted at the side of the binacle, to a white socket in the new five socket "bus" junction panel we mounted under the cockpit sole, was not long enough. That connection is needed to get AIS data from the radio, on which it is received, to the Axiom Multi Funchion Display (MFD), formerly known as the chart plotter, on which the AIS data is displayed. No problem, the Raymarine tech admitted at last: That cable just has three wires in it, so just cut it in half and splice in a five foot length of three strand of adequade guage, available from any store, between the halves and plug the lower end into the five way bus. Next came the cable from the MFD itself, also at the binnacle, to the same bus. The unit came with two wires that connect to make one that is long enough. The problem here was that the two wires connect in a metal screw-in connector that is about three inches long, rigid and hence incapable of fitting through the hole in the side of the one inch diameter stainless steel tube that holds up the instrument pod and leads down to the bus. Next day the Raymarine tech rep again said "No problem: put the white end of the wire into the white end of a white-to-blue plastic connector and a three meter blue cable from the blue end of the white-to-blue, connector." The three meters is long enough so i will have to coil the excess below. I stow the plastic connector in the ever more crowded instument pod and insert the lower end of the blue cable, which does fit easily through the hole, into one of the two blue sockets in the bus, rather than into a white socket. That's intuitive, isnt it? NO IT IS NOT!!! Why color code them if the color does not matter. Am I geting angry? Any way, though frustrating, we are getting closer.
But the Old Salts sail was a pleasure. My only fault was that in trying to "organize" it and knowing that most of the other boats were unavailable so far in this season, I actually told a few folks that there was no room for them, which turned out to be false. All I can do is apologize to them. In the end, with a few late cancellations and two small boats coming forward, there would have been room for all. Six sailed on ILENE, all of whose smiling faces have been seen in these posts before. Three more came over for the apres sail liabations. I have noticed over the past few years that with an increase in the percentage of female Old Salts, possibly a side effect of the change of the group's name from "Old Fa_ts", we have migrated from Gin and Tonic toward wine and the solid offerings have improved both quantitatively and qualitatively.
Anyway, we were underway for about 2.5 hours with near perfect winds of 10 to 15 knots under main and small jib. We zigged and zagged: through the channel off Kings Point, to the bridge and back, north of Stepping Stones. Only one of the crew, Peggy, wanted the helm and she steered about 95 percent of the time, and well, autopilot not yet reconnected. There was an unusual occurence for the early afternoon on the waters of western Long Island Sound: fog, though not less than a quarter mile of visibility. Yet we were "out of sight of land", rare for most of our crew. And the fact that we do not have electronics required me to be more watchful too. Best sail of the still young season.
Two mishaps. The first was discovered early in the sail and fixed easily, instantly, on the spot. I had led the port side sheet (barberhauler) for the small jib aft, but NOT through the forward block!The second problem was the result of 19 long seasons of extensive use: the braided outer cover of the double braid main sheet chafed through at the point where the clutch holds it under pressure when the sail is up. The inner core is strong enough to hold up the sail, but due to a narrower diameter at the chafed spot, the main slid down about six inches when sailing and lowering it proved a slight problem of pasing out through the clutch until I cut away the ragged part and taped it to get a decent taper. This can be fixed by application of the "green poultice", about $150 for a new line. The next problem, or let's call it an opportunity, will be to learn to use a fid to splice it around the halyard shackle. The drawback to this plan, and I could practice on lots of small pieces of old line, is that if I managed to learn the new skill, I would surely forget it during the next 19 years. So I may get the job done by a pro.
But the Old Salts sail was a pleasure. My only fault was that in trying to "organize" it and knowing that most of the other boats were unavailable so far in this season, I actually told a few folks that there was no room for them, which turned out to be false. All I can do is apologize to them. In the end, with a few late cancellations and two small boats coming forward, there would have been room for all. Six sailed on ILENE, all of whose smiling faces have been seen in these posts before. Three more came over for the apres sail liabations. I have noticed over the past few years that with an increase in the percentage of female Old Salts, possibly a side effect of the change of the group's name from "Old Fa_ts", we have migrated from Gin and Tonic toward wine and the solid offerings have improved both quantitatively and qualitatively.
Anyway, we were underway for about 2.5 hours with near perfect winds of 10 to 15 knots under main and small jib. We zigged and zagged: through the channel off Kings Point, to the bridge and back, north of Stepping Stones. Only one of the crew, Peggy, wanted the helm and she steered about 95 percent of the time, and well, autopilot not yet reconnected. There was an unusual occurence for the early afternoon on the waters of western Long Island Sound: fog, though not less than a quarter mile of visibility. Yet we were "out of sight of land", rare for most of our crew. And the fact that we do not have electronics required me to be more watchful too. Best sail of the still young season.
Two mishaps. The first was discovered early in the sail and fixed easily, instantly, on the spot. I had led the port side sheet (barberhauler) for the small jib aft, but NOT through the forward block!The second problem was the result of 19 long seasons of extensive use: the braided outer cover of the double braid main sheet chafed through at the point where the clutch holds it under pressure when the sail is up. The inner core is strong enough to hold up the sail, but due to a narrower diameter at the chafed spot, the main slid down about six inches when sailing and lowering it proved a slight problem of pasing out through the clutch until I cut away the ragged part and taped it to get a decent taper. This can be fixed by application of the "green poultice", about $150 for a new line. The next problem, or let's call it an opportunity, will be to learn to use a fid to splice it around the halyard shackle. The drawback to this plan, and I could practice on lots of small pieces of old line, is that if I managed to learn the new skill, I would surely forget it during the next 19 years. So I may get the job done by a pro.
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