November 8 to 22 -- Slowing Down After The End Of The Pre-Winter Rush

Three "Other" days, evenings, really, two for theater with sailing friends and the last for the final Membership Meeting of the year and of the current Commodore's second and last year in office. The meeting lasted longer than usual because of all the fully justified  congratulating and thanking that the board members did to each other for the progress the Club has made during the last two years.

And four Work days, three of them at home, total of sixteen hours. One hour was with Ed Spallina at the Club, during which we got the "lower unit" of the outboard engine winterized and I learned how to do it (and wrote it down in terms I can understand) so I can do it myself in future years. I find that a task done only once per year or two is lost to me if not written down. It involves changing the special  oil that is in the lower unit to keep water out of it.

The rest of the time was all at home with paperwork and studying and writing up my list of winter projects and shopping list. The list includes three lines including a new single heavy duty double braid mooring bridle and a spnnaker halyard. I am waiting a return call from Jeff Lazar, rigger extraordinaire, about what size lines I need. I think the boat came with over-sized lines which are, of course, a lot more expensive than thinner ones. I whipped a lot of new ends caused by cutting bad pieces out of old lines so the good parts can be used for other purposes. I have also asked him to reeve the line through the triple blocks with becket and cam cleat that are used to hoist the aft end of the dinghy to the port side of its davit bar. I spent a lot of time finding a detailed description on the net of how to do this, but following the instructions as best I could I still ended up with the friction causing twists I was trying to get rid of.

I have also researched, determined the need for and purchased for the ridiculous price of $79, a longer bar to attach to the existing bars which attach the MOM-8 man overboard box to the rails of the stern pulpit. This shows the horizontal rails from inside the winter cover.

The MOM-8  was mounted on the stern rails to port but it operates, in an emergency, by dropping its load into the water when released, and the dinghy, trussed up against the stern pulpit would block that action. So it will be attached to the starboard side rails of the stern cockpit. The only problem is that there is no vertical rail available on the side (as there is on the stern) and the two horizontal rails are 14" apart while the built-in bars on the module are only 11" long. Hence the need for the extension bar. It has arrived and all I now need do is to figure out how to attach it. Switlik must have instructions. Keep looking, Roger.

The other man-overboard device is the Lifesling 2. This is low tech device: one end remains tied to the boat, the rest to be dumped in the water from its bag on the port side of the stern pulpit rail. It is dragged in the water to the person overboard and then used to pull him or her to the boat. It works fine, remains buoyant, has never been used and needs so periodic recharging.

The only problem was that after fourteen years, its white oilcloth container bag has rotted away to extreme ugliness. I figured the manufacturer would sell replacement covers and while it does, in the process I discovered a woman out in Washington State, Misty McColgan of Standout Yacht Fittings, who sells replacement bags made of Sunbrella (the canvas of the dodger and bimini) with better fasteners and which should be looking good for years. I'll let you know how it turns out.






And then I looked at the big beautiful solid teak cockpit table and saw that the varnish of its top nine inches (when stowed in the vertical position), having been exposed to the elements because the hand made Sunbrella storage bag that came with the boat is nine inches too short and has no top cover, I sent it to Washington too, to be improved.

Sanding, preparing for painting the bottom and waxing the top and freeboard, repainting the stripes on the anchor chain are all on my list.

The fun part of the list is this item: Plan itinerary for Newfoundland cruise from July 1 to
September 15, 2020; discuss with potential buddy boats to synchronize; buy the charts needed.


Here, appropos nothing, is a nice unusual night view of our boat docked at the low dock from from the high deck of the Housatonic Yacht Club taken in about July 2016. I had not been able to download until now. The white vertical line under the American Flag is the MOM-8 mounted improperly on the stern rail.