October 16 - November 2 -- Five Work Days -- 24 Hours Total

Lots of work getting ILENE ready for winter. And the fun days were not sailing related.
Fun was seeing Lene star in a one act play in a night of eight such plays called "Repercussions," twice, and Nathan Lane in "The Front Page", once. Also a five day visit to my oldest daughter and her family in Oregon where I chaperoned my granddaughter's Halloween party for about 40 eighth graders, visited the local museum of art, and enjoyed a delicious brunch with Judy and Meridel, who connected with us in Turks and Caicos in 2012. I attended the 55th reunion of the Bergenfield HS class of 1961; had a skin problem biopsied -- and it is not cancer; lunched in New Jersey with cousin Judy and enjoyed a lecture by the Administrator of the Department of Labor's Wage-Hour Division, who enforces some of our labor laws at Cornell's ILR School's New York City offices.
The boat work:
+ Replaced remaining halyards with messenger lines.
+ Untangled them from the remaining lines that descend from the mast and wrap those around the mast so they won't slap against the mast all winter.
+ I screwed up in placement of first reefing line: I put a big knot in the end as a stopper so that I would not draw that end into and through the boom. But I placed the knot on the bottom instead of the top of the boom so that I succeeded in drawing the knot to the inside of the forward end of the boom where I will have to attempt to retrieve it with the snake next spring. Sometimes I am an idiot.
+ Rigged the whisker pole forward and the 2 x 4 from the aft end of the boom to the radar arch -- to complete the ridge line for the canvas cover.
+ Washed the topsides and tested for rust removal and cleaning of the waterline with chemicals; it will work.
+ Braced up the boom from the cockpit sole with another piece of 2 x 4.
+ Winterized the engine with five minutes help from Ilene. Located in the cockpit, she turned the engine on, waited until she saw the pink antifreeze come pumping out of the exhaust and turned the engine off again. I was in the cabin (with the ladder to the cockpit connecting us removed to gain access to the engine) pouring the antifreeze into the raw water strainer, leading to the engine's water pump.
+ Drained the hot water heater, disconnected its intake and output hoses from it and to each other and winterized the fresh water hoses with ten minutes help from the Huguenot's Orlando who poured the pink stuff into the fresh water pump via a hose and funnel while I raced around turning on each of twelve hot and cold shower and sink faucets until they each flowed pink.
+ Winterized both heads.
+ Winterized the salt water wash-down pump and the air conditioner, except the latter was still full of antifreeze, because it not used this past season.
+ Checked the sacrificial zinc in the refrigerator's condenser and I need to order some new ones though I checked and I do have new spares of the other three zincs that protect the propeller and its shaft.
+ Drained the sump under the engine and the bilge.
+ Used emery cloth to clean corrosion from the tangs of all the battery cables, bringing nice shiny copper into view, and reattached them to the battery posts.
+ Removed six of the wooden bars that hold the seven heavy batteries in place. Without them the boat would bounce the batteries around. These had become weak and blackened by battery acid and will be used as models for new ones to be fabricated -- no bouncing expected during the winter.
+ Removed the bimini and took it to Doyle Sails-Island Nautical canvas shop for (a) cleaning, (b) replacement of the clear plastic window aft center for viewing aloft, which had become clouded with exposure and dirt in the last decade, and (c) reinforcement (patching) the front edge which had become worn and frayed by many handholds during the same period.
+ Covered the boat with its canvas winter blanket, placed padding at the chafe points and tied all of the strings that hold the cover in place, under the bottom, from side to side.
I did the cover all myself except the hardest part, the aft half, for which serendipitously, I met Ken, a stranger, at the right moment. He is a Civil War re-enactor. In uniform with a big drum at his hip, he was walking back to his home near Yankee Stadium when he saw me. He asked several intelligent questions and I invited him aboard for a tour of the boat which he eagerly accepted. And he offered to help, at just the right time. The only problem we encountered with the huge complicated piece of canvas is that perhaps because I laid the bimini's stainless steel framing hoops atop the 2 x 4, where it is out of the way, rather than in the cockpit, or because I tightened up the front half too much, too soon, we could not get the last zipper, at the port quarter, the one I replaced this summer, to close -- about half an inch gap. So Ken, who said he is a tailor as well, sewed it up like I did last winter. I gave Ken our boat card and if he calls in March or April, as he said he would, he will have a boat ride.

So ILENE is ready for the winter, but with a list of winter projects. I'm listing them here with the hope that by doing do, I will have challenged myself to actually get them all done this winter before working on the bottom and recommissioning for the next season.
1. Repair wood for insertion of new Perco latch in center of salon sole.
2. Call Groco expert and with his advice, repair aft head so it does not "spit" while flushing -- maybe it is only the joker valve.
3. R
Drill holes and use bungs to remove dings in cabin sole and refinish it -- about 20 pieces of it. This is the biggest job and i can use the cabin, if covered with drop cloths, as a cat free workshop, but only when it is warm enough for each coat of polyurethane.
4. Restore operability of the door to the forward head so it can be closed and locked.
5. Open the fresh water tanks, clean their interior, and reseal.
6. Figure out why the self tailing feature of the starboard coach roof winch is not operating consistently.
7. Get a faux teak panel cut and installed to dress up the deck of the swim platform.
Enough to keep me busy this winter?