Boat Work

I’ve mentioned that I love everything about sailboats and sailing. This includes boat work.

Boat work can be unplanned or planned over the span of months or years. Here’s my list of boat work over the last few months:

• Reefing Lines
• Mooring Lines
• Flags & Flag Lines
• Windvane & Windvane Battery
• Mast Plug
• Dinghy Oar Lock
• Bathroom Faucet

Last year, two of our mooring lines broke becuase they were chafed. I also wondered if they were undersized.

I’ve long struggled with connecting the cabin and mast wiring with a plug. The multiple plugs I’ve bought to date were quickly ruined by the sun.

During our trip to Copenhagen last fall, I planned a visit to Hellers, a marine supply store. There I bought: mooring lines and shackles, a (hopefully) heavy-duty mast plug, a Danish Yacht Flag, and a Helly Hanson bag to bring it all home.

Our windvane has fallen off and broken the last two haul-outs. I used epoxy for the first “fix”. On the second, I bought a replacement part. I had it shipped to Sarah knowing we were travelling to Copenhagen, saving $100. This has been fixed and sitting on my desk most of the Winter.

The windvane uses a cellphone battery, which was dead when the boat was delivered. It also died over the Winter. I’ve bought new batteries and plugs and they we’ll use the bosun’s chair to attach it to the top of the mast. I’ll keep you posted.

We’ve already had a couple of unplanned repairs this season. As I was rowing in last week, one of the dinghy oar locks broke right as I was entering the harbor – it was NOT EASY to row the boat in after that. Once again, epoxy to the rescue. The fix appears to be solid. Fingers crossed!

After I’d added about 15 gallons of fresh water, I noticed water in the bathroom coming from the bathroom faucet – it was leaking like a sieve. I drained all the water, took the faucet and found that one of the gaskets had split. Could I find another gasket online? Anywhere on the Earth? Of course not. I did find silicone tubing of the same size (I need 5mm but could only buy 1M). I’ll let you know if this succeeds (or not).