Rigging progress

It remains too cold for my fragile constitution out at the boatyard but I have been making plans and spending money nonetheless.

Yesterday I dropped off my rigging at a highly recommended rigger sans forestay/furler which was still out at the boat being too long to easily transport. We went over a bunch of details; swages at the top, mechanical fittings on the bottom, extra set of lower shrouds so I can add lower forward shrouds to the standing rigging system, turnbuckles on the jumper struts for easier adjustmentments. The rigger took one look at my turnbuckles and declared them junk. I guess I am getting new ones then. I also put a downpayment on a Harken Code Zero MkIV roller reefer. Very few riggers will even consider the cheaper cruising model. Cheaper parts and a few other things that I can't remember now are cited. At $1400 with the forestay I think the price is pretty fair.I was also considering the Schaeffer unit which eveyone likes but the Harkens are a bit cheaper and the new models are considered slightly better by every rigger I talked with.

Speaking of the forestay, I couldn't fully disassemble the stay from the old Furlex unit that came with the boat so I resorted to gorilla tactics and simply bent the foils unti it would fit in the trunk of the car. The rigger really wanted the original stay to base the new measurements off of. He is going to love the package I drop off at his door.

Curiously, the rigger didn't want to give a firm estimate. "it will cost what it will cost". Well, okay, but I would like a ballpark figure. $600. Okay - sounds rediculously low to me. I was talking to an underling as everyone else was out making calls. I think he was thinking wire and upper swage alone with that estimate. I decided (partially because it had been a very busy day) to just go ahead and trust the many recomendations I got for this company. I was told they were not the cheapest but they were very good. Fair enough. Like I said, it was a busy day and I wanted to get this project moving. They positively guarantee their swages for 15 years. Since I went with mechanicals on the lower ends they will stand by the rigging for 20 years.

In other news, I have ordered a bracket for mounting the throttle cable correctly. Last season the cable was 'anchored' to a random bit of wood that was drywall screwed to a nearby sem-flexible totally unecessary intermediate bulkhead behind the original icebox. I meant to measure out the length for the correct sized cable but it got too late and I got too busy. Shouldn't take long so I am not sweating it yet. I am also thinking I will replace the throttle level with a new shiny lever that it a bit longer. I figure besides looking nicer, the longer lever arm will allow me to fine tune the throttle position better (the more secure cable mount will help lots too). Do I need that level of fine tuning? Probably not. I will have it though.

Finally, I have my boom apart in the basement. I have the end piece out which took some doing considering the two broken screws frozen inside and holding it in. I am going to drill out the screw holes and re-tap them for 0.25-20 screws. The mainsheet attachment was held in by a bolt through this end cap with the nut on the inside. With a good gust of wind the nut finally unwound itself and the mainsheet connection parted with a loud gunshot and nearly left a brown stain on my trousers. I replace the bolt with another and put the nut on the outside where I could keep an eye on it. Over the summer the nut still had a tendency to loosen so I replaced the bolt with a rigging pin and cotter pin. That actually held quite well. I don't like the connection being held by the cotter pin though so I was looking for a bolt with a hole in the end so I could use a castelated nut and cotter pin. They don't seem to exist in stainless stell so I am fishing around for alternatives. I also need to figure out an outhaul system. I might just jury rig it for another season and deal with it when I replace the boom - hopefully next year.

The boom needs to be replaced to handle the larger loads from the boom vang I want to install and the loose footed main I want to convert to. Adding six inches of length will greatly help my outhaul options too.

Em tasol for now.