Small victories

I had a nice day yesterday. Beautiful weather, a nice picnic lunch, with some minor boat progress. Today, I was stopped by a clevis pin. Without it, the whole project came to a halt in favor of more productive activities.

I was able to fashion some teak pads for the bow skene chocks. I was a bit handicapped by the lack of tools but the results were acceptable. Not great but acceptable for now. The tendency, working on the mooring, is to cut corners and 'make do' but I am trying to resist that tendency and wait rather than set myself up for extra re-work later. As much as I would like to move forward, taking short term progress that requires long term re-work, really isn't in my best interest. The main goal this summer is enjoyment. Whether that is sailing or picnics I am trying to keep this 'fun'.





At least that is one less line rubbing on my my toerail. Somewhere in storage I have nice looking chafe covers for the lines. The bow line really needs something beter than a strip of towel.



I also drilled through the epoxy plugs I made last month for the mainsheet block.



That's over 2 inches of solid epoxy in that hole. I would have mounted the fitting except at the last minute I decided to put washers on top of the deck as well as underneath and I only had the two washers on hand. It might look a little better without the washers on top but the washers also cover the hole better and allow for more sealant. I also suspect that when this fitting is pulled sideways, half the fitting is pulling upwards but the other half is pushing downwards. The washer gives more surface area to absorb the downwards force and prevent the fitting from eating into the deck. That might not be a concern. I am not an engineer. The fact that the edges of the hole is covered definitely relieves me of some detailed cosmetic work.

The best part of the day was hanging out with Julie and enjoying a nice picnic.



I had intended to come back today and install the mainsheet fitting. That would allow me to mount the boom which would be real progress in my mind. Alas, I rummaged through my hardware bins but couldn't quite figure out how to attach the block to the boom. It was on there before but it was likely cobbled together in a fashion that I don't wish to repeat. From the 'spare' parts I could get everything but a clevis pin. I could probably make it work but I was afraid I would forget until later when the setup would explode in pieces at a critical moment because I forgot to fix it later.

There is always next week.