Well, it's always a good day, nowadays, to get out of your neighborhood -- to escape confinement
for the benefit of mankind and find some excuse to go to the boat. And I think today,
well -- I've got grave doubts about my existing main sheet, which is very stiff, so we're trying
some single braid. I had an extra piece of line around. It has a completely different feel than
the stiff double braid we're used to. Very comfortable in the hand,
of course. This is one size smaller than it would be-- here's the original. Well. you could drive
nails with this stuff and I just don't think it's necessary on a 38-foot boat to be able to lift it
with the main sheet. And that's a new winch and handle. My old Barient 19ST wobbled, that's very bad,
caused you see by the wearing away of the inside of the drum that the spindle and the race bearings
fit upon. And so I got myself a new Lewmar 30ST. Easy to install. I've done this sort of thing
all my life. it comes quite simply to me, frankly. I like butyl rubber tape to seal it. Just drill five
holes in your deck and there she is, perfect. Look at that installation! And you know, it's completely
wrong, because despite my years of experience I failed to anticipate the fact that the drive gear
needs to be in line with the tangent of the sheet. The force needs to go at the drive gear,
nowhere else. Thanks, Lewmar, for not sending any instructions. Nice winch, though--great handle.
Say, what's that infernal noise that sounds like the boiler room of a liberty ship? Well,
I'm letting the prop freewheel, because you're supposed to get an
extra one-tenth of a knot that way in light air. And I can't stand it.
There's not enough wind!
As I say, this is not simply a casual sail, this is a test expedition. Very important.
I think the question of whether single braid would suffice for double braid
is a good question, we definitely need to do a friction test and see if single braid perhaps
has any different resistance around the winch drum than the existing line. Let's give it a tug now.
I'd say that's 9.1 pounds of force being applied with one hand, and by Jove it does stick better!
You're right, looks fuzzy. That could be a problem. But you know, my roller furler
control, which is also single-braid, has no fuzz after one year. Did I mention how supple it is?
The anemometer says
5.6 knots. We're going 2.54 knots, if you can believe it -- and I do believe it.
This is not supposed to be so enjoyable.
I wouldn't use the term "pleasurable." Perhaps, "duty calls."
We take what's given to us out here on the open ocean, for better or for worse.
We feel a great deal of responsibility, sometimes. There's pain -- no need to dwell on that of course,
for the people back home. I call this a maintenance expedition, and a required one.
Well, we're three miles offshore by now I'm pretty sure, so time to check out the new macerator and see if that works.
A macerator is an electric waste pump with a chopper blade at one end to finish digesting
whatever you weren't able to. A new one is as bright and shiny as 175 dollars ever was.
We tell by the sound.
Every sailboat requires lots of tools and there's no place to put them,
so let's open the door to this clown car and see how many clowns come out.
(wrenches)
(screwdrivers)
(Spanners Imperial and Metric)
(ratchet wrenches)
(screws, bolts, pins)
(connectors, fuses)
(gaskets, plumbing)
(electrical)
(bits)
(butyl rubber tape)
(micrometer)
(cable ties, hammer)
(tape measure)
(drill/driver)
(fish tape)
(nonskid tape)
(clamps)
(Japanese saw)
(claw lifter, "tool of the gods")
"So how was it out there today, skipper?" I don't complain. You take what the ocean throws at you,
no sense dithering on about it afterwards. Set the job and do it. Never mind the icy
gale and the frozen fingers and the pain, we can manage pain, pain is all in our heads.
You come home -- if that's what fate has in store -- and then you go right back out there again.
We must be masters of hardship, my dear.
"Well, honey--sounds to me like you've earned yourself a Hendrick's martini!"