Sunday, September 7, 2014

Over the Hump


We’re on the downhill slide. Sort of. 

There’s no engraving in a calendar somewhere which designates a declared completion date. It’s nothing like that. Instead, what we have is an agreement of a timeline.  We know that we’d like to have such-and-such job done by such-and-such date, and so on. The establishment of a timeline is a good thing, but the fact remains there’s still much to be done. A single small misstep can still rock the proverbial boat.

We have made significant progress. With so much of the work being done essentially hidden through the myriad of systems which comprise a modern small sailing yacht, it’s exciting that we can see indications of progress. We can actually see now the boat Jo Beth was meant to be. 

 Test fit of headliner panels and battens in the main saloon

The new cabin headliner is nearly finished. Test fitting and fine tuning of the panels, trim pieces, and battens has been underway. There’s a smidgen of electrical work left, and a fair amount of mechanical and rigging work remains; such as the installation of the chainplates, (metal bars which attach the rigging wires to the hull), installation of a deck washdown system, installation of the galley sink and the re installation of the head (toilet), etc. There are also a couple of major parts which need to be ordered for the sailing rig; things which couldn’t be built and installed until things started coming together to make Jo Beth a whole boat again. And, the conversion of the quarterberth to a storage locker has to be completed.

The final steps to get the mast and rigging installed are set to begin this week, provided the weather cooperates. A weak but persistent area of low pressure has moved into the coastal Georgia region and stalled. The forecast calls for the system to slowly drift north and east over the coming days. However, it has brought squally and unsettled weather to the area for much of the past week. I remarked to Lisa how much the skies looked like those we used to see in Miami and the Keys; skies I’d seen many a time in the Bahamas. Much of the work on the decks and bottom will have to wait for clearer weather.


The new engine control panel cover

The weather did provide us some unexpected assistance. The new engine control panel box, designed to be watertight, turned out to be not so watertight. This is an important issue to correct. The engine control panel is located in the cockpit just above the deck, and right at the cabin entrance. The panel houses the ignition switch, the tachometer and temperature gauges, and other critical instrumentation. Exposure to water, whether from rain or a boarding sea, is not good. An early project in the refit was to relocate the panel and instruments to the cabin interior, but the necessary rerouting and extensions of wiring, heavy gauge battery cables, etc. proved to be too costly. So we opted to leave the panel as it was and improve the panel’s protective housing.

Lisa and I also met last week with our canvas maker, Causa’s Cushions, to go over the final details for the new interior cushions, order new pieces for the canvas inventory which we carry aboard, (such as winch covers to protect the shiny bronze winch drums), and refine the details of our new spray dodger. A dodger is a canvas windshield of sorts. It keeps spray and rain off of the crew in the cockpit, protects the main cabin entry companionway from the weather, and so on. Clear vinyl windows allow for visibility. Jo Beth’s original dodger had worn severely and while the system as a whole was functional, it needed a redesign to better suit Lisa and me. 

This is a shot of Jo Beth from a few years ago; the structure which resembles a canvas and clear vinyl windshield is the dodger

For those who don’t know us, Lisa and I are quite short. When we stood on the cockpit deck and looked forward, the rear bar of the dodger frame, called a ‘bow’, fell right across our line of sight. This meant we were always stooping to see under the bow, or standing on tiptoes to see over it. The replacement bow will raise the height of the dodger by 6 or so inches and greatly enhance our ability to see what’s in front of us. The dodger frame also lacked handholds, so we’re adding grab rails on each side and on the back bow. All around, it will make our little future home a safer and more comfortable place.



Here's a before and after shot of our winches. Thirty years of patina removed with a bit of polish and elbow grease. We'll have canvas covers made to keep them nice and shiny.

So what’s that timeline agreement I mentioned at the start of this post? Well, we hope to have the mast and rigging installed in a week or so, have the boat secured and floating at the marina service dock by early October, get the sea trials conducted, and be back in our home slip in November.

Of course, more updates are to follow.