Survey Says!

We wrapped up our tasks for our rigging survey.  Survey said we had to replace the boots on the upper spreaders, and that meant going up the mast.  All of the other necessities  had been taken care of (cracked swage, locking pins in the lifeline turnbuckles, shortened the backstay, and a cotter pin in the forestay turnbuckle), but we just hadn't gone up the mast for any other reason and the boots were all we needed to do.  So we went up the mast.  Or more accurately, Jenny went up the mast.  She figured it was easier to replace the boots one-handed than cranking Mike up almost 50' with one hand.  No problems, no incidents, everything went well, and our rigging is now insured.

Up the mast

New boots for Abake

We were also able to make a sleeve for the furled genoa and test that out this week.  It looks good.  Then, we started winterizing Abake by taking down the genoa.  Once the sail was down and folded, as Mike was tying it together, Jenny had a brain fart and raised the furler head.  Oops!  Guess who had to go back up the mast (twice in one week!) and retrieve it.  Mike was a good sport and cranked her up again, luckily not as far as before.

Sleeve being raised

Sleeve being sewn

Mike has continued to work on the generator, and the shelf brackets were welded at Gary's house just after we made our last post.  He has cut pieces for the alternator bracket and is waiting to weld them. So Gary, he's not done with your welder yet!

Welded brackets for generator shelf

 In order to mount the new generator, space on the bulkhead had to be cleared.  This required moving the CO detector, the automatic fire extinguishing system, and the auto-pilot control.  These were all re-located in the engine room.  He also converted the 160 amp alternator on the main engine (a Ford Lehman) to use an external voltage regulator, and removed the internal regulator.  Our external regulator will allow us to adjust the programming for charging the battery and has sensors to prevent damage from overheating.  The previous internal regulator only knew one way to charge, had no sensors, and could make no adjustments.