Jim, Max and Tony are taking 2 weeks for boat maintenance and installation of new hardware. This is a big and expensive undertaking because many things on the boat are big, specialized, and must be extra-durable. Some of the major jobs are:
- Clean, sand and paint the bottom with toxic paint that annoys barnacles that try to grow on it
- Akela needs to be taken out of the water into a boatyard. (The dinghy, our 10’ rowboat, also requires this.)
- Matt came out for the weekend and did nearly all of the bottom work!
- Replace cutless bearing which supports the prop shaft. This can only be done when the boat is out of the water.
- Remove and paint masts, replace fittings and cables called the standing rigging
- This is quite an ordeal that requires a large crane.
- The new cables that attach the masts to the boat have special fittings which are very expensive
- Prep and paint for two masts has taken a long time. The masts are 50’ and 40’ and made of wood. They were cleaned, scraped of old paint, sanded, and primed. Our biggest problem has been waiting for the rain to stop! It will take 4 days to finish the top coat. We pay a daily rate to have the masts in the boatyard, whether we can work on them or not.
- Rebuild steering system, replacing cables
- Repaint the deck with non-skid paint
- Build shelves and storage rack in the attic (a room in the front of the boat where we store stuff)
- Rebuilding and remounting the windlass, a machine used to handle the anchor chain
- Rebuilding the deck on the bowsprit.
- Fixing some leaks in the deck and cabin
- Replace the running rigging (the ropes that are used to handle the sails)
- Install the Monitor self-steering gizmo
- Rewiring and installing some lights and electronics
- Fix 1000 little things
Sail Akela 