After breakfast at 'ye olde Chinese caffe' I went to the boat, determined to be hauled up 'ye olde maste'. No Butto. Hmm, well do a spot of painting.


Smart eh? This is actually the second coat. However, after the first coat still no Butto. By now it was 10:10 so he obviously wasn't coming today and there were no 'available bods' to do the hauling. Right, can't waste time. Right then, remove the davit-mounting plate and get it machined, I really can't rely on Martin the Meknik. After all the retaining nuts and two of the bolts (out of six)had been removed  Martin happened by. I should say that the job had been made more difficult for two reasons.
1) It's really a two-man job
2) If you must do it single-handed, the nuts up inside the boat are easiest held by a mole grip. I had a mole grip, but there is a system in Fiji known as 'keri-keri'. loosely translated this means you have something I need/want, so will you give it to me please? If the owner of the desired object is not present, 'keri-keri' allows you to take said item and possibly return it, but usually not. Elsewhere this is known as theft, but not here. As I said, I had a molegrip and the job would have been easier if I still had it. I don't. I also don't have two pairs of pliers, but they have been replaced.

Anyway, Martin stood and admired my sheen of sweat and then said he could see now what I meant about it not being right. (Two days ago he said the same thing and also said that he would fix it).
I waited but nothing else was forthcoming.
I said I was going to remove it and take it to the machine shop. I was bluffing, the machine shop would want cash payment and anyway having the plate fit right should be part of the job. At least that's my opinion.
No comment. I continued unscrewing. He wandered off.
I  was down to extracting  the last two bolts.

John the GRP came by.
'I can fix that. Leave it, don't take it off I can do it up there.'

The davit sleeve slides over the slotted 'knob' until the pin sits in the slot. The slot needs to be about 3cms deeper for the sleeve to fit properly.

So that was a wasted hour and a half then. Now the surprise.
'It's half-term next week. I've got my boys lined up to paint the hull'.
Ah, but he knew that I had planned to launch the boat on Monday.....say nothing Peter, think 'calm, calm'.
Then we discussed the other jobs that are still outstanding. I need to get a new sea-cock, I thought that he was getting it. Ah. Never mind.
Arun the Elektrik rang to tell me he was going to be a bit late. It was now about 1200 so 'no shit Sherlock'. I went and had a jug of iced water. What to do now?
Ah yes, run a mouse up the mast and remove the spinnaker halyard. The one where the mast-head block had come away.

Actually, that went OK. The way the day had been going I had confidently expected the halyard and mouse to part company somewhere inside the mast.
Of course the little chandlery at the club did not have a pin for the block. Nor did it have a correctly threaded small screw which locks the davit sleeve in place. Damned if I'm taking a fourteen dollar return taxi-ride to get a fifty cent screw, but IF Arun is coming I don't have time to walk to Ajax fittings (an hour each way). I had another cold drink then applied the second coat of paint to the veggie-store brackets. Needless to say, Arun did not show up, nor did he phone again.


This is the 'shiny-white' main halyard. it's crap rope, but I don't use the main much and anyway it's all I can afford right now.

All in all, not a spectacularly successful or satisfying day. the only thing I can say about it is it's a day when I didn't go overdrawn!
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http://roastbeefonsundays.blogspot.com/