Maintanance Day

Zepher
Chris & Lyn Darch
Sun 22 Jun 2008 18:18
Hi Folks,
 
Still on the island of Tahuata , beech fun over it was back to work, gen set service, gas bottle changes, stainless cleaning from the ravages of 3000 nm , checking out of new hydraulic auto pilot after 4,300 nm , and the dreaded spinier track repair to the mast .
 This was a right evolution , because the track has torn part way down we had to pull it with force back against the mast face , well it was out with the good old Spanish windlass , two in fact , after removing the debris of damaged rivets from behind it I commenced to pull the track into the mast with the uses of the windlasses , a 50 x 50 x 1m mahogany pole and some Kevlar rope induced the right amount of torque to pull the track back to its original shape , it took about three hours in-between the odd rock and roll movement of the sea but today we will complete the repair and then repair the spiniker pole end so our down wind rig will be back in full working order .. we will though have to keep an eye on the track as it is weakened and will have to be replaced when we dock down in NZ and the mast comes off .
 The great Uno competition between the two boats resumed last night with Ruth out in front by a wide margin , everybody except Lyn and Ike won a game , next venue will be at Rhythm with there rules ....
 
The Unoed out crew ..