FINALLY!

Yes, that's MY boat.  And no, I do NOT miss the cradle one bit.

Time to unload the tools and do some sailing!  This season is short and I have a lot of time to make up for.  I'm planning to make good use of what's left.

Starting tomorrow I'm putting the sails back on and reinstalling the cabin panels.  She'll be complete again very soon.

Fighting to Launch

I'm trying hard to get Ravat in the water.  This morning The Yard was working on grinding and barrier coating the bottom of my keel since its in the sling, and this chunk fell off.  Nice.

I think the stress which caused this crack came from my under-sized cradle which was bowing significantly from the weight of my boat.  So, they are fixing it, along with the other items on the to-do list.  Seems like just when I think the ghosts of the prior owner are excersized, something like this comes out.

In all honesty, there's not many examples in history of someone filling the Black Box the way I've been doing it for the past two years.  I have fixed more problems at the expense of my short sailing seasons than most sane people would tackle.  Is it possible that the Black Box carries deficits between owners?  I hope not since there's no way to get a balance statement.

At this point we are scheduled to be in the water on Thursday, but there's a lot of things that could happen between now and then, so we're still looking at a possibility of some time on Friday as well.  Before that happens, I need to get some things done...

• Install galley sink drain through-hull and seacock.
• Install hoses on all seacocks.
• Put transient dock lines in place for handling during launch.
• Put permanent dock lines in my slip.
• Bring life jackets, fenders, and boat hook out.
• Pick up hand-help VHF to suffice until I can finish wiring the new one in the cabin.
• Hook up the new electronic bilge pump hose to its shiny new through hull, and secure it along its length.
• Put boom in the cabin for installation later this week.

I'm most concerned about the timing on the through hull install as I'll need to barrier coat the faired bolt holes when done, and that means epoxy drying for its required period.  Those required periods rarely align with my free time when I'm in a time crunch.

Never a dull moment, but the light at the end of the tunnel is growing brighter.  She's out of the cradle and into the sling.  That's a one way street to the slip as far as I'm concerned.

First Oil Change

This post is a little out of order chronologically, but better late than never.  I hadn't been too worried about oil changes given the extremely low volume of engine hours I tend to create.  I only sailed the boat around ten times (or less!) when I bought it.  I'm not sure of when the oil was changed prior to those first sails.  The boat then sat in a cradle being refit for nearly two years, and here we are.  Certainly not enough use to demand a change, although I don't know how much oil breaks down over time either.  For that matter, I don't know that the correct type / grade of oil was used.  It was high time that I removed this variable.

I picked up a West Marine Manual Oil Changer, which is essentially a vacuum pump, a long thin dipstick hose, and a reservoir.  It's built very well, and made the oil change a breeze.  It's so easy in fact that I'll never hesitate to crank out a change again.  I've posted a review of this pump in this web site's Tools Resources as I was so impressed with its simplicity and functionality.

It feels good to finally begin to understand the diesel.  Between bleeding the lines, replacing belts, and this oil change it's starting to feel a lot less mysterious to me.  These small procedures have also given me more chances to wipe the engine off, and continue making it cleaner.