Project Day

The brisk westerly winds arrived this morning so we have spent the day on the boat. It has been a good day to work on projects. We brought out the hot knife and SailRite so I could do some sewing. I put some overlapping leather flaps on the jib furling line opening. The opening is less than six inches square but—I kid you not—at least a gallon of water gushed in whenever a wave hits the starboard side. The furling line will pass between the overlapping flaps and my hope is that the flaps will keep the water and cold air out. There is a matching opening on the port side panel but I made a simpler cover for that at Bald Head Island. We use that opening only if we are flying the gennaker, which we rarely do on a passage. Another project was to cut a slit in an aft panel to accommodate a wire. Lastly, I added leather flaps to the backstay cutout to keep the rain out.

George added seizing wire to boom vang connections (to prevent them from coming loose). He also installed bungee lines in the galley to keep things from flying out when we are heeled over.