These past few weeks have seen a growing amount of work
going into Kelly IV as she prepares for her first (and mine!) full-time cruise.
Of course the cruise wouldn't be possible without the
wondrous and significant contributions of blood, sweat and tears (OK, mostly
sweat) by the volunteers who so kindly help me with so much of the work in
getting Kelly IV ready for her biggest season yet. Keith Otto, Guy Stewart, Bill Paviol, Sarah
Paviol, Jack VanArsdale, Whitney Stewart, Kayla Stewart, Justine Stewart and
Paul Murphy have all played an important role in helping make sure that we are
off to a grand and safe beginning of our North American Cruise, 2011.
Keith and I braved some cooler weather as we emptied the
starboard lazarette, climbed into the dark,
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| Keith Otto |
clammy spaces aft of the engine and
under the cockpit to inspect and reset the steering wheel. Many of you will recall that during the
engine re-powering last year, the wheel became off center. The fancy monkey's fist installed on the
wheel to mark amidships was at least 20 degrees off center. With Keith climbing up and down the ladder
and me clambering in, then out of the lazarette, we kept adjusting and shifting
the steering cables and chain until a couple hours later, the monkey's fist is
now amidships again. We also completed a
number of initial Spring Fitting Out jobs like removing the fender covers for
cleaning, re-installing the batteries after a winter in my basement, and
testing (and repairing as needed) the complement of flashlights needed to work
in the night and dark crevices aboard.
The following weekend Guy and I began work on Saturday
morning about 8am. Seven hours later
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| Guy, Bill and Murph Shift Dinghy on Foredeck |
we
had 4 backing plates and 16 bolts removed and re-installed to better secure the
stern pulpit. That means a “blistering”
work pace for two grown men of about ½ backing plate per hour and 2 ¼ bolts per
hour. Did I mention that Guy spent the
entire 7 hours on his back? He was out
of sight, buried in the stern lazarette (a space about 5 feet by 3 feet by 16
inches), reaching his bruised knuckles into the tiny spaces below each pulpit
mounting. These areas are each about 6”
x 4” x 2”, all above and almost an arm's length from Guy's position under the
deck. Since my knees' arthritis was
acting up, Guy volunteered to do the duty in my place. “What a Guy!!”
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| Whitney and Jack Installing the Davits |
The well-secured stern pulpit is now the base for the newly
installed dinghy davits. Jack, Bill and
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| Sarah & Jack Help With Davits' Setup |
Sarah arrived Saturday afternoon and immediately got to work as we mounted the
new dinghy davits onto the transom and newly-secured stern pulpit. Bill enjoyed drilling holes in the transom as
I winced and Guy directed the location of the new bolt holes. When
I helped direct the starboard side
drilling, Murphy's Law kicked in and I had Bill drill the holes about 2 inches
outboard of their proper position. Once
drilled, we let it go as the strength and stability of the davits does not seem
to be a problem. Unlike the backing
plates installed earlier in the day, this job actually went pretty smoothly
(mislocated bolt holes aside) and our test run of raising and lowering the
dinghy using the davits went quite well.
An especially noteworthy item was Jack's idea to replace the stretchy
nylon line I had been using for a lifting bridle. In it's place Jack suggested we use some old
¼” chain I had and it was quick to install and worked like a charm, enabling
the new davits to raise the dinghy well above the deck and out of the way of
water and waves.
Saturday evening called for some relaxing and celebration of
the huge efforts expended that day so Bill broke out his new propane grill and
we enjoyed steaks, chicken and shrimp on the new barbie, all from the fine
culinary hand of Chef Paviol. Guy's
children and their friends joined us for the party and a good time was had by
all!
On Sunday we got right back to work as Guy replaced the
leaking port side portlight and Jack re-caulked the starboard portlight. The rain we had over the past week tested
both and I can confirm they did terrific job!
Bill and Sarah sanded and painted the bottom paint, raising the
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| Bill Paviol Working Kelly IV's Bottom |
waterline by an inch in preparation for the salt water and heavier loading that
Kelly will see on her first full-time cruise.
This past weekend, my son Paul and I unpacked and loaded the
new gear from our recent purchases. If
you own stock in West Marine, I may be personally responsible for the
significant uptick in your net worth!
:-) Paul and I unboxed new
anchor, radar and mounting pole, depthsounder, chartplotter, charge controller,
boat hook, solar panel, dock and anchor line, windex, engine oil, 4200
adhesive, dinghy motor, spare dinghy battery and solar charger for the dinghy
battery. The anchor required some assembly,
so we built the new anchor and stowed all the gear securely until we can begin
the task of installing it all.
