New rigging, more $$$$ spent

Pictured is $182 worth of wire and rope halyards. The roller furling jib halyard had to be replaced as the roller furling swivel failed to swivel last year and as we tried to furl it it, the wire halyard began to unwind. Fortunately, this happened on the last sail of the season. In an attempt for this not to happen again, my rigger friend, Martin, suggested we put a swivel clip on as well. Much like wearing belt and suspenders, I like the idea. I am also replacing the two lower mast shrouds as one looked dodgy.

The furling failure just emphasized my paranoia about all mechanical systems. The more complex they are, the greater the chance they will fail. A simple hanked on jib would not caused us that problem. Just saying.

I know a picture of wire and rope will not appeal to most, but I have seen similar pictures in other blogs and I like them so I figure someone will like mine.

Chain plate repair

Spring is here and I finally removed the chain plate and ground down the rotten and cracked surface.

The plan is build it up with resin and fiberglass. Drill over sized holes and fill them with resin. I have a stainless steel backing plate made and a friend suggested making a stainless steel top plate too. Makes sense to me so I will take some measurements and visit the local http://www.metalsupermarkets.com/. No order is too small for these people. The bow is now sealed with plastic and duct tape. I will open it up every evening this week and remove the moisture. It should be totally dried out by next Saturday when I apply the resin, weather permitting.