Back to The Boat at Last

After a fortnight away, I finally got back onto the boat today. After a long break I tried to cram a few jobs in.

Yesterday I got a tiller pin for the tiller pilot from Marine Superstore. I fitted it to the point I'd already marked on the tiller and epoxied it into place.

Today was about sorting the other end of the tiller pilot, the swivel pin socket. A few posts ago I reported that whatever strengthening block fitted under the deck had gone, so today I fitted a new block. 6 Stainless Screws hold it in place, which should deal with the torque of the device. I need to take the generator and my mains drill to the boat tomorrow so that I can drill out the 13mm hole for the pivot socket. Once that's done I can glue it in place.

That will be that job done then.

I also looked at the jib. Its looking a bit poorly and the strip along the leech of the sail has come adrift. It looks like the fabric of the edge of the sail has failed, so I don't know yet whether its fixable. Anyway to get the sail down it looks like I need some thin rope, as the halyard that holds the jib up is only long enough to go through the block at the top of the roller reefing and then down to the bottom. If I'm to drop the sail I need to add some rope to the halyard so that I can pull it back when I re-install the jib. So that's a visit to B&Q or Wilkos for some cheap thin rope tomorrow if they're open.

The final job was to put Sprite II's name and home port on her stern. I'd had the stickers for a couple of months but it hasn't been a priority. Today I had time to spare.

Here's how it looked once fitted:

I thought I'd add the mooring number just for the harbourmaster in case the painted on number wears off my mooring buoy.

As you can see the stern ladder is now nicely stained. Here's a closer look:

I forgot to take the woodstain to stain the wooden block on the outboard bracket, but if I remember tomorrow I'll do that.

You'll notice in the picture I've bought a couple of pound-shop solar lanterns to fit on the traveller. They're there to provide a small light to light the cockpit at night.

So hopefully tomorrow the tiller pilot will be installed, the jib will be down for repair and I might have had a small trip up the harbour. A bit more progress.

I'd rather be sailing but not with the jib in the state it is.