Trip 135/136 - Wed/Thurs Evening - May 19/20th
Trip 137/138 - Sat/Sunday - May 22/23rd

The final push to get Empty Pockets in the water.  This will be the 32nd summer for her. Lots to do, so little time to do it.

 

Wednesday

As we review the last events, I cracked the carbon/graphite seal with the hammer. Accidentally, of course, but cracked nonetheless. Snappy Customer Service, the Wonders of FedEx and a Credit Card with $125 of room on it, resolved the problem.

 

Instruments of Terror ...

 

With emery cloth (for our Guest Readers from Loma Linde, that is sandpaper on a ribbon)  we whisk it around the shaft and get it spanky clean.

 

Not pictured, but the yoke and key slide right on and off effortlessly.

 

Alignment from top and sides is acceptable. 

 

The tube in the hull is called the Shaft Log. The shaft is kinda centered in the log and kinda okay and well, kinda good enough. Always, there was no more adjustment and I was kinda tired.

 

The blades clear the rudder just fine now.

 

So we slip the bellows and seal on the Log.

 

All done and ready for the wawa. The use of that term took my oldest son by surprise and thought it not appropriate for you readers of this mess.  I thought it acceptable English in my confoozed state of mind these days.

 

I will apply soap to the inside of the hose so it is lubricated a bit.

 

It slipped right on and I tightened things down and all set. 

If you remember, there is a stainless flapper on the exhaust pipe. When the engine runs, that little sucker sure rattles alot.

 

Engine plumbed and wired and started on the second kick. 

I finally found a suitable pump for lake water and yet another design for a heat exchanger. Soon, the jug will be replaced by the exchanger, the lake water will circulate thru its jacket and the engine will be adequately cooled, no matter the circumstances.

Empty Pockets did have three thru-hulls located in the oddest of places, as you remember, I replaced and relocated them to two. One for water-in, the other for water-out. That will work just fine.

 

All is ready for the slings tomorrow afternoon.

+++

Thursday

I did create images of the event, but deleted them before downloading them. 

But, it was the same as years prior.

Apologies ...

+++

Saturday

Tom joined in on the party and we prepped the Furler for the boat. The wind was howling all day and some real big rollers up and down the lake so we quit at 3:00 and called it a day. 

The Furler has two components that must be cut to length. A new forestay and the extrusions that fit around the stay.

The Manual suggests calculations for both, which we did, but common sense dictated if we laid one against the other, 'Pin To Pin' we could check our work.

So we laid the stays on the ground and got started.

 

The new stay is on top. The old has the turnbuckle attached and in the position it was in when on the boat. The black tape, indicates that.

The next piece is a Rigging Screw and the new stay is inserted into it, and a special nut grabs it and holds it tight. The gray/blue piece on the left is the one end of the extrusions that wrap the forestay and the sail wraps around it, when the extrusions are rotated by the bottom piece. It is a sort of armature.  The bottom of the sail attaches to the snap shackle at left. The right side is inserted over the Rigging Screw and is held stationary by the pin at the bottom. Then, the rest rotates about the innards on ball bearings.

Our goal, will be to calculate where to cut the forestay and the top of the extrusions for length.

 

The mark on the stay is where the bottom has to be to be inserted into the 'Nut' on the right side of the Rigging Screw. Note on the left, the two pieces are lined up, pin to pin.

 

Enlarged a bit.

 

Trimmed. Tom marked the inside core with black marker which made fitting it on the cone easier.

 

The top of the extrusion.

To double check this dimension, we laid the sail out on the grass next to it and all, is well.

 

Sunday

We all got to Lake City at 9:15 and got busy. Really hot and guess what? Just as we got closer to handling the mast, the wind picked up again.

The Cone which fits inside the Nut. Which is now inside the forestay wire. The inner part of the wire which Tom marked is in the center of the cone. This is now threaded into the Rigging Screw and tightened as much as we can. The entire Mast and Rig depends on this connection.

 

Done.

 

All set for Empty Pockets.  By the way, this operation is a four man thing. Marcia manned the Gin Pole pulleys, Tom and Jim helped me get the whole thing in the air and on the boat.

 

About all I had time for in pix. We were bizzee and concentrated hard not to bend or kink the extrusions as we hoisted the whole mess in the air. Lashing the Furler in the middle and bottom helped the handling of it immensely. 

 

Back at the dock, all in place.

 

The Drum snaps onto the Rotor and the Cover assembles around it. 

 

I showered and Marcia rinsed down Empty Pockets

 

How big is it?

Big, that's what. 

I believe, when out on the water and the weather is against you.  -That-, is the time you need Reserve and Planning and Bigger (than Smaller). So, that is what I did with the Furler. This is a 200s and they make a much smaller 100s, I told the Salesman in Annapolis last fall, I wished they made a 150s as well. I would have purchased it instead.

ps: This one can be converted to electric. Hmmm Christmas is coming.

 

Parting Shots

 

The harbor is almost full again. Always fun when lots of activity.

 

My Signature Image. The Title might be ...

'Use Your Imagination'

 

This past week wore me out. That simple. Tonight, I am really  tired and bedtime will be before 2:00am.

 

Later ...