Barb gets her first look at the boat.

Arriving back on the Island after a long day of driving and shopping for our upcoming guests, I took Barb over to the boat and showed her some of the work I had done. She was happy with the boat and was excited.

Hoisting the Sails! A little help from our friends. And some cleaning.

I believe the proper term would be bending on and hoisting the sails.

Captain Ric, came over to help with this one. We first hoisted the mainsail slowly while putting the mainsail slugs in the track. We found the last two slugs cracked and broken and they would not stay in the track, so new ones would need to be sewn on.

The jib was difficult to raise as everything was stiff. By the time it was nearing the top I was pulling on cable and not the line. I ended up having to winch the last bit of the Jib up. So the Headsail Halyard was another item on the list to fix.

After getting the sails set, it was then time for some cleaning. We drained, cleaned and refilled the water tanks, and wiped down all the storage areas and cabin teak. We also checked out why the galley and head whale water pumps were leaking. Bad seals on both. Since they are both outdated pumps, and we would rather replace than rebuild, we added those items to our growing list.

Help from Captain Ric
Hosting the Jib
scrub a dub
messing about
almost up
heave ho
shoulda bought a pump
thirsty for beer

Let’s take her out. Breaking the law. A two for one docking!

June 25th 2015 was not only our fourth anniversary, it was also the first time we took out the Egress for a motor. It was smart to motor since we had some issues with the sail track and a couple of the slugs. I really was anxious to get the sails up but it could wait a bit. It was more important on this day just for Barb and I to enjoy ourselves on the boat and then cook out on the boat after we docked for our anniversary dinner. It was a wonderful first motor. 

We motored around the local area between Lapointe and Bayfield. We had a problem with the engine cutting out in low idle, but this would be easily fixed by adjusting the low idle setting. We motored for about 4 hours and then headed in. I was very nervous docking the first time and well, shall I say, the second time too!

Being so nervous, and so focused on not cutting off the engine, and getting into the slip without mishap I docked in the wrong slip!

After moving the Egress to the correct slip, we then fired up the Grill to cook some pork chops for our anniversary dinner. It was about the time that we were sitting down in the cockpit to eat that Captain Ric stopped by to wish us a happy anniversary and inform us that we already broke one of the rules at the marina. NO GRILLING ON THE BOAT IN THE SLIP! We had a laugh about that and we were also told that our Halyards banged around in the previous evenings winds. Oops not a good way to start out. We had violated two of the Marinas rules.

Prior to leaving the Egress we secured the Halyards! So we apologize to anyone we kept awake the night before.. We will be good neighbors from now on.

broke #2 and #8
first time out
a beautiful day
enjoying the helm
all smiles
anniversary dinner

Installing the Coamings and the Winches

Next day I removed the old non-tailing  Lewmar #25 headsail winches, and of course the new Lewmar #30 Selftailing winches have a different hole pattern. Since I was in a hurry to get this done, I did not seal the old holes. I simply drilled new holes, and temporary installed the new winches knowing that in 2016 I would need to seal the old holes and install and bed the new winches properly. I then installed the Coamings, again taking shortcuts and not bedding the Coamings as I should have, however, we were running out of time. Now some may scold me for this, but I was under a tight deadline.

It was close to the Fourth of July, and we had a lot of Family coming to the island. Most were arriving the next day to stay with us and any opportunity to actually be on the boat, doing actual boat work would soon disappear. It should be noted that the fourth of July on Madeline Island is an experience not to be missed. It is one of the top ten fireworks displays in the entire country! This from an Island with a permanent population of around 250 people. We would highly recommend, that if you ever have the opportunity to experience the 4th on Madeline Island, do it. It is a must see!

new winches
coamings installed
peaceful evening
the 4th on the island

 

End of what I did on my 2015 summer vacation part 3