Worth the effort

The sweat and tears of the past 5 weeks working on RW seem but a distant memory now we have had some wind in her sails. Daz, Dani, Marty and Deb crewed on Sat for a short social sail to settle the rigging so I could do my final adjustments. With a toggle on the forestay I made a 200mm reduction in mast rake and she appeared quite well balanced, although a bit more breeze would have given me a better indication.

Insurance is all sorted on the public liability front and I now have full race coverage. Just need to arrange the safety equipment audit,  submit the proforma along with the insurance certificate and race entry form....then we are in business. Only took a year and a bit, but she looks fantastic!

Back on the water

RW re-launched on today's high water. We managed to creep out of Oyster Cove with the depth alarm screaming its head off for about 30 mins until we cleared the very narrow channel. Hopefully all my antifoul is still on the keel!! 

The new PSS prop shaft seal gave off a bit off carbon dust whilst bedding in as it should, but after that she ran nice and dry. I was a little sceptical when the PSS seal kit arrived as the gator looked a little light duty, yet when I finally aligned the gator on the stern tube and compressed the SS shaft ring onto the carbon seal face, the gator firmed up nicely.

The re-pitch of the prop blades appears to be just about spot on, but I will do some more testing during slack water  in the next few weeks.

All my keel bolts have been cut from lengths of 316 M24 threaded rod and new 316 square washers painstakingly cut out of plate. My faithful old B&D angle grinder never fails me even after many, many years of torture! I have fitted the front 2 of 15 keel bolts as these were a pain to remove and I wanted to ensure the replacements didn't 'poke' their nose out the lower edge of the keel flange. The remaining bolts I can replace one at a time on the mooring before I paint the bilge. Then she should be good for another 50 years.  RW now sports two coats of blue Jotun Seaguardian and a boot top of Norglass Weatherfast Admiralty Blue.

I still need to setup the mast rake and adjust the rig tension, run some sheets and control lines and refit the masthead gear, but to do that I preferably need a windless morning in the marina. May look at spending the weekend at Nelson Bay Marina. I also need to fit the mainsail before I can drill and tap the bolt holes for the Selden Rodkicker as the weight of the sail will impact on the position.

The Insurance Survey has been completed with only a handful of things to repair or modify......most were on my list already or in work. Despite working 12-14 hour days non-stop for the past month, I have kicked quite a few of my bucket list jobs.....unfortunately its the ones you don't know about that eat into the schedule and wallet!! Hell, its only money.....(sorry kids!).

Heading home!