Well it seems the "forces that be" have been conspiring against me to keep me from sailing. Between the weather and work and the holidays I haven't had the chance to sail in the last 6wks.

I have however gotten to a few little jobs which have been waiting on just such a crappy time of year as this.

The deck hatch that I installed last June and has never been water tight has been pulled out and replaced with a REALLY nice(read REALLY expensive) Lewmar Ocean Series.

This thing is a piece of art. The frame is heavy aluminum and the "glass" is 1/2" Lexan. I could (but won't) stand on it without fear of falling through it into the cabin. You can also latch it partially open so as to get some ventilation without the rain getting in, a major thing in a small boat like mine.

Once I got the old hatch out and the new one fitted I figured out what the problem was.

It would seem after 30 years the deck in front of the mast has sagged about 1/4" causing the plastic frame of the old hatch to bend and allow a less than water tight seal to be formed.

This required the area at the aft edge of the opening to be built up before the hatch could installed.

I made a dam of blue painters tape along the edge of the opening and poured in enough epoxy resin to raise the bowed section back to level. Once that was cured the hatch went in without much trouble........Except for the 3M 5200.

5200 almost always make an unbelievable mess but in this case the air temp was about 50* and I couldn't get the damn stuff to come out of the tube.

From one bloody extreme to the other.

I ended up putting a pan of water on to boil and setting the tube in it until it was warm enough to flow, pumping out what I could before the tube got cold again and then back to the pot for more warming.

For the first time in the history of 5200 a job was completed with out me having to cut out chunks of hair or having to bathe in acetone. Of course I had to wait a week for the stuff to cure hard enough to tighten the bolts down.

It rained hard yesterday and I can now report it doesn't leak a drop.

The temp dropped like a rock last night and the newsies were gabbing on about the terrible winter ice storm that was sure to disable the entire city if not the known world.

I decided I would take a heater down to the boat and spend the night to be sure the ice didn't get so thick as to cause the boat to sink.

Yup, you guessed it not a drop of precip of any sort. The wind did blow hard all night, gusting up into the high 30s, but not a drop of rain.

The newsies were looking pretty sheepish this morning.

Tonight, it's raining and in danger of freezing and I'm stuck here hoping it won't be to bad at the boat. Go figure.

The tiller pilot has been wired and as soon as the weather cooperates I will figure out a permanent mounting bracket. The temporary one might work but I haven't been able to get out on the boat to test it yet.

I figured out a place to hang the big flood light both in the lazarette locker and one on the cabin bulkhead for quick use.

All the piddly stuff you think of when you can't sail.

I installed 4 sheet bags in various places around the cockpit and a new mainsail cover. I made a cover for the propane tank from a Harken fender cover split and velcroed down a seam.

My daughter got me a new windex for my birthday and I found a used Mast Mate ladder thingy at the used boat parts place.

I figured it couldn't possibly be THAT hard for a slightly rotund gunsmith to go up the mast.

I found out different.

It would seem that the makers of the Mast Mate are used to dealing with taller folks than me, and they build their ladders for them too. My left leg works just fine but the right seems to be about 2" to short for this ladder. With much sweating, swearing and a little help from George who tailed the safety line(jib halyard) I got to the top of my mast. Once there, I was able to do the installation of the windex without any trouble at all. I had thought out the job before hand and had all the tools and the fasteners in my tool bag.

No reason to have to make 2 trips.

The comment was made that it's not a very high mast. While that may well be true, it sure looked like an awfully long way down.

I was surprised how little 225lbs at the top of the mast made the boat heel or sway but Joel from down the dock helped me by leaning on the gunnel to secure the safety line and sending my wideness through about 30* of arc.

He was politely asked not to touch the boat again until I was back on the deck, preferably by climbing back down.

As simple a job as this was it certainly pointed up how out of shape I am. The next day my thigh muscles were reminding me that I'm neither young or svelt anymore.

My wife gave to me for Christmas, a VERY nice set of new foul weather gear.

Once again the tall people of the world have been catering to their own and I found that just because it fits the wide bits doesn't really mean it going to fit the short bits. There is no such thing as large/short in rain gear. Thank god for all the velcro straps at the wrists and ancles or I might get lost in the damn thing.

I have been wearing for the last 3 days of rain and cold and I am in love with it. Its warm. It breathes, and it doesn't leak.

It makes me look a bit like a bright yellow traffic cone but thats my fault and another story.

Until next time................m