Here is a list of small but important projects that we completed and crossed off of our list this week.

New Anchor - Mounted new Spade 140 aluminum anchor on bow roller, and moved the Bruce 33lb anchor to storage under the pullman berth. The 35lb CQR remains on the port anchor roller as our secondary anchor.

Helmsman Seat Cushion - Made a cushion for the helmsman seat to make long watches at the wheel more comfortable. The cushion was made using a Pick Up & Go chair which was cut and modified then covered in sunbrella. To see more about this projects along with other photos, click here.

Anchor Bridle - Made two anchor bridles. The first is made of two 15’ pieces of 3/4” three stand line which is connected to an ABI chain grabber. The eyes will go through the hawse pipes at the bow and tie off on the sampson posts. The other set up is a single 50’ line of 1/2”  three strand line with a chain hook on one end. Again, this will be fed through a forward hawse pipe and tied off on the sampson post.

New Water Heater - Installed a new Seaward 6 gallon water heater. We noticed the bilge pump running every 8 hours or so, and after a bit of investigating and tracing down a small trickle of water, it was determined that the water heater was leaking. Once it was removed, sure enough, there was some rust on the bottom and it was wet. The new heater was a direct replacement, so installation wasn’t so bad.

New Lavac Head - We removed the Raritan PHII head this week, and installed a Lavac Popular head. The installation was a breeze, and it works great. While the head was out, I replaced most of the existing hoses as well, and installed a Y-valve behind the anchor locker bulkhead. This will allow us to easily switch from discharging the head either into the holding tank or overboard. I must say, though, that working with all the old plumbing hoses and old head is not fun, but glad it’s done.

Mounted EPIRB - Mounted new EPIRB in the aft cabin. The EPIRB is an Emergency Position Indicator Radio Beacon, and in a distress will send out a signal to the satellites with an approximate location of our vessel.

Organized More Lockers - Organized more storage lockers, look inventory of spares, made more room for provisioning. Mailed final box of files to my mom. Found a spare staysail, it was in a locker we had not looked in since we bought the boat. Wonder how many more surprises we’ll find.