Here is a list of small but important projects that we completed and crossed off of our list this week. It was a busy week this week, we had to make up for all the procrastinating we did last week. Aside from getting all the projects done below, I also spent much time on a friends boat installing their awesome entertainment system. We leave on Friday 11/24 for 10 days for our shakedown cruise. We’re keeping an eye on the weather, looks like some thunderstorms might delay us for a day or two.

Manual Water Pumps - The two manual water pumps (one for fresh and one for salt water) that were at the galley sink had leaked over the past couple years, and after a couple rebuilds with no success  we decided to replace the 20 year old pumps with new ones. They were replaced with brass Fynspray manual pumps, and aside from looking great they work and don’t leak!

New Tachometer - The new tachometer from Teleflex arrived so we got that installed. The stock Yanmar tachometer used a magnetic sending unit off of the flywheel, but our new one is an electrical tachometer that gets it’s information from the alternator. The replacement was actually pretty easy and quick as all of the existing wires were servicable. The new tachometer was calibrated and works great.

Inspected Impeller - Inspected the raw water pump impeller on the engine. It was in excellent condition so was not replaced. A new gasket was used when putting the impeller back. While in the engine compartment I inspected the engine zinc (good), all the hose clamps (good), and linkage components for the throttle and gear cables (good). Also inspected the alternator belt and fuel filters. Next week the oil change is on my list.

Organized Tools - Organized all the tools, amazing how many tools we have. Found a place for everything, and made sure that the most commonly used tools are easily accessible.

Spinnaker Halyard - Climbed the mast today and installed a spinnaker halyard. We don’t have a spinnaker sail yet, however we have been thinking about adding a drifter or spinnaker to our sail inventory at a later date. Since I had some extra line and a spare block on hand, I decided to go ahead and rig the halyard now while we had time.

Wind Generator Tie Off - We have a Fourwinds II wind generator. In order to strap the blade down when we don’t want the wind generator spinning (heavy seas, high winds) we have to climb on the stern pulpit and reach up to the strap. At the dock this has always worked for us, but I couldn’t imagine standing on the stern rail in heavy seas or a rough anchorage, I prefer not to put us in a position of falling overboard. So I rigged a small block up high and a cleat low on the wind generator pole, now all we need is a boat hook and we can strap down the wind generator pole from the safety of our cockpit.

Seizing Wire - Put seizing wire on all the shackles to keep the pins from backing out unnecessarily. This included both bow anchors, the double bridle anchor snubber, and two single anchor snubbers. Also check all our turnbuckles and blocks to make sure they were secured.

BBQ - Cleaned our Magma Newport BBQ, but dirtied it up shortly afterwards with some real good pork ribs. The Jack Daniels BBQ sauce David bought for the ribs was a great touch.