Friday night review

Though there was a small chance that Kintala could go back in the water today I just couldn’t bring myself to go for it. Oak Harbor is mostly a working boat yard marina. The guys go home Friday afternoon and, just like the rest of the working world, will not be thinking “on the clock” until Monday morning. If we went in today there would be no one around to pull us back out for 48 hours. Not that I think we will need pulled back out but, then again, I never imagined we would need pulled back out the last time we went in. Spending another weekend on the hard is a bit of a disappointment, but it still seems the prudent way to go. Here is why …

Changing the helm shaft bearings included putting in two new nylon washers to reduce end play. The last guy who did the job apparently decided that putting in the forward one was too hard for his miniscule level of mechanical ability. He just left it out. Replacing the helm brake shoes (a job I assume was done by the same twit) includes putting in a new shaft Teflon sleeve. There was no new one. There was no old one. The Twit didn’t even leave the old one in place. Also missing was the washer that takes the brunt of the pressure when the brake is applied. This lack caused damage to the shaft itself so it wouldn’t fit into the new (and previously forgotten) Teflon sleeve. This bedeviled any attempt to assemble the unit yesterday so we called it a day with the binnacle still open. Last night at about 0300 I woke up realizing what the problem was. About 30 seconds with a file was all it took to correct the problem and the binnacle was closed up today. Along with the new chain / cable assembly installed so “centered rudder”, in fact, centered the rudder, (“centered” used to be with the monkey fist at the 2 O’clock position) Kintala’s steering is at least as good as it was the day she left the factory. (And a DAMNED sight better than it was when two surveys were done, and when we bought the boat.)

With the new hardware installed in the shoe insuring that the rudder will stay attached to the boat, Kintala’s helm is as smooth as the preverbal “baby’s butt”. Well, at least it is better than it was. But finding that parts were simply left out the last time anyone worked on this boat means I will be a lot more comfortable waiting until Monday to try and splash this thing once again. Besides, even if we had hit the water today there is still a little “lying on of the glass” to be done to the wind vane install. That will easier be done on the hard with 110 volts of AC readily available. (Docks, at least in this part of the world, do not come with power unless one deals directly with the local municipal power company gods. Something I hope we don’t have to do.)

With just a couple of minor items still to be address over the weekend, the mast is ready to step as well. It is just possible that, by the end of next week, Kintala will be floating at a pier giving every appearance of being an actual sailboat. That may sound pretty bold. But, you never know, it might happen.