Ship's log, Ides of October

Repairs:
Patches held up under the recent rain. :)

Engine:
Got another number for an A4 mechanic. Sigh. If I can get it to limp along for 6 months for a few hundred bucks, maybe that's just as well.

Maintenance:
Put sails partway up, until wind got frisky. Cathy (down the dock) helped considerably with the self-furling jib.

Jib is usable, but tatty. The UV shield is almost gone. It can be trimmed up for now, but it will need to be replaced in the new year. Also, the jib sheets are chafing visibly against the standing rigging.

Cathy says she uses the lawn near the main building to lay out her sails on when necessary.

The mainsail is fine as far as I can see. No birds roosting or anything. I'd like to put pinch-catches on the sail ties.

The main halyard (pulls the sail up the mast; think haul-yard) was getting caught on no less than 5 bits of hardware on its way into the first block at the base of the mast, so I moved that forward and moved the forward block aft. Now the main halyard crosses the two little lines that go through that block. H'mm.

I think I'll ask Dan to go over the rigging with me. I don't understand some of it. And I'm not sure why emergency jack-lines are strung up the deck. Also, there's a loose wire belowdecks that he might know something about.

Shrouds [standing rigging -- holds the mast up] are in excellent shape. The bases need to be rebedded as they leak slowly belowdecks, but it can wait.

Improvements:
I finally put up a strand of lights. Not the bulb lights (or fairy-lights) that you string around a Christmas tree -- I put those up last week as a temporary measure -- but the rope lighting you see around some window displays. Eventually, there will be 3 strands, and this cabin will be very well illuminated with relatively little electrical impact.

Meanwhile, the port side of the boat is considerably brighter, and you can actually see what's inside the lockers behind the settee because the rope lies behind the settee back, shining into the locker doors when they're slid open.

Thought for the future:
I have one of those cloth hang-up-in-your-closet things for shoes, the kind that has a little square compartment for each shoe. I think I'll use it in the galley to store food in, especially items that are inclined to clank or to wander. Only question is how to stabilize it for hitting the waves. Perhaps a rail. Perhaps velcro. Either would work well. Velcro may be easier.

Mulling the bookshelf situation. Mainly that there really aren't any. Problem. H'mmmmm.