Near-Perfection

Alana's steering pedestal received its second coast of Oyster White Interlux Perfection paint today. I love painting with Perfection. It has great self-leveling qualities which cause brush marks to magically melt away,and it provides a very durable, high gloss, epoxy finish. I expect to be done with the painting phase of this project Monday, and will then set about reinstalling the pedestal and GPS plotter. I don't anticipate any complications, but then one seldom does.

Saturday is forecast to be a rainy mess, so it's unlikely Alana will be getting a lot of TLC before next week. She'll doubtless feel like just another run-of-the-mill sailboat, but I'll do my best to make up for it once the weather improves and Jessica gets back to flying.

Not-So-Welcome-Back Cotter Pins

Today I replaced the cotter pins securing the turnbuckles on Alana's shrouds and stays with machine screws, nylon spacers and lock nuts. I started out planning to tap the threaded portions of the turnbuckles to accept machine screws, but found the nickle-bronze alloy difficult to work with. This project was designed to eliminate or reduce the corrosion that can occur underneath the rigging tape used to prevent sheets and halyards from snagging on cotter pins. The turnbuckles will now require two hands to release, but in my opinion that risk is offset by the reduced chance of fitting failure.

I have been staying busy with preventive maintenance and will periodically be working to brighten and beautify Alana's topsides. It feels good to be able to devote time to nice-to-do items rather that correcting systemic failures (yikes, that sounds a little too Obama-like). I have one more coat of Interlux Perfection to apply to her helm pedestal before reinstalling that system. I'll then be looking for an opportunity to get Alana underway for an autopilot test.

Hold Everything

The beautification of Alana is on hold, as are the preventive maintenance projects she needs before her next voyage. My mom managed to shatter her lower leg and is now confined to her bed. I am now staying with my folks in Ohio to help with the chores and cooking my dad can get into some sort of routine.

Alana will be fine. The good folks at Santa Rosa Yacht & Boat Club will keep an eye on her until I can get back down to Florida; I'll just need to work a little harder to have her ready for the trip back around Florida to her next home port of Savannah, GA.