sv-dream

Not every refit weekend brings good news. I set out planning to fit the new halyards and finally get the running rigging sorted, but instead I ended up pulling the mast off the boat. The sheaves at the base of the mast, which I thought just needed replacing, turned out to be completely seized. Solid. No amount of WD-40 or gentle persuasion was going to get them turning, so the mast had to come down. It’s now resting on top of the boat, which makes getting around a bit awkward, but it’s only temporary. Once I had the mast down and could properly measure the parts, I found out that nobody makes sheaves in this exact size anymore. Of course. So I broke out the calipers, fired up the 3D printer, and made my own set. Not quite the simple job I had in mind for the weekend, but at least I know they’ll fit perfectly. With the mast down, I took the opportunity to tackle a few other jobs. I replaced a waterlogged navigation light and then turned my attention to the wiring. And wow. I knew the el...

Sorry for the radio silence! The last post went up back in July, and while the blog has been quiet, I’ve been anything but. Pretty much every spare moment since then has been spent working on the boat, and it’s amazing how quickly time disappears when you’re covered in Sikaflex or head-down in an engine. The biggest milestone was finally getting an outboard sorted. The boat didn’t come with one, so this was a huge step forward. I found a good engine, gave it a full service, and even fixed a couple of issues: a blocked fuel tap and a snapped handle. Cleaning out the tap was easy enough, but the handle repair was a bit more creative. I drilled through what was left of it, dropped in a bolt, and sculpted a brand-new handle around it with epoxy putty. Surprisingly, it worked - and it looks half-decent too! Next on the list was sorting out the sink drain. The old seacock was a corroded mess, so I swapped it for a TruDesign composite fitting. Thankfully, the skin fitting was still solid, so ...