Who said getting ready to cruise was easy!!

Well its been 2 weeks since I officially became unemployed! and the money has been flowing out faster than ever before!  in the last 2 weeks we've ordered 275ft of 5/16HT chain,  a Mantus 55lb anchor, a new outboard (more on that later) and a never ending series of seeming small purchase that together add up to a lot of 'boat units"!!

  First we took down the mast to prep for the new furler and discovered that the "Metz" VHF antenna magically lost the stainless steel antenna part. ( how does that happen??)  so off to the shop to purchase a replacement!  then we had to purchase some exterior grade RJ45 cable, connectors and other bits to mount the wifi booster to the top of the mast ( the wifi at our marina is bad at the best of times!).  Thankfully all went well and we now have a new furler and the mast is back in place on the boat!

New furler installed!!
But there is no rest for the wicked!  with the furler up and installed it was into the anchor locker for this captain! so into the anchor locker I went, wielding the spinning wheel of death ( grinder) a sawzall, crowbar and hammer!!


But the effort was worth it! after replacing a bunch wiring,  removing a huge 2 inch thick backing pad, and replacing a bit of core around the original deck penetrations (holes from the old windlass)  We were able to install the new windlass!  Looks pretty good!!

new windlass!

The best part of this project(s) arrived this week!!  240ft of 5/16HT chain and a nice big 55lb Mantus anchor!!!
Mantus on the bow!
Looks pretty nice right!!

Now for the snafu of the week! after ordering and installing the new furling, raising the mast, we went to install the old genoa on the furler...it didn't fit!!  AHHHHHHHH!  the sail was the right size,  but the luff tape is a size too large so off to the sailmaker we ran with the sail in hand.  he can fix it but it will take a week to do.  So no sailing this weekend!  oh well soo close!!




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