James Craig Maintenance Bulletin 17.07.2015
What’s been achieved and what’s to come…
During the weeks the fore upper topsail was sent aloft and bent on, while work continued on the lower topsail yard.
Tony ‘s been learning a whole lot of new skills – last week it was sewing bolt rope, this week it’s learning to tie robands.
Well done those who turned up at short notice on Saturday after the Sunday sail had to be put off because of the weather.
Rust busting was the focus of the day.
Ewa, Grant, Graham, Bob and Don spent 4 hours on this section.
Meanwhile, Andy spent a happy 3 hours aloft, mousing shackles on the fore upper topsail rigging.
Vanny couldn’t stay idle. In between bouts of guiding, she did a beautiful job on the binnacle.
The weekday crew then continued work on the never ending cracks in the lower topsail yard
measured ……..
tested……
trimmed ……..
until the spline was ready
to glue in place.
About 6 hours from something like this ……………………
to something like this
Then on to the next one…………and the next……….and the next………
Gerry & Tony finished hanking on the inner jib
the harnesses had their six monthly check (more on that another time)
Bob, Michael and Allan spent the best part of a day checking over the life jackets for survey, all 230-something of them, replacing any out of date lights,
Phil rode the stay and added baggywrinkle to the main fore stay,
and the bilge gang cleaned up after the bilge pump was tested for survey
It is not expected that the fore lower topsail yard will be ready by the next day sail on July 25th.
This means that before then, temporary sheets and clewlines will need to be rigged for the fore upper topsail. At this stage it is not clear which day this will be done.
Weather permitting, focus for the Saturday crew will be blacking, I suspect in some interesting places – you’ll need to see Tom. He will make the call.
And the work should continue on the lower topsail yard.
Keep up the good work.
Mary Robinson
To find out more on how you can help click here or call in on 02 9298 3888.