May 4-5, 2023 - Thursday/Friday

Thursday was a big day:  Time to reinstall the windvane!

I picked up my repaired lower brackets on Wednesday, so time to put things back together.  Shannon came by to give me a hand.  I could probably do it myself, but it is a little awkward and I don't want to risk dropping it.  We got the two upper bolts in, then positioned the repaired lower brackets.  Everything fit, so I continued by myself tightening everything, installing the hydrovane, running the control lines and testing.  Here is what it looks like all set up:

Monitor Windvane

In operation, the windvane on top is set so it points directly into the wind.  In that position it stands up straight.  If the boat veers off one way or the other, the wind comes at an angle over the windvane and deflects it to one side or the other.  This motion turns a pinion gear which turns the hydrovane in the water.  The hydrovane, being in water, has a lot more power than the windvane.  When it turns, the paddle swings to the side and pulls on the control ropes which are attached to the helm and the boat turns back to the correct heading.  It is a pretty slick device and can drive the boat for hours on end without intervention.

There has been some interest in my method of climbing the mast, so I had four people over Thursday morning for a demonstration and practice.  They all took a turn in climbing harness and prusiks.  We tried a number of techniques and everyone went away feeling they had a good start at independent mast climbing.

I took out the bilge pump Thursday and tested it.  It appears to be working okay.  This leaves the float switch or wiring as the possible problems.  I'll remove the float switch next to test it.

The immigration office responded to the documents I sent in.  They were all in Spanish, so I used Google Translate to make English versions.  I sent the finished documents back with both language versions, but I guess they don't like that.  I thought it would be helpful for use with other cruisers, but they want the documents in the original form, so I'll make the changes and send them again...

Friday I worked on some more of the teak, then helped Shannon get her dinghy on the deck of her boat using her jib halyard.  She is getting ready to head back to Canada, so is getting her boat tidied up.  

I also worked on polishing my stainless hardware on deck.  I have been working at this in sections since arriving.  I am most of the way around the boat now.  Nice and shiny!

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