While working on replumbing the head, the inlet hose spigot snapped off inside the Lavac Zenith toilet. Yikes! It left a piece inside, so we were left with trying to figure out how to get that piece out, and what to do about replacing it. The Lavac toilet is just too nice to abandon over a little failure like this. I’m posting this here in case anyone else encounters this problem with their 35 year old plastic part snapping.
While Luke was home from university for spring break, we decided that with his help, it was time to send Van up the mast. We had some burned out light bulbs, and Van wanted to inspect the rigging up there.
A few comments on the “hairpin” chain plate design on the Nic 38. Looking at this as an engineer (well, actually I’m a physicist), there are some interesting design decisions that were made. Basically, I think it’s a brilliant design with multiple redundancies built in.
We’re having lovely late winter weather – sunny 50ish degree days, and a decent north wind, just like in summer (though its 20-30 F warmer then!)
So finally, after nearly 4 months of boat ownership, we took our boat out for a proper sail – alone.
As Brion Toss said at this year’s Seattle Boat show, if your boat is more than 20 years old and has spent any time at all in warm climates, you have to pull those chain plates. So during that nice sunny spell we had recently, we did pull a few, and Brion was right – the chain plates need some TLC. To get to the punchline early, the ones we looked at are not ready to fail. But of course you want to know the whole long saga so keep reading.
One of the things the pre-purchase survey turned up was that the propane locker did not meet ABYC standards, in part because it did not have access via the top of the locker. Instead, it had only side access, and difficult side access at that. So we decided to do something about it.
Here’s a great project that we think will really make a difference to our cruising enjoyment.
It all started with our efforts to figure out where to install a waste holding tank.
People are starting to ask what’s happening with the boat, so I figured I better make a new post.
Thanksgiving day meant more this year, as this was the day that the wind cooperated so we could bring Rainshadow to her new home.
Full crew included: Van the captain, Marilyn the favorite mate, Damien the deckhand and Luke the college-student-home-for-the-holidays swabbie. Sid & Stephanie, Rainshadow’s former owners, came down to the docks for some last words of advice and a fond farewell to their well loved vessel.
Today, the deal to purchase Rainshadow is officially closed. We now are boat owners again.