Finally some progress is made

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter. We spent the weekend as usual doing work on the boat. Dirk took Monday off so that we would have as much time to finish up some of the projects that seem to be going on forever. Let's see, last post I talked about how the old pedestal guard would not accommodate the new nav pod. Well we got the new angled guard in and Saturday it took all day to tear out the old one and install the new one. We also had to put in a new top plate to account for the new pole width. Finally the new nav pod was put on and after wiring it up, believe it or not everything works. Not that I don't have faith in Dirk's work, it's just that luck seems to be working against us lately. Notice the spot on the bottom left of the nav pod is empty. This is where Dirk is planning on installing his switch for the new windless purchased a couple weeks ago.

Here is the view from the front. All that's missing is adding the cockpit table and drink holder which I am working on now. Kudos to Dirk on this one. Saturday while Dirk was busy in the cockpit I was busy taping and varnishing the teak. It was absolutely beautiful on Saturday and Sunday so I felt I got a lot accomplished. Several coats with sanding done in between. In between I got some organizing and some what I call piddle stuff done. Sunday evening I guess winter wanted it's last fling. The wind was whipping and it got downright cold. Monday's agenda consisted of taking the radar off the bracket we had modified, and installing it on the new one. When we stepped outside we wished we had done this the day before. It was cold with the wind blowing horribly. I felt sorry for Dirk seeing him up the mast hanging on as the gust were blowing. The new bracket of course did not line up with the old, so new holes had to be drilled. Not an enticing idea putting holes in your mast but that's what had to be done.

So here is the new radar and bracket installed. Kudos again to Dirk. For the most part it was a very productive weekend. We can now in fact take Tybee Time out of her slip now that we have the helm put back together. We are looking forward to our first time out to do some sailing so that we can try out all the new toys we have. I'm guessing the next big project will be to replace our old windless. We had recently purchased 150 foot of chain from someone that did not need it anymore. It was a wonderful deal but we learned that it was triple B chain. If I am in fact quoting that correct. Anyway our windless would not accommodate the new chain. As you can see the existing windless is fairly old and when you run it, it sounds like its groaning to get the chain in. With cruising in our future we decided a new one was in order. Don't have any photos of it yet, but its a beauty.
We also had ordered new lexan to replace all the hatches. So that project is looming along with all the others. Don't know if you can see, but the current hatch has been sealed and sealed again. The existing window is crazed and has a few cracks around the latches. After we finish installing them I will make covers to fit over them in hopes to prolonging their life. It will also serve to help keep the sun out during the hot summer days. I'm hoping that in the near future I can write about some of the excursions we do rather then all the work were doing.