Springtime on Kent Island: 5/3 - 5/6

—Blogpost written by Bob 

Monday, May 3

Rain was expected for today but not starting until later in the morning.  The sky was overcast and the temperature was moderate for spring (mid to upper-60's).

I thought about the winch problem from yesterday as I woke up in the morning.  The most likely way I could imagine that the drum could be restricted from lowering was if a line of corrosion was high enough in the drum where I didn't notice it.  So, in the morning I pulled off the drum and closely inspected it--there was no upper line of corrosion.  So I pulled out a bronze spacer and inserted a (narrower) nonmetallic spacer (somehow they were both initially in the drum).  With the nonmetallic spacer, I was able to properly seat the drum of the winch against its bearing surface on the mount.  After fully reassembling the winch, it worked perfectly BUT I had a (bronze) bushing left over.

Fully assembled forward port cabintop
winch with the extra (leftover) bushing
(and the new winch handle in place).

I reviewed one diagram for the winch on L-36.com but it was clear that this diagram on the website was different than the reality in front of me.  The diagram showed two sets of needle bearings while my winch had just one set.  There was only one bushing shown on the diagram while two bushing came out of my winch.  (Barient winches were manufactured in the 70's and 80's and the company no longer exists.)

In another area of the website I found a different diagram (as follows) for the same winch. This diagram (from the same website) does show just one set of needle bearings and it appears more similar to my winch.  However, there is only one bushing (part #6) which is located in the upper portion of the winch while two came out of my winch.  (Could it be that one is simply redundant?)

This diagram most closely matches
my forward port cabintop winch.

At 9:30 AM the rain started, ever so lightly at first.  Then it stopped and restarted many times throughout the day. 

Tuesday, May 4

Sunshine and blue sky were the weather characteristics for the morning, even though rain was expected later in the day.  I slept noticeably better last night, probably the best sleep I've had in six months.

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This morning I put the second coat of oil finish on the handle of the third kitchen knife I am refurbishing--last night's first coat really penetrated into the wooden handle.

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We drove to Annapolis in the late morning and completed a couple errands before going out to lunch at Chevy's Tex Mex.  (Go figure, we went out for Mexican cuisine the day before Cinco de Mayo.  Many people in the U.S. think that Cinco de Mayo is Mexican Independence Day but its not--its a celebration of Mexico's victory over the French in the Battle of Puebla in 1862.)

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Today, we made the decision to move ahead with getting another Maine Coon--one of a litter of kittens that was born on Sunday night, May 2. 

This is not our new kitten but she will look
very similar to this image when she is
a little older. (Our new kitten
was just born on May 2.)

We won't be able to pick her (an all-black female) up until she is 12 weeks old, maybe mid-July.  We have been trying to select a name for her--right now the leading candidate for a name is Licorice.  (I'm sure that my sister Barbara, a cat-less cat lover, will be envious!)

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I was able to locate a welder (located in Shady Side, MD) who can weld repair our leaking auxiliary fuel tank.  It also seems like he could turn it around relatively quickly since he does aluminum weld repairs as a part-time job.  He was not concerned about the flammability of the small amount of diesel fuel that may remain in the tank.

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In the late afternoon, Maggie picked up her rental car for tomorrow's trip to see her eldest daughter in Johnstown, PA.

Wednesday, May 5 (Cinco de Mayo)

It rained lightly from the start of our day today.  We went out for a light breakfast at Starbuck's before Maggie left on her long drive to Johnstown, PA.  It rained (ever so lightly) occasionally throughout the day.

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I continued my morning and evening applications of the thinned tung oil finish to the third kitchen knife.  The handle on the third knife was quite a bit more porous than the previous two knives.

Ongoing knife handle refinishing on my
portable work bench affixed to
our cockpit dining table.

I didn't get much done today but I did have a celebratory margarita for Cinco de Mayo.  I have a lot of things on tomorrow's "to do" list as a result of postponements from today.

Thursday, May 6

It was windy (the northwest wind peaked at 20 knots at 3 AM) and cool last night as the heat came on several times that I remember.  (When its windy outside, the v-berth is always a little cooler than the main salon where the thermostat is located.)

Last night's wind chart
(courtesy of WINDY)

The sky was certainly clear and the sun was in full warmth mode in the morning but the outside temperature was still only 52 degrees (with a predicted high of only 64 degrees F in the afternoon) which might be a bit cool for bottom painting the dinghy (which I had planned for today). 

Lola with her sheepish apologetic look after
being caught on an unauthorized
walkabout on the dock
this morning.

By 10 AM, the outside temperature was up to 55 degrees and I thought it was warm enough to apply bottom paint to the dinghy.  The wind was expected to die down to 10 knots and below in the afternoon.  So, I completed the taping of the waterline in late morning and started bottom painting in the afternoon.  Today's final effort was to apply paint to the "high wear" areas (the waterline and where the previous bottom paint has rubbed off)--I used nearly half a can of paint on this!

Rain is expected over the next couple days.  I hope to get the auxiliary diesel tank removed and inspected for the leak...

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