Stern pulpit

Last weekend we had sunny weather, so we decided to mount the stern pulpit. The project actually went fairly hitch free. Drilled holes were straight and in alignment and only one thing got dropped in the water, and that item was expendable anyways.

The first is a photo of the stern before the pulpit. Except for the main sheet running through the pulleys back there, it's a bit of a open space where you can get rather intimate with Poseidon and his realm. Exhilarating but sometimes a little precarious.

The next two photos are with the stern pulpit. It's a little hard to see it well, but the pulpit encloses the space and creates a bit of security. A set of life lines will be added halfway down from the upper rail to close it up more.

New electrical panel

Matt has been working diligently on this weekend after weekend after weekend... and managed to avoid getting shocked. (Not that there wasn't a spark or two to keep things lively.) We had a good laugh over all my countless boat journal entries in which the sentence "Matt worked on the electrical project" appears. Except for some minor aesthetic details though, we think we can count this project as done. (That is, until we add some new electricity requiring device on board...)

These are photos of the old panels. Matt combined the two into one continuous panel and brought it out parallel for easier access.

Here it is. Matt created the new panel so that it unscrews and hinges down to allow access to the somewhat chaotic looking electrical innards. The red switches are for the two battery banks, the center panel is for the items that run off DC, and the left panel controls the AC stuff (electrical outlets and battery charger).

I think we share a similar sense of humor with the previous owners. This little sign had been posted up with the old panel, and we always puzzled over it. What language was it? (Swedish maybe? But why not German?) What did it say? Where had it come from originally? When we removed it for the electrical project we found an English translation on the other side - 'Warning: do not shut battery circuit while engine is running." But we decided to put it back up the way the original owners had. It's just more fun that way.

Pinrail project complete

The pinrails are now on. It took a bit of cautious but assertive use of the rubber mallet to get them positioned onto the shrouds. So far they are a great help in organizing all the lines!