bobstay boogie

Trying to remain vertical while standing in and working from the tender has taught me some new moves.

Never was much of a dancer...but with one hand holding a tin of varnish, the other using a brush and the tender untethered as I work along the big pole, the new moves become impressive when a motor boat speeds past.

The jib tensioning rig needs restoring, as do the whiskers and the bobstay chain, tackle and line. But I began by resurfacing the bowsprit which had been beyond the reach of the tools until now. It is now being recoated as weather and time permits.

Below, the jib traveller is attached to an endless out/inhaul. Lovely leather sheathed bronze ring and wiggly bits.

Below are the parts of the bobstay tensioning tackle. Galv chain is shackled to a block and then linked by line to a double block. At the inboard end a wooden eye is spliced onto the line to provide another two part purchase inboard by means of another line spliced to the bowsprit at the standing end, then fed through the wooden eye and back to a horn cleat on the sprit. The chain was looking mildly disreputable, so it has added gravity to my bin. The gal pulley blocks have stood up remarkably well and have been redeployed without any interference.

All of the gal. shackles have remained serviceable- probably due to the beef tallow used to lubricate the threads. A big bucket of the stuff was kindly provided with the boat (Fred's supplier had grossly overestimated how much he required) and it is remarkable stuff. You would think after more than 25 years in a shed the tallow would be rancid and beyond sniffing, but it remains a clean, white, low odour and  serviceable marine lubricant. Needless to say all moving galvanised parts going back on the boat are retallowed.

Below, the new lines, chain and splices for the long outboard parts. The splice on the inboard line will need to be done on the boat.