Davits, the last major job !

What a surprise last weekend was! We were expecting to be shivering in the forecast sea fret, while the rest of the country was experiencing record March temperatures - It was a little misty when we arrived on Friday afternoon, still very pleasant though, but Saturday and Sunday were just lovely! The point of this visit was to fit the dinghy davits, which I was expecting to be a bit of a job to put it mildly, spending hours worming my way into the machinery space behind the stern cabin, mastic gun, and spanner in hand wasn't my idea of fun. In the end the job was not as bad as expected, and with some help from Sue, holding a spanner on the outside nuts, the job was effectivly finished on Saturday, allowing the sikaflex adhesive sealant to go off overnight. On Sunday we inflated the dinghy and attached it to the davit falls - disaster, the blocks were hard up to the davits but the dinghy was still swinging free. After a couple of hours, and much coffee, we found a way around the problem, which would actually reduce the strain on the eyelet patches on the dinghy. The davits were supplied with a four to one purchase using double blocks, but by using two single blocks with snap hooks directly on to the stainless rings attached to the dinghy, we were able to pull it tight on to the davit arms. I just need to fit a couple of eye bolts to the bottom of the transom board to allow the same system at the stern, and all will be well. One unforeseen problem was that the stern navigation light will be obscured by the dinghy, so I will have to fit a second light to the wind generator pole at a suitable height, and arrange a switch from one to the other; not a major job though. Once we had the dinghy in place I could measure up and position a bracket for the outboard motor, and decide positions for the MOB sling. On Sunday afternoon we took 'NJ' out of her berth, and motored over to the fuel berth to fill up, then returned to berth bow in, to make the dinghy more secure. If the weather allows, we will take her out for a sail next weekend to make sure everything is working as it should, and arrange a lift out so that I can change the hull and bow-thruster anodes,and have the slime powerwashed off the hull and rudders ready for departure.