Deck Hardware/California Shields

First visit to the boat of the year today! I thought I would take advantage of an unseasonably warm forecast and get the fairing compound on the keel, but it was a little too warm! The air temp was in the 60's, which would be great save for all the condensation in the boat yard. EVERYTHING was wet, and the boats were sweating water in sheets. Ok, no glasswork!

It was a nice day to be in the yard, so I removed all the deck hardware off the aft deck, and pulled out a few items I wanted to work on at home.

The spinnaker pole was in good shape, had nice Forespar UXP ends on it and a thin walled tube. Working with the bowteam/fiance, I set it up the way she likes it. Two trip lines with stopper balls for grip, downhaul bridle (pink) with bungee cord retractors and a topping lift ring lashed in the center. Can't think of any better/simpler way to do it! For big breeze/reaches we'll tie on a spectra topping lift bridle.

I took the tiller off, as it was in the way. Took it home to work on, and realized the tiller is fine as is! Thats the very first thing on this boat thats been ok out of the box. The rudder head needs some washers to take the slop out of the steering, but thats an easy one. It's on our porch right now, being wonderfully complete.

I pulled off the backstay casting, which will be sent to Bam at Oyster Bay so he can add a sheave. I asked the class measurer if a harken exit block could be substituted, and was denied. It's too bad as a Harken 310 would be lower friction and larger radius, and probably a safer all around solution than the clunky casting the boats came with in the 60's. Ah well, at least all 260 Shields are in the same boat.

Removed the bent stern mooring cleat, and will replace with a lighter nylon cleat. Wow big weight savings!

The old spinnaker turning block hardware was pretty old and seemed ready to go. It was 2 teak pads, with really ancient padeyes and bullet blocks. I think I'll put in a better padeye and use a Harken 57mm Ti Lite or Karver block in its place. Always nice to have a simple solution thats stronger,simpler and lighter!

Total time today: 4 hrs (+4hrs Jan 9, 3hrs Jan 13)

Niki and I were in CA for her winter break, and stopped by the harbor (of course). We were looking around at a couple boats when I heard my name from up the dock! A dock in Monterrey CA is just about the last place I expect to run into someone, but there was Garth Hobson of the MPYC Shields fleet. I've run into Garth at pretty much every Shields Nationals since 02, and he showed us around their boats. Shields fleet 12 has 8 boats that are all on the same docks. Seems like a great place to sail and they sure seem to like it. Heres a photo of Garth and the 103 crew, about to go out for a sail.