This year, we plan to replace the teak deck and the entire rigging (standing/running). In addition, we will finally re-cover the helm wheel, fix up the MOB gear, and do some wood finishing refreshes.
Winterization – All of the tyical winterizing steps have been completed with one lone exception: The generator. Our Onan generator has been the source of a lot of frustration for us as we swing from joy to misery between moments when it works and when it doesn’t work. Some troubleshooting today revealed small gifts from previous owners who left me bits and parts of impellers inside the heat exchanger. I believe that I need to pull the exhanger out as the flow of water is still happening.
Deck – All deck fittings are removed; literally everything except so far the chainplates. The framing for the Winter cover has been completed, teak has been completely removed, the new Aironly vents have arrived from Ukraine This will sacrifice some air flow for perhaps a more modernized look. Sanding of the deck is about 1/3 to 1/2 complete.
Rigging – Parts ordered and received, looked over the mast. We need some new Selden track and some replacement toggles. We also ordered a new Selden 400S new genoa furler. I had my heart set on a Harken MarkIV Ocean Size 3, but since everything on the boat is Selden, we wanted to keep with that theme.
Winches – We have 12 total winches on Skyward all but on are Lewmar. There are 5 on the mast (3x 44, 1x 16 a d 1x 8), 5 in the cockpit (2x 66, 2x 44, and 1x 48 Antal electric), and 2 on the aft coachroof (2x 40). All of them need servicing badly. The mast winches hardly spin by hand, and while taking them apart, I could see why. They were over greased and it clearly had been a long time since they were serviced. I disassembled all 5 on the mast and cleaned all of the bases left on the mast with a scrub of mineral spirits.
I brought those 5 and the 4 smaller winches from the boat home. I was so anxious that I already cleaned 3 of them on my makeshift surgery table.
Genoa, jib and mainsail cars and tracks – All new Lewmar size 2 units have been ordered. The mainsail setup will be a 5:1 if the design works out as planned. The 30 mm track is almost 13 ft long; unfortunately, I can’t find a source willing to sell it in lengths over 9’10”. I have have to get creative to maintain the original features. The original tracks seem to have distinct corrosion wherever the stainless steel bolts are used to hold the track down to the boat. I think this is because there wasn’t a good dielectric constant (dislike metals barrier) installed.
Other – The helm steering wheel elk hide is fully removed now time to clean up the glue/tape remnants. the new liferaft is ordered (Viking RescYou Pro 6).
The Loxodograph 