Well, this post is dedicated to the folks who wrote when we launched Ravenswing they were sad the build-blog was over.  The silver lining of losing our first mast turns out to be an opportunity for a fresh crack at “getting everything right”. I watch (via the web) other builders meticulously keep their boats in the workshops until they are truly complete; our path was different – we had enough boat to go sailing, and by mid 2016 we wanted out of the $925/mo shop rent. In retrospect it would have been a crazy push to get to Mexico last October. Here in early 2018, the boat-builder hat is back on and things are getting done with as-professional-a-job as we can muster.  When we finally step that new mast, Ravenswing will be ready for adventuring.

I apologize for leaving you hanging back at the boat yard!  Here’s what happened when we put that calibrated scale in-line under the launch crane:That 9,300 INCLUDES about 500 lbs. of liquids (water, gas and sewer) that were not able to be removed due to weather just before the haul out. Most everything else was aboard – full galley, all sails, boom and rigging, uninstalled wind vane and furnace. So we’re looking at 8,800 + 300 for the new mast + an autopilot, water heat exchanger, solar panels, 100 lb. dingy & motor.  So we’re in the 9,500-10,000lb. range “dry” all equipped.

The bottom job looks sharp! That’s two coats of Trinidad Pro back bottom paint. And we paid the experienced hands to re-do the boot stripe. All better now. 

I’m happier with the way the stripe & bottom wrap from bow to stern. A little hard to tell from the second photo, but the aft end looks good now. 

So what does “actually finishing the boat” mean?  This will be the story for the next few months.  Here are the cabinet / locker doors that were built in Santa Rosa then sat in storage all through our house moves, etc. Just need latches still. 

About the mast:  we awarded the fabrication job to Composite Engineering in Mass. back in October. They had hoped to start by Thanksgiving week. But here in February our mast is still down their list a bit. Conversations re: timing are happening; stay tuned. Meanwhile, we have some parts that are being re-used so stripping what’s left of the old mast required some ugly butchery.

A half hour of careful angle-grinder work finally yielded the permanently-embedded mast rotation ball receiver cup:

This’ll get bolted to the bottom of the new mast, then the white plastic (delrin) cup inserted and greased to sit atop the mast step ball.  We’ll spare you photos of the mind-numbing job removing all 150+ Tides Track mounting brackets which we had painstakingly tapped into the mast mid-2015.

With apologies to those of you suffering severe winter, but it’s been pretty glorious in sunny CA. We set down the boat tools for a weekend of pruning the fruit trees and creating a new bed for raspberries and boysenberries (pretty sure Pop smiled down on us) 

Colin got a brief break from his (fantastic) Raleigh, NC Paramedic job to come see the new home base. Just a bit after Ravenswing got back to her slip after the boat yard, the elder two hit the road in the travel trailer for five weeks. Spent Christmas in Raleigh (Griffin flew out), and  for New Years the boys tried their hands at some anti-aircraft duty on the USS North Carolina. 

But I was most impressed with the helmsman’s job – seems one must have command of all the faculties when this is the view from your wheelhouse!

The USS NC played a significant WW2 role in the Pacific and is a really interesting museum – worth the drive.

So yes Ravenswing missed another Three Bridge Fiasco, but that was a wind-bust for most of the 350+ entered boats. Only three finishers, I think, two of which were our bay’s quick F25Carbons.  At least we still get to sail while Ravenswing awaits her spar. Thanks to Dad and his good ‘ol Catalina 30. A mellow November day aboard Maggie; sure beats shoveling snow.