The lead photo is not related to the story below but it is an awesome shot of the thunder storm that passed by the other night.

As I said in the title, Yesterday was a good day. We have been away from the boat for a few weeks spending much needed time with family. To a special someone, we love you and are glad you are feeling better and we are looking forward to your help with the long list of projects.

We have never been able to open the starboard side water deck fill valve since we have owned Anastasia. So we removed it, soaked it in PB Blaster for a week and still it would not open. It just so happens that all of the beautiful bronze fittings on this boat are so rare that no convenient boating supply store like West Marine or Defender carry anything of the sort. Well they do carry deck fills...shiny stainless steel, average looking ones that are a different size than the full-of-character bronze one we removed. Which would force us to cut a larger hole in our teak decks for it to fit. This simply would not suffice. So I set out to do my research. I knew that there had to be some hidden bronze foundry somewhere still creating these parts. I was right! Spartan Marine Hardware in Georgetown, Maine. They had just what I needed at the perfect size, shape, and yes, it is in bronze! Here are some photos of the process.





This is the original deck fill once it was removed.



The deck and hole have been prepped!





New deck fill!!!

Once we had installed the new deck fill it was time to clean out the tank. Our assumptions were that the tank was empty. To our surprise when we opened the access plates in the top of the tank it was about half full. The water was still clear but very stinky. To clean out the tanks and hoses we read online about a "shock treatment." Per the instructions we drained the old water then refilled it with clean water and 1 cup of bleach for ever 10 gallons. This bleach treatment needed to stay in the tank and the hoses for at least 8 hours to kill any bacteria growth. This morning we flushed the tank with 5 cycles of clean water. I don't plan to drink this water until we install a filter but it is much cleaner than what we started with.





The tank was pretty dirty on the outside too. After some cleanup it looked great.

At this point the success rate was pretty high. That great "I have actually accomplished something today" feeling was flowing through our veins. This lasted until today. Today was our rigging survey. We felt that it was important to have a professional inspect the mast, boom, stays and shrouds to make sure that everything was in working order and not in need of replacement. Straight away he got to climbing the mast. Here he is high aloft.



Things were going well. He started at the masthead and made some minor suggestions, all of which we can fix ourselves relatively inexpensively. Then he worked his way lower to the spreaders and that is where it all goes south. Check out this closeup shot he was kind enough to take with my camera.



Apparently this is really bad. In fact once he got back down to the deck his words were "lets stop here." Over time, how long we do not know, the spreader has been pulling back creating a depression in the mast itself. This depression is a serious problem possibly degrading the entire spar. What we are potentially facing is a mast removal and overhaul. This was not on the aforementioned list of things to do.

At this point, we are weighing all of our options, doing research and pursuing second opinions. However, it is not a very settling feeling for someone to tell you that the strength of your mast may have been compromised. Today is a bad day.