The last ten days have been very ‘challenging’ to say the least. Our list of jobs has reduced from about 350 to 60, whereas the number of jobs being done by subcontractors has reduced from 6 to 5!! Getting any firm commitment out of these contractors is like getting blood from a stone, the latter probably actually being easier. The uncertainty of completion dates for critical work has added considerably to the strain in meeting our planned departure. To keep us on our toes, there have been a number of notable incidents since the last blog. The mast was identified as having a badly damaged lower spreader which has resulted in the lower spreader pair needing replacement. Lead time from Seldon, the mast manufacturer, is, wait for it, four to six weeks! Luckily our friendly top rigger Barry, seen here in the photo next to Quasar IV’s sixteen metre long mast, is on the case and working hard to bring this date forward to the last week in May. Without the spreaders fitted the mast cannot be put back on; without the spreaders replaced, we will not be sailing anywhere as they are a critical part of the boat. You may recall that the rudder was dropped in order to remove the nylon bearings, a simple job to ease them out of the hull, knock up some replacements on the lathe, then refit; simple that is if the last time they were replaced they had not been epoxied into the hull! It took three days to remove these bearings which should have taken about half an hour. The good news is that they eventually came out and new ones are now fitted ready for the rudder to go back in, not a minor job as the boat needs to be lifted to do this and as the boat weighs 9.7 tonnes, I cannot prop it up on my shoulder on this occasion...The three sections of our new windscreen finally arrived last week and a quick visual inspection identified the middle with multiple scratches and no mounting holes drilled as requested. This had to be returned immediately and a replacement is still awaited, due this Friday...apparently, we’ll see! Our FlexiTeak cockpit seating has yet to materialize. Having got tired of going through a third party on this one, I contacted the supplier directly only to find out that we were several weeks away from installation despite having been promised completion on the 14 May. Following a very frank discussion on the phone, the company is reviewing its installation schedule and hopefully new seats will be installed next week. A couple of other incidents include a requirement to replace the throttle and gearbox control which was seized (completed today), replacement of the entire steering cable system following a close analysis, and replacement of the cable and masthead socket for the anemometer and wind direction instruments which was damaged when the mast was removed. This latter item is obsolete and luckily eBay came to the rescue yet again and I have acquired a second-hand item for a reasonable price.

So, is there any good news?! It may appear not but in reality many other smaller jobs have been successfully completed. The mast is fully re-rigged pending the arrival of the spreaders which are due by the 25 May and can then be stepped onto the boat immediately ready for sail rigging and departure. The boat has been polished by Small Boat Services and has come up very well given the age of the vessel. I have finally completed wiring all of the new navigation instruments and the navigation station is now fully operational. Tracey has done a great job cleaning the cockpit GRP sides (fibreglass) which has come up almost looking new – quite amazing when compared to how it looked when we arrived here in early April. This has been a massive task and continues daily. Upholstery and curtain production is well under way by Comfort Afloat and looking on schedule for the last week in May. The bow thruster work is nearly completed. I have installed the cooker....again, this time, correctly aligned and level, but still no gas supply yet. Many smaller tasks on ‘The List’ are now completed but with possibly a week before launch date, this coming week will be a flat-out working one with no slacking off to go to the local pub, The Maypole, and have another mouth watering, Thai-infused rib-eye steak washed down with a fine bottle of Rioja...