Each day we try to work on a boat project item or 2. Our goal is to have everything ship shape so we can take off the end of February and spend the month of March exploring Australia. It may not sound much to you but working 4 hours or so on Leu Cat in 90 degrees with the sun beating down on you can be quite draining. By the end of each day I am exhausted and sore. Maybe it is just getting older every day but I really look forward to bed….

Today, Mary Margaret worked on replacing and remounting a new world map that we keep up on the wall in the corridor in the guest’s hull. Each year we mark the passage we took so we can show our guests when they come where we have traveled. The original map was getting a bit ratty so it was time to replace it.

Outside, I helped a worker repair the portion of the mast tract that had broken on our passage from New Caledonia and we repaired and installed the secondary anchor bow roller. It had bent some when our windlass died in French Polynesia and we had to raise our anchor rode by hand. The bow roller frame bent during a storm when we had to put out 300 feet of chain to prevent dragging.

Mary Margaret and I also rigged up a line at the end of the boom, tied it to the mainsail that was sitting in the dinghy and we raised the sail up and placed it on top of the flying bridge deck. It is one heavy sail!! Once I reinstall the batten cars, it will be ready to be affixed to the mast and then raised. I am anxious to get this behind us as fixing our mainsail and mast track has been our number one priority. I still need to replace a couple of the battens but I have been running down leads on that too.

Techno-Tip Of The Week: Hose Clamps

It is extremely important to periodically inspect and replace when needed the hose clamps you have on your boat. These little puppies prevent the various liquids (i.e., fresh water, salt water, and diesel) that run through your hoses from leaking. Nothing is worse than a fluid leak on your boat. This is especially true if it is diesel that is leaking or it is sea water from a thru-hull!!

When we returned to Leu Cat after spending three months in the US, I decided it was time to again inspect the hose clamps. As it ended up, I was glad that I did because a clamp to the sea water cooling system on our generator had broken and was sitting on the generator housing. Age and tension had worn the clamp out and it had broken while we were gone!!

I recommend that you inspect your hose clamps at least one a year. You will be surprised at the number that vibrate lose some and need tightening a little bit.