Our boating season has gotten off to a good start. Not so much in the sailing area, that will come, but in our project work. This last week we spent three days working flat out on Makara. We had our first meal of the season from her galley and we bunked on her. So we pretty much lived and worked on Makara. Felt real good!

The big task that we accomplished which took most of a full day, was to reinstall the pulpit. Kato had finished up and we brought it back to the boat. As with all things “boat” there is a right sequence and many wrong sequences of how to assemble things. The pulpit was no exception and we did not want to be sorting out a bad sequence with sealant on the mounting pads. We worked it out, checked and double checked the sequence. Once assured we had it right we applied the sealant and bang it went right on, not fuss no muss. Now, that last part took maybe 5 minutes. The rest of the day was mounting the new LED nav lights, drilling the new holes where Nancy had filled to protect the coring, drilling the new deck  hole for the starboard nave light wiring, cleaning the mounting bolts of old sealant, cleaning the pulpit mount pads of old sealant and so on.

Clean up took some time too. We dutifully waited until the sealant had cured a bit before tightening the bolts. If you don’t do wait before tightening the bolts, you squeeze all the sealant out rather than creating a nice water tight gasket layer. There was the tape to remove and then careful removal of the remaining wayward sealant from the pulpit, deck and us.

Nancy finished up the wiring under the deck and tested the lights. To be fair, we tested the lights before we mounted them (no sense mounting a bum light) but we wanted to make sure all the wiring was OK. Sure enough they lit up! Oh yes, if you must know we did get the proper colors on the appropriate sides (“Port wine is red and should be left alone”). After dark we turned them on to see how the lights looked at night. The LED navigation lights are very bright and work really well. We were impressed and heartily endorse the OGM lights.

The only part that didn’t go quite as expected was one backing plate on the pulpit. Turns out the original hole was drilled somewhat crooked. The backing plate was set to match that hole. Of course when Nancy properly drilled the new hole, the backing plate holes did not line up with the bolts. After application of a Dremel tool and round file this was remedied. So now Makara has her “Snoz” back as the famous Jimmy Durante would say. We can also report that the new attachment points for halyards we had installed on the pulpit work great. Makara nose is as they say Bristol fashion.

While the pulpit work was a big “work in progress”, we finished a number of other loose ends that we closed off this time around. Although physically smaller, another “big” task, which we have been trying to figure out for two years, was finally completed. Our TV is now mounted! It is not real big but we like our movies and have agonized over where to put one. Originally we were going to put one on the main bulkhead but moved to a more modest one in the nook just to the port side of the salon.

Nancy designed a pylon mount which Kato fabricated from stainless steel that is perfect. It mounts on horizontal flat woodwork in the nook area. It fits perfectly and is out of the way. Even the removable bar across the nook remains and serves as a crash bar for the TV. One trick we used that may be useful to others has to do with the strength of the VESA mount screw fitting on TV’s. They are not real strong and not intended to take much stress. To solve this we sandwiched some industrial strength Velcro between the TV and the mount. This effectively takes the shear load off the screws which now mainly hold the two in contact.

Another task, carried over from the lighting strike damage, was to replace the defunct binnacle LED light that provided illumination for our cockpit table. This was a small but convenient item which was missed. The difficulty was finding a suitable replacement. We finally found a nice one which was white and blended a lot better than the original black one.  As a bonus, it also had a better lighting pattern. The trick was putting a flat backed LED light on the curved surface of the NavPod on which it is mounted. The solution was to cut a mask using “blue” tape to go on the surface and then carefully placing tape around the light. We then used silicone sealant to create a gasket conforming to the surface by applying the sealant to the light and putting it in place. After wiping the excess and letting it set a bit we removed the tape and mask. The result was a perfect gasket formed to the shape of the NavPod. While we were in the NavPod we also noticed that the light for the anchor counter display was not hooked up. This will be rectified shortly!

Next up was preparation for getting the dinghy mounts installed. These go on the cabin top just forward of the dodger. Problem is we needed to drop the headliner to accomplish this. On a Passport that is no easy feat as the headliner is intricately trimmed in teak and has many lights, fans and what not to be removed before the panels come off. It is, for lack of a better term although appropriate, quite a Chinese puzzle!

Well, after completely mapping all the pieces on paper and deciding on an order of removal of the pieces we set about it. After several hours I can report that it is now off. Only bad thing is we have to put it back up eventually! It did reveal good attention to detail by the builder. All the fiberglass work above the headliner is meticulously painted and wires run in neat (very flat) cable trays. Impressive construction technique which continue to speak well of the Hang Sheng shipyard. Now all we need are some dry days to get the dinghy over here, mark the hole positions and have at it. We are still trying to figure out how to get the backing plates, nuts and washers under the headliner. More on that after we figure out exactly where the mounts go.

For a break from the really hard work, we also put the vinyl registration numbers on the dinghy. The removable number boards are now toast! Also the riggers came by and reworked our mast partners making it much more sturdy than the original installation. To wrap things up we gave Makara a much needed bath to get the grime of the long winters nap off her decks.

As you can see, we were busy. It will get more intense through May! Lots to do before we spend some time out on the water Memorial day week when we FINALLY will get in some much delayed sailing – after all, Makara IS a sailboat.