We took our friend Jim for an afternoon sail on Monday and was having a great time with ~15 knot wind. When it came time to head back in, the transmission lever didn’t feel right and was determined to have a broken clutch cable.

Ben made a phone call to Ken at the dock who enlisted the assistance of a couple of other dock neighbors (Jon and Coy). They made a bridle for the boat and launched two dinghys to assist as needed.

The transmission was still in forward (checked at the tranny), so Monomoy was started in gear and we proceeded for the dock.

We attached a painter from Jon’s dinghy and towed him for a short period down the channel. We approached the dock very slow at about 1.5 knots. Once the bow just broached the outside pilings, Ben shut down the diesel and steered into the slip. Between the attached dink acting as reverse, the bridle, and Jim getting a spring line around a piling, it all worked out and was a non-event with Monomoy coming safely to rest in her slip.

So Tuesday afternoon Jim and Ben began the task of removing both the clutch and throttle cables for replacement. They couldn’t get them through the pedestal due to what felt like a lower attachment point. They thought they had removed everything that was needed, called Edson and Hunter Marine, with all saying they had done what was needed, but they still couldn’t get the cables loose. It finally determined that Hunter must have intentionally or accidentally clamped the cables in the lower pedestal, so they had to go through the task of removing the pedestal to get in from underneath. Sure enough the cables were clamped in a way that was unintended by Edson and most likely had caused binding over the years.

Wednesday morning Ben cruised down to WM to see if they have or could get replacements, which they did. The cables were purchased and by afternoon Ben and Jim were back at it putting the boat back together.

We’re happy to report that the dock trial was a success and the new cables work as they should.

We had never changed throttle or clutch cables on a sailboat before, nor had we taken apart a pedestal. All postings online said the task is quick and easy, but to that contrary we probably racked up 8 hours due to the need of removing the pedestal.

Here are some pictures from the day sail and the cable replacement.

Blake.

Jim.

Pogo.

Ben and Jim taking apart the pedestal.

Task is nearly done with just a few items left to put back in place.

This morning I went over to Monomoy for a little cleanup in the cabin after yesterday’s cruising. I also performed the maintenance of our seasonal oil change. While I was at it, I cleaned the raw water strainer.

Since we are planning to do the Backwater Environmental Escape Rendezvous (B.E.E.R.) June 5-9, I wanted to go ahead and get the oil change out of the way before the trip. There are about 50 sailboats participating, all sailing the roundtrip distance of about 75 miles.

Perhaps it is common at most boat yards, but I appreciated that they wrapped the straps with wax paper to protect our boat from any crud stuck on the straps.

Here she is getting into position:

Lowering in:

View of the slot as we backed out. The water was higher today than when we arrived on Monday:

Before pressure washing:

After pressure washing:

Carol hard at work:

Carol still working:

Ben applying epoxy primer:

Today the graphics arrived from SpeedySigns.com and from a brief inspection, all looks good. Of course the final conclusion will be once the graphics are applied.

We also ordered bootstripe tape today from an Ebay vendor, which we anticipate arriving by early next week.

We picked up our topside paint locally, so short a few roller supplies, we are ready for the March 2 haul-out.

This coming weekend is looking cold for overnight on the forecast, so we aren’t planning to stay the night on Monomoy, but it does look like it will be a nice enough weekend to get a sail in.

Till next update… Fair winds.

We will be putting new bottom and topside paint on her to freshen her up a bit for the spring sailing season. Hopefully we won’t be out of the water for more than a few days.

We ordered new name, port, and registration vinyl for installing after the paint is done. The vinyl was ordered from SpeedySigns.com, who we have used in the past for a great price and excellent results.

The Micron 66 bottom paint was ordered from WholesaleMarine.com for $199/gallon and free shipping.

Progress will be photographed and daily updates will be posted when the time comes.

We still have three potential sailing weekends between now and the haul-out, so if we get on the water, I’ll be sure to update the blog with that as well.