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In the past, several shackles have broken
under the extreme loads that are caused by high winds. To safeguard ourselves and the
boat, we routinely inspect the shackles while at sea. We have also added extra safety line
to the rig so that if a shackle broke, the line would hold it until we could take action
and repair the broken hardware. |
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Similar to the shackles mentioned above, we've
added similar constraining safety lines at each reef point. |
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We did the same at the base of the mast, where
the halyards turn, and the reef lines, main sheet, and reef safety lines all turn. The
loops to the left and the green loop to the right all will hold the pulleys and lines if
the blocks or shackles let go under load. |
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Also, although the fittings are strong, we
added a safety loop of white spectra seen here, just in case rust weakens the metal. That
white line on the left has a breaking strength of 21,000 pounds! It could pick up the
whole boat! The intent is that if the turnbuckle broke, the spectra line would catch the
mast. |
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This black line triangulates the main boom
against the mainsheet and is called a preventer line. We sometimes get serious chafe on
the outer covering of the line, so we've taped it up and whipped it (wrapped it tightly
with sail thread) to hold it all together. |
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Our escape hatch has two latches. The entire
mechanism of each latch is held together by one screw. On a previous voyage, the head of
the screw on the aft latch broke off, and the handle came off, too. The rest of the
latching mechanism was held together by the rest of the screw. Although we have since
fixed this problem, you can see how we lashed some lines to the hatch to keep water from
leaking into the boat. |
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This is the back and front of the electrical
switch panel. When we have electrical problems, this is the first place that we inspect.
In cold weather, we often have condensation problems, making electricity connections
intermittent. When this happens, we have to open the panel, inspect the connections, and
replace switches if necessary. |
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Isn't that a tidy electrical panel? And look
at where all those wires go…Isn't that amazing! |
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This isn't a repair, but a solution to a problem. Since we will be sailing through nearly
220 degrees of longitude, or 14 time zones, how will we keep track of what time it is in
Boston (our sitesALIVE! homeport)? We also need to know Greenwich Mean Time (for
navigation) as well as ship time here on board Great American II. We put these
three little Radio Shack clocks side by side and labeled them Boston, GMT, and Boat
to help us keep track!
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Some of our repairs are just convenience
improvements. For example, we use the Vistadome awning to cover the Vistadome in hot
temperatures to keep the cabin cool. We use the same awning to cover the companionway in
cold weather to help keep the cabin relatively warm. |
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In a big storm during a previous trip, two of
the blades of the starboard wind charger broke off. We're not sure why it broke off, but
maybe it has something to do with being hit by tons of water while spinning at a zillion
miles per hour! There's no repair for this aboard Great American II. That's one
of the reasons we have two wind chargers. |
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Also during a previous storm, the whipping of
the mast blew the windex, a windvane that tells us which way the wind is blowing, right
off the top of the mast! |
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See the line with green on the left? That
pulls the running backstays out to the float on the leeward side. We have a set of these
on each side of the boat, and we use the windward one. Now look on the opposite side of
the block, and see the big hook! That is where the force of the mainsail slapped up
against the loose leeward runners, and put such an incredible load on them, that it ripped
off the titanium bar. Titanium is unbelievably strong, and for this to happen (during our
2001 voyage) shows how powerful the sails sails are aboard Great American II.
When this happened, we took the block off and reversed it. |
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And here's my favorite repair. This post takes
the traveler lines around it for the main sheet traveler. We also put the black preventer
line around it to run it from side to side. It takes big loads. The aft corners of the
stainless base had cracked under the load and it were starting to lift. We can't re-weld
the stainless steel out here, so what to do? The slots in the deck on either side were
there already, so I put a lashing—three loops—of kevlar rope, that won't stretch
hardly at all… |
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hand underneath the deck, but that wouldn't have been sufficient… |
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…so I made, in essence, a tourniquet with
a stainless steel bolt, putting it between the lashings and twisting to get it tight. The
bolt then is pushed through so it bears against the traveler and can't untwist. It's like
a rock, and we can use it again. For our upcoming voyage, the post has been replaced. These are the tools I used to make the repair. |
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