More new lines and Morse controls

   I skipped an update last week because I didn't have too much to report.

   Last weekend I discovered that at less than 2 months old my Cabela's Advanced Angler Pro Series 20 amp 2 bank charger had already died. I took it back to Cabela's and they gave me a refund. I then went to Wal-Mart and bought a Minn Kota 210d 10 amp 2 bank charger on clearance for $50. Yes it's 1/2 the output of the Cabela's charger, but it was also 1/3 the price and comes with a 3 year warranty as opposed to the 2 year warranty of the Cabela's charger. I really doubt I needed 20 amps anyhow.

   Next up is eye splices! I learned how to do eye splices. I've done 4 so far, and they turned out well. The white one is my new mainsheet, and the short green one with the eyes at both ends, I'm pretty sure, is for the backstay tensioner. I was just duplicating a line that came with the boat.

    The boat also came with this block and tackle. Since the boat was clearly equipped with a backstay tensioner I assumed this block and tackle was part of the tensioner and I replaced the line with the same length of green line as the other part. Judging by the length of tail when all the tension is released, I don't think this is the proper usage. I'm guessing that it is actually the vang, and the block and tackle for the backstay tensioner is missing. It also means I made my little short guy for nothing, since when I buy a block and tackle for the backstay adjuster, it will use a different color line and the little short line will be the same color.

 This is the Yale Whiplock that I put on my new mainsheet.

Here is the new mainsheet looped over the boom.

   I also bought a new two lever Morse Marine controls off of eBay. They don't quite fit where they are supposed to go though, so I will have to modify them to fit. I have a plan, hopefully it works.

   I tried hoisting the mainsail this weekend for the fun of it. It didn't go very well. The slugs kept getting cockeyed in the track and binding up. Some helpful people on the Cruising and Sailing Facebook page suggest McLube SailKote. It's a dry lubricant that I would use to coat the slugs. If that doesn't work then I'll have to try replacing the slugs. There are probably 10-15 of them and it looks like they'll run about $1.65 each, so that's not a terrible cost. It was late and I didn't feel like taking the mainsail down and folding it, so I put the cover on and called it a night. Flaking the sail was a pain and I'm sure I did a terrible job, but it was my first attempt. I understand now the attraction of having a lazy jacks system.