I ordered new life lines a few days ago from Cater Marine here in Opua. Their quote was quite reasonable and quite a bit lower than the competition. The old life lines were probably installed in the late 1990's and two had already broken in the last few years - one at the swage and the other right in the middle. The new life lines are uncoated stainless steel as is the recommended approach these days (easier to inspect and does not trap moisture). I had them use the more flexible 7 X 19 wire rope, which I hope will be more forgiving of flexing and last longer than the more rigid and slightly stronger 1 X 19 wire. One slight correction is needed to the life line that replaced the one that broke. I did not take in the pieces, but assumed that it would be the same as the one on the other side. However, the sides are a bit different in length, so I need them to shorten this one by a couple of inches. The total cost with a couple of new turnbuckles and 18 swages will actually end up less than what I paid to have the same job done in Canada in 2007 on the smaller Cal 29 - around 400 Canadian dollars. Note that this does not include the two gates and one short lifeline I had done in Canada last year, but the costs are not all that different.
The new solar panel mounts are made of stainless tube with clamp on fittings to fasten them to the stanchions and pushpit (tubing at the stern of the boat). Using fittings saved on the labour to cut and weld the bars on the boat, which was estimated at between $300 and $600.
We had some excitement this afternoon when the large catamaran, 'Gato Go' swung into Ladybug and bumped a few times along our bow today while her owners were on shore. I was down below when I heard the bumping and ran to the foredeck where I fended her off until she slipped away and drifted over towards another boat. We are anchored at the confluence of two tidal rivers, which occasionally produces strange gyrations at slack tide. 'Gatto Go' had arrived here yesterday and had swung a bit close during the previous afternoon before but Craig had pulled in some chain and thought things would be ok.
To make matters more interesting, our other near neighbour, 'Alouette', who had also anchored near us the day before, swung within 10 feet of us on the other side. I put out a call for the owners of the two boats on the VHF and another cruiser off Papillon motored over to help fend off 'Alouette'. Eventually Craig and Bruce showed up and were kind enough to move 'Gatto Go' up the river a ways. Alouette's owners showed up much later and they agreed to shorten scope. Everyone was very nice about this and there is no visible damage from the bump-bump.
The new solar panel mounts are made of stainless tube with clamp on fittings to fasten them to the stanchions and pushpit (tubing at the stern of the boat). Using fittings saved on the labour to cut and weld the bars on the boat, which was estimated at between $300 and $600.
We had some excitement this afternoon when the large catamaran, 'Gato Go' swung into Ladybug and bumped a few times along our bow today while her owners were on shore. I was down below when I heard the bumping and ran to the foredeck where I fended her off until she slipped away and drifted over towards another boat. We are anchored at the confluence of two tidal rivers, which occasionally produces strange gyrations at slack tide. 'Gatto Go' had arrived here yesterday and had swung a bit close during the previous afternoon before but Craig had pulled in some chain and thought things would be ok.
To make matters more interesting, our other near neighbour, 'Alouette', who had also anchored near us the day before, swung within 10 feet of us on the other side. I put out a call for the owners of the two boats on the VHF and another cruiser off Papillon motored over to help fend off 'Alouette'. Eventually Craig and Bruce showed up and were kind enough to move 'Gatto Go' up the river a ways. Alouette's owners showed up much later and they agreed to shorten scope. Everyone was very nice about this and there is no visible damage from the bump-bump.
