Wetnes puts a damper on maintenance projects, but Advances made on other Directions .

 The past Friday night's deluge left a residual sogginess to the deck, limiting much of our planned maintenance projects.  Rainwater had soaked the area around the Mainmast boot, and Fife rail base, nixing further work on reefing out seams and caulking.  Which left only some linseed oiling and up-rigging of the freshly varnished foresail gaff.  

Todd Cole's
handiwork

Bryan brought aboard copies of a Volunteer Recruiting tri-fold brochure to pass around for review. Todd Cole designed around the content to give it a more professional look. The plan is to have printed about 200 copies for distribution, leaving with various clubs, organizations, lobbies, colleges, etc.  

Alex Lyashevich broke off to search for three grits of sandpaper to sand down the two thumb cleats that had been removed from the gaff.  Their position, intended to keep the vang loop around the gaff from slipping forward, was suboptimal, so it would be repositioned after sanding and coating. After a good rub down with the final 220 grit, Alex applied two successive coats of linseed oil, and set the two thumb cleats aside to absorb.

Nate gets started repairing
 the stanchion  base

Nate Mack brought aboard his palm router and proceeded to cut out a space in the starboard quarter taffrail for a dutchman that would provide a new base for the lifeline stanchion. Bryan dropped down into the lazarette to scrounge around for a spare piece of sapele, or teak to shape the dutchman, coming up with a small block of teak. 

"It's always somthin!"
in this case a hidden bolt head
in the way of a screw.

Now the challenge will be fitting a piece over a just discovered thru-bolt head which was in the path of one of the four stanchion screws. All this time, it had prevented one of the screws from properly driving in and anchoring the stanchion. The task will include re-setting the four stanchion base screws in an arrangement away from the submerged bolt head.

As Ken Fonville, Tony Marchesani, and Dave Brennen prepared to set up the suspended gaff for resetting, Dave pointed out to Bryan the worn thru leathers lining the gaff jaws. Change of plans. Now, the priority shifted to a search for sufficient scrap leather to replace the shredded remnants of old cowhide. All that could be found were strips of buffalo hide normally used for the berth seat cushions. It would have to work. Tony and Dave set to work measuring and cutting out double layers of leather to replace both sides of the jaws. Ken started on pulling out the carpet tacks still securing the old leather. 

Somewhere in between, Walter Barton collected money and departed to pick up sandwiches phoned in to East Bay Deli. 

By the time lunch rolled around, our ranks had shrunk by a third due to conflicts. Shortly after that, all left aboard were Bryan and Alex, who promptly shifted to some deckhand skills training.  Going down the skills checklist, Alex demonstrated several knots, talked thru situational awareness with passengers aboard, and added in a little storytelling.   

On another Note, Bryan received access  from  Crew Alumnus/Education Director-Sarah Pewinski, to a real treasure trove of educational materials developed several years ago to support the schooner's mission. Themes and topics covered STEM, Geography, History, all configured for educating 5th thru 8th graders on board, including activities and games designed to engage kids with hands on things.  Their content is designed so to be delivered by, shall we say, amateurs-professional educators not required.  Volunteers can fit that bill perfectly.  So, if you're a Volunteer, and reading this, look forward  to seeing more on the topic, including eyes on the curriculum that's available.  It's extensive.