After my
lamentations earlier this week about our pulley sheaves that needed
repositioning, I was reminded of the American gospel hymn “bringing in the
sheaves” and found the original reference in Psalm 126:6 quite amusing: "He
that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again
with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.”
Our
precious seed was Patrick’s tenacity in attacking a job that required multiple
skills (and power tools) that we didn’t have.
The
challenge: move 2 sets of pulley sheaves
for the single-line reefing system back along the boom to allow us to tighten
down the new mainsail at the first and second reef points. The photo shows a before and after
illustration of the problem. In the “before”
image on the left, the reef point is behind the pulley sheaves, making it impossible to
tighten the sail. The “after” image shows
the appropriate positioning.
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| The pulley sheaves and reef points, before and after. |
Step
1: Calculate where the sheaves need to
be. This was my job and involved lots of
hoisting, tugging, measuring, and a little art work.
 |
| The pulleys and their insets. |
 |
| New placement. |
Step
2: Drill holes to make the rounded ends
of the oval insets for the pulley sheaves.
Had to buy a new tool for that one.
Step
3: Saw between the holes to make the
oval insets. Had to buy a new tool for
that one, too.
 |
Step
4: Pass the reef lines to the new holes
and through the sheaves, then rivet the sheaves into place. We had a rivet gun but it wasn’t strong
enough. The sail maker loaned us his
professional one.
Step 5: Rivet an aluminium plaque over the old holes. Done ! (On one side; now repeat for the other side.)
We also
found a local machinist to weld two stainless steel shackles to our boom
gooseneck. This gives us a better angle
for tightening the reef points along the mast.
 |
| Two shackles welded onto the boom gooseneck. |
In the midst of all this, the new battery charger arrived and was installed.
And now? How about a little sailing?
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