New main sail, new Shrouds. Sailing morning.  Saturday morning we hoisted new sail and get out for sea trail new standing rigging.       We went out today in 15–20 knots of wind. It was a great sail. Unfortunately, the weather didn't give us a chance to hoist the full mainsail, so we spent most of the day cruising at about 5–6 knots with the first reef in the main and just the "corner" of the jib. At one point a stronger gust hit—probably around 20+ knots—and the boat heeled all the way to the toe rail. Nothing excessive, just a normal reaction to a decent gust. About 5–10 minutes later I heard the bilge pump alarm. I jumped into the cabin and found 2–3 inches of water under the cabin sole. My boat has a very shallow bilge, so even 5–10 gallons of water creates a pretty dramatic-looking situation. My first thought was, "Houston, we have a problem." Since we weren't far from the marina, my immediate reaction was, "Let's head back." But that fee...

  Is it not nice?  Geometrically, the sail fit very well, but the slides that came installed were 16 mm instead of the required 19 mm. That turned into a pretty significant problem because the sail simply would not work with my mast track. I contacted FarEastSails, and to their credit they responded quickly. They asked me to get a repair quote from a local sail loft and confirmed they would cover the cost of the modification. In hindsight, I have to take some responsibility as well. I carefully checked all sail dimensions, measurements, and specifications before ordering, but I never thought to verify what size slides would be installed. I assumed they would match the information provided for the boat. Mistakes happen. What matters to me is how a company handles them, and so far FarEastSails has been professional and willing to make things right. One other issue I noticed is that the sail is chafing on the outhaul track opening in the boom. This appears to be related to my par...

24 small things was done in 2 weekend days Radar installed    Mast Check mast longitudinal angle. Portside lower shrouds - fix pin on spreaders root. during stepping mast up pin holding lowers on port side slide out of the intended position. I had to easy lowers and push it back to place. Install VHF antenna and test SWR - (Measured SWR 1.3). Just put antenna back to place. Install radar to the mast. Simple, but it the bracket appeared slightly deformed and rear holes ended up not aligned and i had to drill them out to provide some gaps and be able to put bolts in. Other challenge - lift Radar to the mast safely, but it is round and has no features to tie rope to it ;-) Install ring camera to radar mount. Drilled 3 holes and riveted mounting plate for Ring camera to be able to observe what is going on on the docks, especially when really bad weather hits. Put mainsail and sail pack back to the boat. Just put them back and connected the pack lazy jack back up to the m...

 Water tank     About two years after I rebuilt the water tanks, I finally started using them again—and right away I found out the forward tank lid was leaking into the V-berth. The funny part is, the difference came down to the sealant. The little portside tank I’d done with silicone, but on the big forward tank I decided to try butyl tape. The butyl itself wasn’t the problem. What actually happened was that in one corner, the gap between the tank lip and the lid was just too wide, so the tape never got squeezed. That left an open path, and sure enough—leak. To find exactly where it was coming from, I hooked up my shop vac in “blow” mode to pressurize the tank, then sprayed soapy water around the seams. The bubbles gave the leak away instantly. Now, saying “just reseal it” sounds simple—but to reseal, I had to actually get the lid off. And that turned out to be a real fight. The lid was cut so snug that there was basically no room to wedge anything under it, and butyl...

 Engine Manual starter  Last steps of the manual starter installation. In previous posts I showed how I built  new chain drive for manual starter. Due to I added coolant recalculation pump i was not able to use original parts for raw water version, fresh water engine version is very hard to source and also it will not fit my engine compartment. so, i designed  my own ;-) New part added. Steel plate 8mm thick about 200x60mm. screwed to existing holes on the top of timing gears box, 2 pillow block bearings, shaft, bicycle 28 tooth sprocket and shaft hub. Mechanism assembled for dry fit in the shop.  When engine installed shaft (with pin) is hidden inside engine compartment. Manual starter mechanism in place. To get to starter shaft I drilled wall and installed block of HDPE plastic to provide extra support to handle adapter.   Little bit about handle. Instead of building whole handle I made adapter which utilities standard sailboat winch handle. Two problems ...

Interior  Companionway steps refinished, new teak mounting blocks cut and finished. Engine room access door (over the steps) completely rebuilt.  Small Lexan 0.25" thich door to "inverter compartment" added   Deck Hatches, how small project to couple hours may quickly grow to midsize one. I decided to replace ugly looking, leaking and in general bad constructed, as well jib sheet catchers original hatches with new low profile aluminum ones.   Original one.   In the Irwin owners forum one guy recommended these and tell he installed them on IC34. Maybe he has different IC34 than me, but ... link to hatch Low Profile Extruded Hatch, 17-3/8" Square, Silver Frame & Smoke Lens I spent to source them almost 3 months. go2marine.com shipped one and back-ordered second one and it took a lot of time to get it. Ok, I get them, bought 4000UV and butil tape to seal. and.... I found the round does not fit in square well. Opening in the deck is square, hatch frame has round...