Small victories!

The day was not promising much. Since Roger had disappeared to Paraty, I'd have to regain the momentum and work on my own. And, a bit surprisingly, I went right into the working modus, and managed to squeeze out a very productive day, with many small tasks done, and an important milestone achieved.

At the start was a stop in the marina, to purchase the double block I was still missing for the top of the mast. Once arrived in the club I started right away to work on the steering, which needed installation. But to be able to install the steering, I had to cut a piece to the tube, of the top of the steering quadrant. Mr. Palma, the good man, again offered help, tools and advice. And thus the job was quickly done. I took the opportunity to lend out his Makita, so that I could cut off some lengths of screw-ends inside the cabin. So that was done too...

I also installed a set of U-Bolts in front of the mast. I should have had it positioned closer to the mast, I think...

I also managed to coat the drilled holes for the pins with epoxi. I took a small rest of copper powder to coat a spot which had gotten damaged at the launch.

And of course I managed to install the steering. It is now operational, and I'm very happy with it. See the video.

Boatbuilding is also the story of small victories.

Rogerio has mounted the winch on the now painted mounting pad.

The boom has now received leather padding and the slider.

While making an inspection of the hull, I noticed that someone had sanded the bow. I have no idea who did it, but it was certainly a very bad idea to sand it right down to the bottom paint! This really had me upset, and I don't understand what has happened here. Luckily, I still had a bit of the epoxi with copper-powder, with which I more or less covered the naked spot. It is now precariously covered.

This is the spot which was accidently damaged when the boat went into the water. It now needed a coat of copper.