I spent another long day Wednesday on the final preparations for launching and rigging.  There was still a fair bit of mast assembly required, including additional hardware installations, rigging attachment, and running halyards.  By the end of the morning, I had this done, and we moved the mast outdoors.

During the rest of the day, I worked on a variety of tasks all leading up to tomorrow's launching.  We partially filled the fresh water tanks to check the system, since I'd not tested it in the fall because I wanted to avoid putting antifreeze in the brand-new system.  The hose connections at the supply hookups to the tank, located in an awkward position beneath the aft end of the v-berth, leaked a bit, so I spent some time slowly (by virtue of the challenging access) tightening the hose clamps until the leaks stopped.  Then, we tested the water system, both with the on-board pumps and with the city water connection in the cockpit.  With a lot of hose in the system, it took a while to prime the fresh water pump, but eventually everything worked as designed.

We did another test run of the engine to ensure it was ready for its first actual use, and briefly tested the transmission to ensure that I'd hooked up the shifter cables the right way in the fall (I had).

I had hoped to complete the propane system today, but I managed to break one of the brass fittings where it entered the electric solenoid, causing further delay.  I had to order parts, which meant that the cabin heater and stove wouldn't be ready for use on launch day.  And so it goes.

Finally, after all this and more, late in the day I hitched up the trailer to my truck and pulled the boat away from the building so we could feed the mast into the trailer for transport--a delicate operation requiring much time, cushioning, and blackfly swatting.  We secured the mast carefully in place, I installed straps on the boat, and we were ready to go first thing in the morning.

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