110 Cookson Lane | Whitefield, ME 04353 | 207-232-7600 | tim@lackeysailing.com
Snow Lily | Final Update
Once the boat left my care in mid-June, work continued on the final details of the job, though these projects progressed without my direct involvement. Swamped with other time-sensitive work, I simply couldn't dedicate much time to overseeing the remains of the project personally, though I trusted in my chosen contractors. To ostensibly make the work easier for my independent rigger, I'd chosen to have the boat transported to the boatyard where he had his shop.
Rigging had to start from scratch, as the old rigging was in such poor condition that it was unusable as patterns. But after a week or two, the rigging was done and the mast stepped. Later, the riggers built and installed the new roller furler, and installed the boom, boom vang, and built all the remaining control lines and other running rigging as required.
Meanwhile, work moved ahead with the centerboard. At the yard, testing of the mechanism revealed that the new cable I'd installed was the wrong type--it was overly stiff and didn't allow proper wrapping on the drum. My novice mistake. So the rigger replaced the cable with a more flexible type of wire, enhancing the operation of the board. A series of miscommunications and delays with the boatyard caused this process to take much longer than anticipated, and it was only at the very end of this process that they noticed (and informed me) that the board drooped below the keel when fully raised--an issue that had apparently not previously manifested itself. This seemed to indicate a need to remachine the board's pivot pin and/or pivot hole, but at this stage, with a tight schedule for launching, sea trials, and then dismantling for the transport across the country to Wisconsin, we had no choice but to button things up as is and proceed.
Issues aside, the yard launched the boat in time for the owner's arrival--and first viewing of the finished boat--in late July for three days. I spent a full day with the owner on board going through various systems and taking care of a few small punch list items on board, as well as some trials under power to check out the operation of the electric motor.
During his second day here, while I was occupied elsewhere to attempt to keep my schedule on time, the owner set up and installed the sails and other chores. I returned on Wednesday, July 31 for an all-too-brief test sail, unfortunately during the nearly windlass morning thanks to other schedule constraints of mine, but nonetheless the sail was a complete success and pleasure, and the owner couldn't get the smile off his face.
