I hardly got out to Alpha this past summer, as I've been busy preparing my other boat for the Singlehanded TransPacific Race. Of course, COVID-19 didn't help! I've been trying to stay as close to home as practical. However, my friend, Richard dropped by in late September to report that "something bad had happened", and the boat had been moved and the mast moved on top of the boat. The mast has been lying in crutches ever since I brought it down from Nevada City. So, mid-October, I met Richard at the boat and....
Oh No!
It's clear that someone clipped the end of the mast, probably when driving by, towing their own boat. There were a few pieces of broken glass on the foredeck. The mast had been shoved about 4 feet back on the boat. The impact broke off one of the spreaders and seriously bent the spreader base. It also ripped the cockpit cover into four pieces, lengthwise. Of course, there was no note left. Grrr! At least the mast itself was not bent. I had shown up with one new spreader and the new upper shrouds, hoping to finally step the mast, but that was not to be! So Richard and I spent the afternoon assessing the damage, cutting out the partial bulkhead under the center thwart (the plywood was dry-rotted) and putting the boat back in a different, less vulnerable place in the storage yard.
The rainy season is approaching fast! In fact, it's late this year and the first rain of Winter was actually last night! (I'm writing this on December 12th, 2020). So when I got home, I spread the cockpit cover out on the driveway and looked it over. Would it be worth repairing? The conclusion was "No".....so new teal green Odyssey fabric was ordered from Sailrite (http://www.sailrite.com), and I commenced putting together a new cover.
Here's the layout on the floor of my living room.
And Your Mysterious Alpha Blogger, finally revealed, taking a break from laying everything out to let his knees recover from that hard floor!
The reference centerline was set by pulling a bit of string rather taut, and taping it to the floor. From there I could measure and create the cover from two separate pieces, which will be joined on the sewing machine.
Here are the two pieces, lined up and overlapping. The old cover was 11 feet in length. I could have cut a strip to piece into the center of the two that I used, but since this bolt of fabric was quite wide, 60+ inches, I decided to just use two pieces and live with the fact that it will be a little bit shorter than the old one. At some point in the future, I will probably add pieces to wrap around the mast, to make a relatively weatherproof enclosure. Then I can take the boat for little overnight cruises, though it will be just one step above tent camping!
One everything was cut out and pinned together, it was set up on my dining room table, to the dismay of Mrs. Alpha. She's used to me having crazy projects like this, but sewing on the dining room table rather tests her patience!
After about 4 hours of sewing, for a total of roughly six and a half hours of labor, the cover is ready to be tossed over the boat. With luck, I'll get out there tomorrow or Monday!
