Things were looking pretty good for a launch yesterday. I had, in record time and with some help, knocked off the essential jobs stopping Ciao Bella hitting the water.
Antifoul done, rubbing strakes coating with Sadolin, I'd even worked up the enthusiasm to take the hand rails back to bare wood and epoxy them prior to varnish.
Seats,tiller and washboard given three or four coats of varnish. All clevis pins for the standing rigging checked, you would believe the number of times I've got to the slipway to find I've lost a clevis pin!
I'd even remembered to refit the chain hawser which had come lose as it had been previously held on with screws. It now has through deck bolts and big penny washers.. much more solid.
So it looked like I was ready to go,, I'd checked the tides and weather, lined Paul up to help me get the mast up, I just had one more small job to do... and here comes the fly in the ointment.
I needed to fit connectors on the antenna cable. Last year I had removed the deck connector, as it was just a little crusty, and replaced it with an index marine through deck gland. I'd temporarily spliced the cable and just snipped through it at the end of the season.
Although the camera has focused on the pavement (D'Oh!) what it is supposed to show is the state of the shroud sleeve on the Coax. It is black and powdery, Absolutely unusable. As the cable runs up the mast and is integral to the current antenna, my only option was to postpone the launch until a new antenna was sourced and fitted. :(
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