A FEW MORE THINGS

Went back to the boatyard to finish up winterizing the boat and taking off a few of the remaining provisions I left on board. Along with storing a few items. Starting with the outside hatches:
cabin doors

I will store them out of the weather for the winter. I might add another coat of Cetol over the winter if I get ambitious. Though more likely it will be next spring before I get around to it. I also removed the mainsheet line that was connected to the boom no reason to leave it out in the cold winter weather. I'll bring it home along with all the other lines and wash them:

Also note above that I have tapped up the hatches. Since I don't plan on accessing them for awhile adding a little bit of weather proofing. It can't hurt keeping more water from entering the bilge.

I also took the cockpit table off the the steering pedestal:

Like the hatch doors this is done to try and preserve the varnish finish. Like the cabin doors I may bring this home and add another coat before launch next spring:

That pretty much covers the winterizing items I needed to do in the cockpit. I then went to the galley lockers and took the remaining canned items I have left on board:

I'll use them for cooking at home over the winter and I don't have to worry about cans splitting open over the winter. So that wrapped up another day of winterizing. As I took a walk around deck I could not help but. notice that a few of the shrink wrapped boats reminded me of snow drifts:

A reminder that winter is just around the corner in about a month.

TOUCHING UP THE HANDRAILS PLAN A & PLAN B

Having spent some time removing, re-bedding and refinishing BIANKA's handrails back in 2011. It was time to do a little touch up. Like most painting and varnishing projects prepping the area takes longer than the actual brush work. So in keeping with my desire to use what you have and recycling things wherever possible I cam up with what I thought would be a cunning plan to prep the area around the handrails. I'd use a patterned piece to used shrink wrap to fit under the handrails to catch any drips. I could also reuse the patterned shrink wrap in the future too. So I cut a long strip of recycled shrink wrap and laid it over the handrail:

FROM THE USE WHAT YOU GOT FILE: Helm Cover

It feels good to have the boat back on the water. I still have not gone out for a sail I'm still getting things organized and cleaned up and doing some small projects. One of which is a new helm cover  I stripped and varnished the cockpit table recently and wanted to protect it as much as possible. A large helm cover fits the bill.  I've seen helm covers made out of Sunbrella material and I may make one once I get a Sailrite Sewing machine which is on my wish list. Instead I made one out of some recycled shrink wrap material:

It completely covers the helm and the table is pretty durable and the only cost to me was a few brass grommets and some spare line I had lying about to keep the sides secure :

While maybe not as colorful as a custom Sunbrella cover it does the job and helps keep some shrink wrap out of a landfill somewhere.  Plus the price is right.  It can also function as an additional shade cover if one should need it when it's not covering the helm.

ANOTHER ALTERNATIVE

For the past several years I have been using the top of a five gallon bucket to cover the opening of the mast partner opening after I have unstepped the mast.

Unfortuntely, the cover I usually used which resided on the bucket I used a quick rinse after a swim got blown away this season during Hurricane Earl. What to do? I'm a "use what you got and you won't need what you've not" kind of fellow. So I took some used heat shrink I had on board and placed it over the mast partner hole. Then I took one of the straps that hold mast seal cover and placed  it over the heat shrink material and tightened around the mast partner collar.

Seems to work pretty well and has stood up to 60 MPH winds in a recent blizzard. Problem solved and through the use of recylcled material to boot. Another win win situation.