Commander 147

[Lucky Dawg]

What's the launch date, Man? Can't wait to see Destiny fulfill her destiny!

[Commander 147]

What's the launch date, Man? Can't wait to see Destiny fulfill her destiny!

ASAP. In the beginning and for most of the time I have been working on her I have answered that question with "when she is done". Then a few months back I started saying I wanted to launch in Nov. but a combination of things kept me from working on her which included a couple of 4 day stays in the hospital with diverticulitis. So now I just work on her when ever I can and try my best to get her back in the water. As you will see as I post them I still have some significant projects to complete. So....... ASAP! But in my mind I sail her every time I work on her.

[Commander 147]

Stepped the mast this weekend so we could adjust the old shrouds, mark them and then use them for the pin to pin dimensions to make the new ones. I already have the new material here with swaged fittings for the top and mechanical fittings for the bottom and all of the shrouds were left long so once I got to this stage I could measure and make them up. So for the standing rigging it is finally show time!


You will notice the boom is installed close to the bottom of the mast. I designed the vang attachments to the same size as the gooseneck so that when I was lifting the mast I could put the boom closer to the bottom of the mast to make the baby stays work correctly.


Oh and a special thanks to my good friend Tom Scott who drove just over 2 hours each way to spend the day and help me with this process! Friends like that are hard to come by but I am lucky enough to have two of them. My other friend Tim who lives in Iowa but visits Florida frequently comes her to help also.

[ebb]

You guys make it look S O O O easy!

[Commander 147]

You guys make it look S O O O easy!

Making up the bridles and baby stays to keep everything in alignment while it was coming up. That and getting the mast on the boat. We pulled the boat out of the shelter, hoisted the mast up to the peak of the shelter with the mainsheet and vang hardware and then backed the boat under the mast and lowered it onto the boat.

[Lucky Dawg]

Hey Jerry,
I was in your neck of the woods for spring break! Fantastic break from Michigan winter. We were staying with friends in Bradenton / Anna Maria. Stink-boated out to Passage Key - looked like like we'd made a quick trip to the Bahamas!

Also paddled down the Peace River in Arcadia. My son and I found a bunch of fossil shark teeth / etc including a half a megaloadon tooth! (16 million year old Great White predecessor)

I'd could move down that way in a heartbeat!
KW

[Commander 147]

It really is easy to get spoiled down here. You were not to far from one of my favorite sailing areas which is Charlotte Harbor. The Peace river that you paddled down dumps into Charlotte Harbor before heading into the gulf.


Sounds like you had a good time. I wish I had known you were coming we could have hooked up for a day of sailing. Destiny is very close to splashing now but I also have access to a Tartan 3000 that is in Charlotte Harbor that we could have gone out sailing on.


As far as Destiny goes, I have the electric aux drive fully functional now. I am planning on finishing the electrical wiring today. I had to start from scratch and completely wire the boat. That took longer than I wanted it to. Soon I will be hauling her back to a local marina where they can lift her off the trailer so I can install the new rudder, prop shaft and prop. Then I will get the bottom job done while I'm at the marina also and it will be splash time!


Before I can do that though I have to stand the mast here again. I have all the new shrouds installed on the mast now and when I get the mast up this time the sail maker is coming back to take one more dimension for the working jib. The new main and genoa are already made. Also while I have the mast up my wife is going to measure for the new boat cover and mainsail cover she will be making.