Author Archives: lewisblevins

Westernmost part of mainland coastal California. 124.4095 West The Cape is on the Lost Coast. Reachable by car via the Mattole Rd out of Ferndale CA. Wanted to hike but fences and no trespassing signs coupled with lack of a trail made that virtually impossible. The 30 kn winds added to the near impossibility. It’sContinue reading “Cape Mendocino”

I saw this at the harbor today. The rigger who has been working with me on RUBY said this was likely due to a starboard upper swage fitting failure. This is less common with rod rigging. It seems this break must have occurred without the main hoisted. I see a lot of vessels flying aContinue reading “Don’t neglect your rigging!”

Gilles Combrisson has nearly finished the rigging work. The only thing remaining for this phase of work is to run the main sail reefing lines and to tune the rig. We may service a few winches over the next few months, too. Work accomplished includes: New forestay and backstay New furling drum New rod rigging,Continue reading “Rigging Service”

I did not retain any photographs of the two triton displays affixed to a wooden board attached to the fore wall of the cockpit as it was when we took delivery of S/V Ruby. It was not to our liking and under representative of our needs in this age when paper charts are vanishingly rare.Continue reading “Cockpit Navigation Displays….and more.”

I’ve been working on improving the lighting conditions inside S/V Ruby. There were two of these on the fore bulkheads of the main salon. They were broken, dysfunctional, and outdated. I’ve replaced them with a lovely alternative. This…. I pulled every dome light off the ceiling. Malcolm Morgan helped me understand the wiring that hadContinue reading “Lights and Power”

Out with the old…and in with the new. Delighted to have had Nautor Swan to replicate the original mast base blocks. Thankful for the great folks at GC Rigging and Composites for their patience with me and helping to make the replacement work. More on the rigging successes in a future post. https://www.gcmarine.net

The iron wind is in place and fully functional. It took a full four months to complete the work. The old Perkins was shot. The bilge was filled with an inch and a half of solidified grease. That took a while to clean. They had to work out angles and clearances with the new engineContinue reading “Repower Complete”

Repaired a few osmotic blisters expected on a hull of this age. Faired a few keel joints. New engine cooling water intake seacock placed. Barrier coats applied. Antifoul paint in place. Polished hull. New naming decals placed. The engine replacement is nearing completion. Engine replacement by Helmut’s Marine in San Rafael. Hull work by Carlos’Continue reading “Out of Water Service”

I didn’t think the floorboards in the sailboat looked all that bad. Not for a vintage vessel from 1977. They were acceptable. Or so I thought. I made the mistake of using acetone to remove the glue from the back of one of the floorboards that covers the area above the propeller shaft. My goalContinue reading “Refinishing Floorboards”

It took a long while. But…..custom-made mast base blocks for Ruby have arrived. Having these saves a tremendous amount of work and significant modifications in order to use something with standard or uniform commercial applications. Keeping it as original as is possible in a world that has changed a lot since 1977. Hats off toContinue reading “Mast Base Blocks”