New Running Rigging!

After replacing our halyards & topping lift with new ones from Cajun Rope, we were ready to get rid of the ugly, worn lines on the rest of our boat. The photo above shows our new lines on the boom (outhaul & boom vang) and traveler, along with our new Garhauer double clutch on the port side. (Check out our $5 vinyl tablecloth that I've attached to our traveler! This prevents us from having to use our companionway boards every time we're in & out of the boat. It may not be canvas or pretty, but it works & we love it!)

You can see how worn our lines were on our boom and traveler!

Our new traveler lines look much better!

We also added a new main sheet and two Garhauer single clutches on the starboard side of Nirvana. Why two singles? Well, we had ordered a single clutch a while ago then realized we wanted another and it was too late to return the single clutch so .. two singles!

You'll notice in one of the photos above that our boom is down. That's because we also replaced the line inside our boom, called the "internal outhaul". 

Here's a photo of the internal outhaul line & block inside of the boom.

We also replaced our backstay with Cajun Rope ..

Now that we've replaced our running rigging, it's time to install our new lazy jacks & sail pack and replace our standing rigging. We weren't planning on the expense of new standing rigging, but after our recent rigging inspection we're gonna deal with it. Stay tuned!

Hasta luego .. until then. Mid-Life Cruising!

Cajun Rope - For Your Boat!

When we decided to buy new halyards, we took the advice of several folks and ordered them online from Cajun Ropes. We ordered two "XLE" 3/8" halyards .. one red & white (112') for our main halyard with a stainless headboard shackle, and the other blue & white (118') for our Jib halyard with a stainless snap shackle. Although Gary's prices were already good .. he gave us an additional discount in return for our review on his product.

After emailing Gary and receiving our order, we were very pleased with his customer service, pricing and product! Gary responded to our emails promptly, the halyards arrived quickly, and his work was well done.

We were so pleased with "Cajun Ropes" that we placed another order! We ordered a topping lift .. 115' of blue w/white 5/16" XLE with a stainless snap shackle, a main sheet .. 72' of white w/green 7/16" XLE with eye splice, 14' of red 3/16" Spectra Core, and 12' of blue w/white 1/4" Cajun XLE. Again, Gary was quick to respond to our email and we received our order promptly.

Shortly after receiving our second order, (another) Ken climbed our mast to install an LED bulb for our anchor light & replace our spreader boots. While he was up there, we had him install our new "Cajun Rope" halyards and topping lift.

Our new halyard holding Ken up the mast!

If you're considering ordering halyards, dock lines, mooring lines, shackles, thimbles, anchor lines, dinghy braids, bungee cord, or anything else you can think of .. give "Cajun Ropes" a try! The splicing was very well done, and the prices are hard to beat. Not to mention .. free shipping and a 5% discount if you "LIKE" his Facebook page! 

For future reference, "Cajun Ropes" will be permanently added on our "Products We Love" page. While we may get discounts on products, or even freebies, you won't see the product on our page unless we recommend it! We appreciate Gary's generosity and he's now part of making our dream a reality! 

Now we gotta get to work on adding the other "ropes" and sails to Nirvana!

Hasta luego .. until then. Mid-Life Cruising!

A Boat Ride and A Boat Yard!

Now that we're just getting settled into the condo and Christmas is on top of us, we should be relaxing for the holidays, right?  I guess we love to make things interesting, cause about a week and a half ago we decided to move Nirvana to the boat yard ... in December, right before the holidays.  We must have been drinking too much eggnog when we made this decision!

Actually, we're glad to get things started on our boat ... even if the weather slows us down a bit.  Hopefully we'll be outta that boatyard by the end of January, but if not we'll try not to get too stressed out.  Ken's business is always slow this time of year, so we've gotta grab the opportunity when we see it. 

Our friend, Ted, took the ride with us to the boatyard.  Ken had checked the fluids the day before, and after a few tries Nirvana started up and ran just fine.  Damn, it was a good feeling to leave the dock!  On a Friday morning (Dec. 12th), we motored for about an hour before reaching Pelican Pointe in New Orleans.  It was a cold and dreary winter morning, but it wasn't as bad as we expected.  Heck, being on our boat ... on the water ... how could that be bad?  It's been way too long!

Just before another bridge, we entered the channel towards the marina.  It was really shallow, and we could feel the mud a couple of times ... good thing it was soft ground! We pulled to the side, where we got stuck pretty good.  While we waited for the lift, I admired Nirvana and had to take a picture of her.  She may be a 1987, but she still looks pretty good!

Getting the straps of the lift around Nirvana was not an easy task during low tide.  Needless to say, it was pretty nerve wracking.  I think it's safe to say that Nirvana (and our hearts) survived.  First lesson learned ... check the tides and don't haul-out if it's low! With very shallow water, it was tough to get the back strap past the keel.  Once that was done, we learned our second lesson ... we hadn't thought of marking where the straps should go,  I guess we just got lucky the first time in 2010.  We were so busy watching the rear of the boat to make sure that the prop and shaft weren't caught in the straps that we didn't pay much attention to the bow strap.  It should have been further up, as it was a bit on the keel.  Ken couldn't rest until the boat was in place and he could check the keel for damage ... seems okay.  Look at the keel in the picture below ... half of it was in mud!

We were glad to see the bottom looking so good ... it didn't hurt that the diver we occasionally hire had come the day before to it.  A quick wash-down and Nirvana was ready to be set on the blocks and stands.

After all those blister repairs in 2010, we were glad to see a pretty smooth bottom.  Our main reason for this haul-out is to paint the deck and non-skid.  We weren't planning on messing with the bottom this time around, but the boatyard had other things in mind.  We came back to find that they had accidentally sanded part of Nirvana's bottom! Since Ken's been slow at work and didn't have much for his helper (and friend) to do for some money, he paid him to finish the sanding.  Looks like we'll be painting Nirvana's bottom after all.  The picture below ... bottom sanded!

While the bottom was sanded, Ken was busy removing hardware from the deck.  There was a lotta stuff, and some of it won't be going back on the boat.  Unlike the previous owners of Nirvana, we won't be racing and we won't have room for the spinnaker when cruising.  When reading "Cruising World" online, I learned a tip that Ken didn't know about.  I was so pleased to teach him something that he used ... silicone in the holes instead of tape.  It worked!

While Ken worked on the boat last week, I had to go to my regular job.  This past weekend, I spent most of my time on the sofa nursing a bad cold that I'd been having the entire week.  I didn't want to do anything but rest ... except for a visit to see Nirvana!  The next step ... removing a few more things from the deck, then sanding it in preparation for spraying the primer.

With rain the past few days and Christmas Eve tomorrow, I doubt we'll be visiting Nirvana much this week.  In the meantime, we're enjoying our new pad this Christmas and looking forward to time with family and friends.  This past Friday night we had my parents, step-parents, aunt & uncle, our daughter and son-in-law over for our first Christmas celebration this year.  It was the first time that our family (except our kids) had seen our new place.  They loved it, and we had plenty of room to entertain them.  Below is my view from the sofa ... with a little bit of special effects just for fun.  It's still kinda surreal that we've actually moved and are moving ahead with our cruising plans, but I'm loving our cozy lil' space! 

We hope all of you have a "Merry Christmas" ... or whatever you celebrate!  Knowing that you take the time to read our blog and provide support is something we are truly grateful for.  Lift your glass for us, and we'll do the same!

Hasta luego ... until then.  Mid-Life Cruising!