[Public-list] Backstay replacement...

[FINNUS505 at aol.com]

Hello my A30 friends,
 
Stephen-'Building a new VW diesel......'  How do you do that? Sounds  like 
your bow roller/ chock stem head assembly is going to be some fitting. You  have 
a foundry in your basement or something? :) I am considering putting a bow  
roller in, and carrying a CQR. The bottoms where we sail vary from hard packed  
sand to very loose mud. I have to take another look at the design in the  
Maintainance Manual.
 
Wandering in one of 3 really good used gear consignment shops we have here  
last spring, I found a pair of bronze bow chocks that get set into the toe 
rail;  they were painted with battle ship gray, and one was a little bent, but 
both  salvageable. I found them too late to ship last season before launch, but a 
 winter project is to fit them.
 
The dinghy rode down a following wave and splintered our stern toe rail,  
which on our boat, an old A 30, is suspended above the deck an inch or  so on 
teak pads. It was checked badly already, and I should have replaced  it last 
year. Now I have another winter project. Getting the remains of the old  piece off 
was a challenge, as all of the bolts were bent. Lots of trips  into the stern 
lazarette.............
 
I know the boats originaly had the batteries in the bilge; how many A 30's  
still have that configuration? The previous owner moved them up to where the 
gas  tank had been in the stbd cockpit locker, after he moved the fuel tank 
above the  stuffing box. I am thinking of moving the batteries back to where the 
design  shows them, as these boats are so sensitive to weight aft with those 
fine  waterlines aft. Any thoughts anyone? (one of the first things I did on 
Stargazer  was to remove that fuel tank, and put a vertical 12 gallon in the port 
cockpit  locker. There was no access to the stuffing box with the fuel tank 
there.)
 
I've got plenty of other projects down below this winter as well. We made  do 
without a water tank and sink up to now; changing that this winter. Finishing 
 updating the wiring, upgrading the chainplate bolts, and, more.....
 
What a day today here in SE Mass; warm, sunny, but beautiful fall  colors.
 
Be well,
Lee
Stargazer #255

 1099268800.0