Usually the lessons learned under stress are the lessons that stay with you for a lifetime.
During my expedition into the mud while trying to enter the channel I tried to use the jib to heel the boat over enough to get the keel out of the muck. What I wound up with was the jib falling all around me on the foredeck.
Here is the reason for that.
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| Wire Tie Used to Seize the Shackle |
The shackles were seized using plastic wire ties. The plastic breaks down in the sunlight and they let go at the first chance to endanger or, at least, embarrass the owner of the boat.
Once I had the furler and the top of the jib reunited on the deck (thank you Kelly Waterhouse!) I found the offending wire ties. Actually, wire tie. The other had disappeared like a teenager after dinner when the dishes need washing.
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| Shackle Pin and Wire Tie Consigned to the Depths |
The proper way to ensure this doesn't happen again is to seize the shackle pin using stainless steel wire wrapped through the pin hole and shackle. I'm certain there is a more appealing way to do this but this bad boy ain't a'goin' nowhere!
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| Seized Shackels |
Yeppers. I won't soon forget that lesson. I've gone over the rest of the boat for more of these little surprises. I can only hope I've got them all.
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