On Thursday, May 11, Ville and I took VALIS over to Anderson’s Boatyard in Sausalito. There, she was hauled out, power-washed, had all the rough spots sanded down, and then was given a couple coats of new bottom paint. We also replaced the zincs, lubed the Max-Prop, and gave everything below the waterline some careful scrutiny. No problems were evident.

VALIS was splashed and moved back to her home slip on Wednesday, and on Thursday I installed the AIS receiver, and installed the emergency rudder, taking photos of how it all goes together. I think I have worked out a pretty good way to control the rudder — we will have a tiller attached to the windvane socket, and pivoting at the lower pushpit rail. I’ve got to fabricate the tiller assembly, but that should be pretty easy. We will need to test it at sea ASAP.

I’ve been talking with J.P. about the remaining jobs that need doing, and I think we are in good shape. There will be some more hardware upgrades completed before we head out, and these should further improve our safety margins.

-Paul