I have always loved manual labor and getting my hands dirty, and when it involves a sailboat, I am seriously happier then a pig in sh*t! My Dad took sailboat maintenance to an art form (and perhaps even a form of meditation), and thankfully I was steeped in that mindset from a young age. I don’t think I will ever be as meticulous as he was with his boats, but I do my best and have fun along the way!

Thankfully I get to work with my dear old friend Thomas, who doesn’t mind me hovering while watching him work (anxiously waiting for something to help with). He is so generous and gracious about it all. His knowledge and skill level are unparalleled, and. I have learned so much in the past two months of pulling Haunani apart to build her back up again. It has been an incredible journey! The project yesterday was remove the mast partner (the collar of metal that holds the mast where it passes through the deck) in order to re-seal and re-seat it to prevent leaks. It had been leaking pretty badly, and after my last wild sail, and a small waterfall down the mast inside the cabin, I knew that it was time to address it.

The first phase of this project took about half a day, and was fairly tedious and frustrating. Thank God for the ridiculous banter between Thomas and me, which kept the mood light (and masked the annoying fact that it took hours to pull out only a small amount of old sealant). Raising the partner only ¾ inch took many tools, a ton of elbow grease and a fair amount of cussing (and it was NOT from Thomas).

Today we will go back and clean out the remnants of the old dried goop, re-seal the area between the mast, deck and partner, then re-seat it with some nice new fasteners that will be much easier to remove if there is ever a next time.