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Anchor I rigged the anchor davit with a block-and-tackle and hook. Then, I fastened a wire hoop on the head of the anchor. The hook catches the wire hoop, and it does a good job of lifting and dropping the anchor without damaging the Merva’s sides. It’s taken me a while to set up the…

A little bit of this and that on Merva. Erin I’ve finished with Erin, Merva’s skiff, and it’s back on her house. I refinished the transom and painted her inside and out. The inside isn’t as good as I would like but the exterior is ok. Looking at the historic photos of Erin I saw…

I finished cleaning out the windlass then bought some ½” square steel bar stock, cut it to length, drilled the hole for a spring and shaped the end to fit the gear. It matches the existing brake pawl minus the broken-out hole. I hope it works (I’m waiting for a new spring.) Installed the Starboard…

Windlass The windlass has a problem. Peter told me about it when I bought the boat. Both Donny (another former owner) and Peter warned me to try and fix it before I went cruising this season. As the anchor is being retrieved the gears often slip. This makes getting the anchor up difficult. I had…

Engine Merva’s raw water pump had an on-going leak out the back and had build-up a bit of corrosion around the seal between the pump and the engine body. I debated whether to replace the pump (the expensive option or just buy an O-ring gasket.)  I opted for a new pump. The old pump came…

I’ve been doing bits and pieces on Merva. Physically the biggest pieces on the interior were the salon sole hatches. The largest was a little over five feet long and thirty inches wide. They are installed and the surrounding original floor (that would be difficult and very disruptive to remove and replace)  is sanded and…

Well, the wheelhouse windows and doors are finished and installed. A bit of the trim around them needs to be installed, but I’m waiting on screws. I’m replacing trim and one of the panels in the aft wheel house wall. Now that the doors at the back of the cabin are refinished, I’ve installed them…

Well the holidays are behind us but the work on Merva has continued. I’ve finished varnishing the center curved window and repaired the window wiper. All that time working on those curved windows I worried that I would break one. But now, they are all installed. The last window went in at the same time…

The last week has been, for the most part, about hatches and wheelhouse windows. The hatches went back in, as did the windows on the Starboard side. Windows on the Port side came out for stripping and refinish. But the most satisfaction was putting the hatches back on and seeing that they fit. I didn’t…

This week was devoted to repairing and rebuilding Merva’s hatches. As I said last time the galley hatch leaked badly. So, I removed the hatch then its combing. At some time in the past the combing must have been stepped on. There was a crack along the forward portion of the frame. In addition, while…