Don’t sweat the petty things….

When we first got our boat 6.5 years ago, one of the very first “projects” I did was to install six little brass pad eyes. Three on each side of the boat, on the outside of the gunwales. We use them for clipping our fenders to. Each one is screwed in with two 1 inch brass screws.

I bring up this stupid little fact to point out that I used to STRESS the fuck out about those six little brass pad eyes. For some reason I had it in my head that water would seep in, rot the boat to the core, then catch fire and those flames only extinguished when the boat finally sank to the bottom.

This little bastard and his brothers used to freak me out.

Back in June we pulled the mast, replaced just about every thing that even remotely touched the it. This list includes, but not limited to the standing rigging, running rigging, lights, nav. equipment. compression post,…….the list goes on.

Last weekend we took the boat out for the first sail since we did all that work. And I would like to emphasize, that WE (Me and Tawn) did 90% of the work ourselves. Every bolt, screw, cotter key, you name it. We did it, undid it, redid it, painted it or rewired it.

So to say the pucker factor was a little high when we started putting up sails for the first time is not an exaggeration at all. But honestly, and I am not kidding about this. I worried more about those six little pad eyes I screwed into the sides of the boat way back when, then I did about any part of this mast project.

Other than a little weather helm on a starboard tack (a rig tune will take care of that), everything worked as it should.