five winter coats

Just got the fifth coat of varnish on the refinished gaff jaws, two more to go.  You can see the double sets of dowels, each set put in each time I replaced the leather.  It may look a little messy here but all those dowels will be covered by the new leather.  

Using my sailing duffel bag, made out of used sail materials by Seabags, I did of test of the 30:1 water:sodium hydrochloride solution.  I sprayed the solution on a patch of white sail material that had tiny dots of mildew, let it sit for an hour then rinsed it off.  I was pleasantly surprised to find most of the dark spots gone.

Washing the sails in Woolite and vinegar worked so well that I had considered forgoing the mildew treatment.  But looking closely I found two areas, probably not even a square foot in total, on the sail worth treating, both on the lower panels of the mainsail.  I will spray those areas this weekend, making sure I spray only the sail material and  avoid the stitching, let sit for an hour and then rinse with fresh water.

There will be weather for sailing this weekend.  I thought about rushing the work Saturday to be ready for a Sunday sail.  But instead I will take my time and use the good weather to get SPARTINA put back together just right.  There will be plenty of sailing to come.