The weather was so mild on Saturday, March 7, reaching 70 degrees, that we visited the boat to do some work. Dave cut an access hole in the rear crossbeam to install a Beckson port that would provide permanent access to service the nine spinlocks handling the mainsail (pic). He was then able to remove the middle gang of 3 to be able to replace the jaws in the main halyard's spinlock rope clutch which had worn away. 
In preparation for the installation of the Furuno chart plotter at the starboard helm, Dave worked on the helm pedestal . He started by temporarily removing the compass to gain access to the other electronics supported by the pedestal. This made it easier to remove the helm station auto pilot control head, the B&G red button that controls the scrolling data display, and the windlass switch. He had already removed the gear shifters on our prior visit, so now with all electronics removed he could focus on removing the upper portion of the helm pedestal that had housed the auto pilot control head. This upper portion of the helm was bonded to the central pedestal with 5200 adhesive, requiring the use of a wire saw to separate the two. This portion of the helm pedestal would be replaced by supports for the new chart plotter. 
Donna completed a clean-up of the port forward cabin and took all of the cabin cushions (7 total) out onto the trampoline where they were vacuumed and aired out for the afternoon.

On Sunday back at home, Dave replaced the worn parts in the middle spinlock set. Donna washed clean the bimini and we hung it to dry over a long line strung from the tree is the front yard to a nearby Stop sign . Once it was dry, we folded it to set aside for waterproofing on another warm sunny day. We put the new spare spinnaker inside its sock after repairing a small tear hole in the sock, then stowed it in a sailbag to take to the boat on a future trip.

Dave prepared both new rudders for bottom paint with the solvent wash Interlux 202. He hadn't been able to obtain the SeaHawk products in quart sizes so he purchased the Interlux instead. This will give us an opportunity to compare how the Interlux products perform compared to the SeaHawk that was applied to the hulls. We'll be able to take a look next October when we have the boat hauled out of the water prior to voyaging to the Bahamas. Dave applied the first of two coats of paint on the rudders on Monday.