Spinnaker setup progresses.

Got the last couple of pieces in place over the weekend and during a short lunch break.

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The asym Tack line that came with the sail is, well, it's 3 strand 'rope', nasty stuff. So a trip to the new West Marine Store in Fort Lauderdale (HUGE) put a new Spin Halyard (60'), Tack line (25'), and Tack Block line (6') plus a couple of other goodies. Somehow I never get to leave that store with just what I intended to pickup. Also in the bag were 3 block sheaves to run the Tack line aft.

So over the weekend (oh, Merry Festivus) while Pegs was at work, I made up the tackle for the Tack Line. Bent (there's a good seaman's term) the Spin Sheets to the Clew, and the Tack line, surprise, to the Spin Tack.

With the Masthead work completed last week, the last thing on the list was installing the cleats for the sheets, port and stbd.
After discussing this with the folks on the Catalina 25's forum, I decided to put Cam Cleats aft by the Cat Bird Seats, using the original holes for the Bimini (I relocated the Bimini onto Rail Clamps last earlier this year), those  holes have been bugging me ever since I did a miserable repair job on the fiberglass. Just so happens that the Cam Cleat holes matched the old Bimini base holes perfectly. The new Cam Cleats are bedded in Butyl tape, and secured with 3" SS screws that pass through the Combing and the inner liner.

Anyone that knows the backend layout of the Catalina 250, knows that the 'trunk' is big but awkward to do anything within. To get the nut and washer on each bolt, I used a 1/4" socket on the end of an 3" socket extension and my cordless drill. Using a piece of the Butyl in the socket and around the tip, I was able to adhere the nut and washer to the socket while I reached up to the inside of the trunk to attach them to the bolts.  Peggy was on the outside with a screw driver to prevent the screws turning. Worked really well, took less than 30 minutes to install the cleats.

So now the hardware is complete. All we need now is a few more hours of boat prep for the trail down to Biscayne bay this weekend and some light winds. It would be very cool (according to the weather channel, it's going to be very cool) to fly the new Spinnaker on New Year's Day, but even better to have that big golden colored balloon leading us through the waters this year! Saturday.. it's a plan!