A Little Thing Called a Tabernacle
The last time we tabernacled & it didn't turn out well.
What is a tabernacle? -You might ask. It's a device that allows us to motor under the bridge at our harbor. Is it kind of a pain? Yes. But are we lucky to have a slip at all even if we have to deal with this? Absolutely!!!
In order to use the tabernacle, there needs to be a motor to allow the mast to lower at a controlled speed. As shown in the picture above, the mast gets lowered to a low diagonal as opposed to all the way horizontally. We also need to make sure the boom stays low enough to get under the bridge also.
Here are the steps that we need to take to set up the boat to tabernacle:
Attach the line of the tabernacle motor to the boom.
Attach bridles from mid-boat to the boom (These are all steps to make sure the mast is supported during the lowering of it.)
Attach the backstay to the boom.
Release boom-vang from mainsail traveler.
Release aft-stays (These steps allow the mast to be free enough to be lowered.)
Switch on the the tabernacle motor to lower the mast to a certain marked point on the tabernacle line.
Repeat the steps in reverse order to secure the mast again.
I know this might be a little confusing to read. I wish I could post a video of it.
The pinkish line is the tabernacle motor line. -Which gets attached to the boom.
You can see one of the grey bridles attached to the boom. The port side bridle hasn't been attached yet.
We've pretty much gotten the groove of tabernacling. It's a little time consuming but not a huge deal. However, the last time we tried to go out, I was lowering the mast before the bridged & we heard a kind of clank/snap noise. We couldn't figure it out at first but right after we were under the bridge Matt noticed that the motor seemed to sound & move slowly as I was trying to raise the mast. I stopped the motor & we saw that one of the standing rigging lines got caught under the roller furling & popped it out of it's cup! I can't believe I didn't see this happen! I try to keep my eyes open for all possible problems that might come up while lowering or raising the mast. Needless to say we didn't go sailing & turned right around & went back to our slip. Luckily the tabernacle still worked but the roller furling was a little damaged & it's line was snapped in half.
So we are back to a stage where we can't go out sailing again yet until we get the roller furling completely fixed. Very glad it's not a massive project. But we are still working on securing our engine & doing a few other things before we can sail. Happy that we did get out on the water one wonderful day a few weeks ago!
Fun day of sailing!
Wishing I had dressed warmer, believe it or not.
We did get a new water heater installed. Or should I say, Matt got a new water heater installed while I sat by & occasionally handed him a tool.
Tabernacle motor & water heater cabin.
Boat work - never simple.
Galley is still out & engine is awaiting to get affixed properly.
So that's what's going on. Projects galore. Looking forward to sailing again & practicing those skills. Let's hope I don't break anything else in the coming weeks!
Thanks for reading!
