Our sailing experience on a 1987 Catalina 34 which we named 'Eximius' which google showed as the Latin translation for 'Special'
We hope that our posts will help others looking to take their boat beyond the local waters as well as provide entertaining reading.
I'm a Brit, so my view of entertaining may not match yours ;)
See you on the water.
The Journey Starts Here
Paul
But that doesn't affect the fact that it frequently gets blocked and drips yuk onto the Cutlery tray in the draw beneath the dual sinks! So it's time to fix it.
The original drain fittings & hose. All gone :)
The problem was simple, the hose was 30 years old and had a lot of gunk in it AND the fitting beneath the sink was broken. I found that out when I tried to undo it in order to clean it out, it fell apart into 3 pieces as soon as I touched it, not even trying to unscrew it.
The drain hose, 1", also had some legacy hoses attached to it, another source of blockage. The C34 forum guys identified that extra hose as being the original fridge drain hose which has long been blocked off. I did not include that when replacing the drain hose. So now there's a nice clean run for the hose to the thru-hull.
The new unit's diameter is about 1/16" bigger than the original, but it's much better designed with a better slope 95° of the outlet.
That meant that I had to use my trusty Dremel to grind away at the sink drain hole. It only took about 5 minutes work to get it to fit in each sink. Of course, this was on a day when the AC refused to run and I did not intend to be there long enough to worry about fixing that. So I was drenched by the time it was all put back together.
Total cost was $65 for the two new drain fittings, and $25 for the new 1" hose and a tub of plumbers putty that should last me a lifetime.
We drove home and I took a long shower and drank plenty of water.
We have a Garmin GPSMap 741xs which came with the boat, but we have upgraded the system to a NMEA 2000 Network that includes a GMI20 Instrument and GND10 wind data input along with a Garmin Wireless Wind transducer, Garmin Depth/Speed/Water temp transducer and already had a GMR18 HD Radar. BUT - the software version was that from 2014 - Time for an update.
Here's the process that we followed:
Downloaded the Update from Garmin to our PC (We had to login to our Garmin.com account to get this)
Insert a FAT32 Formatted 4GB Micro SD Chip in the card reader of our PC
Run the program from the folder where the update was saved
The program requests the Chip ID (just pick it from the list) and then it installs the update software and data into the chip.
On the Boat, power up the GPS, Radar, AIS, NMEA 2000 network (On Eximius, we just turn on the Nav Instruments Breaker and that powers up the GND10 and GMI20 as well as the NMEA 2000 Network)
Once the GPS is running, then insert the Chip into the GPS card slot.
The GPS recognized the Chip and offered the option to Update the System (which in our case was from 3.80 to 6.6 - as I said, Long overdue)
Once we confirmed the option, and the note that we should not power down anything until the update was complete - The update began.
The program on the Chip updated the GPS, Radar, GND10 and the GMI20, it seems there was no update for the AIS. The whole process took about 10 minutes after which the GPS shutdown and rebooted.
Once rebooted, we removed the Chip - All done!
What we got in the update:
A whole bunch of features that are really cool.
Windward Route To Laylines - these are really useful when you know the location of a destination. It displays the Laylines on the GPS Map so that we can steer towards them for optimal speed to a windward mark. They are real time dynamic, so they change as the wind changes, very cool. But you do have to know where the mark is located or at least have a pretty good idea so that it can be entered as a way point.
Boundary Markers - At least, we know they are part of the upgrade but we did not get to test them out yet, that will be the next navigation how to. But they are really useful. The concept is that we can mark out an area(s) on the chart and then set our preference of either Stay within or Stay outside. eg. We could mark an area around the tip of a peninsular that had a shallow area that we wanted to avoid. Then we would create a Boundary around that area and take the option to stay outside (eg. alert if entering). Alternately, we could create a boundary and set the option to stay within (eg. alert if leaving)
There were several other minor updates, they just improve the reliability of the system.
So now we have a bunch more techy stuff to play with on our next trip. Peggy loves this stuff - and you know the old saying - Happy Wife = Happy Life 😁
Having completed the re-bedding of the 6 Chain Plates, which required slackening the 4 Lower and 2 Upper Shroud Turnbuckles, I needed to tune the rigging. So we made a last minute decision to take the boat out on Sunday, staying overnight Sunday & Monday and return to the dock Tuesday Morning.
On the back side, we had setup for divers to come and clean the bottom but didn't have an actual date for that, we decided we would call them Monday morning and head back early if their plan was to do the boat that day.
Sunday morning we did our routine of getting everything together for a couple of days away on the boat. We had our list, Meals, Drinks, Meds, Clothing, Bedding and Fuel for the Genny as it was going to be hot that weekend.
Arriving at the boat around 10am was fine, we had to leave by 11am in order to have deep water in the canal as the tide was going out. We quickly loaded the boat, stored the food in the Fridge/Freezer, eased the lines, tested the Engine and cast off in time.
It was an easy passage down the New River, Engine ran well, Bridges opened quickly, no snags. But as we passed the Fort Lauderdale Marina, I noticed that the wind had picked up a lot. So much for the 8 to 10 knots forecast, we were seeing 20+ knots! So I changed our plan to adjust the rigging under sail on the Ocean and decided to do the initial adjustment of the rigging just the other side of 17th Street Causeway Bridge, so we turned at the West Nun Buoy so that the wind was over the Port side and 1st adjustment made. Then we turned back to the Nun Buoy and, with the wind over the Stbd side, made 2nd adjustment. Then the Police boat headed out way! Oh Oh! We were in the Security Zone, so they politely asked to move back to the Intra Coastal and to check out Charts. Local knowledge just improved.
The wind was still in the high teens and we just didn't feel it was worth going out, so we headed back toward Lake Sylvia, we could sail the following morning if the weather improved. Picking an anchoring spot on the lake, we quickly set the anchor and opened up the boat to allow the breeze to cool it down, it was in the high 90s °F. I set the anchor alarm and the new Snubber that I made a couple of months ago, securing it to the anchor line with a rolling hitch. Worked like a charm.
Once we were secure, it was time to chill. Bottle of wine, crackers & cheese, setup some music in the cockpit, life is good.
During the afternoon, several more boats arrived and at one point there were 21 boats anchored on the lake. Kids were having a ball trying to ski around the lake behind jet skis, there was more than one boat having a barbecue and several boats seemed to be empty. We all swung around our anchors as the tidal flow changed. It's quite usual on Lake Sylvia for boats just 100' apart to experience current flow in opposite directions, so the boats around the lake were pointing this way and that, seemingly at random.
Heavy clouds rolled in later in the afternoon, several of the power boats pulled their anchor and left, we just closed the ports, took the cockpit cushions below and put up the dodger screen. It didn't rain much.
Dinner was to be Ravioli and Veggies, but the Veggies didn't make it, they must still be in the Freezer at home. Not a biggy, cut up some tomatoes and drench them in olive oil, add some Blue Cheese Dressing and dinner fit for a king. Note to self, we really should check off the items on the list.
Chatting in the cockpit after dinner, Peggy realized that the Veggies were not the only thing left at home, the bedding were never packed! Not a biggy, we keep several blankets on the boat and had spare pillow cases. So I setup the Generator and got the Air Conditioning running. With the boat closed up due to the potential rain, the AC made it bearable below. We left it running and got turned in. Weather forecast was looking good for Monday, great, we could get out for a sail.
It rained several times overnight and we try not to run the AC during the rain as we cover the Generator, so neither of us got much sleep. During breakfast we decided to head home as soon as the tide and bridges allow. That meant getting to the first bridge soon after 9am, after the morning rush hour bridge closing.
Taking the Snubber off took a while longer than our normal routine of just pulling the anchor, but lesson learned, I'll make a Dynema Loop that I can use to tie a Prussic knot to secure the Snubber to the Anchor Chain. We easily motored to the 3rd Avenue Bridge around 9:30am and called Andrews Avenue Bridge to request an opening. We had to hang around a couple of minutes as there were pedestrians on the bridge delaying the opening but we handled that easily, staying East of the outflow just in case - good decision, they opened about 200' ahead of us. Andrews opened and we moved over the North side the river because the Bridge Span hinges on the South side and it does not open fully vertical. As we approached the bridge, the Tender called to advise that he had heard the FEC railroad bridge was about to go down, but we might make it if we put the peddle down. We did and passed the FEC bridge which closed about a minute after we passed and called them that we were clear.
The FEC bridge is our biggest concern in transiting the New River. If it was closed for a lengthy period while a freight train slowly passed, that could cause us to miss our tide chance which could mean not being able to get to the slip for an additional 6 hours. At present there is no published schedule for the bridge closures, but there is supposed to be an App coming out that will advise of the schedule - perhaps next year!
Back at the dock, we unloaded the boat quickly and headed home, arriving about noon. Showered and Pizza put in the oven, I checked my email. Eximius was #4 on the divers schedule that day! Oh Oh, better head back down to the boat. Bedding in a bag I headed down about 13:00 to wait their arrival,
I never get bored being on the boat, there's always something to do. So while waiting for the divers , I replaced the small solar lamp above the Bimini and repaired the Speaker wiring that had broken when I was doing the chain plate work. Then I read a copy of the Mainsheet Magazine that we had on board, especially the article about how another C34 owner had modified their dodger to increase the height, which is one of the things Peggy has asked me about. I raised the Mainsail in order to measure the height of the boom with the sail fully deployed - It's 6' - as per the instructions I gave the sail maker when we had new sails made last year. Then I sent a couple of emails to the divers letting them know I was there and wondering what time they might arrive. Turns out they had arrived shortly after we left the boat to go home! I thought the hull waterline was not looking pretty good - Duh!
Stowing the Mainsail, checking all the lines, valves, and switches, I left the boat and headed home.
Sometimes, things go according to plan, and other time serendipity steps in.
We had some really heavy rains over the past few days, pretty normal here in South Florida, so today I went down to the boat to check for leaks after completing the Port Side Aft Chain Plate last week. ALL DRY Phew!
Now that I have the process down, I quickly set to on the 2nd chain plate.
The peeling Silicone is pretty bad on this one. The pic is shown after I loosened the Shroud Turnbuckle by 4 turns and removed the Cotter Pin (we call them Split Pins in England) and then pulling out the Clevis Pin to releas the shroud from the Chain Plate Tab.
That all went smoothly.
Here's the Underside showing the Chain Plate from below (ie. Looking up towards the deck from the Cabin seat.)
The Tie Rod, which screws into the Chain Plate was much tighter than the 1st one that I did last week, so I had no choice but to grab the rod with a pipe wrench. After a couple of awkward rotations, it freed and I was able to unscrew it by hand. The Acorn Nuts were easily removed before I took this picture.
Here's the Plate that goes over the Chain Plate Tab, Pretty Crudded! I was able to pry up the plate after pushing the chain plate through the deck by standing on it, ok, just pushing it down with my foot!
The Clevis pin has surface corrosion that I don't expect to need anything more cleaning.
The Screws look ok although, on top, covered with Silicone and below (where they pass through the wood core of the deck) they are shrouded in what looks to be old 3M 5200)
Looking at the state of this chain plate, compared to the 1st, I'm pretty sure we were just a few rain days away from obvious leaking.
After removing the Chain Plate from the underside of the deck, there is clear indication of seepage. That brown is actually discolored caulk (probably 3m 5200).
The deck holes are, thankfully, sealed, so there's no damp wood around the Chain Plate where it passes through the deck.
First success, cleaned up the underside.
I was able to scrape off the old caulking using a Stanley Knife Blade and some chemical de-greaser/cleaner. That stuff is nasty! So I had a fan running to blow the fumes away as I scrapped, washed, and scrapped again, it took about 30 minutes to get it all off.
After cleaning the two Tab Securing Screw Holes with a Drill Bit, I applied Duct Tape under the Tab Holes and then filled the holes with Captain Tolley's Creeping Crack Cure.
Then on the outside I applied Butyl tape over all the holes to keep them water tight until I can reinstall the Chain Plate assembly.
The Plate is really cruddy, I'll have to spend at least an hour working on this one in the Garage. The Deck Screws are just inserted in order to keep everything together for the trip home. I hope to have it cleaned up and inspected by early Monday so that I can reinstall it and start the next one.
FYI, the Starboard side Chain Plates are not so easy to access in the Cabin due to the position of the Cabin Table. On Eximius, it's further complicated because our Cabin Seating around the Table has been raised, that means I have to lay down beneath the Table and Seat, on my back and reach up into the cubbies below the Tie Rods in order to ease the Nut on the end of the Tie Rod - Effectively blind and doing it just by feel alone.
But that just adds a bit of Fun - which is what working on Boats is all about!
Break Time - Need to wait till the Garage is cool enough to work in! Summers can be brutal here in South Florida.
Here's a sped up video of cleaning a chain plate
That's 2 of them cleaned and re-installed. Will work on the others Friday
We found a Leak - that's never good on a Sail Boat!
Water was running down the Chain Plate rod between the Deck and the Holding point on the Lower Aft Shroud Chain Plate.
No Surprise! That's Silicone Caulk around the Chain Plate and Securing Bolts on the Deck Port Side.
The Silicone has Shrunk over the past few years and finally gave way on the Port Aft Chain Plate during recent heavy rains.
Time to remove, Clean and Re-bed the Chain plates.
Step 1 was to disconnect the chain plate from the Lower Aft Port side Shroud. After seeing the failure of the Lifeline turnbuckle just a couple of months ago, I was anticipating problems with being able to release the strain on the Turnbuckle. So I gave it a prolonged treatment of PB Blaster. Basically I sprayed PB Blaster onto the threads of the Turnbuckle and then wrapped them in Paper Towel, then applied more PBB to the wet paper towel hoping that keeping the area damp with PBB would do the trick (make it easy to unscrew the turnbuckle) - That worked a treat! After leaving them soaking for several days, it was easy to unscrew them and release the Shroud cable supporting the lower section of the Mast.
Once the turnbuckle was easy rotated, I noted the thread count on each end and then completely disconnected the turnbuckle from the chain plate by removing the cotter pin as seen above.
It took about 20 minutes to clean the silicone from the deck. The good news was that a previous owner had taken the trouble to protect the edges of the 3 holes (plate and securing bolts) with Fiberglass Resin. So once cleaned it would be easy to reinstall the plates.
Here's what the chain plate looked like before cleaning.
That brown crud is just surface corrosion and the white crud on the plate is the residue of an earlier attempt to water proof the plate to deck connection.
There's more crud around the bolts and washers.
After clean up and treating the surface corrosion with Spotless Stainless.
Careful inspection of the cleaned plate with a magnifying glass confirmed there was no apparent crevice corrosion where the Plate Tab is welded to the Plate, nor on the underside where the Rod Connector plates are welded to the Plate.
So I get to reuse them, just as well, they cost about $150 each!
Here's the 1st of the plates, cleaned, sealed with Butyl Tape and, with the help of Peggy in the Cabin, secured to the deck.
Looks so much better and you can barely see the Butyl tape that is under the fender washers and the Tab Plate.
The turnbuckle is re-tensioned and I'm very confident that this will cure the leak and last a long while - at least a couple of years.
With #1 out of 6 done, I started on the other 5 today. PB Blaster soaking the turnbuckles.
Plan is to complete the re-bedding of the remaining 5 chain plates over the next week, then it's time to re-tension the rig - will need a Loos Gauge for that. Hopefully a I'll find a club member that has one and can help out.
After working at cleaning the hull for over a week and not feeling ashamed at how grotty our boat looked, we loaded her up for the short trip down to Bahia Mar for the 2017 HISC Independence Day Cruise.
Saturday we left the slip around 3pm and arrived without incident at Bahia Mar by 4pm as planned. From our previous arrivals there and recent arrival at the Big Game Marina in Bimini, we were a lot more prepared to make a Pro arrival. We prepped the boat with lines ready at the Bow and Stern and Amidships on both sides of the boat, fenders ready to deploy and a note pad to write down the Slip position during the radio call to the Bahia Mar.
We were designated to Slip H828 which is in the North Basin, Eastern most dock facing A1A port side to when tied up aft end in.
When we arrived, we could see Esprit Du Vent, Bob & Pat's boat already tied upon the next dock. Plan was to dine out with Pat, Bob, Pierre and Åsa of Charity. Dinner was at the B just over the street on the East side of A1A.
Pat led me to the Mermaid Show while Bob & Peggy confirmed the reservation. Once Pierre & Åsa arrived, we sat down for a delicious dinner. I'll add 'Two Beet Salad' to my list of favorite dinners.
Pierre & Åsa returned home after the dinner as they live just about 10 minutes away from the Bahia Mar and they planned to bring their boat to the dock on Sunday.
Sunday we went out for a day sail on Eximius with Pat & Bob, just cruising around outside of the Port Everglades channel. Not a lot of wind, but hey, we had nowhere to go in a hurry and it was a beautiful day on the water. And sometimes it's really worthwhile just to sit back and enjoy, relax and let the Autohelm do it's thing.
Back at the Dock, Peggy took a bunch of pics as club boats started to fill in the empty slips. We ended up with about a dozen club boats, another dozen boats from the Seabird power boat club, and probably over 100 boats around the marina.
The Bahia Mar was having a problem with the marina bathrooms and showers and they were all closed off for repairs. The hotel provided a room that we could use for showers, but it was not very well managed. Peggy & I waited 45 minutes for the room to become vacant and were then told that the current occupants would be at least another hour! We didn't make a fuss, why spoil our mood, and so we returned to our boat to have a shower on board. Several other club members commented on the poor state of the room when they were able to use it. Good idea but bad implementation.
Bahia Mar was not the only one having a problem! Our AC quit and in the Florida Sun in July that's no fun! After our experience in Bimini last month, I figured the problem was a blocked raw water supply line and that was it. So, using a a hose spout, I back flowed water through the Raw Water system and was able to clear the blockage. We need to do something about that. Joe - Rhapsody, told me about Barnacle Buster and I was able to order some online for pickup at the local West Marine Store. So I have job 1 for when we get back to the slip. The AC required back washing several times over the weekend, but at least it kept us cool over night which was really important in this heat.
We dined on board Sunday & Monday, just being a bit frugal as dining out tends to hit $100 most nights. But that meant we had the chance to chat with many of the other Club members which is always a treat. We learnt about things to do in places that we plan on visiting later this year. In particular, we sat aboard Diversion and had the chance to grill Bob & Joyce about their cruise up to St. Augustine. We're going there in a couple of weeks to celebrate Peggy's birthday and later this year we plan on sailing up there. Getting that kind of personal experience is a huge plus and stories of their adventures are always worth while.
Tuesday, July 4th arrived. I got up and made coffee & breakfast then dressed ship! Ironically, Eximius was the only boat in the marina that was dressed up for the 4th. Come on guys! It reminded me of the time we were in France aboard a Destroyer alongside an American ship and one of our Petty Officers took a tray of Tea over to the US Skipper - great sense of humor on both sides of the dock and both sides of The Pond.
Later that day we helped with the setup of the Celebration at the Skippers room at Bahia Mar, most of the work was done by the Host boat crews - Bob & Pat, Pierre & Åsa. They must have been exhausted with the number of balloons they had to inflate.
Food & Drinks started to arrive around 4:45pm (remember the HISC Cruising rule - Get there early - Get there Hungry & get there sober!). Bob & Pat had set up their Jeopardy game, the Jenga blocks were ready to grab the attention of the first players and the Billiards table was just crying out for someone to setup the balls and prove how skillful they thought they really were! The Seabird club guys started to arrive, kids, adults, everyone just joined in the fun. Food - Fantastic! everything from Salads to Hams, Beans to Pulled Pork, Coffee to Vodka, and, oh! those deserts by Pat Schuldenfrei! Peggy took a bundle of pics and I have posted them on the HISC smug mug site (visit hisc.org to find the link) and I also put them in a video clip.
Tuesday night the Fireworks were just off Fort Lauderdale Beach. Several of the club members went down to the beach - not our thing - We just walked to the end of H dock and the end of the T pier where we had a great view of the 30 minute awesome Fireworks Display in company with Bob & Joyce Tiger - Diversion.
Wednesday morning it was time to take the flags down, assist some of the club members with departure from the Bahia Mar and then, finally, for us to cast off. We're getting better at doing this and managed to leave the dock without so much as a puff of smoke from our Diesel.
We headed out behind Jeff & Janice - Cheshire, Joe & Barbara - Rhapsody, Bob & Joyce - Diversion as everyone else was leaving early. We were the last ones to leave the dock. Motoring under 17th Street bridge into the turning basin, we raised our sails and headed out of the Port Everglades Channel. The wind was from the East, so we furled the Jib and motored out to the outer marker, then letting the jib fly, we turned to the South East leaving the Port behind us.
We set our sails for a SE course and headed out for a relaxed sail. The weather decided to go dark to the South of us, so we turned back towards the North, with the Gulf Stream and flew up past the Everglades entrance. On the radio, we heard Cheshire & Pegasus call each other as they approached the Hillsboro Inlet to the North of us. By that time, I'm sure that Pierre & Åsa were already tied up at their dock just North of Bahia Mar.
We missed the dark weather as it turned and passed over Hollywood to the South West of us. So we did a lazy run back into Port Everglades with the wind behind us and barely making 4 knots, which was fine as we need to time our arrival at the slip to be at least 2 hours after low tide.
Ambling back under the bridges was easy, we only had to turn a couple of doughnuts before 7th Avenue Bridge to await the opening, simply because we were not in a hurry and didn't need to rush after the boat ahead of us to get through the bridges.
We called 11th Avenue Bridge - Mary was on duty - and it opened. We motored through but then had nearly an hour to kill before getting back to the dock. So we dropped anchor just West of the bridge and had a late lunch of Snackables. Come 16:30 we pulled anchor and slowly approached our slip without incident.
It took us about an hour thirty to pack up our bags, move the food to the coolers and cart if all to the truck. We also moved a couple of Palm Tree fronds that had dropped into the yard / canal rather than leave them to rot. Then we took the drive home.
A relaxed weekend but we were still exhausted! Go figure! Now we're already looking forward to next year - not sure if it will be at the Bahia Mar, but things can change a lot in a year.
Now, well, we're planning our trip to St Augustine in a few weeks to celebrate Peggy's Birthday, that should be a great trip and we hope to check out the city marina with the intent of sailing up there later this year.
Time to fix a few more things on the boat - It's just fun to sail, to motor and to fix!
If someone told me that the lifelines on our boat were the 30 year old originals, I would agree. They were the Stainless Steel Wire type that is covered in White Vinyl and tensioned with Stainless Steel Turnbuckles and very old style pelican hooks. About a month ago, I fell onto the lifeline near the bow of the boat from the dock while congratulating Peggy on a great docking maneuver, that caused the stanchion damage which required they be replaced. The turnbuckles had seized and had to be cut off. and that meant new lifelines.
Lifeline Options
After reading a gazillion topics about lifelines, choices, vinyl covered, steel, dyneema, turnbuckles, and more, I decided to replace our Vinyl Covered Steel Lifelines with 1/4" Amsteel, there was a lot to consider including:
Would it be ok to hang fenders from the Dyneema line? Well, I no have not secured a fender to the top life line in ages because I'm worried about bending the stanchions. I now secure the fenders to the base of the stanchions.
There are reports about Chaffing Dynmeea. This is an issue with the Dyneema, but it's so strong, that it will have to chafe a lot before I would be concerned - And as one of the guys on the C34 forum often says, the lifeline is just to show where the edge of the boat is located. It's not to provide a grab rail.
Is it difficult to work with? Turns out it's a whole lot easier than splicing double braid line and simple tools that don't require heavy duty stainless steel crimping.
Lifelines are exposed to UV, is that a problem? The Dyneema that I purchased has a UV coating - and it's so much easier to replace that the low cost and ease of replacement eliminates that concern.
How does the line connect to a Pelican hook to ease opening and closing the lifelines on either side of the cockpit. - I came up with a solution for that which works for me.
Ordering the Material
I found the Amsteel on Amazon, it was being sold at a really good price, but the 1/4" 100' is no longer available at that price, I looked today and only found 600' for close to $600 - so search around.
To secure the lines to the Bow & Stern Pulpit tubes, I needed lashing line, that came from Amazon also as did the thimbles for the ends of the line. The Pelican hooks came from MarinePartDepot.com
Getting down to work
I Used a 4.5" Angle grinder to cut off the old seized lifelines & turnbuckles. That's 8 lines! Port & Stbd aft upper & lower lines & pelican hooks, Port & Stbd Main lifelines, upper and lower.
Following many You-Tube videos, I spliced a thimble onto one end of each line and temporarily secured that to the pulpit (upper lower port & stbd main lines) and to the aft pulpit (upper lower port & stbd main lines) with a long length of lashing line.
For the main lines I ran them through the stanchions all the way aft and through the aft most stanchion and marked the line where it came out of the stanchion.
Then releasing the lashings at the front of the line connecting it to the pulpit, I spliced a thimble onto aft end of each line and redid the lashing to pull the splice into the holes of the aft-most stanchion.
Now the aft most thimble is tight up against the stanchion.
Next I threaded each of the forward end of the aft lines through a new pelican hook. I used the lashing line to whip the end of the Dyneema to create a binding that would not pass through the threaded tube of the Pelican hook, but small enough that it would allow the pelican hook to close. That worked well, but when a friend leaned heavily on the lifeline, that binding came out of the pelican hook.
So I then replaced the lashing line with Stainless Steel Locking wire and that will not slip through the Pelican hook.
Cost:
10 Thimbles (only needed 6) $12.95
98' of 2mm Lashing line $33.20
200' of Amsteel 8600lb. average tensile strength (1/4" x 100 ft. Hank, Black) $172.00
4 Pelican hooks (marinepart depot) $48.00
Total Cost $180 plus shipping (but most of it was from Amazon prime)
I'm really pleased with the results. I did change the design slightly, moving the Pelican hooks to the forward end of the aft lines, now the lines drape nicely over the Bimini and pulpit frame when they are open and it's easy to close them. The Pelican hooks attach to the Thimbles on the aft end of the main lifelines. It works very well.
I am left with quite a bit of the Amsteel line, so I'm making several things using that. A spliced loop to attach my new Anchor Snubber to the Chain, Lanyard to secure our Winchrite cordless winch handle to eliminate the risk of it falling overboard if it jerks to a stop, and as many Soft Shackles as I could ever need.
Followup. It looks like I was really lucky to get the 200' of Amsteel 1/4" line for $86! At the much higher price now online it would make it a tougher call to choose between Synthetic line and Stainless Steel. However, the ease of doing this project using the synthetic line would still push me to using it over the Steel option.
The new unit's diameter is about 1/16" bigger than the original, but it's much better designed with a better slope 95° of the outlet.
