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December 24 - For all the saints (a riff on a hymn)
December 24 - For all the saints (a riff on a hymn)
Well here we are in St. Simons, having left St. Michaels some time ago. However, we're the beneficiary of another couple of saints, Saint Steven and Saint Michael. There have also been several angels... Let me explain, in my usual fashion of starting with the present and working backwards and then looking forward... Lydia had, as one of her last customers in Regions Bank, Mike Paul. Mike, having read our logs, and followed our adventures, immediately on our wreck offered to let us use his sailboat, in St. Simons, while we looked for another home (recall that we fully expected to lose Flying Pig). Of course, we didn't lose our home, but he invited us to visit him if we ever got to the area. Fast forward to our last cruise, where we fully expected to be in Savannah for several weeks (more below), but on review, thought perhaps some other area might prove more effective, due to the distance up the river, the current, and costs of dockage in that area for an extended period of time. Enter Mike, who invites us to use his dock in St. Simons, and move his boat to a mooring nearby. So, that's exactly what we've been doing, for the last nearly 5 weeks. During that time (the reason we expected to be in Savannah for a period), two of my married children with grandchildren in tow visited with us on successive visits. A couple of Lydia's children were also going to visit with us here, but... Our medical insurance, a big investment in our meager income stream, will expire in a few months. We'd wanted to get all of the diagnostic and other stuff done in that time frame, but our marvelous internist, Dr. Ed Galaid, in Gainesville, was uncomfortable in doing more than writing extensions on prescriptions without having a hands-on with us, and so declined to refer us to specialists. So... Also among the saints is Saint Steven, Mike's best buddy in the area. Both are pilots and sailors and do lots of things together, so he was aware of our situation. He popped up with an offer of his car for the period of his vacation, which would be 3 weeks, beginning about a week after our arrival. In the meantime, Mike had arranged a substitute, a jeep which he was storing at his home here for yet another friend. So, for the couple of days involved, we used that vehicle, but before his return, Steve's wife called and said that she'd pick up Steve at the airport when he returned from his trip, and why didn't she pick me up and take me to get his car today?? An offer I couldn't refuse, we've been blessed with transportation since we arrived here, and a place to stay where we had power and water included (and, as you see, internet connectivity, as well, courtesy of the marina adjacent). So, with transportation available, and Ed's offer to see us on short notice, we made the trip to N. GA for our medical stuff. Along the way, we saw all of Lydia's kids as well as the remaining two of mine, in a quickie trip of 5 days. So, we made the trek back down, and commenced/resumed working on the boat. As usual, boat chores are never ending, so we did all the normal maintenance things, changing the oil, filling the water tanks, cleaning the engine room, but, also, some very significant changes on deck. Most of you know that I installed stainless tubing in place of the life lines, raising them from 24" to 30" in the process. I did that by using cast fittings, held in place by loctited (so they wouldn't rattle out) set screws. Well, those setscrews weren't really secure, and we've had a couple of instances of pop-offs. That was enough for me, so I took it all apart, drilled out each and every hole, reassembling the entire structure and stainless steel riveted each place there previously had been a setscrew. The end result was a massively stiffer assembly, much to our delight. As well, we've been unhappy with the davits portion of our arch, because the dinghy has not set securely, despite our efforts at securing it from swinging. That was a combination of the builder not directly following our plans, but also because our new dinghy didn't have exactly the same dimensions as our old one, on which the design was based. So, I relocated the lifting pulleys, and the dinghy now sits very tight against the frame. We expect that we'll have no problem about it moving, now. However, the biggest excitement has been the arrival and installation of our new sail systems. Our genoa was damaged beyond repair in the course of our wreck and our repaired mainsail later failed (again - I wish the St. Pete maker had condemned it at the first!) during our trip north, so we bit the bullet and ordered new sails from Hong Kong, courtesy of Lee Sailmakers. Extensive back-and-forth with the makers assured us, in the end, of a perfect fit on both sails, which used the same cloth and construction techniques as US sailmakers, but at a savings from the 40% premium (or more) required to make the same sails here in the US. So, when the genoa arrived, first, courtesy of our friends Matt and Joelyn Miller, the first of the angels. We met on the docks during our first days here and they generously offered to receive mail and shipments for us. They brought the total mainsail system to us on the day it arrived and we put it up on the first windless day. Holding our breath, we were thrilled to see that it fit perfectly. The main was sent to the vendor who, at the Annapolis Boat Show, had sold us the Strong Track System (all of whose users I'd met in person or on the net said, to a man, that they wished they'd done it years earlier). He put on our existing batten hardware, and the new ones we needed, as well as installed the batten and intermediate slides hardware to match up with the Strong Track System. All of that hardware and our sail arrived in due course, courtesy, again, of angels Matt and Joelyn. We installed it, again, holding our breath to see whether it would fit as we wanted (it's always a challenge to measure sails properly; that's part of why the local vendors have the premium, as they come out and do that). To say we're thrilled would be an understatement, but we've not yet tested them out. That will come on our next sail, immediately after you see this (more below)... Because our new main is loose footed, we took off the track on the boom. We will use that track to install a storm trysail track on the mast. The same stainless rivets we bought for our railings will work on that, as well. We'll use the old sail to construct our trysail, recycling that material, and using the excess for bags for miscellaneous stuff. Among the bags needed are for a folding bike which we have been given by another friend we've met here. Curt, the second angel, is a young guy who is preparing his boat for a solo circumnavigation, and decided after acquiring a Dahon folding bike on the internet that he would not have room for it aboard his small boat, after all. It requires some age-related repair, but otherwise is literally new, having not been used by its original owner, either. So, when we get to Miami, we'll hunt up a bike shop and get it in top nick. In the meantime, we'll make a bag for it. Another bag will be for our Porta-Bote, living uncovered on our port rail, along with the sculling oars I modified the Porta-Bote to use. Rope bags and other coverings will take up the remainder of the excess cloth from our main and also a jib we salvaged from another wreck. Lydia will get a lot of exercise on our SailRite sewing machine :{)) Yesterday I spend the entire day in plumbing, most of which was in the engine room redoing the forward bilge pumps systems, as they'd been the victim of one of the fan belt explosions in the past. All is now well there, as well as in the aft head, where the pump was leaking in two places. Between the exterior and interior work, none of which was "new" - other than the sails - we're very happy with the state of our home at this time. There are some other chores, too, which most likely we'll do that in Miami, where we'll be getting the remainder of our medical stuff attended to. Lydia will be getting her annual mammogram, visiting an ENT for review of breathing challenges she's had for most of her life, and if my course of antibiotics doesn't produce a change, I'll be in for a colonoscopy, even though it's only been a few years since my first. Once those are done, we'll think about where else we'll go - but in the meantime, Saint Steven has offered us his car in Miami, as well, as he would like for one to be there in order to use when he flies in there, as well as to pick up Mike, his wife, and Steve and his wife, when they come cruise with us in the coming weeks! So, once we're there, we'll rent a cheapie car for a day, rush back here and drive his car down there. No doubt, while we're in the south of Florida, we'll have other friends and family visit us and enjoy sailing in those waters, currently still in the mid-70s. Backing up, as seen in my November 12 log, we had a nearly becalmed sail down from Charleston to St. Simons, but arrived in good order and got docked and Mike's boat moored with no excitements. When we left you, we'd been in Charleston for some more repair stuff. I'll shorten the saga to say that the shop in CSC sold us something they should not have back in the summer, and it was fried. The one I was given by another guy in Charleston was killed by a miswiring, and proven dead during all the testing. However, three of the alternators - the ones I'd started with - needed only a small part for two of them, and the other was fine. We changed the pulley and the type of belt we'd been using, and have yet to change it again - so, while, it's not definitive proof, it appears we have our alternator challenges behind us. Given the prior frustrations, this has to rate as one of the most exciting experiences we've had for a long time. With any luck, the other two alternators we have will remain in our spares for the rest of our cruising lives! So, on to our cruising lives, we're leaving here for Lake Worth, if our Kiwi cruising buddies are still there, or directly to Miami, where there's a mooring waiting for us courtesy of Saint Steven. We'll be there, or (as well) in Lake Worth, for several weeks at least. Finally, and especially to those who picked up on the "Bothered" part of my last posting, I want to say that while it ("The last week has been very difficult, and I'm still trying to come to grips with it all; my life is irretrievably changed. I just don't know by how much, yet.") was indeed true, as the signature line directly below shows, in problems there are always gifts. I'm thrilled to say that the irretrievable change has migrated from a negative to a positive (it's still an irretrievable change, but very good in the end), and Lydia and I are positively delirious with joy. Life couldn't get much better. So, as always, stay tuned. More later when we have put down the hook after our open water trip of somewhere between 3-400 miles... L8R Skip Morgan 461 #2 SV Flying Pig KI4MPC See our galleries at www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery ! Follow us at http://groups.google.com/group/flyingpiglog and/or http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheFlyingPigLog "You are never given a wish without also being given the power to make it come true. You may have to work for it however." (and) "There is no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in its hands. You seek problems because you need their gifts." (Richard Bach, in The Reluctant Messiah) |
#2
posted to rec.boats.cruising
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December 24 - For all the saints (a riff on a hymn)
Skip Gundlach wrote in news:518214e6-13f1-479c-
: We will use that track to install a storm trysail track on the mast. The same stainless rivets we bought for our railings will work on that, as well. I hope that you're not planning on using stainless rivets on an aluminum mast/boom! You're looking at serious corrosion problems if you do that. -- Geoff www.GeoffSchultz.org |
#3
posted to rec.boats.cruising
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December 24 - For all the saints (a riff on a hymn)
You know... as I read all about the Flying Pig .. one thought comes to mind.
That is one complicated boat. You have more "stuff" than all the boats I ever owned. And ?? This is a good one; I am thinking of trying to take stuff off my boat to make her less complicated! No wonder you get down in the dumps once in awhile. I'd be so overwhelmed with all the stuff you have on that ship... holy cow. Have a great Christmas, don't bump into anything. Or sink, or crash. And get that boat off to the warm water of the Caribbean! Send a picture of you and the lovely Lydia lying naked on the deck reading a USA Today with the headline "Another Blizzard hits New England". === Between the electronics, "Skip Gundlach" wrote in message ... December 24 - For all the saints (a riff on a hymn) Well here we are in St. Simons, having left St. Michaels some time ago. However, we're the beneficiary of another couple of saints, Saint Steven and Saint Michael. There have also been several angels... Let me explain, in my usual fashion of starting with the present and working backwards and then looking forward... Lydia had, as one of her last customers in Regions Bank, Mike Paul. Mike, having read our logs, and followed our adventures, immediately on our wreck offered to let us use his sailboat, in St. Simons, while we looked for another home (recall that we fully expected to lose Flying Pig). Of course, we didn't lose our home, but he invited us to visit him if we ever got to the area. Fast forward to our last cruise, where we fully expected to be in Savannah for several weeks (more below), but on review, thought perhaps some other area might prove more effective, due to the distance up the river, the current, and costs of dockage in that area for an extended period of time. Enter Mike, who invites us to use his dock in St. Simons, and move his boat to a mooring nearby. So, that's exactly what we've been doing, for the last nearly 5 weeks. During that time (the reason we expected to be in Savannah for a period), two of my married children with grandchildren in tow visited with us on successive visits. A couple of Lydia's children were also going to visit with us here, but... Our medical insurance, a big investment in our meager income stream, will expire in a few months. We'd wanted to get all of the diagnostic and other stuff done in that time frame, but our marvelous internist, Dr. Ed Galaid, in Gainesville, was uncomfortable in doing more than writing extensions on prescriptions without having a hands-on with us, and so declined to refer us to specialists. So... Also among the saints is Saint Steven, Mike's best buddy in the area. Both are pilots and sailors and do lots of things together, so he was aware of our situation. He popped up with an offer of his car for the period of his vacation, which would be 3 weeks, beginning about a week after our arrival. In the meantime, Mike had arranged a substitute, a jeep which he was storing at his home here for yet another friend. So, for the couple of days involved, we used that vehicle, but before his return, Steve's wife called and said that she'd pick up Steve at the airport when he returned from his trip, and why didn't she pick me up and take me to get his car today?? An offer I couldn't refuse, we've been blessed with transportation since we arrived here, and a place to stay where we had power and water included (and, as you see, internet connectivity, as well, courtesy of the marina adjacent). So, with transportation available, and Ed's offer to see us on short notice, we made the trip to N. GA for our medical stuff. Along the way, we saw all of Lydia's kids as well as the remaining two of mine, in a quickie trip of 5 days. So, we made the trek back down, and commenced/resumed working on the boat. As usual, boat chores are never ending, so we did all the normal maintenance things, changing the oil, filling the water tanks, cleaning the engine room, but, also, some very significant changes on deck. Most of you know that I installed stainless tubing in place of the life lines, raising them from 24" to 30" in the process. I did that by using cast fittings, held in place by loctited (so they wouldn't rattle out) set screws. Well, those setscrews weren't really secure, and we've had a couple of instances of pop-offs. That was enough for me, so I took it all apart, drilled out each and every hole, reassembling the entire structure and stainless steel riveted each place there previously had been a setscrew. The end result was a massively stiffer assembly, much to our delight. As well, we've been unhappy with the davits portion of our arch, because the dinghy has not set securely, despite our efforts at securing it from swinging. That was a combination of the builder not directly following our plans, but also because our new dinghy didn't have exactly the same dimensions as our old one, on which the design was based. So, I relocated the lifting pulleys, and the dinghy now sits very tight against the frame. We expect that we'll have no problem about it moving, now. However, the biggest excitement has been the arrival and installation of our new sail systems. Our genoa was damaged beyond repair in the course of our wreck and our repaired mainsail later failed (again - I wish the St. Pete maker had condemned it at the first!) during our trip north, so we bit the bullet and ordered new sails from Hong Kong, courtesy of Lee Sailmakers. Extensive back-and-forth with the makers assured us, in the end, of a perfect fit on both sails, which used the same cloth and construction techniques as US sailmakers, but at a savings from the 40% premium (or more) required to make the same sails here in the US. So, when the genoa arrived, first, courtesy of our friends Matt and Joelyn Miller, the first of the angels. We met on the docks during our first days here and they generously offered to receive mail and shipments for us. They brought the total mainsail system to us on the day it arrived and we put it up on the first windless day. Holding our breath, we were thrilled to see that it fit perfectly. The main was sent to the vendor who, at the Annapolis Boat Show, had sold us the Strong Track System (all of whose users I'd met in person or on the net said, to a man, that they wished they'd done it years earlier). He put on our existing batten hardware, and the new ones we needed, as well as installed the batten and intermediate slides hardware to match up with the Strong Track System. All of that hardware and our sail arrived in due course, courtesy, again, of angels Matt and Joelyn. We installed it, again, holding our breath to see whether it would fit as we wanted (it's always a challenge to measure sails properly; that's part of why the local vendors have the premium, as they come out and do that). To say we're thrilled would be an understatement, but we've not yet tested them out. That will come on our next sail, immediately after you see this (more below)... Because our new main is loose footed, we took off the track on the boom. We will use that track to install a storm trysail track on the mast. The same stainless rivets we bought for our railings will work on that, as well. We'll use the old sail to construct our trysail, recycling that material, and using the excess for bags for miscellaneous stuff. Among the bags needed are for a folding bike which we have been given by another friend we've met here. Curt, the second angel, is a young guy who is preparing his boat for a solo circumnavigation, and decided after acquiring a Dahon folding bike on the internet that he would not have room for it aboard his small boat, after all. It requires some age-related repair, but otherwise is literally new, having not been used by its original owner, either. So, when we get to Miami, we'll hunt up a bike shop and get it in top nick. In the meantime, we'll make a bag for it. Another bag will be for our Porta-Bote, living uncovered on our port rail, along with the sculling oars I modified the Porta-Bote to use. Rope bags and other coverings will take up the remainder of the excess cloth from our main and also a jib we salvaged from another wreck. Lydia will get a lot of exercise on our SailRite sewing machine :{)) Yesterday I spend the entire day in plumbing, most of which was in the engine room redoing the forward bilge pumps systems, as they'd been the victim of one of the fan belt explosions in the past. All is now well there, as well as in the aft head, where the pump was leaking in two places. Between the exterior and interior work, none of which was "new" - other than the sails - we're very happy with the state of our home at this time. There are some other chores, too, which most likely we'll do that in Miami, where we'll be getting the remainder of our medical stuff attended to. Lydia will be getting her annual mammogram, visiting an ENT for review of breathing challenges she's had for most of her life, and if my course of antibiotics doesn't produce a change, I'll be in for a colonoscopy, even though it's only been a few years since my first. Once those are done, we'll think about where else we'll go - but in the meantime, Saint Steven has offered us his car in Miami, as well, as he would like for one to be there in order to use when he flies in there, as well as to pick up Mike, his wife, and Steve and his wife, when they come cruise with us in the coming weeks! So, once we're there, we'll rent a cheapie car for a day, rush back here and drive his car down there. No doubt, while we're in the south of Florida, we'll have other friends and family visit us and enjoy sailing in those waters, currently still in the mid-70s. Backing up, as seen in my November 12 log, we had a nearly becalmed sail down from Charleston to St. Simons, but arrived in good order and got docked and Mike's boat moored with no excitements. When we left you, we'd been in Charleston for some more repair stuff. I'll shorten the saga to say that the shop in CSC sold us something they should not have back in the summer, and it was fried. The one I was given by another guy in Charleston was killed by a miswiring, and proven dead during all the testing. However, three of the alternators - the ones I'd started with - needed only a small part for two of them, and the other was fine. We changed the pulley and the type of belt we'd been using, and have yet to change it again - so, while, it's not definitive proof, it appears we have our alternator challenges behind us. Given the prior frustrations, this has to rate as one of the most exciting experiences we've had for a long time. With any luck, the other two alternators we have will remain in our spares for the rest of our cruising lives! So, on to our cruising lives, we're leaving here for Lake Worth, if our Kiwi cruising buddies are still there, or directly to Miami, where there's a mooring waiting for us courtesy of Saint Steven. We'll be there, or (as well) in Lake Worth, for several weeks at least. Finally, and especially to those who picked up on the "Bothered" part of my last posting, I want to say that while it ("The last week has been very difficult, and I'm still trying to come to grips with it all; my life is irretrievably changed. I just don't know by how much, yet.") was indeed true, as the signature line directly below shows, in problems there are always gifts. I'm thrilled to say that the irretrievable change has migrated from a negative to a positive (it's still an irretrievable change, but very good in the end), and Lydia and I are positively delirious with joy. Life couldn't get much better. So, as always, stay tuned. More later when we have put down the hook after our open water trip of somewhere between 3-400 miles... L8R Skip Morgan 461 #2 SV Flying Pig KI4MPC See our galleries at www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery ! Follow us at http://groups.google.com/group/flyingpiglog and/or http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheFlyingPigLog "You are never given a wish without also being given the power to make it come true. You may have to work for it however." (and) "There is no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in its hands. You seek problems because you need their gifts." (Richard Bach, in The Reluctant Messiah) |
#4
posted to rec.boats.cruising
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December 24 - For all the saints (a riff on a hymn)
"Geoff Schultz" wrote
I hope that you're not planning on using stainless rivets on an aluminum mast/boom! You're looking at serious corrosion problems if you do that. Pretty typical construction, from what I've seen. I've also heard of using various coatings, like silicone caulk and loctite, to try to reduce the galvanic action. What do you recommend in lieu of stainless fasteners? |
#5
posted to rec.boats.cruising
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December 24 - For all the saints (a riff on a hymn)
"Ernest Scribbler" wrote in message ... "Geoff Schultz" wrote I hope that you're not planning on using stainless rivets on an aluminum mast/boom! You're looking at serious corrosion problems if you do that. Pretty typical construction, from what I've seen. I've also heard of using various coatings, like silicone caulk and loctite, to try to reduce the galvanic action. What do you recommend in lieu of stainless fasteners? Aluminum ivets shouldn't be hard to find... one example.. http://www.rivetsinstock.com/rivet71.htm or.. http://www.aluminumrivet.com/ |
#6
posted to rec.boats.cruising
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December 24 - For all the saints (a riff on a hymn)
On Mon, 24 Dec 2007 05:33:29 -0600, Geoff Schultz
wrote: Skip Gundlach wrote in news:518214e6-13f1-479c- : We will use that track to install a storm trysail track on the mast. The same stainless rivets we bought for our railings will work on that, as well. I hope that you're not planning on using stainless rivets on an aluminum mast/boom! You're looking at serious corrosion problems if you do that. -- Geoff www.GeoffSchultz.org Given that all the sail track I have seen is stainless how do you suggest it be installed on the aluminum mast? Bruce-in-Bangkok (Note:remove underscores from address for reply) |
#7
posted to rec.boats.cruising
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December 24 - For all the saints (a riff on a hymn)
"Don White" wrote
Aluminum ivets shouldn't be hard to find... They're readily available, (and less costly) but stainless rivets are more commonly used by manufacturers, from what I've seen. My guess is that their greater strength outweighs the other considerations. |
#8
posted to rec.boats.cruising
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December 24 - For all the saints (a riff on a hymn)
On Mon, 24 Dec 2007 20:50:03 -0500, WaIIy quoted this:
...stainless steel and aluminum do have a habit of becoming inextricably linked when mated in the marine environment. The interaction is, however, considered a necessary evil and not necessarily prohibited as is the use of copper alloys such as bronze or brass with aluminum. The reaction that takes place between aluminum and stainless steel is galvanic in nature; the aluminum being less noble than stainless steel corrodes much like a zinc anode corrodes in order to protect a nobler propeller or shaft. The second half of this equation, however, is the byproduct of yet another type of corrosion called poultice, aluminum oxide, the white powdery material that is often seen on aluminum that is actively corroding. Both are undesirable and the latter can cause stainless fasteners to become seized within aluminum threads. The good news is this phenomenon is easily avoidable. An essential component in the galvanic and poultice corrosion equation is moisture, if it can be excluded then neither will occur with much vigor. Here’s where your yellow paste, probably zinc chromate, comes in. Applied to the fastener’s threads it effectively excludes moisture (and air) and while other proprietary, and often expensive, products are available for this purpose, others will also work well, including LocTite (I’d use one of the lower strength varieties such as 242, which is blue) and ordinary polyurethane sealants such as those offered by Sika and 3M. As long as what ever you use excludes moisture from the thread interface, and it’s compatible with the metal substrate, then the problem should not occur. I’ve successfully used this approach for years when installing hardware on aluminum masts. Beware, many anti-seize compounds contain graphite or copper, both of which would be galvanically incompatible with aluminum (graphite is among the most noble materials, so it tends to make any metal with which it makes contact corrode), while some silicone-based sealants utilize an acidic base, which can me harmful to aluminum. Steve C. D’Antonio, Technical Editor http://www.passagemaker.com/UserBlog...0/Default.aspx Nice note. I am guessing Wally was quoting Steve wholesale?? Brian W |
#9
posted to rec.boats.cruising
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December 24 - For all the saints (a riff on a hymn)
On Mon, 24 Dec 2007 05:33:29 -0600, Geoff Schultz
wrote: I hope that you're not planning on using stainless rivets on an aluminum mast/boom! You're looking at serious corrosion problems if you do that. I've had this discussion with professional riggers. The best advice I've gotten is to coat the stainless fastener with silicone caulk before inserting it into the mast. Stainless fasteners are much stronger than aluminum and much more readily available than exotics like monel. |
#10
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December 24 - For all the saints (a riff on a hymn)
Ernest Scribbler wrote:
"Don White" wrote Aluminum ivets shouldn't be hard to find... They're readily available, (and less costly) but stainless rivets are more commonly used by manufacturers, from what I've seen. My guess is that their greater strength outweighs the other considerations. That's my feel for it... |
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