AAaarrrrrrrr, me hearties – welcome back!

Scintillating news! Scandal! The lady has been stripped bare! <gasp!>

What lady? You may ask. Well no human to be sure. This is a family friendly blog. The boat, you perv, the boat! Yes, she’s been stripped bare. For all to see. BUAH HA HA HA HAAAAAAAaaaa <koff>.

After getting all the sanding done that I thought reasonable, I decided to take the plunge and start the rigging project. The first phase of the rigging project will be, to remove the mast from the boat. This will facilitate the installation of new rigging, the removal of bow-sprit, chain-plates, boomkin, and assorted tangs. Once all that hardware is off I will sand and prep the hull above the waterline for paint. The lady always looks better with a fresh coat of paint. I may paint the deck as well.

I approached removing the mast with a bit of trepidation. I work mostly alone and that big stick weighs a couple pounds more than I do. Wrangling a 43 foot chunk of aluminum presented a challenge I was not too eager to accept. But accept it I did.  I thought the job, while heavy, wouldn’t take too long. Boy, I’m not used to boat-time yet. What should have taken a couple of hours took 3 days.

The mast is stepped in a ‘tabernacle’

The trouble is that pin. It’s 1 inch think stainless steel. It passes through a ‘compression tube’ in the mast which is made of aluminium. Over the years the dissimilar metals have corroded. So, while the mast was able to be lowered that pin was not moving. I did some research and the most reasonable solution is to cut the pin, remove the compression tube, and replace it with a stainless steel tube.

I have the mast off the boat and on saw-horses so the project continues. In the mean time, enjoy some vids:

(stop laughing! STOP IT)

Part 1

Part 2

Fair winds, following seas, and God’s blessings

Biff.