This week has been non-stop work on rigging the mast. After finishing the winches, we completed installation of the stoppers. This was child’s play, compared to the winches!
We also put the main halyard, the Genoa halyard, the Topping Lift and a spare halyard on the mast. Running these through the stoppers, we were able to put them on the mast winches making it easier to pull the two halves of the mast together.
Putting the mast together involved first aligning the two halves on a series of drums with rollers. Then identifying all the halyards and wires that needed to be pulled through as the length of the mast reduced. One person was assigned to ensuring all these were attended to , while six others held the two mast halves and slowly slipped the top half over the lower half. No matter what we did, a small gap remained. It was late, we had had a long day, so the Skipper decided we should sleep on it.
The next day, the boat maker pointed out a small bolt that had prevented the union. The mast was aligned within minutes! That was the trial. We then moved the halves apart, applied Sikaflex on the joint and then rejoined the mast.
Then all 38 of the stainless steel bolts were plastered with bimetallic paste and tightened onto the aluminium mast.
That done, we had to put the spreaders on. The set up is slightly different from our earlier mast, so we gave ourselves extra time to ensure we did it right.
The mast was set up for our first test run. The moment we had it on board, we realised the lines and stays were all tangled up! After a bit of rope dancing, we managed to have most of them disentangled and fastened. The purpose of this trial was to measure the length of the fore stay and the back stays.
The final job of this week was to ensure we had all the correct measurements to cut the stays to size and then; to attach the fittings to the stays.
Sta Lok fittings are interesting; besides being secure, high tension terminals. Dilip put together 3 of them this afternoon.
The second trial is scheduled for Monday, Wish us luck!
This has been quite a tech heavy write up. If it has caught your interest and you want to know more, you know what to do. Reach out to us on sailonantara@gmail.com to schedule your sail.
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