May 5, 2016
Precision 9
Thursday
It’d been a busy week filled with other (unrelated) complications that limited my time in the shop, but fortunately this project was winding down anyway, with only a few tasks remaining on the list before completion.
To begin, I painted the bottom with black bottom paint, removing the masking tape afterwards.
With a raw and miserable, and wet-ish, day outside, later on I moved the mast indoors next to the boat so I could get started on the work required. The two new halyards had arrived from the rigger, along with replacement lifelines, so I strung in the new halyards, using the messenger lines I’d installed when removing the old ones at the beginning of the project.
The old VHF cable to the masthead was shot, at least at the bottom end, so I prepared to run in a new one. I tried using the old cable to pull through the new, but the way the exit hole at the top of the mast was, the cable didn’t pull in cleanly, and the old cable parted from the tape I’d used to secure the two together, so instead I had to use a wire snake pushed down the mast to string a messenger line, which line I then used to pull through the new cable from top to bottom. Then, I made up the ends, completing that assembly.
All that remained was to rewire the masthead (by technical definition) located near the spreaders, but I’d do that next time.
Total time billed on this job today: 2.75 hours
0600 Weather Observation:
44°, clouds and drizzle. Forecast for the day: 44°, clouds and drizzle.