January 12, 2017
Halcyon 10
Thursday
With other commitments, I had a short day planned, beginning with a visit from my rigging contractor, who inspected the standing and running rigging at my request, and on behalf of the boat’s owner. He also took the old lifelines for replacement.
The rigging was in fair condition, with no significant issues like cracked swages or broken wire strands on the standing rigging, but was of indeterminate–but substantial–age, with numerous wire kinks from poor storage and general use, and various other issues that, taken together, suggested that it would be prudent, if not strictly necessary, to upgrade the rigging at this time.
The three-strand halyards were in fair condition; one of them was sun-damaged and the material was spiky and friable in the hand, and the others, while in serviceable condition, could benefit from an upgrade as well. The wire-rope spliced jib halyard had a number of broken strands, or “meathooks”, on the wire portion, and probably should be replaced at a minimum.
With the inspection done, and since I knew I’d have to remove the rigging in order to prep and varnish the spar later in the project, I decided to remove all the rigging from the mast now, which would ease access for the varnish work and also have the rigging easily accessible should the decision be made to replace it. Afterwards, I covered the now-bare spar (and boom) with plastic again to protect it against dust, damage, and overspray during the rest of the boat work throughout the project.
Total time billed on this job today: 2 hours
0600 Weather Observation:
40°, light rain. Forecast for the day: showers, 40s