May 6, 2016
Precision 10
Friday
The steaming light (officially called a masthead light regardless of position) on the mast near the spreaders required new wiring, or at least new wiring seemed prudent since it would be simple to do and the old wiring’s condition was unknown. I removed the light from the mast, noting the wire color conventions and placement of the terminals, then pulled in a new length of 14/2 wire, using the old wire to do the job.
Next, I made up the light end of the wires, installing new ring terminals to the light fixture and reinstalling the fixture to the front of the mast. Then, I stripped the wire ends at the bottom and temporarily hooked them to a battery so I could check the light’s operation: all good.
At the bottom end, I left enough wire slack and made up the end to the existing 2-prong plug, which mated with the one on deck. I double-checked the wiring conventions in each case to ensure that the plug polarity would be correct.
Now I put the mast back on deck, supporting it on the pulpits as it’d been upon arrival, and strung new wire lifelines through the stanchions. This completed my current task list, though the new cushions were still in production and would be ready in a couple weeks, probably.
Total time billed on this job today: 2.5 hours
0600 Weather Observation:
42°, cloudy. Forecast for the day: decreasing clouds (so they say), high in the 60s. Dare we hope? It’s been a dismal week.