Sunday 25 October 2015

All over bar the shouting..

The mast is down, no broken limbs or equipment.. 😏


Rod the Mod and "old" Dave came over yesterday morning to take the mast down, not the best of conditions but it was one of the most trouble free drops I think we've had; all done and dusted within 30 or 45 minutes?? Something of a record I think, though I think we should have been able to hear the ghosts of Nelson's professionals chuckling at our amateur efforts if we'd paused for a moment...


So no major* surprises, same process/technique as previous occasions (see here [clicky] and here [clicky] for previous efforts) - I'd  gone down the night before and taken off the genoa and boom (with main still on it) so less to do on the day.


All we had to do was:

  • loosen off uppers, back stay, and rear lowers, 
  • detach the forward lowers and attach A frame, 
  • jib halyard on the upper top of the frame, 
  • main sheet to stem fitting and lower top of the frame, 
  • cranked on pressure, 
  • detached forestay at stem fitting (*bit of a tight fit this year so in the end I moved the main sheet attachment from the stem fitting to a wire strop on the stem fitting just to lift the main sheet block above the roller drum  and allow a clean run of line), 
  • removed the lower bolt from the tabernacle, and ..
  • with Dave pulling the back stay to get it going, Rod on the cabin top guiding it, and me on the main sheet, the mast was soon in the crutch,  
  • then taken off the tabernacle, and moved forward to its final position resting on pulpit and crutch.. 

What a difference a day makes - this was next day, I'd popped out just to tidy up.. 
Job done.. too early for beers so we went for a cooked brekkie instead, thanks chaps!

Sunny, and as flat as a flat thing..
...and finally, the mystery of the disapearing Windex.. whole bracket gone just the bolt left..

5 comments:

  1. Job well done. You get used to these repetitive jobs, keep it up and you will have it down to 10 minutes.

    Your third to last photo made me take a 'double take' - at first glance it looked like your dinghy had an antique Evinrude outboard motor on its stern - then I thought maybe it was one of those bolt onto the stern pulpit barbecues to cook your team of helpers breakfast on - then I realised it was a mooring buoy LOL. !!

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    1. Alden - I see what you mean..:o)) Bit of a Marie Celeste buoy, that one..seemed to come from nowhere, my boat neighbour and I were chatting about it and are sure it wasn't there last year, either that or with all the storms our ground chain has dragged slightly, and having no boat on it, that one stayed where it was.. a mystery..

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    1. What! No shouting in the bar later? I also had the same thoughts as Alden, those bouys can be very tricky, photo bombing at every opportunity 😉

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    2. Ha! Paul you can rest assured there'll be shouting in a bar at some time, they're good mates! A photo bombing buoy, now there's a nightmare..

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