Main Mast Rebuild - 2009
This project was completed in March of 2009. It was undertaken along with the Compression Post Repair, the Mizzen Mast Step Rebuild, and the Mizzen Mast Rebuild projects.
The Main Mast Rebuild project is closely tied to all of the above mentioned projects. The actual beginning of this, and all the projects mentioned above, is pretty well explained in the first paragraph of the Compression Post Repair project. Therefore, I am going to repeat the explanation thereof.
The Compression Post Repair project started several years ago, I just did not know it at the time! The door that goes from the main salon to the storeroom; the door into the mid-cabin; and, the door that goes from the mid-cabin to the storeroom, were not fitting properly. They were all out of alignment. The small doors that go to the air conditioning compressor and the ice maker compressor were also out of alignment. I kept looking around, trying to find the source of these problems. After much thinking, and consulting with friends, I concluded that the problem was the compression posts under the main mast. They were sinking, most probably because of rotten wood.
To get at the compression posts, and repair them, the main mast had to be removed from DREAM AWAY. OK, that would work, as I had quite a few things I wanted to repair and upgrade on the main mast. I also needed to fix a problem on the Mizzen Mast Step, which would necessitate taking down the mizzen mast. Since I could take the mizzen mast down in the slip while the was main mast up, I decided to go that route and save a bunch of money. I took the mizzen mast down first, and had South Texas Yacht Service take the main mast down. Then I could get started on the Compression Post Repair project. Once the two masts were down, I was able to work on all four projects, more or less at the same time.
Enough of a history lesson, now lets get to rebuilding the main mast, this being the second time it was being done. There are many reasons why I decided to spend the time rebuilding the main mast yet again, so it will be difficult to come up with a priority list. I will just list all of the repairs/upgrades I wanted to do, and then explain the actual work that was done. I actually have pictures that cover some of that work.
REPAINT THE MAST: Back in 2008, when I took the main and the mizzen masts down, I was considering powder coating the mast or painting it with Awlgrip epoxy paint. Awlgrip is a two-part epoxy paint that lasts a very long time. That is the good news. The bad news is that the paint is very difficult to apply, and very expensive. In the end, I did not use the Awlgrip solution or the powder coat solution. I ended up using a very cheap solution, Krylon spray paint. Before deciding on how and what to do about applying the Krylon, I ran several experiments by applying the paint on the mizzen boom. We were considering painting the masts and booms a gold color, but finally went with our old favorite, green. The first test was to sand the boom, foregoing a primer coat, and apply just the top coat. The second test was doing no sanding, no primer, and then applying the top coat. The last test was doing no sanding, but applying both a primer and the top coat. In the end, we did not see a huge difference in any of the results, so we ended up simply applying three layers of the top coat. Pictures follow:
Painting the main mast
extrusions, main and mizzen spreaders, main and mizzen
booms, and the mizzen wind turbine mount, took place after
all of the repairs were completed. I had had a workshop at
the Kemah Storage Facility for over 18 years. It was a 12' X
30' unit, which made it big enough for me to paint
the mizzen mast extrusion therein. However, it turned
out to be a real problem to paint the
mizzen extrusion in the shop because the extrusion itself is
29' 10"
long, and, by the time I got drop cloths all over to protect
everything else in the shop, there wasn't room to accomplish
much other work. I did not want to do the remaining
extrusions in the
shop, so, when the unit next to my workshop became empty, we
asked the
management if we could rent it for a week or 10 days to use
as
a paint booth. Surprisingly, they said we could use the room
to do
the painting, and, that, as long as it was cleaned up when
we were
finished, there would be no charge! Sweet.
I purchased a bunch of cheap drop cloths, and lined the sides of my new "paint booth" and the floor with them. I then moved in boxes and stuff for bases, and hung some lines from the sides of the unit, so that I could suspend all of the parts and extrusions from them. I also strung some temporary lights so I could paint with the "paint booth" door closed, to keep down the dust from the road outside. I collected my many cans of Krylon spray paint, and went to work. I was able to spray a coat of paint on one side of all the parts, then go next door to my shop and work on another project. I had also set up a smaller paint booth in my shop. This was nothing but a big card board box situated so I could put small mast and boom parts into it, and paint them. Perhaps an hour or two after spraying on a coat of paint, I could go back to the "paint booth", turn all of the parts over, and apply a coat of paint to the other sides. Working like that, I was able to get all of the parts painted in three or four days. I let all of the parts dry for another day or so, and then moved the mast extrusions and booms back to the storage yard. I hung the smaller parts in the shop, and removed the lighting I had installed in the paint booth as well as all of the drop cloths and the other stuff I had used to support the extrusions. The room was swept out and returned in better condition than that in which it was received. Having the room available as a paint booth was wonderful, and it made the actual painting go very quickly and easily.
MAST WINCH BASES: During the 2001 main mast rebuild, I had removed all of the old winch bases and had new ones welded onto the mast. I had also added a base for the new spinnaker halyard winch. This was all good, and I was pleased with the installation but the halyards tended to wrap on themselves when a sail was being pulled up. I could not figure what was wrong until I started looking at other masts, and then I identified the problem. I needed to set the winch at an angle to the mast. That way, as the halyard came down on the winch, after a couple of turns of the halyard on the winch, the halyard would tend to roll off of the winch, rather than wrap back on itself.
I had the problem figured out, but now I had to fix it! The only solution I could devise, that was reasonable and cheap, was to cut off the winch base, grind an angle on it, and then weld it back onto the mast. I came up with a modification to that solution. I wanted the base to be at an angle of 30° to 35° to the mast. I decided to make a cut on the winch base of approximately 15°, turn the cut-off piece 180°, and weld it back together. This would be a combined angle of between 30° to 35°. Well, that would be easy! Not really! I had five winch bases to modify, four of which were fabricated from 3/8" aluminum pipe, and one fabricated from 3/8" aluminum plate. Also, I could not effectively get to the bases to cut them with anything but a hack saw. But I was pleasantly surprised. I purchased some very good hack saw blades, and the cutting went a lot easier than I had imagined it would.
Welding the winch bases back onto the mast was the first real test of my new Miller Dynasty welder. First on the list was checking to make sure the welder actually worked, then that I could actually weld two pieces of aluminum together. I was successful on both counts. I was able to weld two scrap pieces of 3/8" aluminum together with a pretty decent looking bead. And I was really impressed was the new auto darkening helmet, for me, this was magic. Because I wear glasses, and usually live in a hot climate and sweat a lot, I had always had trouble getting a bead started because when I was ready to weld, and flipped the helmet face down, I usually ended up with my glasses knocked to the end of my nose, or off my nose. But, with the new helmet, I could leave the clear mask down, place the welder tip right where it needed to be, and then, when I would draw an arc, the mask went instantly dark.
OK, back to the actual project of welding the winch bases back on the mast. I got set up, and started into welding the first winch base back on the mast. The welding machine seemed to be working properly, but I could not get a real good puddle going to run a bead along the cut. I checked the setup, and it seemed to be good. In fact, I played with the settings on the welding machine, but still could not get a decent puddle going. My first thought was that the wind was blowing too much, and it was blowing the argon gas away from the tip. I put up some tarps to keep any wind away, but this did not help. I tried to weld two more scrap pieces of aluminum together, and accomplished that with no problem. I was at a loss, so I went and talked over the problem with a friend who does a lot more welding than I, and who welds on large pieces of aluminum. He suggested that the aluminum needed to be heated and kept hot while welding. He said this was because the aluminum I was welding was very thick, and the machine I was using was pretty small. And it was true that 3/8" aluminum was the upper limit of the Miller Dynasty. There is good news and bad news about aluminum ... it dissipates heat very quickly.
I got my friend Alan over to the shop, and I had him operate the Oxy-Propane Torch to heat up the aluminum. We got a system worked out where he, rather than I, heated up the aluminum, I was able to attend to the welding. Overall, this worked out pretty well, but was more time consuming than planned. Still using this method, we were able to get all of the winch bases cut off, cleaned up, and welded back onto the mast. During this process, I discovered a couple of really useful things. First, I needed a really good grinding wheel on my bench grinder with which to sharpen the tungsten for the welder. I was able to purchase a proper wheel from Matheson Tri-Gas, a welding supply company in Texas City that I used for my welding supplies. I also determined that the 40-cubic foot argon tank I had purchased did not hold a sufficient amount of gas for the welding I was doing, and planned to do. I decided to also purchase a 125-cubic foot tank from Matheson Tri-Gas. This worked out great. I got the 40-cubic foot argon tank re-filled. I used gas from the 125-cubic foot tank until it was empty, then I used the 40-cubic foot tank while I got the 125-cubic foot tank refilled. Kitty was driving to Texas City so often getting supplies from Matheson Tri-Gas, she was on a first name basis with the staff.
I am writing this update two-and-a-half years after finishing this project, and I can still say it was worth the effort. I can not say that halyard wrapping on the main winches has completely disappeared, but, if you are paying attention, there is no more halyard wrapping.
BOOM WINCH BASE: I decided that, when reefing the large main sail on DREAM AWAY, during interesting weather conditions, it would be very handy to have a small winch on the main boom to facilitate the reefing operation. During the 2001 main mast rebuild, I had a pad welded onto the boom, and I installed the winch. This fixed the reefing problem, but, because had not measured the location of the placement of the winch, it was difficult to use. The winch was located over the cockpit dodger. This made it difficult to get to the winch, and I could only turn the winch 180° at a time.
During the 2009 rebuild, I resolved to remedy the problem. I measured where the winch had to go, and marked the boom. The most desirable placement for the winch was right over the reefing line cleats, so the cleats had to be moved. I got out my favorite hack saw and proceeded to cut the winch base off of the boom. When that was done, I ground down and cleaned up the spot where the winch used to be, so you could not tell the base was ever there. I had to clean up and "dress" the winch base so it could be welded back onto the boom. As mentioned in the Mast Winch Bases section, I needed lots of heat before I could do this. Good friend Alan come over to the shop to again operate the Oxy-propane torch while I welded the base back onto the boom. I finished the welding, and after cooling, cleaned up the welds so they would look nice. I then determined the new location for the reefing line cleats, measured it, and drilled and tapped the holes for the cleats. Now the boom was ready for the paint booth.
NEW SPREADER BASES: This was a project that had needed attention for some time. It always seemed to be the leaky roof syndrome, plus I just was not sure how to fix the problem. The problem was that the trailing edge of the spreaders would split near the spreader base. If the split got very large, and the spreader collapsed, the mast could break in half. When I discovered a split, I would take the spreader off of the mast, have it welded, then put it back on the mast. These were no easy tasks. The outer end of the spreaders had a tip that captured the upper shroud. The upper shroud had to be loosened, then the spreader tip unbolted from the shroud, and finally the spreader lowered to the deck. Typically, if one spreader was split, so was the other one. The whole process had to be repeated in reverse order to put the repaired spreaders back on the mast. Then the spreaders had to be adjusted for height, and the shrouds had to be re-tensioned. All of the work of removing and installing the spreaders was done approximately 30' in the air and 4 1/2' out from the mast.
I had been looking around at other masts and searching the WEB to see what other solutions might be available. I decided I would like to have something like a captive box on the mast, and an insert on the end of the spreader that would slip into the box. Once this was done, I could drill holes through the box and the insert into which I could drop pins to keep the spreader from falling out.
The first task to facilitate the new bases was to remove the old bases. For this, all that was necessary was to drill out the aluminum rivets holding the old bases to the mast. Next, I used the welder to fill in the six holes on each side. When that was finished, I sanded down the welds so you could not tell there were ever holes in the mast. I fabricated the pieces I would need for the mast and the spreaders out of 3/8" pieces of aluminum. I had the same problem I had had when welding the winch bases to the mast. The metal was very thick and had to be pre-heated to allow proper welds. The solution was the same. I got my friend Alan to come over to the shop to keep the Oxy-Propane Torch heating the mast and spreader base while I did the welding. I finally got all of the welding done, and although some of the welds were not beautiful, but they were all deep. The box on the mast, and the insert on the spreader worked out very well. I got all of the parts sanded down and cleaned up, and, after painting, the job looked very professional.
It has been over 2 1/2 years since I completed this project, and so far I have had no problems with the box, and no spreaders splitting. I actually do go up the mast and check the rigging fairly often. Before we make any passage, long or short, I go up both masts and check all of the rigging, fittings, and electrical connections.
NEW SPREADER LIGHTS: This project is another one that needed some thought to get exactly what I wanted accomplished. The mast did not have to be down to do this project, but it sure made it a breeze with the mast down. As mentioned in the mizzen mast rebuild 2009, I had installed new spreader lights on the mizzen mast. As usual, there were many reasons why I wanted new spreader lights. One big reason was to be able to replace a burned out light easily and with no hassle. Most spreader lights on the market at the time had some crazy kind of a wire spring to hold the tractor light in place. Good idea on the ground, but when you are hanging in a bosun's chair, 30' in the air, trying to get the spring out is an issue. Any guesses what happens 50% of the time? You are correct, the spring comes flying out, and if you are really lucky you catch it, if you are just lucky, it lands on the deck. Most of the time it end up in the water! The other difficult items are the bolts that must be unscrewed in order to remove the wires from the light bulb. When replacing the lights, I installed adjustable spreader lights. If you do not have the adjustable spreader lights, the base of the mast is nicely lighted. However, I wanted to have the bow well lit when necessary, and also have the area behind the mast lighted. The solution was adjustable spreader lights, but not all adjustable spreader lights do the job. With some, you would get them adjusted, then a halyard or a sail would hit the light, and then you were lighting the water off the side of the boat, necessitating another trip up the mast to adjust the spreader lights. Another issue was the use of two-part bulbs. One night, when Kitty and I were sitting in the main cabin, and we heard glass break on the deck. We thought someone had thrown a beer bottle onto the deck. When I went out to investigate, one of the spreader lights, which had been on, was out, and glass was all over the deck. I decided to wait until morning to figure out what had happened. The next morning, I cleaned up all of the glass and washed down the deck. I went up the mast and found that the adhesive had failed on the two-part bulb, allowing it to fall from the spreader onto the deck. Needless. to say I got rid of all of that type of bulbs.
I was looking for a light for which it was easy to change the bulb, that was adjustable, and was also fairly powerful. I did some research, and settled on the Hella Oval 100. It is adjustable, and would not be knocked around by a loose halyard or sail. I was able to through-bolt the mount to the spreaders, so the light would not come loose. The front of the housing came off easily, and the screws were captive, so there was no chance of dropping them while removing the front housing. The bulbs were easy to change as they had a spring loaded mount, and the wires slipped easily on and off the connectors. The only down side was that the bulbs were 55-watts, so the lights drew a fair amount of current. No matter, I purchased four of them, two for the mizzen mast and two for the main mast. I was fortunate because I was able to install while the masts were down.
I have been using these lights for two years, and can confirm that they were well worth the investment. I have adjusted the mizzen lights to light up the base of the mizzen mast and the davits area on the stern. I have adjusted the main lights to light up the area just in front of the main mast, and the bow area, so that I can work the anchors at night.
NEW ELECTRICAL CONDUIT: The conduit in the main mast did not actually need to be changed, but, because of my experience with the conduit in mizzen mast not having been big enough to accommodate my adding wires, and the fact the main mast was already down, I decided to do it. I installed a 2" PVC electrical conduit. With the new conduit in the main mast, I now have the space available to mount more electronics or radio antennas.
The conduit was not physically installed until we were commissioning the mast in the South Texas Yacht Service yard. Prior to the commissioning, I had to make sure all of the conduit, connectors, tools, glue, and other items were on hand.
REWIRE MAST: Doing a rewire of the main mast was probably not absolutely necessary, but I decided to do it while the mast was down. My thoughts were that the wire had been in the main mast since the rebuild in 2001, so there was a chance the ends of the wires in the mast had corrosion on them. Since the wires in the main were longer than the wires used in the mizzen mast, I took all of the old wires from the main mast and cut off the ends of the DC wire and the RF wire. Then I put new connectors on the old wires, and used them to rewire the mizzen mast during its rebuild.
I ran all new Ancor Marine Grade duplex DC wire in the mast for the Aqua Signal Series 41 combination tri-color/anchor light. New wire was run for the Aqua Signal Series 41 steaming light, and also for the spreader lights. I ran a duplex wire for each spreader light to prevent a high current problem. I also ran new RG-58 wire for the main mast VHF antenna. I even ran new wire for the mast head Raymarine ST60+ Wind Instrument. I found the wire on Ebay for a good price, so, while the mast was down, I ran new wire for the wind instrument. The DC and RF wires were not physically installed until we were commissioning the mast in the South Texas Yacht Service yard. Prior to the commissioning, I had to make sure all of the wire, connectors, tools, and other items were on hand.
NEW BACKSTAY FITTING: As I mentioned in the main mast rebuild 2001, I replaced both backstays and put the Norseman fittings on the wires. I had been noticing that the Norseman fittings were rubbing against each other in the backstay fitting at the masthead. To prevent this from being a problem, I decided to replace the backstay fitting. This was not too difficult a project because I had the Oxy-Propane Torch, a new 3/4 HP drill press, a big bench vise, and a new new chop saw. I cut out a piece of 2" stainless bar stock to the proper length, bent the piece, and drilled the required holes. The fitting came out very nicely, but, in practice, it was too narrow to prevent the rubbing. However, the size of this fitting is one of the reasons I earned the nickname "Overkill Kenworthy"! Already having the rigging and masthead fitting in the shop made it easy to check out the new backstay fitting.
I cut a second piece of 2" stainless bar stock to the appropriate length. And to be sure that I had the appropriate width this time, I bent the bar stock first, then cut the piece. I was using my new chop saw, so cutting the 1/4" bar stock was no problem. This piece was the proper size, both length and width. I then drilled out the necessary holes, and the new backstay fitting was ready to go. The new fitting is in the photo, but difficult to see. It has been 2 1/2 years since the installation of the new backstay fitting, and I have had no problems with it, and the Norseman fittings are not rubbing together.
ELECTRICAL WIRE EXIT: Since I changed to the 2" PVC electrical conduit, I needed to upgrade the electrical wires exit point in the mast. I had used a 1 1/2" hose barb fitting before, but it was plastic, and I wanted something that would not be damaged by UV rays. I wanted to find some 2" aluminum pipe that I could weld to the main and the mizzen masts. No only did this prove hard to find, but I only needed six inches of it once it was found.
Well, a place I grew to love came to my rescue. Momentum Metal Recycling is a yard located in Dickinson, Texas, and they recycle metal. The really great part about this place that you can wander around looking in stashes of aluminum, stainless and brass, which they keep is separate areas. Since they really do recycle on a large scale, there is constant turnover. I thought it best to have a list of metals, by type and size, to which I could refer. If I came across something on the list, I would buy it. Of course, sometimes you would make the drive over, and they would have nothing you could use. The fact they would let you wander around looking for stuff was great, and they sold the stuff to you at scrap prices! One day I was there and found the necessary 2' piece of 2" aluminum pipe, so I bought it.
I went back to the shop and cut the pipe to the proper lengths for each mast. I cleaned the pipe up, and sanded it down so it would match the crown of the mast. The pipe was actually a thick wall tubing, rather than a real pipe, but the tubing was thinner than the mast, which caused a bit of a welding problem. I was able to work through it, and got the tubing pieces welded onto both the mizzen mast and the main mast.
FILL IN HOLES: It was surprising how many unused holes there were in the masts, booms, and in the spreaders on both masts. Since I had my fine new welder, it was cost effective to fill in all of the holes.
I did have a disaster while filling a hole in the mizzen boom! I spent the day welding the newly fabricated aluminum fittings for the spreaders onto the main mast. The next day I went back to the shop and started on the mizzen boom. I wanted to weld up several unused holes in the boom. The first thing I did was clean out the holes so they were down to bare metal, then I started welding in the holes. On the first hole, I could not get a puddle going, and the hole just got bigger and bigger. I did not know what I was doing wrong. I had done so well the previous day, so now I was really confused. Then I figured it out - I was using a stainless rod to weld aluminum! I could not believe it!
Now it had to be fixed. I cut a nice square hole in the boom, then fabricated a piece to fit in the hole. I put an aluminum rod in the welder, and ... guess what ... I was able to weld the patch onto the boom! I was able to get good welds all around. By the time I did the welding, and sanded it all down, you could not tell where the problem had been. The five-minute hole repair ended up taking all morning. I only have the picture of the hole, and not the finished product.
Typically, I would bring one of the extrusions to the shop, and locate all of the unused holes on it. Most of these holes were threaded, so I would have to run a tap down the hole to clean it out. After sanding the immediate area around the hole, I welded it up. I would then turn the extrusion over, and do the same thing on the second side. I would let the extrusion cool, then it was time to sand the area down so it was smooth, and you could not tell there had ever been a hole there. Sometimes the filling was incomplete, so I would have to weld it again. Eventually, I got all of the holes filled, and all of the areas around the welds cleaned up.
COMMISSION AND RAISE MAST: This project was the culmination of all the previous projects. I had scheduled with South Texas Yacht Service to put the mast up on Monday, 02-23-2009. I had also received permission to bring the main mast extrusions over to the yard on Friday afternoon, 02-20-2009. That way I would have two full days to get the mast back together, and be ready to have the mast put on first thing Monday morning. Again I was fortunate to have good friend Jim come down from Dallas to help with the main mast, and with the mizzen mast the following week. I also had help from good friend Jimmy for all of Saturday and half of Sunday. This help was greatly appreciated as it took the two full days to get the main mast back together.
I want to relate a story here, that was very funny to me, and was probably a strange sight to see. The really unfortunate news is I do not have any pictures of the event. As mentioned before, I had been storing the mast extrusions in a yard at Gulf Coast Trawl Doors. If you go to Google Maps or MapQuest, and search for Gulf Coast Trawl Door, Lawrence Road, Kemah, TX, you will see the yard where the extrusions were stored. The roller furling system was also stored there. It is a system in which thin aluminum extrusions are assembled together over the forestay. This system was still in the yard at Gulf Coast Trawl Doors, and needed to be moved over to the yard at South Texas Yacht Service where we were putting the main mast back together. Did I mention that my roller furling system is about 60' feet long? Of course, the ordinary approach would be to disassemble the system, mount it on the truck, move it to the South Texas Yacht Service yard, and reassemble it there. I figured this would take six to eight hours of work to move the system less than a 1/4 mile! No WAY!! I got four friends from the dock where DREAM AWAY lived, and, with myself and friend Jim, we went over to Gulf Coast Trawl Doors yard where we picked up the roller furling and walked it across Lawrence Road, past the West Marine building, and down FM 2094 until we were across the street from the vacant lot that is part of Watergate Yachting Center. FM 2094 is a busy four lane road with a center esplanade. We waited for a break in the traffic and walked the roller furling system across the two east bound lanes. We waited for another break in the traffic, then walked the roller furling system across the west bound lanes. Did I mention this was a Friday afternoon, so traffic was pretty heavy? Once we were in the vacant lot, it was easy to take the roller furling system on over to the South Texas Yacht Service yard. Total time invested was probably an hour from the time I picked everyone up to when I returned the Suburban to the South Texas Yacht Service yard.
Early Saturday morning, Jim and I loaded all of the tools we would need from DREAM AWAY into the truck, then went over to the shop and loaded all of the parts we would need to put the main mast back together. When we got to the South Texas Yacht Service yard, and Jimmy was waiting there, ready to go to work. There is no way I am going into much detail about putting the mast back together, but I will list most of the high points, hopefully in some kind of order. Once we got the two main mast extrusions rejoined, my job was to keep Jim and Jimmy busy with the rest of the tasks. They were both very competent, so I just had to make sure they had all the tools and parts to get a job done.
When the two mast extrusions were back together, the new 2" conduit had to be installed. When that tasks was completed, the new DC and RF wires could be run inside the conduit. This was not as easy as it sounds. It took all three of us quite some time to do it. The two extrusions rejoined measure about 48' long. The conduit starts about 2' up from the bottom of the mast and finishes about the same distance from the top, so we are talking about a piece of conduit 44' long. Once the conduit is all glued together and cut to length, you need a good 100' of space to operate in order to insert the conduit.
The DC wire for the tri-color/anchor light and the RF wire for the VHF antenna were not a huge issue because they simply went into the conduit at the bottom and came out the top. The problems were the wires for the spreaders and the steaming light. Holes had to be cut into the conduit so the wires could exit at the proper locations. The conduit lay to the back of the mast extrusion, and the steaming light was mounted on the front. A hole had to be cut in the front conduit, at the proper location. We measured from the bottom of the mast, subtracted 2', then made the cut. The wires for the spreaders exited at the side of the mast, so those holes in the conduit had to be cut on either side. Again the measurement was taken from the bottom of the mast, 2' was subtracted, then these cuts were made.
We did what I like to call a "dry fit", which is a procedure in which you assemble all of the parts together to make sure they fit, but you do not use the glue, bolts, fasteners or whatever, until you verify the pieces will go where they are supposed to go. We did this with the conduit. We ran the conduit into the extrusion to its properly marked location, then twisted the conduit until the holes are where they were supposed to be, which was, hopefully, lining up with the exit holes in the extrusion. If this was successful, we would remove the conduit from the extrusion, and run messenger lines. These are small pieces of line that run into the bottom of the conduit and come out through the holes for the spreader lights and the steaming light. The messenger lines are only necessary for spreader and steaming light, because they must exit the mast at hard angles. The wires that go to the top of the extrusion can be run with a wire fish. Next we ran the conduit back into the extrusion, lined it all up again, and made sure the messenger lines could be pulled out of their their respective holes in the extrusion. This being done, we tied the messenger lines off at both ends. With that completed, we drilled out the conduit through the holes in the extrusion used with the previous conduit, and riveted the conduit to the extrusion.
The new wires were run to their proper location; the spreaders were installed; the new spreader lights were installed; and, all of these were wired up. The steaming light was installed and wired up, and the masthead fitting was installed as well as the tri-color/anchor light and the VHF antenna. The wire for the Raymarine ST60+ Wind Instrument was run, and the base was installed on the masthead fitting. With the spreaders installed and the masthead fitting in place, all of the standing rigging could be put on the mast. Using the wire fish, the running rigging was run down the mast and out of the proper exit holes in the mast to line up with their respective winches on the mast. The track and the hardware for the whisker pole were installed on the front of the mast, and all of the winches were installed on the mast.
All of this took full two days. On Sunday afternoon, just before we left the area, we made sure all of the running and standing rigging were tied to the mast, and all of the wiring was tied onto the mast out of the way. The mast was ready to be installed first thing Monday morning.
First thing Monday morning, Kitty, Jim, and I took DREAM AWAY over to the South Texas Yacht Service haul-out slip. We got her tied off with the help of Indio, a worker from the yard. I was busy with the mast going up, so there are no pictures of putting the mast on the boat. Our friend Robert showed up to help with getting the main mast on DREAM AWAY. With Indio driving the crane, and another helper from the yard on land, we got the mast back onto DREAM AWAY, and all of the stays and shrouds connected to the chain plates. We tightened up all of the standing rigging so the mast would stay up. Then we motored DREAM AWAY back to her home slip to finish the rigging. We finished tightening up all of the standing rigging to its proper tension, and then put all of the running rigging in it proper place. Robert went up the mast to attach the wind fly and the transducer for the Raymarine ST60+ Wind Instrument. We put all of the hardware back on the boom, including putting the reefing winch in its new location, and put the main boom back on DREAM AWAY. We attached the sheet to the main boom, and the Main Mast Rebuild for 2009 was pretty much completed.
