Dry Stepping the Mast

When we take her to the river I want to step the mast, paint the boot stripe and leave, pronto.  Stay too long at Hillman's and the shrimpers will steal the hubcaps off her. To make sure that operation goes smoothly I have decided to step the mast and rig up right were we sit.  That means doing it twice but I think the dress rehearsal approach will pay dividends in the long run.  With this in mind we pulled Rose out of the shed yesterday.

The small round piece of stained glass I bought from the hobby lady in Spring Branch was supposed to fit inside the port light over the chart table. I was short one bug screen anyway so seemed a good idea. It did not fit (measure once and buy it twice), so we made it a part of the forward cabin door instead. The idea unabashedly stolen from fellow BCCer, Stewart.  Turned out to be a better use for this bauble of colored glass anyway.

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The companionway doors turned out nice and the galley is shaping up.  I can't believe I lost one of the brass hinges for the refrigerator door.  As soon as I buy a new pair the lost one will turn up.  Engine room wiring needs serious organizational (and labeling) attention.

 

 

  

Finish Line in Sight

Dry fitting a cardboard mail tube in place of the mast allows me to accurately pattern a sail cover, make the final cut on the boom gallows stanchions and cut the mast wedges.

Thankfully all below deck sanding, painting and varnishing is done.  Tom the electrician can now finish installing the new SSB, tuner and the KISS counterpoise.  Next week we will lay the Nu-Tek fake teak deck.  Other biggies on the to do list are frig/freezer doors and the forward cabin door. Settee cushions are also on that list.  

And here is a photo from 3 1/2 years ago when the finish line was far away.

The seventh mast hoop is a spare. The hoop stack with mains'l stowed is going to make for a very wide mains'l cover but I don't want to lace the main to the mast. I spent some bucks on the hoops and I am going to at least start with them. I can always switch to lacings later and recut the cover. 

Soon to the Water

The stick in the photo is actually a pair of cardboard mail tubes with the same 6.5 inch diameter as the real mast. By stepping a short facsimile of a mast while we are still on the hard and under the big top we can double check the boom and boom gallows height, accurately position the mast on the step to fix the aft rake, build the partners and mast wedges and with the boom and gaff in place measure for a mains'l cover.

A few more recent photos:

Next month we will truck the boat to Hillman's Marine on Dickinson Bayou. Hillman's is the closest point of entry with the water depth and crane capacity we need. Their prices are reasonable and they have no problem with outside contractors working in their yard. After we see where she floats on her lines Hillman's will take us back out of the water so we can paint the boot stripe, apply  bottom paint and step the mast.

It's the Little Things

Progress is not quite as obvious as in the early stages but certainly more fun as equipment and systems fire up. Last week we started the Beta Marine engine.  Runs like a sewing machine;  it does'nt shimmy and shake at low RPM like the Yamar used to do.

Compass is in, lazerette locker complete, Climma AC and Technautics refrigerator both up and running. The instrutment panel over the chart table is close to completion. The left panel houses the computer monitor. Mounted on the center panel  are battery monitor display, AIS, barometer, Maretron NMEA 2000 display, AC and refrigerator control/display panels and the ipod player.   On the right side the SSB, VHF and computer will mount on three shelves. 

Interior paint and cabinetry work is 90 per cent complete.

 

 

  

The mast is back from major surgery. An error during orginal construction had the mast 13 inches shorter than called for on the spar plan. Simon Hameka used  a clothes pin scarf on the mast base to add 19 inches of length. We will make the final cut with a 2 inch tenon after we step the mast. We will step it once where she sits on the hard and then finally after we launch at Seabrook Shipyard.  Whisper (the baby gaffer) is looking pretty smart as well.

 

 

 

Back on Point

 One of the three salt water wash down stations is flush mounted on the deck just starboard of the bowsprit. A chain hawse pipe for the secondary anchor is located on the port side. The Muir Atlantic 1000 anchor windlass with capstan serves primary ground tackle handling duty.

The Harken mains'l traveller track is bent to conform with the shape of the taffrail. This allows the track to be mounted on the aft trailing edge of the taffrail leaving room for the center single swivel ratchet block with cam cleat to be fix mounted still on the taffrail but in front of the track.   The car is on a four part purchase to port and to starboard.   A fiddle block on the boom bail and a single with becket on the traveller car completes the system.   It's not very tradtional looking but in this particular case performance issues trump tradition. Mains'l control is more challenging on the gaff rig than the Bermudean.... the mains'l itself is 50 square feet larger and she will sail better if the sail twist is easily controlled.

I thought the bottom mast band would be fabricated with integral spreader band brackets but it's not, so I need to buy or build these.  The spar plan calls for a pivoting spreader bar with 5 degree up and 3 degree aft tilt.  This so the leeward spreader will be pushed forward out of the way of the mains'l when off the wind. Do you thru bolt the spreader bar or just wood screw and 4200 it to the mast? The spreader on Precipice, a wooden gaff rigged BCC, is the one drawn  by Lyle Hess. I'm sure Jaun can build them but I need to contact the owner of Precipice to ask how his are installed. from the photo it looks like it is just sitting on top of the mast band.    His are cetainly tried and true....if the Northwest passage is not a test I don't know what is. 

The two peak halyard mast bands were to have had horizontal bails so the blocks would not bind when the gaff twists off the wind. Not to worry; I can modify plans for block attachment hardware. . 

Into the Light of Day

I didn't really get started until December of 08.  Hurricane Ike sank her in early September but she wasn't recovered until the end of the month. I spent two more months wringing my hands over the sell or scrap decision and another month dickering with the insurance underwriters and organizing a move from the salvage/auction yard.

I figured two years to rebuild her. We used to build offshore drilling rigs in 16 months and that was from lay the keel to launch. It seemed a reasonable estimate.  I missed that mark by a country mile and I'm still months from completion, but that's ok.  I'll finish it when I finish it and that will happen right where she sits. I do not want to launch before all systems are in and function tested. In the mean time I keep my head in the game by  dividing the project into segments defined by certain watershed events like:

Fishing her out of the harbor.




Cleaning her out.


New engine installed



New bulkheads tabbed in.



Bowsprit on




And last week pulling her out of the shed into the light of day.





Coming out, boss.



Adam supervising the move