getting there...

The mast is painted... it isn't perfect, but it looks good and is a million times better than it was. Add to that a good boom paint job and we're good. Also got the bottom painted and so we should be ready to go.

Boat gets splashed this week, cruising 36 hrs later (assuming all goes well).

Tomorrow the mast gets its new wiring, LED anchor light, and spreaders put back on. The boat gets a final wax job. I get a nap. It will be good to be back on the water.

I wonder if the genny is fixed yet... we have the old 140 that we can use, but I'd like to just have the 150 up. Hmmmmm...

Boom Paint

Done painting the boom, and it turned out great. Lighting is bad in the photo and doesn't do it justice... All that is left is the black stripe to show where max sail is allowed (doing today). Starting to strip the mast first thing tomorrow morning. I'll also have a chance to try out the new interior LED bulbs.


We got all the new stuff for the mast/boom ordered:

• New LED anchor light from OGM- I'll be sure to post about it...


• New steaming/foredeck light (old one was broken by the yard during mast unstep).


• New in mast wiring- electrical for lights, coax for VHF.


• New blocks for the boom to increase purchase on the outhaul.


• Tef Gel for re-attaching all the stuff to the mast/boom.

Should be a fun couple of weeks trying to get all this stuff done, but the weather looks like it is going to cooperate--

Mast Painting

Again, things have been a little nutty- and it was vacation time (cruising St. Vincent & the Grenadines for 2 weeks- with a weekend stop in Barbados to go see Mount Gay)-- so I've been neglecting the blog. But I have gotten into the mast strip/paint project! The mast was pulled right before the boat came out of the water last fall. It went fine other than the yard guys breaking the steaming/foredeck light with the crane strap-- not bad for pulling almost 60' of stick out.

I took the spreaders home to do some experimentation. I had gotten different ideas from different people. I ended up trying an aircraft stripper made for taking 2 part paints off of aluminum. Can't get much more specific than that, right?

As you can see, it took the paint right off. Trick is just to be patient and let it do it's work.

Then a little sanding, and voila- ready for etching and primer.

Then the same treatment for the boom...

There was a little corrosion around some of the original fixtures (the holes in the photo are for "T" track that gets adjustable cars for reef lines)

















But again, a little sanding and it's good as new. Note: important step that is not pictured here is etching- which is a pre-primer to help reduce corrosion and promote primer/paint adhesion.

















Then 3 coats of primer, and it's ready for paint!

















Next step is painting the boom and spreaders on bad weather days since I can do them indoors, and stripping, etching, priming and painting the mast. Doing the smaller parts first has kept the time loss due to learning curve down to a minimum.
Also, we've decided to replace all the wiring in the mast, the anchor light (with an LED unit), and of course the steaming/foredeck light that was broken in the mast unstep. We figure if we do it all now, we won't have to do it with the stick up!
S