Mast and down rigger install

We spent Thursday though Easter Sunday up at Mare Island getting the aft rig installed. Most everything went as planned and we got all the critical stuff done. Welding up the stainless pads for the down rigger hinges to the hull was a lot of work and required removal of the interior back to bare steel in four different places to ensure that we didn't catch the boat on fire when welding on the hull plating. In the end we got it done (thanks to the late sunset this time of year) but that was a very long day. Of course this leaves a host of minor details to complete, but after so many months looking at everything horizontally it's great to finally see it all standing up. I'm very pleased with how it looks. I think the the whole rig seems to fit the boat well and doesn't seem out of scale or out of place on deck. Next weekend will be spent at our home dock routing all the wiring into the wheelhouse, hooking up all the electronics and antennas, and completing the rigging. I also need to reinforce the ladder with a couple of more brackets so I can spend some time up in the crows nest enjoying the view.

A little more prep work on mast

With a date set for the mast and down-rigger install, I have been working just about every evening on finishing the wiring, rigging, and about a dozen other little details that are still on the list. My strategy is to close out my to do list starting at the top of the rig, and working my way down. That way if I don't get everything finished, at least I won't have to be working at the top of the mast too much once it's installed. That said I'm sure to forget something up there and end up at the masthead at some point after everything is installed. Due to the complexity of the design and the relatively short overall height height (about 26ft to the anchor light) , I've decided not to mount the mast in a tabernacle (which would allow the mast to be lowered in place on a pivot at the base). Any future mast removal will require a lot of disconnections and a crane (or some fancy rigging on deck).

I finally got around to getting some proper hollow fid (a device for splicing line) and taught myself how to splice double braid. I can splice simple three strand stuff in my sleep, but the double braid is not nearly as intuitive. It took about half a dozen tries before I felt confident enough in my splices to put them in service. I'm using double braid for the halyard, boom-lift, and down-rigger up hauls. I'm also using hollow braid Spectra line for the working top-guys on the down riggers. These support the down rigger poles when they are deployed and carry the full load of the paravane stabilizers, so must be very strong and low stretch- perfect application for Spectra type line.

Mast Rigging and Wiring

Had some good progress in the last few days, and a few setbacks.

On the plus side, we got the bulk of the welding completed. This included the final brackets and winch pads welded to the mast, and the completion of the down rigger pole strut brackets and pad eyes. Everything should bolt up nicely when we get the boat to Mare Island for the install:

I added a sail track upgrade from Tides Marine. It's basically just a UHMW sail track that slides over the existing standard 7/8 stainless sail track. The UHMW material is super slippery and they say it allows the sail to go up and down with fewer hang-ups and much less effort. Looks like it will work as advertised, though it will be a while before we have a sail to try it out on.

With the boom complete and the winches installed, I was able to do a test fit-up of all the rigging. Looks like all the leads are pretty good. I will add a couple of cleats once the mast is up.

While the rigging is all going well, the wiring has proved to be a challenge. I didn't really create big enough pathways for all the wire I need to pull for electronics, antennas, lights, etc. I've got quite a bit of the wiring pulled, but it hasn't been easy and I will probably end up running the radar cable external on the mast (or cut a new hole for it) to allow enough room in the existing wire chases for the final few electrical lines.

Mast Head fittings, Winch Pads, and Boom

Some work from last weekend...

Finished the mast head assembly. I made it out of 1/2" plate with a mount for the Sat Compass, Airmar weather station, and anchor light:

I also fabricated the parts for the boom, which is pretty straightforward. It is set up for heavy lifting. The hardware for the (loose footed) sail will be bolted on later:

Here are some nice all stainless trailer winches that I found online for about $50 each (!).

I will use these to handle the down rigger pole up-haul lines. They seem to be very well made:

Fabricating the winch pads took a lot of trial and error, but I think they will work fine. The bigger winch on the back of the mast will handle the boom lift. With a four to one tackle, this should be just about the right size for lifting big stuff. The smaller winch on the side of the mast is for the halyard.