Notice:
The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.
Thanks to being unexpectedly free of work obligations (i.e. laid off) I decided to haul Loon for a much-overdue bottom paint job and to finally install all the goodies I bought for her (new halyards and sheaves, spreader bases etc.) nearly a year ago.
As you can see from the first picture, she was badly in need of some TLC underneath. Note the near paint-less rudder:
This detail shot shows the nasty rusted bits of the keel:
I spent a day grinding the rust and applying Ospho. Next applied a primer, then bottom paint:
I've had to push the schedule as much as possible since all products require at least 50° and we're about to drop back into the 40's with rain this week. I also pushed the waterline up about an inch in the bow to try to keep all surfaces that live underwater covered with bottom paint.
Almost all the painting is done now with two coats everywhere except under the pads (had them moved today so everything has at least one coat) and three on leading edges and the rudder.
I faired a little, cleaning up the paint around the bare metal. The yard makes grinding and fairing painful for environmental reasons and I'm pressed for time due to weather so I didn't attempt to get the surface anywhere near perfect.
We don't race Loon so the little bit of boatspeed loss isn't a big deal. Maybe next time...I don't doubt I'll be seeing more of the keel's metal face in the coming years.
Thanks for the compliment. She looks good in the picture but really she needs some serious cleaning and buffing on the topsides. She's a pretty good 20-foot boat but get any closer and her age starts to show.
Pearl doesn't look all that good from 20 feet, but she gets better looking every year. After some major topsides labor here in Pensacola, I told my wife that she might actually be proud to be seen aboard. I will attack the hull when I take her back to Ohio next month.
Ha! I don't care so much what the boat looks like, I wanna go sailing!
Too windy today to pull down the stick although I did remove the boom. Had to adjust the A frame too; a 10' length (er, I *think* they're 10') of conduit is too long for the foredeck so I had to cut maybe 10" off and re-flatten. Will report on the mast lowering tomorrow.
More pictures. Mast is still upright because my fabrication skills are something less than awesome and I ran out of time. A-frame is in place along with cradle and I'm hoping to get the stick down tomorrow.
Of course, it's supposed to snow tomorrow. My timing is THE BEST.
Tip of the A-frame:
Lower shroud mounting points. Note that I had to oblong the pipe to fit over the eye:
Cradle:
It's still kind of windy here in the PNW. The whitecaps were much more pronounced live. Boat was shaking in the cradle. That flag is probably 12x8 or so and was <i>whipping</i>:
The boat is at the Edmonds marina. I appreciate your offer and would be happy to have you come by, even if it's just to laugh at me. Trouble is, I'm not sure just when I'll be ready to go...I'm guessing between 9:30 and 10:30 tomorrow.
Don't have a clue but I didn't notice any major flexing in the A-Frame legs. Once you get it over the "hump" and starting down you can drop it pretty quickly if you keep a few turns around a winch and feed the line out at a reasonable rate. I'd guess once I got it over the "hump" it took less than 45 seconds to get it down into the crutch and I was doing it by myself. To me it felt like there was more stress on the A-Frame going up. Especially as you first start it back up from the crutch.
Just be sure you're wearing a good pair of leather gloves so you don't get rope burns.
Steve, Thanks for going to the trouble of taking and posting these pictures. I just finished building my A-frame and it looks very like yours. I am nearing the point of dropping my mast as well for the same reasons you are (sheaves and spreaders but also new steaming and anchor lights and all new wiring), so I am following your progress with eager anticipation. Quick question, are you using the jib halyard as safety line? If so, how are you planning on belaying both the Aframe line and the safety line at the same time? Certainly two people make it much less exciting, but now you have witnesses...
The plan is to run the jib halyard down to the A-frame and use the mainsheet tackle to lower / raise the mast (may have to dig out a longer line for that).
Same here on the snow, there's actually more snow in Redmond than Duvall, our house only got a dusting. Sort of regretted not bringing in the 4x4, but it's not so bad.
The weather's supposed to clear by this afternoon and the sun's supposed to peek through today & tomorrow, but the weekend doesn't look promising.
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">That's what they make GoreTex for, right?<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Ha, well as a Northwesterner, I already have my assigned GoreTex hiking jacket which has seen quite a lot of use in the last week.
I <i>did</i> get a nice set of full-fingered sailing gloves from WM out of this project (so far...).
The mast is now down. My plan to use the mainsheet tackle to lower the rig went very smoothly. In fact, I was surprised at how light the spar felt coming down. I had enough line to run back to a cabintop winch and then back to me standing at the base of the mast.
This worked really well up to the point where (because of angles) my loop over the winch popped loose at about the 2/3 down mark. Scared the crap out of me because the mast free-fell to the point where the slack to my hand was taken up (5 feet or so? Not all that far because of the mechanical advantage of the tackle). I expected a real yank when the slack went out but it was actually not bad. Not that I want to do <u>that</u> again, mind you...
Anyway, the halyard sheaves are replaced and halyards rove through them (oooh, I feel so <i>nautical</i> when I talk like that!). The trick to sheaves is to install them one at a time. Get the first sheave into place and put the pin through until it's flush (and holding the sheave), then put in the separator plate, push the pin through to flush again, put the next sheave in and peek through the hole to see that it lines up. With the metal bearing not bound to the delrin sheave and three things at a time to manage, it's too hard to do it in any other way (IMO). The CD instructions were clear and accurate.
Sadly, I left the camera at home. Pix tomorrow.
I have some questions which I'll put into a separate post.
I re-read the instructions for the spreader bracket replacement kit today and it's clear I'll need a helper. The Admiral won't be available until Saturday so that's when the brackets will go in.
I've looked through the Forum and tech tips sections but haven't seen much...anybody have any tips beyond the instructions that come from CD? Anybody have a measurement for the length of PVC on a SR mast going in from the top?
Also, the wiring connection through the deck for the masthead anchor light is a dog's breakfast. I'll take a picture tomorrow but basically I have three wires coming out of the deck next to the mast, one of which was unconnected and the other two of which were crimp fitted to the two-strand wire that goes up the mast. The whole mess was taped up with electrician's tape and then self-sealing tape and the hole in the deck "plugged" with a gob of some sort of white goop.
I've looked before and see no wiring below...I'm guessing the wiring runs through the bulkhead between the dinette and the head. Anybody have a clue on details of this set-up? Anyone know what purpose the third wire might serve? Would anyone like to offer a suggestion on a deck connection fitting? I'd like to do a proper fix for this if I can.
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by SteveRoberts</i> <br />...I'm guessing the wiring runs through the bulkhead between the dinette and the head. Anybody have a clue on details of this set-up? Anyone know what purpose the third wire might serve? Would anyone like to offer a suggestion on a deck connection fitting?<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">My understanding is the wires go between the cabintop and the overhead liner. It's almost impossible to pull new wires through the same route. The common practice is to forget about 'em and route new wires under the side-deck or wherever is least objectionable to you. The three wires should be for the anchor light (masthead), steaming light (half-way up), and a common ground (-). If all three aren't connected, somethin' ain't workin'. If you want a combination steaming/deck light, you'll need a fourth wire.
See the [url="http://catalina-capri-25s.org/manbro/pictures/owners11.gif"]wiring schematic[/url] in the Owner's Manual under the Manuals and Brochures on this site. CD sells a replacement for the original-equipment deck connector that can take four wires. The common problem, using the existing wires, is they're so short at the connector it's almost impossible to connect them. That's why many people run new wires.
The 3 wires are anchor light hot, steaming light hot, and common ground. A nice upgrade is to use a 4-strand cable (from Catalina Direct, for example) and connect those 2 lights and then add a deck light at the height of the spreader, either with a new fixture combined with the steaming light or with a new fixture attached to a spreader arm. That's nice if you sail at night.
I found no anchor light fixture on my boat, and modified a store-bought fixture with an LED bulb, with a conical reflector to send the light out horizontally, and with an integral windex light. The wiring became simple with Casey's advice.
There are a number of informative threads in the Forum on through-deck fittings, on anchor lights, on deck/steaming lights, and on LED bulbs. Have fun!
I got tired of replacing the corroded”deck mounted” 12 volt plugs, that worked when they felt like it. We went with a system called a “Cable Clam”. This allows the wires to enter the cabin (in our case they enter into the head area) and there in a dry protected area they can be connected. We bought the 2 Clams at WM (one for 12 volt lights & one for the VHF antenna coax) We have used them for years without any leaking or corrosion problems As for the 3 wires, I will let other members help you with that. Our boat has 4 wires. There is the anchor light, bow (some call it a steaming light), a spreader (I call it my porch light), leaving the 4th wire as the common. www.nulime.com/Blue-Sea-1002-Cable-Clam-0-8/p235866
Thanks all. I've learned (or re-learned) a little bit today; now I just need to decide what exactly to do. It's interesting that some PO removed the steaming light. I'll have to fix that.
Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ. The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.