Rigging: Mid-Project Update

Posted By: Mark N, Nimble Arctic, Jax FL
Date: 2/20/07 4:21a.m.

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In Response To: Rigging (pic) (Mark N, Nimble Arctic, Jax FL)

Well, I got everything back from the rigger and I could not be more pleased with his work. I have completed my three halyards and am pretty pleased. Given that I only do this about once every 5-6 years, I did ok on the splices. Just as the last time, once I got done with the first splice I did not like it so I cut it off and started over. After that, things went well and I completed that last splice in less than one hour while watching TV and drinking wine. To make it easier to pull the halyards, I remove about 1 ft of core on the tail end and splice the cover back to make a small pulling loop. I installed the new lifelines in about 10 minutes. Closer look at the masthead revealed that 3 of the 4 sheeves were frozen. No wonder I could not get good luff tension on the genny. I removed the mast head fixture and took it home. One shot of liquid wrench and they freed up. When I put it all back together, I will use use some winch grease. I will also lube the sheeves once per year. The biggest surprise thus far has been with the masthead VHF antenna. As I previously posted, the stainless antenna bracket was mounted to the mast with non-stainless screws. Well, the screws were corroded enough that I had to drill them out IOT replace them. There was a bit of corrosion on the mast under mounting plate but the real surprise was the coax connector and antenna itself. The coax connect was so corroded that it literally crumbled in my hand as I tried to unscrew it. The inside of the antenna was also corroded so I decided to buy new. My theory is that that the four disimilar metals formed a battery and the connector was the most sacrificial. I will clean up the corrosion on the mast and paint with Rustoleum before I re-install the antenna mount. The good thing about replacing the coax is that now I can fix it so it does not slap inside the mast. When I pull it and the new anchor light wire through the mast, I will put 4 zip ties about every 5 ft with the tails sticking out at 90 degree angles. I have heard that this will keep it from slapping inside the mast. Since the front PH windows on the Arctic are two feet farther aft compared to the Kodiak, I can not access the fitting by removing the trim under the windows as Ray can on his Kodiak. I did find however that I can get at it by removing the interior light fixture (just visible above the orange cup in the pict below). This means that I will be able to wire the anchor light to a spare switch vice having to switch plugs at the base of the mast when I go from steaming to anchor light. I should be done in a week or so depending on how much free time. I'll post any more lessons that I learn.