Mast Renovation

Here's a view you don't see everyday. It is the top of our mast which we pulled out of our boat on Tuesday.

The day before we had marked all the turnbuckles so the rigging shop would know exactly how long the rods are. We also unconnected all the electrical wires at the base of the mast, removed the bolts that go through the mast step, and dismantled the table a bit.

Tuesday morning we moved the boat over to the small boat crane area which has a nice concrete area right next to a floating dock. I went up in the bosun's chair and attached the strap slightly above the midpoint with another line down to a winch to prevent it from slipping up. We had a friend help us undo all the turnbuckles and knock the blocks out, 

And the the captain slowly lifted it out with the crane and laid it on some saw horses. The next day we moved it down to the shop area where we will remove the "in-the-mast" furling gear, and install normal track up the back of the mast.

It was very difficult to get all the foil parts off the forestays. The original installation instructions say to slather each connector with Locktite, and I'm sure that is what was done because we had to heat each section with a torch and hammer them off. 

This morning we took all the old rods to the rigging shop to be reproduced. They will also make three new wire/rope halyards.