Project Log: Saturday, June 30, 2012
With summer in full swing and the longest days already
past, work on the masts took on some semblance of
urgency, and became my focus for the day. At some
as-yet undefined point in the not distant future, I
wanted to be able to prep, prime, and paint the spars
and complete this part of the project while the weather
was good and the days long to allow ample cure time for
primer and paint; an
old experience from my first mast painting years ago
on my previous boat had taught me many lessons, and
while I could move the masts indoors now to obviate the
weather and schedule, it seemed more effort to prepare
the shop for spraying than to simply do the work outside
in nice weather.
The mainmast still had some hardware on it--winches,
cleats, and a few other fittings. Most of this
hardware, apparently original from the manufacturer, was
riveted on, so over a period of time I drilled and
punched out rivets to remove things, working my way
along the mast on both sides from base to masthead,
eventually stripping everything but the main shroud
tangs which, as on the mizzen, I chose to leave in place
because I hated to mess with a good thing. It was
clear these were quality spars that had withstood the
test of time well--except for the unfortunate gold (now
faded) anodization.
I found mud inside the steaming light fitting when I
removed it, which, along with the coatings of silt and
larger mud deposits visible inside the spars indicated
the spars had been in place when the boat sank years
ago. |
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Next, I washed out the insides of the masts with a hose,
angling the spars to the ground and shooting the hose
spray through holes in the mastheads of each mast,
rotating the masts to all angles to ensure I sprayed as
many surfaces as possible. |
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A large chunk of mud came from somewhere within the
mizzen, along with piles of drilled rivets and shavings
from the hardware removal on both masts. |
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This left the insides clean and ready for rebuilding
later. Next, I scrubbed the masts with detergent
and a Scotch-Brite pad to clean the surfaces and begin
the prep process, rinsed them thoroughly inside and out
again, and left them to dry in the sun; once dry, I
solvent-washed all surfaces on both masts.
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Later, I reamed out all the old fastener holes that I
didn't plan to reuse, which was most of them since I
imagined I'd reconfigure everything to my own liking
later, along with new hardware to replace some of the
aged older gear. Then, after cleaning again, I
applied a first round of epoxy filler to the holes. |
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Total Time Today: 4.25 hours
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