Mast Project (thank you Pacific Offshore Rigging!)

I was planning to wait until we finished before posting this but there's enough to break this up into multiple posts for anyone who is interested. We're doing a major refit for our E38-200's mast to prepare her for offshore use. The work is being done in San Diego by Pacific Offshore Rigging (http://pacificoffshorerigging.com/). For what it's worth I carefully considered who I chose to trust with this project and so far POR has exceeded my expectations. They've had some creative functional solutions and show impeccable attention to detail. Plus they're a great bunch of guys to hang around and work on boat stuff. But I digress.

Here are some pics showing the progress so far...

more pics

The spreader brackets came out with some moderate tapping. Despite being 26 years old they were in almost new condition. Pacific Offshore Rigging put them back in with plenty of tef-gel to make sure they last the next 26 as well



Sometimes the boat bites back. Scott is showing off the black eye he got when the piece he was polishing was flung into his face. Yes, you heard right, Pacific Offshore polishes the pieces they remove.



The backstay chainplate was also in excellent condition with only some light surface rust in a few spots. Here it is wire brushed, polished, cleaned, and ready for installation with butyl tape.

and more pics...

The "before pic." Most of the chainplates looked more or less like this. Fortunately the rust was only on the surface with no pitting except some minor pits on the surface plate. The GREAT news was that the deck wood core was dry and intact. There was plenty enough goop in there to make sure of that (thank you previous owner!) After cleaning the holes and deck I sealed the wood core with epoxy, polished the bolts and surface plates, and tomorrow will bed the chainplates with butyl tape.



The backing plate things all pretty much looked like this. Close to zero signs of corrosion or galling.


Here's Scott again (from Pacific Offshore Rigging) installing the trysail track.


Stay tuned for more...

FWIW,

I have had a similar experience up in the Los Angeles/Long Beach area with Seatek in Wilmington. The guys are experienced, professional, will come in under budget when they can. I've had a positive experience every time I have dealt with them. They are the best!

Jim McCone
Voice of Reason E-32-2 Hull #134
Redondo Beach, CA

Done!

The stick is back in the boat! Pacific Offshore Rigging did an absolutely incredible job. For anyone interested here are some more pics showing details of the project...


These mast steps were a score! Stainless steel, light weight, can not snag halyards, and no need to deal with the issues related to folding steps.


LED tricolor/anchor/strobe. New coax for VHF antenna. Mounting for Simrad/B&G wind instruments. But what really impressed me was what they did with the protective plate. They polished it and welded on extra chafe protection and strength. Other details that are hard to see in this pic include a messenger tag line placed in case I need to run wires in the future, excellent strain relief for all wires, and the masthead cleaned in general. All sheaves were replaced.


Some more Pacific Offshore magic! The sheave and line are the halyard for the staysail. The fitting for the solent stay is right above it. The solent is heat set spectra with chafe sleeve. Tightened by lashings with a tensioning line lead aft to cockpit. I'll post pics of that when it's finished.



This is the fractional halyard mounted for the trysail.

Most of the halyards are now spectra core D-Cup from Alpha Rope with spectra chafe sleeve over high wear areas.

Done!

(continued from above post)


Loudspeaker / hailer. It is powered by the VHF, is ridiculously loud, and was only about $40. When I say loud I mean loud enough that we beat an adjacent mega-yacht in a hail-off contest.

With this particular set up the loudspeaker switches to "listen" mode after the mike key is released. This lets someone on the bow (or a nearby boat) yell a response into the speaker that can then be heard at any position on the boat connected to the system. For example if it's particularly windy and noisy during anchoring it is useful for communicating between the cockpit and the bow. Or if we're in the cabin and happen to see a boat about to hit us we can quickly sound a loud alarm followed up by some gentle "guidance."

Pacific Offshore Rigging added a small piece of spectra to prevent line from catching on the speaker.

One mistake we made was using non-shielded wires. When we're in areas with AM radio broadcasts we pick up some signals when the speaker is in "listen" mode. I was ready to just leave it (the install is so clean!) but Pacific Offshore almost argued with me to be allowed to run new wires. They simply like to do things the right way and it bugged them having something not perfect. We need more of that attitude in the boating industry...


Speaks for itself!


Silver dollar siliconed under the mast. Possibly the most important thing we did.


All wires and coax now run out the base of the mast. A friend modified the floorboards so the wires run cleanly to the conduit leading to the nav table.


If all goes well this mast has some incredible adventures ahead...

Amazing! Exceptionally well planned and executed.

One Thing Different

There is one thing I would have done differently. I have always placed a copper coin beneath the mast. There is much discussion and disagreement on this most critical topic. I had done this for many years based upon my readings in books and other sources prior to the Internet. Some date it back to the Romans placing a coin in the mouthes of the dead. Many old stories of sailing ships discuss the copper coin. Now, I see many people do use silver. I have also seen it written that one should never use gold. Anyway, I have yet to be shipwrecked or dismasted.