Mast problems
Whilst waiting for crew in Almeria I had the time for a proper rig inspection, and to replace the damaged VHF arial. So the local rigger jumped at the opportunity and disappeared up the mast.
He was very conscientious, looking at everything and taking plenty of photos. He fitted a Scout (Stubby) VHF arial which seems to work well, and gave me his report.
There was a crack in the top cap where the back stay bracket was welded on. The mast will need to come down and the weld repaired.
You can see the bus crosses in the photo.
Also the topmost "mini-spreader" bolt seemed to be bent, but otherwise everything was OK.
Great, let's get the work done. Not so fast Chris, this is Spain, anything can happen, or nothing in my case. After a month of chasing the local rigger, I sailed around the corner to Almerimar where the yard did the work the next day, excellent.
The cost was very reasonable for mast down, welding, new back-stay, new spreader bolt, step and tune-up, about 400 euros less than it would have cost me in Barcelona.
My task was to remove the sails and boom, that's where I found the first example of age wear, the gooseneck bolt.
I think I have a Seldon mast, ant the gooseneck fittings are very strong. They use nylon top hat washers where the boom yoke connects to the gooseneck. Unfortunately these hadn't been checked or replaced so the stainless steel bolt had warn the softer aluminium casting.
As none of the riggers I have spoken to in Spain know anything about these washers I suspect this is a common fault. So I will get a local engineering company to create a new pair in nylon, with a larger diameter than the originals so the elongated holes in the castings can be "reamed out".
As this was my first boom removal, I learnt a lot.
He was very conscientious, looking at everything and taking plenty of photos. He fitted a Scout (Stubby) VHF arial which seems to work well, and gave me his report.
There was a crack in the top cap where the back stay bracket was welded on. The mast will need to come down and the weld repaired.You can see the bus crosses in the photo.
Also the topmost "mini-spreader" bolt seemed to be bent, but otherwise everything was OK.
Great, let's get the work done. Not so fast Chris, this is Spain, anything can happen, or nothing in my case. After a month of chasing the local rigger, I sailed around the corner to Almerimar where the yard did the work the next day, excellent.
The cost was very reasonable for mast down, welding, new back-stay, new spreader bolt, step and tune-up, about 400 euros less than it would have cost me in Barcelona.
My task was to remove the sails and boom, that's where I found the first example of age wear, the gooseneck bolt.
I think I have a Seldon mast, ant the gooseneck fittings are very strong. They use nylon top hat washers where the boom yoke connects to the gooseneck. Unfortunately these hadn't been checked or replaced so the stainless steel bolt had warn the softer aluminium casting.
As none of the riggers I have spoken to in Spain know anything about these washers I suspect this is a common fault. So I will get a local engineering company to create a new pair in nylon, with a larger diameter than the originals so the elongated holes in the castings can be "reamed out".
As this was my first boom removal, I learnt a lot.