Keep bashing ...

 So following on from the first post about our fortnight of unplanned boat refitting ...

The starboard chain plates cleaned up nicely with no signs of any worrying corrosion etc. So they were refitted with nice new sealant to keep the water on the outside where it belongs ...

We're one lock nut short as I rejected one of the existing nuts as it had a crack in it. So as the chain plate pictured is the easy one to get at, if you look closely you'll see there's only one nut. An A4 stainless 10mm nut (they don't come cheap!) has been added to the shopping list.

We then ran into a fairly major problem around the mast step which took several days to engineer our way out of.

Let's just say that when the boat was built, they didn't take into account a need, forty odd years later, to access the nuts on the back of the bolts that secure the mast foot to the deck! We were able, with care, to cut access holes sufficient to get at the nuts from below although now that has to be made good again before the rig goes back on

The hot weather was really not helping progress by this stage. I'm not by nature or inclination a morning person but by lunchtime the temperature was reaching levels I find difficult to tolerate. So we'd get two or three hours work in before it got too hot to carry on and then hopefully another hour or two when it cooled down later.

One job that definitely needed doing before we abandoned ship ahead of the predicted really hot weather today and tomorrow (and we had to be home by tomorrow lunchtime anyway) was to remove one or both of the mizzen mast forward lower chainplates.

These chainplates are mounted half way along the extensive winch shelf either side of the cockpit and they have a small stainless steel backing plate to spread the load. That plate is obviously nowhere near big enough as the winch shelves are getting distorted upwards causing cracking in the gelcoat.

And as can be seen from the photo of the underside, in the cockpit locker, there's obviously been some water getting through as there's signs of rust around one of the nuts.

Grinding off the resin that had been slapped over the nuts and backing plate in hot weather was a lovely job but it had to be done so that we could decide what needs to be bought to sort this problem out.

With the fitting and plate removed, the holes in the deck were temporarily taped over to keep any rain out and we set about packing up and heading for home.

I've located a source of suitable A4 stainless plates of the right size and thickness at a reasonable price so they need to be ordered ahead of the next trip down in a couple of weeks or so. We also need to remove and re-bed the port side main chain plates - it's very obvious that the sealant under all the deck fittings has long since past it's use by date and everything needs re-bedding. We'll do what must be done now, now e.g. anything to do with the rig, everything else will have to wait a while but not too long!

We also need to sort out the mast electrics whilst the rig is down. I've ordered new low loss RG8X coaxial cable to replace the old thing RG58 that's currently on the main VHF antenna. On a run of 15m plus, RG58 just isn't good enough. There's also the dodgy steaming and deck light to sort out, it works when it feels like it and usually doesn't work when you need it! I think we'll just replace the damn thing and have done with it.

There's a realistic prospect, weather permitting, of being ready to have the rig put back on the boat by mid-August and that will beg the question of whether or not to launch for a few weeks.

We have a fortnight on board in September and I would rather like to spend it on the water rather than working on the boat. Apart from anything else, after four years ashore I would like to find out what works and what doesn't any more sooner rather than later. It would be a real PITA to launch next spring and then have to be hauled out again because of some unforseen problem.