Fresh off of vacation and in the same day of my return from New England, I made my way to the shop to focus on the reassembly of Biscuit's mast. I started with the installation of the fittings: the mast head (now with the Biscuit's topping lift block installed), the various tangs and fair leads. Most of these fittings I installed with aluminum rivets, and for the machine screws I had used Loctite for the dissimilar metals. With the fittings installed, I attached the new mainsheet halyard to the messenger line and fed it through the mast and through the lower and masthead sheaves. That would wrap up the first day, working on a few hours sleep due to return travel.

Sunday, after services, I made my way back to the shop to complete the installation of the new standing rigging, prepared by Sail Ready Rigging Services of St. Augustine, FL. I worked my way from the masthead first, installing the backstay and setting it along side the mast. Next, I turned to the uppers, securing the tangs with a 5/16" through bolt and secured with a nylon locking nut. I also laid these alongside the mast. With the lowers, I mounted the spreaders followed by the tangs for the lowers, and these were secured with two through bolts. At his point I began applying a bubble wrap film, from masthead to base, to protect the freshly painted surface of the mast. With the bubble wrap secured on the mast, I turned to locking in the standing rigging of the uppers onto the tips of the spreaders with seizing wire, followed by zip-tying the spreader boots. I then ran the topping lift through its masthead block, and ran it to the base of the mast.

Having all of the standing and running rigging on the mast, I applied a second layer of bubble wrap film to the mast, and then set the roller furler onto the mast. I then wrapped the topping lift around the mast, applying a "locking" twist every few feet to secure the foil and headstay rigging wire onto the mast. I finished up with a bit of line at the base to secure the roller furl drum and then wrapped that with a bit of bubble wrap. The mast and furler is now secured and ready for transport. In the coming days I will construct a cradle for the mast to sit in as it spans the length of the boat, securing it above the cockpit. Biscuit's trailer has a cradle just forward of the bow, and so this aft-end cradle with complete the support needed to restrict movement while in tow.

Total Hrs: 6.75