Mast Progress

Today we got our mast moved to the yard!

It was a bit of a surprise as we'd just finished readying the mast back in Dickinson where we built it. We called in on the rigger who has a suitable trailer yesterday and despite being very busy he jumped straight to the challenge and sent Brian and Travis to solve our problems.

 

 

 

 

Our first problem to tackle was attempted solo. Stix n Rign's trailer is 53' long and the mast was tucked away next to Roger's shop. This was therefore not so accessible by the trailer and truck totalling 70ft. The riggers requested that we make the mast as near to the road as possible and somewhere it would be easy for the trailer to be pulled alongside it.

We embarked upon our challenge Egyptian style around lunch time. We used wooden rollers (cut up broom handle we still had handy after moving 'Pip' the engine in all those years ago) and long timbers balanced upon the trestle tables. We simply rolled the mast to a more accessible position; inch by inch over the quite uneven terain. There was a lot of stopping and moving the rollers, trestles and timbers but the force needed to shift the mast along was pretty minimal.

We had no sooner finished moving when the cavalry arrived. Before long we had lifted the mast on to the trailer. Five sets of hands didn't quite make light work of it, but by pivoting it across, it was manageable and not too stressful.   Once strapped down, we were delighted to see Brian do a second walk around and double checking the straps... we relayed the story of our boat moving disasters with the formula 1 truck driver, and we were off.

A reversal of the procedure at the yard saw our beautiful mast laid upon the saw horses just a few yards away from the crane that shall soon lift it on the Impetuous.

All our rigging components have now arrived. We bought a VHF antennae this morning; possibly our first and only ever purchase from West Marine (Super expensive Marine Superstore full of Bling). As we were following the Mast down the road Blackburns (our marine wholesaler) called to say our wire had arrived; we have a 500ft spool to play with. We have an industrious few days ahead of us; then the mast can go up.