Stancheons

I neglected to talk about rigging for as much time I've spent messing with it.  The mast head only proved to be a challenge in that I neglected to think through all the required parts until I tried to raise the sail in the front yard.  It was at that crucial moment that I realized my mast only had the hardware to raise the jib.  Everything except for some misc parts I received in a box was either missing or unrecognizable.

To start with the main, except for a rope with is now my main, there was no hardware to speak of.  I figured out that the main had to run through the mast head such that it would not interfere with the rear stay or the Jib pulley.  From the picture you can see that the main line run through the mast head, across two pulley that have to both keep the main alligned with the sail and rotate freely to allow for smooth function.  I took an broken pulley mechanism I had been using for a sailfish and used the wheel to provide something the rope rolled over.  With a bandsaw, I cut four (2 for each pully) spacers that fit to either side of the pulleys.  They acted to keep the pulleys in place and, since they were bigger, they also acted as guides.

Here youcan see a bottom view of the mechanism.  I have to replace a few of these bolts eventually, they are not stainless steel.  I know that they will eventually rust up.

The most time consuming activity was the placement of the stancheons.  I bought them off a guy who parted out old boats.  Picking a spots for them was hard in that I'm fearful I've made some mistake.  I suppose when I get it back out on the water, I'll figure out what I did wrong.  In the meantime, they are installed at last.

Part of the challenge of getting them installed was the knowledge that they had to be beyond a doubt able to hold anyone's weight.  To meet this requirement, I bought (way too much) lengths of 2"x1/4" alluminum strips.  I cut 7-8" lengths and carefully drilled out holes to match my stanchons.  With great trepidation, I drilled through the deck of my boat.  Per Mike's guidance (Rock Star's owner from Hungary), I cut rubber seals to fit between the deck and stancheons.  I put the aluminum plates on the underside of the deck and bolted it all together.  You can just see the black rubber peaking out from under the stancheon.

Lastly, I was faced with the problem of how to tie cable off to the bow.  This I resolved with a brute force solution of a eyehole bolted through the hull.  To add some additional integrity to the solution, I place aluminum plates above and below the anchor point. 

I know that there's supposed to be a way to connect this to the bow spirit.  I just could not find the hardware to do it.

Also, every connection is generously covered in warerproof silicone.  No leaks, let's hope

If you have to do cable work, look for the connector I have shown.  They are awesome.  They simply clamp onto the cable and are held in place when you screw it together.  No more smashing aluminum joints to get a loop!

I don't know if the rest of you have this problem, but it seems the tiller stick is trying to eat it way through the hull.  I'm testing out something that may or may not work.  Those super-slippery pads that slide over anything and are good for moving furniture...you can see that I've installed them on both surfaced.   I tested it and no matter how far I swing the rudder, there is no way to catch an edge.

Now I don't have to reglass that back edge!

When I was out last weekend, my in-laws have a camp at Cypremort, LA (look for it on a map).  A little gator took up residence in our slip.  Apparently, it is good eating in our slip because he was there the entire time.

He was only ~4-5'.   He's only take off a finger or two if you messed with him.  NBD