The mast is finally stepped

[petrel]

Hello all,

As many of you know, my boat an 8M has been broken and land bound for about 8 years. This due to shall we say "circumstances beyond my control". Last week the mast was re stepped. Truly a mental milestone!

My boat is rather unusual in that it is fractionally rigged and does not have any mast spreaders but outer shrouds that attach to the outer hulls. And for mast bend it has inner shrouds, and a baby stay. Now it has all new swaged outer shrouds and forestay - the inners will be replaced next season. I also replaced the chain plates for the outer shrouds. The old chain plates were poorly made and in a dangerous state because they had 1/2" diameter holes for 1/4" diameter cotter pins And the holes were bored too close to the top leaving only a 1/16" of material that was wearing very thin. Now they have 5/16" cotter pins, in 5/16" holes, and new turnbuckles. And I also installed a roller furler on the forestay.

The mast has all new wind instruments, windex, an LED tricolor, and LED steaming and deck lights. I fitted the windex so that the stern light section of the tricolor illuminates its rear vane and tell tales enabling it to be seen it during night sailing. And last but not least I fitted a mast tang for a future screecher.

The center, and one outer hull are now fully repaired and all are in excellent shape. In fact I suspect that they are stronger and lighter than the originals. What remains to be done is barrier paint and anti fouling. I am tempted to try copper coat for anti fouling. But it like all bottom paints is not perfect. From surveys it seems that in the Chesapeake Bay many sailors have very good results with Micron products, and in the past I have also used it. It worked well for barnacles but only fair for slime. In the summer slime fur would build up around the water lines and had to be scrubbed off periodically. If not the boat speed was reduced by half.

Presently I am refurbishing my old Suzuki 9.9 oil injected two stroke outboard motor. It has been an excellent motor almost without problems and has the additional advantage of weighing only 67 lbs.

So far so good
Geoffrey

[petrel]

Theshipscat,

Welcome. I am relatively new here, but a long time Telstar owner. I really like your moniker and can relate having found a cat in a boatyard - or I should say it found us - who is aptly named "Hobie Cat".

Good luck with your Mk1. Judging by its hull number it should be one of the well built models.

How is the sailing on the north side of Cornwall?

Cheers
Geoffrey