I got the mast up today. Finally! After a complete a$$ kicking last time, I took time to plan raising this mast. And I only dropped it once. And no one got hurt and nothing was broken.
So it’s not a one person job to step the mast yet. I don’t think it would be difficult to modify the system to allow me to raise it by myself, but for now, I am okay with it being a two person job raising the mast.
I built a mast support at the aft end of the cockpit. I used the two gudgeons that I had ordered to keep the mast support from falling down. I take the mainsail halyard and run it to the winch on the trailer. I had Will winch up the mast as I walked it up from the cockpit.
It is way too windy today to even attempt to put up any of the sails, and I have the jib halyard tangled up in the standing rigging (I’ll fix that when I take the mast down next time.
We confirmed that the masthead light worked tonight. The boys are getting pretty excited about sailing.
I still have to get the outboard motor out and make sure it is working. I also have to put the last toe rail on and clean up the inside of the boat. And the final step is to put the lights on the trailer. Of course it has been a bit cold and windy – not to promising to put the boat in the water in 10 days. But we will see.
A couple of lessons learned from today:
- The boys are both surprisingly good helpers when it comes to attaching the deck hardware. It is easiest if I have them inside the boat with a wrench while I tighten the fasteners from topside.
- Ben is a champ, he won’t stop working even after he draws blood when he scrapes his hand or after hitting his head on a sharp corner (not drawing blood, but hurting a lot I’m sure).
