Projects / Maintenance

Tue 4 May, HHN day 21: All day in East Coast Marine Rigging workshop, riveting and reassembling the spreaders.

It’s been a great day today, but not a lot of variety to report on the blog. As forecast, it’s a very hot day but I have a plan how to keep cool this time. By 9am I am already in the East Coast Marine Rigging workshop with my operating table set up and every tool that I could think I’d need, ready for action. I even get a chair to operate from! No pretty nurse to assist me though ☹

It’s going to be a full on day with riveting and reassembling the spreaders. I start with the top spreaders, the smallest, carefully ensuring all the ends are correct and the setup is good. I don’t want to be re-drilling any more damned rivets! I’m using stainless steel rivets that Stephen (@ ECMR) recommended. Selden use Monel rivets but apparently that extra strength is not really required, plus they ruin rivet guns. Anyway, there are about 40 x 6mm (1/4”) rivets holding each spreader together, so I don’t think they will be falling apart due to strength of the rivets!

Firstly, I coat all the polished stainless steel end fittings with Lanocote, on the surfaces that will be inside the aluminum extrusions. I also generously coat the insides of the extrusions themselves with Lanocote. Stephen swears by it. It’s a natural thick gooey substance that apparently never “walks” (meaning it stays in place) even at high ambient temperatures. And it will retain the same consistency for decades.
Other people use TefGel to stop moisture getting between dissimilar metals (aluminum and stainless steel in this case). But Stephen says TefGel only last about 5 years and you will find it migrates everywhere, including onto your sails!
In addition to the Lanocote, I have also cutout shaped pieces of HSPE plastic sheet to go on the end fittings. These will stop the stainless from physically touching the aluminum. I am hoping this belt-and-braces strategy will stop, or at least reduce, the type of corrosion I was alarmed to discover when dismantling the spreaders.

On the rivets themselves, I have chosen to use Duralac. This is a paste that is chemically designed to inhibit the corroding mechanism that happens between dissimilar metals. Whereas Tefgel and Lanocote simply exclude moisture presence at the contact points. I believe Duralac is actually banned in USA, because you cannot buy it here. I had to import from UK. Apparently it’s highly carcinogenic. So with this in mind, I decide to take caution for once and wear gloves.
What does Stephen think of Duralac? He doesn’t like it. Messy to use (“gets everywhere”) and will eventually dry out and lose its chemical properties after about 10 years. But I like the idea of its chemical properties on the rivets. Each to their own.

I am just about finish with the top pair of spreaders when I have a panic attack. Each spreader joins the mast in 2 places (4 big pins, 2 on either side the mast). The spacing on the inner ends of each spreader is therefore crucial. I’m quickly on my bike back to Cloudy Bay, where I measure the spacing between these pins, for each spreader. They are all the same. 142.5mm apart.
Back at the shop I’m relieved to find the spacing on the upper spreaders I’ve just finished is exactly 142.5! Phew. But for the next spreaders I’m careful to measure-twice-rivet-once.
Another panic I have is when I thought I’d mixed up the spreader ends – putting the mid spreader ends on the top spreaders. But I hadn’t.

For some reason, I’ve been unusually nervous about rebuilding some of this equipment. It’s all pretty basic stuff and I’ve been over it in my head countless times. But I have moments when I panic that I’ve done something wrong, and will pay the consequences. Let’s face it, if the mast falls down or something goes drastically wrong with the furling, I’m to blame! Well, at least if it happens mid ocean, I can get Oana to kick my butt. Whereas if we had used professionals, they would all be well out of punishment range by then.

By 4:30pm, when everyone goes home (how come I never had a job like that??) the upper and mid spreaders are completed. Just the big pair of lowers still to do. That will be a job for tomorrow, riveting and reassembling the spreaders part 2.

After a late lunch, I potter inside the boat while the heavens open outside. Torrential rain, lightning and wind gusts. I even wonder for a moment if Cloudy Bay will be blown off her stands, and the noise on the tent is deafening. But it’s nice to be confined to indoor jobs for a change. Isn’t there something comforting hearing rain pelting on the roof when you are cozy inside?

I spend the evening tidying up and organizing my tools and parts again. The cabin had got into quite a disarray. Good job the Commodore is not here to witness. Though I do rather miss her loving smile around me, and her popping up behind me with the GoPro saying “Wotcha doin’?” Yes, I definitely miss my bunny.