Fri 7 May, HHN day 24: Could not install wiper seal. Boom light connection replaced, mast steps received, GoPro fixed for ECMR. Overall, a rather slow-motion Friday.
I feel like I’ve been in slow motion all day. I took a night-time antihistamine tablet last night and it knocked me out. Felt like a zombie all morning – like my wheels wouldn’t turn. I can’t even remember what I did in the morning!
My first recollection of any action is 11am where I’m at the East Coast Marine Rigging workshop to borrow their rivet gun for the weekend (hm… remember me saying “I don’t want to see another rivet this year”!). I also pickup their GoPro to do my side of our deal, and fix it.
Back at Cloudy their camera is completely dead. Even with my good battery in it. But just as I’m about to declare its last rights, it suddenly jumps into life, bleeping happily. These GoPro almost seem to have a mind of their own. After I charge the battery, format the drive, upload new software and do a factory reset, I leave it taking video for an hour to check battery life. It all seems to work perfectly now, and I take it back to Stephen happy I’ve kept up my side of the bargain.
As a tip, Stephen gives me the 2 mast step I had ordered through him. I want to put 2 foot steps near to the top of the mast, so I can stand up level with the mast head if I need to do anything up there. To date, my mast riding seat comes to a stop at the spinnaker halyard block, leaving me only just able to reach up to the top, and really not being able to see anything.
I had ordered a pair of mast steps from Selden, and I was quite happy with them. Until I showed Stephen, that is. He was polite, but I could see by his face he was holding back. “Come on, out with it” I said, “what’s wrong with them?”
He explains that they are raw aluminium and will instantly corrode (that very “C” word raises the hairs on my neck!), and they are cast aluminium so quite brittle. Often they break. He shows me what he uses and recommends – mast steps from Lunar Marine – with low profile, anodized aluminum and pretty strong magnets to hold them flush to the mast when not in use. And, cheaper than the clunky Selden ones.
I was sold, and ordered 2. And now I get them in my hand, they really do look like the bees knees (or ducks nuts) of mast steps. We can’t have ugly mast steps 80ft above deck, now can we? 😊
Early afternoon I actually start work in earnest. There is a plastic Aquasignal electrical connection on the mast that feeds power to the boom lights, which are our cockpit lights. 12 years in the sun and the plastic had broken.
Just 4 screws holding it to the mast but you can guess what is going to happen when I try to unscrew them. Right, they break off, leaving 4 nasty little studs sticking out the mast. Yet another numpty electrician defect. The fitting must weigh all of 50grams, so why, why, why, why did it need 4 stainless screws? 4 small aluminium rivets would have been fine. At least rivets you can drill out easily. What I’m left with here is impossible to drill out.
Stephen recommends just punching them through with a punch, but that does not work. I guess he was forgetting the thickness of metal on this mast. I decide to leave the studs where they are and drill 2 more holes in the new fitting and rivet it to the mast. But it’s not till I drill the holes that I realise the rivet gun cannot fit there. I now have no choice but to do what I preach not to do… Use 2 stainless steel self-tapping screws. I get one in OK, but the second breaks off! You could hear me swearing from here to Pennsylvania! Now I’ve got 5 studs sticking out. What a cluster…
For us English, most things come good after a cuppa tea. So that’s what I do. And sure enough, amazingly, I somehow manage to drill-out the screw I broke off, and finish the job. That was a messy one. But the result looks OK, apart from where my drill bit skidded off at one point, scratching the anodizing. There’s no war without casualties.
My key problem in all this, and a lesson, was that I was rushing. Dark clouds were coming and I wanted to get at least this one job done today. A classic case of more haste, less speed. As it happened, the heavens opened as I finished, and I just managed to get my tools to shelter.
Oh… Just remembered what I did in those lost hours in the morning. I tried to install the 25mm oil seal into the center of the outhaul piston end fitting. First, I experimented with the old seal, and good job I did. I softened in in boiling water but try as I might, while I could contort it enough to get it inside the hole, there was no way I could get it to sit in its recess. Im-frinkin-possible!
I look up on YouTube “how to install piston rod seals” and discovered a tool called a seal twister designed for this exact job. Amazon have them, but before I buy I decide to ask on Sailor DIY Facebook group. Lots of instant suggestions and replies, but none of them useful. The only answer that made sense was “just go buy the tool, you cheapskate”. I think I will take his polite advice 😊
Rest of the evening was preparing bits and pieces, mostly mast steps and LOPO navigational light for installing on the mast tomorrow. Hopefully not in the rain.
