Wired mast electrics into the boat

Sunday day 24 Oct, re-launch 2021, HHN day 25: Furlex on the forestay is cleaned and readied for raising. Painted Interprotect. Finished “goo” removal. Wired mast electrics into the boat.

Lots of small things to be done today. In fact, so many that I actually write a list to ensure I capture and complete everything that I have started. The main objective of the day is to prepare the forestay Furlex. Ready for Stephen to build the stay-Lok swage at the lower end tomorrow. Then it will be ready to lift up into place. We didn’t lift it along with the main rig because it would have been just too cumbersome to deal with the Furlex at the same time as the cutter stay. Without the hydraulic furlers it might have been possible, but with them attached it’s just too much. When we had lowered the mast, we had removed this forestay Furlex prior to the mast coming down – and now we need to do the same in reverse.

First, the luff extrusion gets a good clean then a degrease prior to applying 9H ceramic which will give its surface a good protection. Then the top fitting, the halyard swivel, and finally the motor are installed on the luff tube. May sound easy, but this is an 80ft long assembly and it all takes some time to do.

Next, is a quick paint job, using Interprotect-2000 epoxy primer, around the repairs in the rudder where we had made holes to check for water inside. And also painting over and around the new thru-hull fittings. I can now stow all the paints back away again, leaving out only the antifoul tins which will be painted by Ignacio (from El-Salvador) next weekend.

Now, despite having finished the 3M adhesive remover, I am determined to finish the job of removing the final bits of goo left from the shrink-wrap tape. So it’s a quick trip to Deale hardware store to see what they have. We come away with Goo-Gone citrus based spray gel adhesive cleaner, which is a fraction of the price of 3M spray. And it works just as well, if not better! Soon the stainless-steel rub rail is shining like new again. And the davits and radar pole are also relieved of their horrible stickiness too.

Finally, some real work. Real as in it is on the real to-do list. And that is rewiring all the mast electrics and coaxial antenna wiring back into the boat. Sounds like an easy task, right? Well, maybe yes if the hawse-pipe was large enough for the 10 cables/coax to pass through easily, and the route for them inside the boat smooth and un-tortuous. At first it all feels like uncontrollable spaghetti, but finally, using tye-wraps and electrical tape I get it into some kind of order and manage to squeeze/push/pull the whole bundle through the hawse-pipe. Then, with Oana pulling from below and me pushing from above, we gradually joggle the wiring bundle into the boat.

The rest of the evening is sorting out the routing for all this wiring from inside the boat and connecting them to their various circuits from within. Then, with fingers crossed, we test functionality. LOPO masthead light: all good. Spreader lights: all good. Deck light: good. AIS working, VHF working… But, yes there is always a but… the boom light does not work, nor the steaming white light. The boom LED is not working because the 24->12v converter is broken. And the steaming light seems to need a new bulb, which we will replace tomorrow. As for the boom LED power supply, I am onto Mr.Amazon for a new one. This time a more robust model which is used for LED lights on Golf carts with 24, 36 or 48v batteries.

For the mast, just the hydraulic hoses to hook up now. That will be done tomorrow. Plus threading in all the control lines into the boom. Pfff, will this rig project ever end? Goodness knows how some boats de-rig for winter every year. What a faff that must be!