Blackwatch Progress (#6)
Bowsprit, rigging, bottom job
Over the Christmas holidays, I got about half of what I’d hoped to get done on Blackwatch #38. I bolted on the bowsprit temporarily without caulk, later got “the boys” (son and son-in-law) to help me raise the mast. Dave Autry’s mast-raising system mostly worked; I can see it getting easier the 2nd or 3rd time when I’ve got all the lengths of things figured out. Quickly determined there’s a six-to-eight-inch “something” missing from the forestay built into the roller furling jib, but it appears that when I add that (probably a turnbuckle), the other wire lengths I have will turn out OK. I still have to order some new shrouds and stays because of kinks and no backstay (used a temporary wire halyard when we raised the mast).
Meanwhile, I’ve started sanding the bottom to remove the old anti-fouling paint, was making good progress but have blown out 2 sanders - one ancient Sears one that’s survived two previous bottom jobs finally blew its bearings, and a fairly recent Black and Decker, still works, but the pad just disintegrated. Still, though, I got about 2/3 of the bottom sanded before getting sick Sunday - either breathed a bit too much copper dust from the paint or just had a mild flu. A few small dings and blisters to repair on the bottom, but that should go pretty quickly, then it will be 4 coats of epoxy and 3 to 4 of bottom paint. Still have the interior wood in the garage, partially sanded, and still have to tear out rotted wood around the companionway step/icebox. Also took parts of the old bent mast and made two crutches to hold the mast for travel.
We took the bowsprit and mast back off when we returned the boat to storage, though. Just didn’t like them sticking out that far in a pretty tight storage yard - that’s how the previous owner got the original mast bent, the wires kinked, and the bowsprit gone.