![\"\"](\"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/1000001150-300x225.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nWhen you think about it, aeroplanes don\u2019t go flying about with 50-year-old wings, do they?<\/p>\n
The question came up while standing beside Tony Jones’s mobile rigging workshop with Samsara\u2019s mast laid out horizontally. Tony was explaining how the sheave assembly at the bottom had dropped out in front of his eyes, the headsail furling gear had disintegrated in his hands and what really puzzled him was how I had managed to hoist the main \u2013 there being nothing left of the bearing at the top.<\/p>\n
But a 50-year-old mast \u2013 built in the days when they were just starting on metal masts \u2013 would, he insisted, be good for another 50 years.<\/p>\n
Particularly once we\u2019d epoxied a steel plate in the place where there was currently a gaping hole.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Tony doesn\u2019t believe in replacing stuff that doesn\u2019t need replacing \u2013 as evidenced by his \u201dMobile Rigging Service\u201d \u2013 an ancient Mercedes van which hasn\u2019t moved from its corner of Conwy Marina car park in living memory.<\/p>\n
The rig was going to be another aspect of the Big Refit: A new Profurl system (Tony thought the new model Furlex looked a bit flimsy). Then there was new standing rigging, new halyards. He even talked me into a new VHF aerial combined with a Windex \u2013 \u201calthough we\u2019ll have to move your little man\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Lego Man is now leaning at a crazy angle. I can\u2019t see why it should make him any less effective. If you want to know how a Lego figure dressed as a pirate and with the ship\u2019s name across his chest comes to be at the top of the mast, you\u2019ll have to read https:\/\/oldmansailing.com\/lightning<\/a>.<\/p>\n But there\u2019s not much point in new rigging if it\u2019s attached to old fastenings. I\u2019d been carrying around the deadweight of the new deck bolts for a year \u2013 a fellow-member of the Rival Owners Association had been given a quote for fabricating new ones, and the owner of the machine shop explained: \u201cOf course, they\u2019d be cheaper if you had half a dozen sets all at once \u2013 or a hundred would be cheaper still\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n He never did get a hundred takers, but there must have been about a dozen of us who chipped in. But was it really necessary to go up from 10mm to 12? They\u2019re massive.<\/p>\n Actually, this didn\u2019t seem to be such a bad idea when I removed the old ones, and one of the nuts turned out to be cracked right across.<\/p>\n Then we got at the chainplates. If you know your Rivals you will recognise that these come in two parts \u2013 one each side the main bulkhead and they\u2019re designed to be bolted together to squeeze the wood between them and it\u2019s the friction as much as the bolts themselves which is supposed to stop them moving.<\/p>\n On each side, one of the plates has a flat top like the figure 7. This is to take the deck bolt.<\/p>\n Except some extra strain by some daft skipper holding on to too much sail for too long (not me \u2013 never me, of course) had caused the 3mm steel to bend so that the flat tops of the 7s were now angled awkwardly upwards.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We took them to Richie.<\/p>\n Richie Williams runs a metal workshop out of a cowshed in Glenadda. It hasn\u2019t had much attention since the cows moved out, but Richie can do marvels with metal. He once replaced the bushes on my self-steering without having the slightest idea of what it was or how it was supposed to work.<\/p>\n The new chainplates are 5mm, and the flat tops are reinforced with what somebody decided to call \u201cgussets\u201d. I don\u2019t think they\u2019re likely to bend \u2013 although I mustn\u2019t delete the picture of the old ones. Maybe it will help me see reason when I get over-enthusiastic about beating into a Force Seven \u2013 even if I do now have an extra layer of chopped strand mat on each side of the bulkhead.<\/p>\n And yes, the mast is up again – and it has taken me from North Wales to Amsterdam where, yesterday I painted over the epoxy rather in the manner of a crone applying make-up with a trowel.<\/p>\n Nobody at Sixhaven marina (a third of the price of St Katherine’s) has said anything. Indeed, I have even had some compliments – there’s no point in going to all this trouble if you don’t get compliments…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When you think about it, aeroplanes don\u2019t go flying about with 50-year-old wings, do they? The question came up while standing beside Tony Jones’s mobile rigging workshop with Samsara\u2019s mast laid out horizontally. Tony was explaining how the sheave assembly at the bottom had dropped out in front of his eyes, the headsail furling gear … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2220"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2220\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2231,"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2220\/revisions\/2231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/1000001577-225x300.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/1000001691-1-225x300.jpeg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/1000001692-225x300.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/1000002354-225x300.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/1000002983-225x300.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/IMG-1161-225x300.jpg\")
<\/p>\n