These next two blog entries will not be easy for me to write. It will span the continuum from hope, excitement, concern, worry, despair, misplaced feelings of betrayal but feelings nonetheless moving on to thankfulness and relief. Not sure joy was ever felt. Some of you have stories like this, but this is mine and I learned a lot about myself during this particular journey.
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| Figure 119 Old VHF radio antennae |
It begins on 6/3/2015. I met with a vendor at the boat yard who had a great reputation for supporting boat maintenance projects. We laid out a plan for upgrading the mast lights to LED. Found some great buys on the internet for the Anchor light and Steaming/Spreader combination light. Given the condition of the unraveling fore-stay, I made a decision to procure new rigging all around. I wanted to upgrade my fore-stay and back-stays to 1/4" from 3/16". All new turnbuckles included. Around 6/10/15 I located a rigging vendor down in Annapolis. I wanted to use a local rigging company that has a sterling reputation but their schedule could not accommodate getting to my boat until July. I was determined to make the July 4th club cruise up the Sassafras River to Georgetown, MD for the fireworks.
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Figure 120 - Old VHF radio connector
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Figure 121 - Original mast wiring connector
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Normally I am a very hands on guy. Obviously you can see that from all the past blog postings. Things were pretty busy at work so I thought I would outsource the complete project minus the few purchases that I would need to make.
- LED anchor light
- LED spreader/steaming light combo
- Brass VHF connectors (male and female)
- Wind-vane
- Full set of wire rigging with new turnbuckles
- New halyard sheaths
- New wire to run through mast
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| Figure 122 - Old steaming light |
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| Figure 123 - Old anchor light |
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| Figure 124 - Wind vane broke off |
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| Figure 125 - Original top of mast |
Well, the story develops with the next blog.......
