It's out of the weeds

bherrick

New Member
fan - The extraction from the brambles went surprisingly well. After I stomped down and pulled away most of the brush I jacked the trailer and pulled the hubs to replace the bearings. Put a different pair of wheels on - these tires had air in them; I thought that would make towing easier.
So I got the boat home and emptied the cockpit, throwing away almost everything. A testament to Harken, all the fittings: ratcheting mainsheet block, cam cleats, roller furling hub, they all seem to work perfectly. The boat has been pressure washed once, just pressure, no scrubbing or detergents and the results are below. I'm encouraged.
One observation about the mast. I noticed a separation in the luff track about 2 ft down from the top of the mast. It almost looks like an intentional opening, but I can't imagine what it would be for. A few days ago I found a post about a similar condition and I wonder what causes this.
The furling jib was rolled up tight on the cockpit sole and was destined for the garbage but I unrolled it for grins. Fabric is crisp, no tears or mice tooth marks, but lots of dirt. I think I'll give it a gentle scrub with Ivory Snow and experiment with OxiClean. There's nothing to lose. The main sail on the other hand is toast. Fabric is nice and crisp, but there are huge holes from mice, so a new one is on the list of things to buy.
Since the weather has begun to officially turn into fall this project will have to rest for the winter. SWMBO has other things on the agenda so they'll take precedence for the forseeable future.
Oh yeah, once out of the weeds I could read the HIN - it's a 1988 boat. Sail number 2227.
 

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Its always good to see a boat saved from certain death. Great that the jib is good and the fiberglass will clean up. I use Bon Ami for the tough dirt and Oxalic acid for stained/ fiberglass.

Regarding the mast groove, close it back up and you will be good to go. This topic was just recently covered in this forum. Check the standing rigging for rust and replace it if it is over a few years old. I was sailing on a Santana 20 two weeks ago and the forestay blew up at the lower swedge. The jib held the load until the spinnaker halyard could be taken forward to the bow eye and then the jib lowered. This is a well cared for boat so it was a shock and we're glad the rig didn't drop. All new standing rigging has replaced the old.
 
Standing rigging and luff groove

Flounder - the people I bought it from were going to take it to the junk yard and I had to talk them out of it. They were worried I might drown. See what wisdom a couple hundred dollars can impart?

Out of curiosity, a question about your standing rigging. My shrouds have a thimble on the tang end; there's no way to remove the wire other than cutting it off. Is yours that way too? I'm going to replace them and can work around it, but it just seemed odd to me.

The forestay on the other hand is a different proposition since it's a furling jib. The jib is tightly siezed to the forestay, so the only way to replace the forestay is to cut out the old stitching, then re-stitch to a new wire. Probably cheaper, certainly easier, to simply go to a conventional forestay and jib w/halyard.

The opening in the luff groove is a little worse than I thought. There's a crack parallel to the groove on one side that will have to be welded after the groove is re-shaped. Wonder if the urethane plug will be affected?

That boat shouldn't be there. It's supposed to be a project next spring and summer, but it's a tough temptation to resist. I need to cover it and retire it for the winter.
 
When you buy new shrouds you will get the new cable with the tang on the end. You will need to remove the old tang from the mast and install the new one. If you are going to put the boat away for the winter I would suggest you take the mast off the boat and store it in your garage. Replace the mast with a 2 X 4 and drape your coave over it. This way it is not going to be bent if lots of snow builds up on the top of the boat and you can take your time getting the crack fixed and the new shrouds installed.

Good luck with your project

Roger
 
Little boat is all covered up and resting. 3 degrees here this morning and 8" of snow forecast. Do NOT tell me about SoCal pleasantries!

I sent the jib to SailCare to have it cleaned and should have it back in a week or so. I figured for $70 it's worth it to have the pros take a shot at cleaning it. The good news from SailCare is that upon inspection they could find nothing physically wrong with the sail!

Still have to have the mast repaired and buy a mainsail. That can happen when the weather breaks and I start to clean the boat seriously. And that happens after the other 2 boats are made ready for the season.
 

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