Unstepping the masts
21 August 2007 | Tonawanda, New York
Mike
August 20th ....Wardell's Boat Yard, North Tonawanda, NY
Wardell's is very much like Crystal Mike's minus the cars, but plus some junker boats and lots of stuff....By all accounts though, it is the best place to have our masts taken down. Our plan was to take a day or two to take our sails down, deal with wiring ( in the masts) build some cradles and get psyched... unfortunately that was not what Dennis Wardell had in mind.
We started by dealing with the wiring and really didn't have too many problems. Either Terry or Julie told me once to keep all the wire in the mast, and I'm glad I remembered. Then we attacked the sails and got them down, folded and bagged before it started to rain. After a walk to town, lunch and a trip to the grocery store, we were back at it. Kathy labeled the stays and drew up a template while I started the process of loosening the rig. Dennis came by to inspect our work and decided that it was time to get the mizzen out of the way. He backed his home-made crane up to Sapphire and lifted the mizzen to the ground placing it on a saw horse.
Then we went to work on the main mast. After getting things in order, Dennis came back to move the crane and hoist away.....Unfortunately, the mast would not budge. We knew that the Spartite might be a problem (Spartite is a compound that is poured around the mast to serve as a wedge and to keep things waterproof. When we installed the Spartite, we had a few problems but thought that the overflow was cleaned up. Wrong...
I worked for a few hours with a knife, hammer and chisel to no avail. Finally, I unbolted the partner (collar) and had Dennis pull again.... And after a couple of tries, it all came free. Since it was dinner time, we quit for the day and will mount both masts tomorrow.