Preparation for the season.

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Preparation for the season.

Postby Dennis » Fri Feb 23, 2018 12:15 pm

I keep Mary Ann out of the water from the beginning of November until sometime in March each year. She stays in a barn at a farm, nice and dry.

Before she goes into her winter storage I empty her completely and remove all spars. This enables me to do any maintenance required on the spars and rigging at my leisure in my garage at home. Also it stops the upholstery going mouldy as I store it in a spare bedroom at home.

This year I have not had to do any work at all on the boom and only light touching up of the varnish on the gaff (where it rubs against the shrouds when running).
The mast required a little more work, there was the usual slight damage to the varnish where the gaff jaws rub (even though they are leather sheathed). I simply rub down the damaged areas and locally give 2-3 coats of varnish followed by two full coats on the whole mast. There must be a lot of varnish on the mast by now, this is the ninth year I have done this. :)
I did the same to the bowsprit and tiller, local repair plus two full coats.

This year I have used Screwfix "No Nonsense" Trade Yacht Varnish. I am impressed at how it has gone on and dried. It will be interesting to see how durable it is.

I had planned to collect Mary Ann this weekend and commence the annual cleaning and polishing of the hull/deck. However, it looks like we are in for a blast of Arctic weather next week so I am postponing the collection for a week. Ho hum. :(
Cheers

Dennis

CC19 #100 Mary Ann
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Re: Preparation for the season.

Postby Dennis » Mon Mar 05, 2018 6:54 pm

The arctic weather duly arrived and around here was worse than predicted.
Still a lot of snow around especially along the road edges. I will have to wait before I collect Mary Ann.

However, I have carried out another small modification.
The gaff jaws cause damage to the varnish on the mast. A few years ago I sheathed the jaws in leather, this certainly helped.
Unfortunately, that leather has worn, become hard, and is in need of replacement. :(

I did not have any suitable leather to hand so have opted for the following solution:

IMG_20180303_173306891.jpg


I have wrapped the jaws in a continuous length of 5mm braided cord with the parrel beads fitted to the same cord.

Very easy to do, certainly easier than leather work. However the proof of the pudding is in the eating. We shall see what state the mast varnish is in at the end of the season. ;)
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Cheers

Dennis

CC19 #100 Mary Ann
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Re: Preparation for the season.

Postby zimp » Mon Mar 05, 2018 11:00 pm

Ha Dennis,
I've tried the same solution you applied. Unfortunately it stay on the claw for less then one season. Now I'm back to the leather...
Bert
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Re: Preparation for the season.

Postby Dennis » Tue Mar 06, 2018 11:14 am

Hello Bert

What was the problem?

I regard the cord as consumable, if it helps to prevents damage to the mast I will be happy to replace it each season.
Cheers

Dennis

CC19 #100 Mary Ann
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Re: Preparation for the season.

Postby zimp » Tue Mar 06, 2018 4:35 pm

Dennis wrote:Hello Bert

What was the problem?

I regard the cord as consumable, if it helps to prevents damage to the mast I will be happy to replace it each season.


My problem was that the cord became loose. May caused by water, friction or temperature, I don't know. I've made a new protection sleeve from a piece of leather about three years ago. It is still in good condition. I apply some kind of "leather wax" in the beginning of every season.
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