Adrift at Sea —Dan’s blog on dankim.com

Well, this weekend was spent hauling the Pretty Gee out of the water. I went down to the marina on Friday to get her ready for the haul out.

The main reason for hauling the boat out of the water in the middle of the season is the waterline. The waterline, where the hull paint ends and the gelcoat begins, is not right, and the gelcoat that is below the water’s surface is getting attacked by barnacles and other underwater growth. Barnacles and barnacle glue are nasty things, and I decided to pull her out of the water and get this fixed before the barnacles can do any real damage to the gelcoat.

Originally, I was going to have Kelley Marine do the work, but over the weekend I’ve heard a few things that made me re-consider. More than a few people at the marina have complaints about the quality of their work and the quality and speed of their customer service. Given the issues I had with Peter Kennedy, I really don’t need to go through something similar for the hull paint. I’ve got calls out to a half-dozen local boatyards for quotes on the hull painting.

The hull paint I am planning on using is a hard-epoxy-based finish called CopperCoat. It is an British product, and not yet available in the United States. It is supposed to have a 10+ year lifespan. We’ll have to see how that works out. Since it is an epoxy coating, it should also serve to help reduce/eliminate osmosis issues for the hull. I’ve also got an e-mail out to Performance Cruising about removing the centerboard. I’d like the company that ends up painting the boat to remove the centerboard and properly paint the centerboard and centerboard trunk with CopperCoat.

One of the other things I did before hauling the boat out is lower the mast on the boat. The boom and mainsail was taken off as a unit and stored in the cabin. We also had to take the 150% genoa off the furling unit and flake it. The flaked genoa was also stored in the cabin.

Raising or lowering the mast on the Pretty Gee is very simple, thanks to the Telstar’s mast raising/lowering system. It consists of four A-frames and a control line. It allows the mast to be lowered or raised, even out on the water, using a genoa sheet winch. The system also allows you to stop in the middle of lowering or raising the mast, and pause or reverse the procedure at any time. It is a very cool system, and one of the major reasons I got a Telstar.

However, the original system has a cabin-top mounted block for the control line. While this works, it has some issues.

1. The mast-raising control line would abrade the plexiglass of the main cabin hatch, as it would rub against the hatch.
2. The control line chafed against the aft part of the mast step, which is a stainless steel plate with fairly sharp edges.
3. The control line prevented you from being able to open the main hatch if the mast was down.

I decided to modify the mast raising system a bit, both to protect the control line and hatch, and to allow me to open the hatch when the mast is down. The photo on the left is an overview of the mast raising system, with the mast most of the way down. The mast control line, which is the line in running up from the base of the dodger frame a quarter of the way in from the right side of the photo, would lead fair from the winch to the furling pulley, if I didn’t have the dodger frame up. I have the dodger frame up so it is out of the way of the companionway, where it would normally lay—so it isn’t clipping everyone exiting the cabin in the forehead.

First, I added a furling block to the port support leg for the mast rest, that is inserted into the aft end of the mast step. On the right is a detailed photo of the furling block and mast rest. The furling block swings out of the way of the mast when it is seated, and is lined up with the exit of the mast sheave that is used by the mast control line. Notice the sharp edges on the stainless steel plate below the furling block.

Then I drilled a 1/4“ hole into the base for each of the mast rest legs—one on each side. I used a 1/4” fast pin through each hole to secure the mast rest. The fast pins I used are a bit more expensive than regular fast pins, but they can’t be removed unless you push a button in on them—making it very unlikely that they’ll ever come out by accident. Here is a photo of one of the mast step base, where I drilled the holes so fast pins can be used to secure the mast rest.

With the modification, the mast control line leads fair, with over an inch of clearance over the base of the mast step, and several inches above the main hatch. Even though the line is above the main hatch, you can pull it far enough out to allow the main hatch to open with the mast down. This should protect the mast control line from chafe and make the system easier to use, by lowering the amount of friction in the system.

One last modification I want to make to the system is to reverse the mast rest, and re-drill the legs with another 1/4″ hole. This would allow you to switch from the starboard side genoa winch to the port side genoa winch, without needing any tools.

I’ve sent these photos of the modification to Performance Cruising, and am waiting to see what they think of it. This change allows you to get rid of the current cabin-top block—which is a tripping hazard—and allows the mast-raising system to work with less friction and chafe. It also eliminates the need for driling through the cabin top to mount the block. The fast pins, which are the only additional parts needed for this modification, allow you to remove the mast rest if you wish, yet easily secure it for mast-raising or lowering. The mast rest could also be welded or bolted into place, but then removing it would be more difficult or impossible.