April 3, 2018
Jasmine 74
Friday/Tuesday
On the mizzen mast, I repeated the same basic installation process for the lazy jacks, starting with cheek blocks mounted a couple feet below the sidestay tangs.
My original thought had been that a single leg would be sufficient for the mizzen, which I’d imagined was a little smaller. But when I strung the line and looked at the boom and mast in reality, I thought that the single leg might not be sufficient after all, as the boom was a bit longer than I’d pictured in my mind while planning, so I decided to go with two legs on each side like on the main mast.
After a delay while I awaited new parts to come so I could finish the modified mizzen jacks, I finished up the installation with extra blocks, additional line, and eye straps on the boom, stringing the lines as with the main boom to create a pair of adjustable legs on each side and allow for retraction of the lazy jacks when desired.
The final task for me on the mast was to remove the corroded part of the mast butt. I’d originally planned on having the riggers do this along with their work list, but with some time on hand now I decided to take care of it. Earlier, I’d determined that I needed to remove 1-1/2″ of the mast to clear the old corrosion at the bottom, and I’d rebuilt the mast step on the boat 1-1/2″ higher to accommodate this. To begin, I made a mark at the correct height all around the base of the mast. Then, I cut to the mark with a saw.
After some minor work to accommodate the cast aluminum mast base plug, I finished up by reinstalling it with a couple machine screws to hold it in place; I didn’t see why it needed any more than two.
Total time billed on this job today: 2.25 hour
0600 Weather Observation: 30°, partly cloudy. Forecast for the day: Mainly cloudy, low 40s