first sail

Apr 7, 2006
103
Had 3 days of great sailing this weekend- hard to beleive we all had long underwear, hats and mittens when we brought her up from Freeport 2 weeks ago.

I have some questions: Were the recessed hooks in the main boom for shock line instead of sail ties when furling the main? They don't seem to be in the right spot for lazy jacks to hook in to. There is also a pad for a winch on the stb side of the mainmast w/out the winch. I'm guessing that was where the main halyrad used to go when there was a winch there. Now we use one on the fwd port side which does not lead very well. In the off season I'm thinking of moving that one to the stb side but am a little leary of what I might find when it comes to fastening it on the old "pad". Are they screwed?, lagged?- would be hard to through bolt!
 

TomY

Alden Forum Moderator
Jun 22, 2004
2,768
Alden 38' Challenger yawl Rockport Harbor
The masts/booms are all orginal on Christmas.

I believe. The boom has no recesses so that may be for a line with sail ties that you string below after dropping the main?

Having removed all the winches last year after wooding the main mast, the winches are held with wood screws. This is not ideal, at least in theory, but in practice, they do the job. I belive they were #14 FH bronze wood screws and mine were like new, no doubt replaced at the last wooding aoubt 12 years before. They are of correct size and length so no play was evident.

After several coats(including into screw holes), I replaced all hardware inc. winches and used a dab of sealant. I'm confident in the strength but still never hoist a bosun(our kids) without an extra line, through bolted or not.

Mast has the mainsail and jib winches athwartship on small pads(original wire winches) and two winches forward. One is at about 45 degrees forward, the other may be square or 90 degrees to fore and after. These are the old rope winches for the spinnaker halyard and presumably the spinnaker staysail which we have never rigged(we do have one though and I'm curious about using it).

Hope this helps.
 
Apr 7, 2006
103
Thanks for the reply. It looks like these hooks are incorporated in a bronze plate perhaps 2x4 inches that is also recessed into the boom so what ever they were used for there alot of fine work to put them there. Seem to be that way so they don't interfere with the roller furling gear (which is still all there but not being used).

Our spars are all painted white with varnish underneath so we're planning to get our courage up and see if we can bring them back- hopefully there was enough varnish left to seal the grain but if there are a few spots that show we'll go by the adage" it'll never show on a trotting horse". We'll move the winch then or before depending on timing.