Two days - one work on boat, one to have pleasure on it. Work day Mast adjustments again.  I readjusted  mast again using forward lowers to straight it. It was not easy, but at some moment i realised that top shrouds have BIG effect on this "natural", as I thought, spreaders level bend to port side. However i was able to play with forward lowers and top shrouds to make mast almost straight and without dramatic difference in tension. But sea trial showed the problem is not completely fixed but I have some progress. B ut now I’m starting to think the issue is more related to the top shroud settings. Monday I “confirmed” this with GPT chat ;-) The correct name for my rigging is: Masthead sloop with discontinuous standing rigging with single inline spreaders. Actually, it looks like my mast “virtually” has two spreader levels, but the upper spreader is absent. Instead, intermediate shrouds run from the spreader plates to about 3/4 mast height. That changes the whole mast adj...

24 small things was done in 2 weekend days Radar installed    Mast Check mast longitudinal angle. Portside lower shrouds - fix pin on spreaders root. during stepping mast up pin holding lowers on port side slide out of the intended position. I had to easy lowers and push it back to place. Install VHF antenna and test SWR - (Measured SWR 1.3). Just put antenna back to place. Install radar to the mast. Simple, but it the bracket appeared slightly deformed and rear holes ended up not aligned and i had to drill them out to provide some gaps and be able to put bolts in. Other challenge - lift Radar to the mast safely, but it is round and has no features to tie rope to it ;-) Install ring camera to radar mount. Drilled 3 holes and riveted mounting plate for Ring camera to be able to observe what is going on on the docks, especially when really bad weather hits. Put mainsail and sail pack back to the boat. Just put them back and connected the pack lazy jack back up to the m...

  Mast  On Friday, first thing in the morning,  we arranged with the boatyard to assist us with the crane to step the mast. My son Andriy and I stepped the mast and secured it tightly enough to climb up and disconnect the crane hook within about 40 minutes. At the beginning, it wasn’t clear how much clearance there was between the mast and the overhead high-voltage line. It turned out the clearance was quite small — probably about 50–60 feet — but we were able to step the mast without any electrical shock 😉 After the mast was set up, we asked to be lifted on the travel lift so we could apply bottom paint to the centerboard and the bottom surface of the keel. The boatyard asked us to move the originally planned splash to the end of the day on Friday.   Centerboard  When boat get in air I found the centerboard requires some serious work. As first when it released it travels too much in front, second problem is the centerboard is not tight side to side, shaft an...

She got NAME.  Toady applied  registration numbers and Name/Port  to the boat hull. I had option to not show Texas registration numbers (as soon as she is antique boat), but I decided it will be "polite" to officials to show it to avoid additional questions. Starting today she is 100% officially VIRA.        Mast Preparation to get back to the water are underway.  All Mast  hardware is reinstalled. Everywhere where stainless contacting to aluminum Tef-gel  applied to minimize galvanic corrosion. Custom Radar mount installed. All top mast instruments are not installed to minimize vertical draft and protect them from damage in case we get contact with bridge for some reason. All new cables installed.  total 8 cables ;-)  Mast top: VHF/AIS  Antenna  Tri-color/anchor light (16 AWG)  Wind sensor/video camera (20AWG) Radar  level: Radar cable (B&G cable) "spare" Ethernet CAT5 (for 4G/WIFI router) 4 wire 18awg ...

Boat name Boat name coming to coming to reality. It is just simulation for now.   MAST Preparing and coating spreaders for Nyalic coating.    Texas ice storm 2025, No  work on boat

 Mast Mast sanded  to state to remove all pitting and prepare for painting. Lightning protection ground plate plate 3' x 4" mounted to hull on port side.  To drill hole as close to the mast as possible I had to remove grey water tank out of the locker. To remove tank i had to disconnect sanitation hoses, and it was pretty hard task.  Plate installed on two bronze 1/2 bolts. One is under the waste tank, second one under the floor sole under the cabin table. Plate is mounted using 3M 5200 adhesive.  Plate compressed to the hull and left for the week.  Engine  Water strainer installed, all clamps set on raw water hoses. Installed seaflo water strainer, to install it I had to make a stand to let access for cleaning it.  Strainer installed above water line.  Waterline painting  Put masking tape and lightly cover edge between white topside paint with the topside paint, then next day applied layer of blue paint. I am keeping fingers crossed it ...