Slow Progress

In the last week, I have been cautiously dodging the weather in an effort to get some work done on the boat. Rain has been in the forecast for almost every day in the last week, and other than the next two days, it looks like more rain is on its way. As a result, progress hasn't been dramatic, but I have managed to get a number of smaller tasks done. Back at home, I continued working on the electrical plan. I completed and test fit the new housing, and while it isn't pretty yet, I think it is going to work really well. I decided that it wasn't worth even trying to match the original mahogany, so the frame is just going to be white to match the counter top, and the face probably will be too, unless I find some nice veneer that matches the boat. While it looks pretty simple, I actually made it so that the face of the panel is actually square and then the frame is made to match the angles of the space it is in. The top piece actually meets the slight curve of the shelf above it, which took much longer to create than I anticipated.

Aside from that, I worked on sanding all the pieces of the companionway, as well as priming the undersides of the companionway hatches and the counter top pieces that were at home. The rain really did hold back some of the more important projects I need to get done.

Friday gave me my best weather window to begin tackling one of my more dreaded projects, which is refinishing the mast. When I went to the Marblehead Trading Company to pick up the mast, there was coincidentally another wooden mast right next to it which also belonged to a boat named Adagio. Small world, I guess. That mast was in much better shape...

One of the more dreadful parts of the move was getting the mast through downtown Marblehead, and was made all the worse that I ended up on the road right as school got out for the weekend, which made for more traffic than usual. Ended up pretty uneventful, and I was relieved that the mast made it in one piece.
After waiting for a ten minute downpour to pass, I was able to begin inspecting the mast, and then disassembling it. Thankfully, the standing rigging is all relatively recent, though the majority of the running rigging needs some attention/replacement. It also became apparent that the top two feet of the mast were replaced sometime recently, and thankfully it looks like a really nice job was done. The only downside was that they didn't refinish the entire mast at that time, and it looks like they only put a couple of coats of varnish on, which had worn thin in a number of places. The spreaders are almost new, but need to be refinished as well - not nearly enough coats of varnish on the top sides. Everything was put way very neatly last fall:

I had hoped that I wouldn't have to completely strip all the hardware off the mast, but it became pretty clear that the varnish had been on there forever, and was in pretty rough shape in a number of spots. As a result, everything, except the masthead sheave and halyard winch at the base, was removed and carefully labeled for reassembly.

Where the spreaders attach to the mast was in the worst cosmetic shape, but structurally seems to be in great shape still.

After removing all the hardware, I was able to start stripping all the varnish off. It was so thick in most places that it actually came off pretty easily in big sheets with a heat gun. It still took me late into Friday night to get the first half done, and then was finished up Saturday afternoon.
After stripping all the varnish, I began sanding and progress has been pretty quick. Tomorrow I am hoping to finish sanding the mast as well as the toerails and cockpit comings on the boat and ideally apply the first coat of varnish in the afternoon.

The one thing that I see as a major obstacle to getting the boat in the water at this point is getting enough coats of varnish on the mast given the forecast in the next week or so. If I don't get enough coats of varnish on the toerails and coamings that won't stop me from putting the boat in the water, but if I don't get enough coats of varnish on the mast, that's something that can't be touched up with the boat in the water. Looks like the mast might have to be making a visit to our living room...