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Using the smallest carbon footprint we can,
Spending the least amount of money we can,
Making as many friends we can.

Team Red Cruising

Mast Inspection

Sun 12 March 2023 | Archive March 2023 | Tags Safe Cove Boatyard Repair

I went up the mast today.

Steve at the top of the mainmast
Steve at the top of the mainmast

Things up there look really good.

I swapped out the mast-head light. The old LXTA-S (an OGM light sold by Weems and Plath) worked; the wiring harness had failed.

In a panic, I had purchased a replacement LXTA-SP. It has an on-at-dusk-off-at-dawn photodiode.

(I hadn't done any diagnostics. I ordered it for delivery to Boot Key Harbor so I'd have it. In Case.)

Then, I found the wiring had failed. Further, I couldn't get the old light off the bracket. So I had to order a bracket.

Today I replaced the light (and bracket) and looked over the rigging.

OGM LTXA-SP Masthead light
OGM LTXA-SP Masthead light

I went up the mizzen, also. No pictures of me up there.

The base of the starboard spreader is rusty and has a sketchy-looking rivet.

No picture because the mizzen climbing is a bit more physical: a free hand for the camera wasn't really available. I think If I'd taken longer rests during the ascent, I might have been better able to snap pictures.

(We have a webbing MastMate climbing system. It works great, but, after two trips up the main, I was a bit winded.)

We're going to call in professionals for this. We have some hurricane damage claim money available. I hope they opt to take it off, clean it, and put it back properly.

The alternative is finding a replacement. ($, but unlikely.)

Or. Having a replacement made. ($$, It's pretty simple. A plate with a bend and a bunch of holes and a cylindrical sleve welded on.)

Or. Swapping the whole spreader assembly out for more modern, more widely-available parts. ($$$)

Which leaves us with the Marina or Slip and the "What do we do with ourselves?" question still unanswered.

I think this may be what next season holds for us. A lot of anchoring out up and down the Gulf Coast of Florida. I'm told that the Gulfport Mooring Field is the place to hang out: 27°44.080' N, 82°42.471' W.

We've anchored out for long periods of time, coming to marinas for water, pump-out, groceries, and fuel. It's how we got from Deale, MD, to here in the first place. (See Live Aboard II for the saga.)

Travel, anchor, travel, transient slip. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

The trade-off is transient slips don't let us --- easily --- park the boat to flit off and take care of CA's dad, my mom, or our grand-kid. It involves a multi-day trip to return to a place like Safe Cove for a haul-out.