HWMBO was triumphant today having spent an hour at the masthead....

Becky

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replacing the wind instruments.

I was impressed; but only in so far as I winched him up and cleated the halliard off until he had completed the task /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

To be serious he went aloft in 15 - 20 knots of wind and a lot more in the gusts to remove the wind instrument cable and replace with new. I had to winch him up to the masthead (he helped by climbing our mast ladder; my bit wasn't difficult). Then he had to haul the old wire out of the mast after I had moused onto it from the base. Then we hauled the mousing line through, and taped the new cable onto it.So far so good. Next I taped the new cable onto the mouseing line and pulled it through. Poor Richard was up the mast for ages, over an hour, and he hd to drill the top of the mast to fit the new anemometer base amd then screw it down. It worked beautifully when we had finished.

But so long on one of those bosun chair things which are tightly belted around the waist really seemed to me to be worse than a tourniquet!!

Still, after a glass of wine and a hot soup in the Mary Mouse (not bad insidentally) he could feel his legs and things again.

I was impressed!!!!! Wouldn't like to have to do it myself. Have been to the masthead in the past, when there wasn't a nice man available to do it for me /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

But the wind speed and direction are now restored. Worrying thing is that the old cable has become badly damaged inside the mast and we don't know on what. There are other wires running down the mast, the VHF, the Seame and the radar for example.

However the radar doesn't work so maybe there is something inside our mast that chews through cables. A winter job, I am afraid.

Still, another problem sorted out, another step nearer our summer departure date. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 

Rabbie

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I know how he feels Becky. I was replacing my foresail halyard on Tuesday when the mousing broke and both halyards, old and new tumbled to the deck!. I had to get out the 'TopClimber' and get up there. Back on deck, for 2 hours I was in agony as the blood rushed back into crushed vessels and nether parts. Now realise TopClimber is too slow, ascending and descending, causing much 'tourniquet' effect. But thats singlehanding for you.
 

Becky

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Re: HWMBO was triumphant today having spent an hour at the masthead...

<Pardon me for asking the obvious, but are there any halyards which may be chafing the cables, >

Well, that is the rub. We don't know as yet. Next time the mast comes down, we will have to remove the top thingy and have a look.

Nothing is ever straightforward when you are dealing with boats, is it??? /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 
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Re: HWMBO was triumphant today having spent an hour at the masthead...

When we renewed the radio Aerial - we had to take the mast down because something was jamming inside - we eventually found that a previous owner had filled it with cavity insulation. This did not prevent any rattling, but it made it a pig to get the wire out. The old wire was a mess when we at last got it out - which took over 6 hours. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif
 

michael_w

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Re: HWMBO was triumphant today having spent an hour at the masthead...

The cables ought to run in conduit.

However, on my old boat, we suffered badly from chafing halyards, having changed from wire to spectra. Eventually the problem was tracked down to the spreader bars, which were nearly cut through by chafe.
 
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