INDY's spring project was new solar panels. German solar by Mage - 2 190 watt panels generate just over 20amps.

Here's INDY with the mast finally installed.

It took two weekends to put all of the hardware back on. We also added a digital TV antenna.

Finally the painting is finished

You can see it shine! The weather was good and I got started painting by 10:30 AM giving sufficient time before the dew arrived. All I had to do was chase a few pesky robins away. They made up for it overnight though. At least the paint was dry before they had their way with it.



Our good frind Peter assisted with a great deal of the preparation stages and helped us celebrate with some real nice Schramsberg Champagne. Now the put-it-back-together stage begins.

Checking deck fittings

The through deck u-bolt needs attention.

Good Weather and Great Progress

Finally, two coats of primer and nearly ready for final coats of Perfection Arctic White.

The first step was to take off the gear on the mast head, sand and prime. I did that just for practice. I got a few surprises with the peanut butter consistency of the PrimeKote primer. And, I found painting with PrimeKote like painting with warm marshmellows. But it went OK. See below.

This was taken with my phone so the quality isn't as good. You can't see the "painter's holiday" I left on the port strut for the spinacher. All in all, I'm nearly ready to finish sanding on the rest of the 76 foot mast and to beginning the priming process. See the full length of the mast below.

I would swear that Jack (in the Bean Stalk) supplied the mast. It grew rapidly as I began to sand all 67 feet of it. Again, you can't see the sanding work very well from the shot I took from my phone. I need to remember to have my camera nex time.

Mast Painting Project

Here's the mast head from my Bristol 45.5 Hood Roller Furling Main before removing the running lights and anchor light. Note the heavy use of silicone to bed the vhf antenna. The round black knob is covering a grease fitting for the top of the roller furling device.

The butt of the mast is in very good condition as is the mast step back on board. The cylinder shaped pipe extends all the way to the top and houses the main sail and furling hardware.

The spreaders are messy but in very good condition. The rigger's tape gave up long ago.

Indy's Mast

I took lots of photos so I can remember where things go when Im finished.

INDY on the Hard

INDY sits out the 2009 winter

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