Monday 13 April 2015

Job #11 - masthead light (and windex) - completed

....that's it - all done now, just need to nip down the nuts on the bolts holding the new cam cleats, and give her a swift wash, both of which I'll do this week one evening, but the job list for this winter is now as complete as I had time for...

...with apologies for the blurriness of the pictures, the job on Sunday was to complete the masthead fitting, the best part of which had been figuring out what to use as a bracket for the windex base - in the end, having discarded the idea of plastic joinery blocks (and old favourite of mine), and actually bought some "MDF Joinery Rigid Joints" I actually found what I really wanted in my "spares/junk/keep that for later" box in the garage...  one section of a plumbing fitting used to hold plastic pipes to a wall... just snipped off one side, and I ended up with the following collection of 'bits'..

The windex bracket is on the right in front of the masthead light, the HDPE has been pre-drilled for the mast head plate....


...which is as follows:




...in order -
  • windex bracket bolted to rear corner; 
  • windex fitting bolted to bracket; 
  • tested continuity of the mast cable by twisting the cable together at mast head, and testing at the plug at mast base - all good after I'd also swapped plug to a new one (old plug was UV brittle)
  • two bolts to hold the whole shebang to the mast plate (they are too close to the light fitting to put in after); 
  • light fitting bolted to HDPE (with butyl tape between base and HDPE); 
  • HDPE then bolted to mast fitting with washers/penny washers
  • cable fed through and new female spade connectors crimped and fitted to light fitting
  • bulb in and checked continuity again (still good)
  • lens on and then amalgamating tape wrapped round join where lens fits body, and a blob of butyle pushed up the hole where the wire goes through the plates..
...job done...


..and underneath...


I'll fit the actual windex just before I raise the mast - "Sparrow" is likely to be moved around the yard before launch day (to make way for other boats behind me that are going in before me), and the windex is a mite exposed to possible damage...



...I enjoyed that..

Restocked the boats essential supplies () and all done for the day...

2 comments:

  1. Real do it yourself stuff - Here in NZ is called having a "Number 8 Wire" mentality - because in the old colonial days it was 'needs must' and just about everything on farms and in towns was fixed with number 8 fencing wire.

    You have done well, 'good on ya' - looking forward to some sailing photos!

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    Replies
    1. Ta Alden, I probably enjoyed that little project more than anything else I did this winter..! Few enjoyable hours spent in boring work meetings figuring out how I was going to do it...

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