Mast rake with an insight

Please recall that adjusting the light mast's rearward slope, or rake, was on my list of stuff to do before I call this new top job done. As with many boat tasks, this one turns out to be more complicated than anticipated.

The mast fits between brackets on either side of its base. Two holes drilled through the base of the mast align with matching holes in the brackets. The lowest, farthest aft pair of holes was pinned with a bolt and nut. The higher, farther forward pair of holes was secured with a removable quick pin. To lower the mast, for low bridges or trailering, just pull the quick pin and fold the mast down to horizontal on the pivot bolt.

Changing the rake angle required adjusting placement of the holes in the mast. And, since the adjustment would be small, the immediate problem became that of new holes overlapping old holes. So I plugged the old holes with dowels and cut about a half-inch off the bottom of the mast. Cutting some off the bottom made it possible to place the new holes higher in a more meaty place in the wood. This worked out well, as you can see from the following photo:

I think the the angle is much more pleasing than the more vertical stance the mast had before I adjusted the rake.

Imagining future problems, I could visualize the mast in folded-down position, banging the paint off my new top while the boat bounces around on its trailer. Maybe I need to make some kind of crutch  with a soft bottom that I can fit to the mast as a paint-saving cushion during trailer rides? Then came the insight:

Duh!

There is another way. Since I had taken pains to wire this mast so it can be easily removed for refinishing, why not just remove the mast and bring it inside? All this involved was replacing the pivot bolt with another quick pin. Like this:

So, to remove the mast, obviate the need for a mast crutch, save the paint on the top where the mast would bang and prolong the varnish life on the mast, just pull two quick pins, unscrew and cap the electrical connector and move the whole assembly inside.








Varnish?

Varnish? Did I just mention varnish? I am using Cetol Natural Teak on the light mast and the rails and it really looks good. If you want it to last, three coats of of the Natural Teak applied 24 hours apart are required. Then, these three coats must be covered with an additional three coats of the Cetol translucent protective coating. Done this way, and touched up occasionally, I have had my Cetol coatings last several years before major refinishings are needed.

I mention all this because this product is pretty expensive and it tends to skin over and get crusty in the can between uses. In the past, I have been lucky to actually apply less than half of a quart of this stuff before it crusted over and became unusable. No more!

I read some place that squirting a little propane gas in the can before capping off the varnish will keep air from the varnish surface and prevent skinning. I tried this trick with both my Natural Teak and the Cetol protective coating quart cans after I did the grab rails some weeks ago.

It works. No skins. More usable product. Propane gas is heavier than air, so it forms a propane blanket over the varnish, displacing skin and crust causing air. Be judicious in your application. No smoking or open flames should be allowed.







Meanwhile, I am not making much progress on my list of stuff to do. I need to get started painting, but I am uncomfortable doing this while the boat is in the water. I am trying to find a covered place where I can park the boat on its trailer and do all the painting in a week or so. It looks now that this will not happen before the first week in July.