Allan and Mike from SeaTek were extremely careful pulling the mast out of the boat
Here "The Boatyard" in Long Beach, CA have the mast hooked up and ready to pull the last of the rigging
The headstays, capshrouds, and backstay are still hooked up at this point
Pulling the capshrouds
Pulling the backstay and hydraulic Cylinder
The furlers are now loose and the mast is part of the way out of the boat
The mast is clear of the boat!
That's a big mast (and a big crane!)
Putting it down on the trailer
Mast is down on the trailer and getting ready for transport, a good look at the masthead
Looks like the VHF antenna got chewed off the mast by the birds!
The disk is the TV antenna, going to replace with a smaller one
The masthead tricolor/ancor light will get replaced with a new LED based light
Spreader tip near slightly pinched wire, all looks fine
Lower spreader tip, boom on trailer below and spinnaker pole on the ohther side
The Furuno Radar has been working quite well, hopefully it will survive being taken off and re-installed.
The Radar Reflector is a Firdall Blipper
The foot of the mast looks to be in very good condition! No significant corrosion on bottom contact point, some up the side on the outside where in contact with the step.
Furling gear loaded for transport. Thus far, no damage in the process of pulling the rig out of the boat
Spreader lights use sealed beam 24V bulbs
Ready to roll!
After motoring back from Long Beach to King Harbor it is time to remove the mast step and deck collar and send to the shop for stripping and painting.
At this point the step bolts have been broken loose and the step itself is loose. Need to understand the material that the threaded bolts are going into to ensure that when I rebed them I do not cause galvanic problems. The stainless bolts which were in contact with the aluminum step and have been damp (mostly with rainwater though) show no signs of corrosion. Down in the machine threaded holes it appears to be that below the fiberglass there is a tan colored substance (steel? Bakalite? Mahogany?) into which the step bolts are threaded. The threads of the bolts are extremely clean although the "stickyness" of the threading of the bolts suggests something other than metal as the bolts required significant torque to back them out even after they had been initially broken loose. There appeared to be no indication of moisture down the holes and they are definitely blind holes. I will sent e-mail to Oyster to find out how the step was built up originally.
It is very important to mark where the step was prior to removing the step from the boat. I will also be taking the collar on deck off for clean up and painting.