[Rhodes22-list] IMF Furling Repair; Mainsail replacement; mast lowered an...

[David Keyes]

Jim, I'm glad you are more confident than before. I certainly was merely
hopeful that things would work out.  I had the help of Stan's booklet for my
particular mast-hoist system (which came with my boat in 2001), plus
exchanges of emails with Stan as to additional details, things related to my
particular repair (I had even sent digital pictures of the problem to Stan,
showing the fallen upper IMF bearing trapped part way down the mast), and
things that were different than his booklet, such as that my genoa used the
CDI system--which gets disconnected but does NOT get walked back to the mast
before lowering--and Stan's recommendation to disconnect the boom just to
have less bulk to deal with since I was doing my work on the boat and having
to extract the IMF tube.  I also went out to the boat one Sunday morning and
went through a "dry run"--I even put the mast carrier into position on the
stern transom and attached the mast hoist.  Just that process lead to a few
more questions to Stan and quick answers back from him.

The bottom line was that as long as you have your instructions and work out
your procedures (and don't forget to have whatever tools you need on hand--I
made things harder for myself by having a dull drill bit)--everything can be
done safely and easily, with common sense and carefully watching everything
as you go along.  I had no problem lowering and raising the mast by myself
in winds that did increase to howling through the spars of the boats right
as I was was doing these procedures twice.  As I was doing this, I was
thinking to myself, "These strong winds are not great, but they are okay.
Everything is still happening just the way it is supposed to, and the stays
are keeping the mast in line."  And as I mentioned before, I had no help.  I
thought I could go to the marina office and get some help if I needed it
during their normal business hours, but I did not ever even come close to
needing to do that.  And when I mentioned that I am 64, I am also not an
athlete and work out only about once or twice a week.  I think that a 70
year-old in very good shape would have a head start over me--so this job can
be done.

David

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <LafingBear at aol.com>
To: <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Sent: Friday, April 16, 2004 9:34 PM
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] IMF Furling Repair; Mainsail replacement; mast
lowered an...


> Hey David! Great going! I'm a little older than you and facing the same
> chores in the next few weeks. Your success is giving me a lot more
confidence than
> I had a week ago.
> Jim Gifford
> __________________________________________________
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