Wednesday, October 12, 2005

The Mast 3

A couple of days ago I fiddled around with the front piece of the mast to make it fit snugly within the side pieces. Since then I’ve not done any more to it, because I had to sort out in my mind how best to install the white all-round masthead light and its flex.

After reading replies to my questions on the subject from subscribers of the Paradox Builders Yahoo! Group, I’ve come to the conclusion I’ll need to make the flex bypass the area near to the main halyard sheave, and a suitable way of doing it is to use an external channel or conduit through which to lead the flex in this delicate area near the top of the mast.

From the lower end of the conduit the flex will enter the hollow interior of the mast and be held in place with something like insulation pipe lagging, to prevent it banging the sides of the mast when the boat is under way and at anchor. Near the bottom of the mast the wire will be joined to an electrical socket inserted in the wall of the mast; thus, a plug attached to a flex from the battery can be plugged into the socket to supply the necessary power.

As the electrical current will be controlled by a light sensor there will be no need to have a switch for turning it on and off.

Today it has been raining; therefore I have preferred not to continue shaping and assembling the mast, because the confines of the garage are too restrictive. Depending on the forthcoming weather, I’ll go ahead with the electrical installation and finish gluing the mast. When the epoxy has hardened I’ll need to do the finishing touches to the woodwork, prior to applying several coats of Deks Ole.

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