Team Seacats

Tonight I mounted the swivel mount for the halyard cleat on the main beam. I managed to reuse some old holes in the beam that were in good shape (only a slight amount of corrosion). There was a spinlock in this place that was used on a combo tack line / halyard setup but it was near the end of it’s effective life span. These Harken cleats aren’t as sexy but they are very robust and reliable. Like the holes for the swivel mount, I was also able to recycle one other hole on the beam for the eyestrap after some careful manipulation of the shape of the eyestrap. I only had to add one hole for this entire thing (extra holes are bad juju). I still have to mount the tack line swivel sometime soon. I have another swivel mount but it has become a little loose on the swivel. I believe I can tighten up the swivel pivot by putting it in a heavy duty press tomorrow and save $40.

I also finally got the spinnaker bridles sorted out. I’ve tried twice to get the correct length but they keep coming in too long. I took the last pair I received and cut them shorter than needed so I could re-crimp in the thimble and use some high-strength line to adjust the spinnaker pole height on the beach. I don’t have a set of crimpers myself so I borrowed some questionable equipment to make the crimp. I didn’t feel too confident in it so I gave it a test load and one came apart with a “BANG” – that won’t work! So I elected to “punt” and cut the wires a little shorter removing the crimp I just made from both wires. I took them down the road to Mainsail Marine where local boat working expert, Bill Hendrix who is a great catsailor himself, put in a couple of double crimps that look like they’re supposed to. I mounted the pole and set it just below the height it was originally – it looks great.

Originally uploaded by Team Seacats.