Missing gooseneck track on mast...UPDATED

When I got my boat and had a good look at the various bits that came with it I never once thought about the gooseneck fitting on the mast.  I was cleaning the mast the other day and thought now how on earth will the boom fit on the mast. 

The boom has a fitting that would seem to go onto a 1" T track.  On the mast there is a section 15" long where a track should have been fitted but no track.  I have scoured the internet and found lots of places that sell track but I did not want a metre of it and it is quite expensive so I set about making my own.

This is the back of the mast where the track should have been.  The three holes in the middle are larger than the top and bottom ones and there did not appear to be any thread on them.  The top and bottom holes looked as though self tapping screws had been used.

I have a piece of aluminium the right thickness and cut a piece 1" wide by 15" long.  I filed the edges and finished them on my belt sander making sure the track fitted nicely through the boom fitting.  I then made a template of the holes on the mast so I could locate them when I drilled through the track. 

Now I was going to cut a similar piece of aluminium about 1/2" wide to go under the forst piece making my T section but then hit on the idea of using some thick aluminium tubing as a spacer where each bolt went through to bolt the track to the mast.  I think this will work quite well but time will tell.  If there is too much pressure on the track then it may bend as it does not have the rigidity of proper T track.

 I have drilled the track and tapped the holes in the mast as seen above, to take 5mm countersunk bolts and I will put a stopper at the bottom to stop the gooseneck slider coming off the track.  I may want to pull the boom off the top of the track so I will leave that.

I will amend this posting once I have fitted on the mast.  Another possible drawback is that the aluminium is not annodised so corrosion may be a problem,  We will just have to see.  At least it didn't cost me anything ;o)

Well, here is the new track on the mast and I think it looks pretty good if I say so myself.  Proof of the pudding will be trying it when the boat is afloat and the main under load.

I also replaced some horrible steel screws holding a nylon cleat on the mast.

Anyone recognise this?

Well it is the handle from the ball head toilet I ripped out of the boat.  I removed all the stainless steel nuts and bolts and anything I thought may be of use.  Low and behold I bent it into a handle shape and ground the end square to fit nicely into my furling gear.  It turns a treat and will be useful until I fit slab reefing to my boat which will be for another year and another mainsail I guess.

New storage locker

This is the original small locker on the poirt side roughly amidships.  There is a little door that latches on but the front was delaminated with water ingress and fell off with a little tug.

I have been extending the locker under the port side deck to make it more useful.  I kept the original locker structure but ripped off the front with the small locker door.  I made a cardboard template to match the hull line and then made up the new locker carcass as you can see below.

I stuck this up with duck tape then glassed it in with woven tape and polyester resin.  This is a video of the new front which I made in cardboard first.  Took ages to upload the video, is there a trick to reducing the size to post videos?  The front will be screwed in place and then varnished.  I will fit a door to the rear locker like the original and using the original knob.

The hull - what to do with the topsides???

The hull of my Alacrity has been painted several times over the years with the original gelcoat being a light greeny blue which seems to have been a popular colour at the time she was built.  It looks as though the dark blue paint on the hull now was simply painted on the gelcoat without any primer.  I have had lots of thoughts about the topsides and at first I decided I would just rub it down remove the loose paint and put a coat or two of Pre-Kote on then two coats of Toplac.

I started with the stern and used an orbital sander then cleaned it off.  I then rolled on the primer and tipped it off with a Jenny brush.  This worked well and I filled a few small scratches and imperfections before giving it a second coat.

I decided to carry on with this method for the rest of the hull, starting on the starboard quarter and then moving to the port side forward.  I was by then finding the hull to be in worse condition with lots of loose paint.  I was starting to think I needed to remove all the paint, but how?  I looked at paint stripping machines which the professionals use but they are just too expensive to buy and you cannot rent them, as far as I know.  I read lots about using a chemical paint stripper and that is still a possibility but in the end I decided I really wanted to get the boat in the water and sail.  The boat cost me £200 so it is silly to spend too much on her right now and it is something I can do later.

Picture below shows the state of the paint, layers of it and very rough.

Below is where I have sanded the port bow and primed.

Despite lots of sanding and cleaning off the primer still did not adhere very well in all places.  There are still loose patches where I sanded and primed and bubbles.  There are also some areas where the primer simply has not adhered to the old gelcoat despite sanding to key it in.  I am beginning to think there is moisture in the hull even though the boat sat in a garden for many years. The bubbles appearing do not have moisture in them though.  It could well have had condensation inside which may have had an effect.  I think I need to get a moisture meter to test the hull.

Strangely the below waterline hull condition looks good and no sign of loose paint, thank goodness!

Any words of wisdom welcome or ideas of how to remove all the paint down to gelcoat.  I may then have to epoxy the hull.   

More later when I find the solution...