Finished thank God Don. All the hardware is back on. I reckon that it
takes four times as long to put it back as it does to take it off.
Sealant, right screws, clean off sealant etc. Added strobe light to a
fitting at the top so that it goes about the combined all round white
and tricolour, new anenometer - Back to Raytheon which was what I had
originally when it got hit by lightning. Replaced it with a cheaper
Navman - bottom unit froze during a winter in Turkey. Was replaced by
Navman for a standard AUD$99 but unit has begun to misfunction a year
later. Everything done and spent two hours hunting for the metre long
4mm aerial that goes in the socket. Eventually bought a new one.

However.... was due to put it up but had a problem with deck paint. In
my rush and general tiredness due to extreme heat and long hours,
proved myself to be stupid. I mixed the epoxy deck paint (had already
done some) 4:1 with the hardner - carefully measured. After a whole
day the paint had not dried. Found that I had mixed from a quart tin
of blue boot top resin with a gallon of deck paint resin. Resin +
resin = one sticky mess to take off - dumber than dumb. I did think at
the time that it was strange that they had coloured the hardner as
well.

Yard foreman kindly got his father to organise two men (what are
called in New Zealand '"Hairies") to scrape it off tomorrow for TT$200
US$32.25 per day each. Mast is booked to be raised tomorrow
afternoon. If the damned thing had been up I would have suspended
myself by the neck from the spreaders and, if I weren't a Moslem, I
would still be drunk today.

Mast and rigging looks good though. My bronze fittings and poured
bronze sockets are gleaming in the sun with the newly poured metal to
hold the 1x19 wire in place.

cheers
Peter

How's that mast painting coming Peter?

Regards,

Don W.