A few weeks ago my father found a secondhand aluminium mast that would be perfect as the main mast aboard the Seadog.
It has been laying around besides a warehouse at a shipyard for more than 15 years. But it actually has never been used before, so structurally it should be as good as new.
Also, this mast is build extra sturdy when compared to most other masts of this size.
The downside is that there came no rigging and very little fittings with this mast. Plus it’s still about 1.5 meters to long and looks a little dirty (see photo’s below).
But we decided this was the way to go.
We first went to Medemblik (where the shipyard was located) to inspect the mast in person and make a few photo’s and decided if it was doable to use this particular mast aboard the Seadog. Conclusion: it could be done.
Because the warehouse was located at a shipyard, we could go and fetch the mast easily by water with the Seadog. Or so we thought….
The weather forecast for the weekend we planned to go and fetch the mast was all but mild weather, but we decided to go anyway.
Turned out to be a pretty nice (be it a little bumpy) journey and also a good test to see how Seadog does in hard winds (on only the engine).
There where a few engine troubles along the way, but this turned out to be because of an empty diesel tank (and a malfunctioning tank gage / vlotter).
The journey back (with the mast tied securely to the boat) turned out to be with the wind at our backs and luckily not as bumpy as the first two days.
After three days we where back in the home harbour and work could begin to prepare the mast for use aboard Seadog.
