Yesterdays excitement and polishing the crossbars?

I've had my boat for about a month now and one of my biggest fear is one of the shroud lines breaking and demasting in the middle of the lake. It wasn't as bad as I had imagined.

I live in Denver and have only sailed on the little reservoir here. I had a friend from out of town and we planned on going sailing but the weather was cloudy and looked like it could rain. After contemplating in the parking lot for about an hour whether we should head home or hit the lake we decided the latter. We got on the water and were tooling around for about 10 minutes. I realized the main sail wasn't hooked and started falling down (I haven't mastered the hook thing yet). So we furled up the jib and I messed with the hook and halyard for a few minutes. The weather wasn't looking too great so we just decided to drop the main and head in for the day. That's when the category 3 hurricane blew in from no where. Sideways rain, the whole bit. With the main on the tramp and the jib furled we were still gaining quite a bit of speed, I was impressed.

I'm not sure if one of the pins on the shroud lines wasn't put in correctly or what but the shroud line let loose. The cotter pin flung onto the tramp and looked like a pretzel. Luckily my lady was holding on to the shroud line at the time and ended up saving the mast from falling a few times but it finally won the battle and down it went.

We got the mast up on the boat and broke on the paddle that I happened to grab at the last minute and started paddling. Of course, as soon as we got to the parking lot, the sun came out and it was beautiful. What a day.




The cross bars on my yacht look worn, as they should after 25 years. Has anyone stripped and polished them? They are anodized aluminum from the factory, right? I don't really want to paint them because I think the sun will takes it's toll in no time.
Thanks
B

Hey Brandon,
What did you find when you got in.Was the dammit ring the problem or did the shroud end let go.Obviously if the pin failed you would never know unless you caught it in mid-air.Polished crossbars and mast might be cool but a lot of work unless you had them coated right away.They are anodized.I thought about having mine powder coated but I was afraid of the traveller track getting messed up.DO YOURSELF A FAVOR,REPLACE THE ANCHOR PINS IF THEY HAVEN'T BEEN REPLACED.
Shawn
82 H18 #8211
Div.3 (nor-cal)

I had my buddy helping me rig the thing which he's never done before. He didn't use the pin at all and just used the safety pin to hold the shroud to the boat. That explains why the safety pin was bent like a pretzel. Guess the lesson learned there was to double check people's work. Oops.


After browsing this site all day yesterday, I think I'm just going to paint the mast and cross bars black. Every other option I've seen or thought of is either too much money or too much work or both.

Brandon,
There is a product called penetrol that you can find at most hardware stores.
It's generally used as a paint conditioner, but if you rub it on black anodized masts and crossbars, it will bring back their shine. It wont fix the scratches or dings, but it will make it look a lot better. All you have to do is rub it on with a paper towel, let it sit for a minute, and then rub the excess off.
here is a link for it:
http://paint-and-supplies.hardwarestore.com/50-280-paint-conditioners/penetrol-paint-conditioner-101287.aspx

Ditto on the Penetrol. The stuff works great especially on black anonized aluminum.

Tom

That's awesome,I will be trying that stuff!!
THANKS.
shawn
82 H18 #8211
Div.3 (nor-cal)