Well, we've decided to keep Mintaka indefinitely, which means we've also decided to spend ridiculous amounts of time, effort and money on a refit. She's on the hard in Port Townsend, Washington, right now, looking a bit forlorn without masts or rigging. We took the masts down in September for some maintenance and deck repairs, and took the opportunity to weigh them. The mainmast weighed almost 550#, more than twice what it should. It was overbuilt, to say the least. So, we're building new masts. Minor chore. Trifling cost. I salvaged the wood from the old masts to make new booms. It was also time to replace all the standing rigging (the wires), and we're taking the opportunity to change the rigging plan somewhat to more closely approach William Atkin's original design. Thousands of sea-miles have convinced me that Atkin got the design right, that the changes the builder made to the design were mistakes. Between the new, lighter masts, and the change in the rig (fractional foretriangle, instead of masthead), we expect great things from the old girl. There are also a host of other projects on her. I'll write about them as we go along.
