Yes Frederik, you are correct about that.
And there is a slightly amusing story which goes with it, so to spare Zane the embarrassment I will chime in here and relate it. (Hope you don’t mind Zane!)
The re-launching went well, and Pango was looking great. Zane brought her up to the crane and the mast was carefully lowered into position, maneuvered down through the partners and into position. The flange face had been carefully dressed with butyl rubber, and all that remained was for Paul to insert the bolts and fasten it down.
But the bolts wouldn’t go through. It was then discovered that the boatbuilder who Zane had employed, had fibreglassed the underside of the partner flange, had glassed over the bolt holes and forgotten to re-drill them afterwards.
This is, of course, just an example of Murphy's law. It called for some fairly specific language, and then a quick trip to the local chandlery so that a suitable drill bit could be purchased. Naturally, there was some reluctance to withdraw the mast and disturb the butyl rubber which had begun to squeeze nicely. Paul re-drilled the holes with the mast still in place, while the crane crew waited patiently – and it was a miracle to me that there was enough room for the drill to go down vertically between the mast and the perimeter holes, but luckily there was just enough offset. A fair amount of butyl rubber came back out with the drill bit as each of the holes were re-drilled, but at least the flange faces did not need to be disturbed and it looked like a pretty good squeeze, so it should still seal down anyway. “She’ll be right” as we like to say here in New Zealand – though I believe I did overhear Zane say a few other things as well.
Apart from that, the launching was uneventful. And Pango does look good – not the same as before, with the new pilot house added – but purposeful, I would describe it. She’s going to be a smart performer and with full headroom now, a comfortable cruiser too. We are all hoping Zane will have a great summer cruise. Lovely little boat.
