Hi Michael,
Lots of straightforward stuff to answer here…
Ans 1.) The Halyard rack would have cleats on the underside of the diagonal beam about level with the shroud, and the forward one level with the mast. The halyard wire would usually have a rope tail spliced on, to help make it easier to thread through theforward pulley. When the sail is fully hoisted you need enough wire pulled through to make turn or two round the cleats, coming back first to the rear cleat then around the forwad one and back and forth a few times until you reach the rope til which you can now use to turn off on the rear cleat.
The position of the rear cleat should allow you to pull the wire over to the rack, without coming out from under the shelter of the deck.
The squared off shape of a Mark 1B deck would not llow this and so only really works if the 1B deck has a fixed mast.
If (as you have here) it is a rotating (Reynolds) mast, it must be Mark1 shaping.
Ans 2.) The tape (and screw holes) mark the original position for the tubular cleats for your centre plate. I think it is also a much better position.
Ans 3.) The tubuler bailers as you say are rubbish, but interesting and if you don’t intend heavy weather or sea sailing, might suffice and are a conversation piece, though usually because you are complaining bout how rubbish they are!
Keep them for the look, but consider asking for dispensation to have them “grandfathered” (ie sealed up when racing) and fit a decent pair of super suckers. (There is no longer a rule specifying where they must be fitted.)
It is likely the boat will leak and you will be glad of low speed bailers.
Ans 4.) Yes, its definitely a Reynolds boom.
Ans 5.) Yes the wire is to stop the jib leach getting torn or frayed by the diamond spreader. Remember on reaches the rotating mast will mean the leeward spreader goes forward. And will be more likely to foul the jib.
Ans 6.) strip off all the old varnish, and use a triangular scraper with enough force to remove a very thin layer of wood to refresh the surface. You can get Dichloromethane if you hunt around the web (or even on eby) which softens the varnish enough to make this quite easy.
Get a high spec (ie smooth grit) old fashioned oil stone sharpener (about £20 on ebay if you are patient and not fussy) which will keep your tool shrp as a razor if you sharpen every 50 scrapes or so (worth sharpening 2-3 triangular tools at a time)
Example:-
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Green-Oil-Wat ... 3f47a76d3a
The investment is well worth it for the improvement in the finish.
I defiantly would not use a hot air gun for varnish. Even when carefully used they take all the life and depth out of a varnish finish, and to bring the wood back to life you need to scrape or sand back further than if you had used a scraper in the first place.
With a scraper that is sharp and suitable stripper you can do @ 1metre square per hour. And then the fiddly bits.
Not so critical for the hull exterior if it is paint., and you cn do a lot more on paint with fillers if it needs fairing. You may find a good scraper makes it good enough to varnish if you wish although a well finished outer paint, inside varnish I think looks very pretty.
If the decks are delaminating it is not worth trying to fix them They will delaminate because they already have and no amount of work will stop water getting in and finishing the job. Redecking is quite straightforward on a mark 1.
DSC01203 by dralowid, on Flickr
DSC01206 by dralowid, on Flickr
DSC01204 by dralowid, on Flickr
DSC01213 by dralowid, on Flickr
DSC01214 by dralowid, on Flickr
DSC01210 by dralowid, on Flickr
DSC01207 by dralowid, on Flickr
DSC01209 by dralowid, on Flickr
But, hey maybe some others will be interested.
