Riveting the Pole

Riveting the Pole

Today we made a repair on the whisker pole, a lightweight pole that we extend from the side of the mast to put a foresail out perpendicular to the wind. One section was attached to the other using three rivets. Two of these rivets were broken, putting the entire lode of the sail on one rivet. Granted, there were several lines taking the sail's lode as well, but it was still a lot of lode for one rivet. This morning we took the pole down on deck and removed the broken rivets. This took some doing, and for one, we had to drill a hole through it and use a smaller rivet. This was partly because the original hole was too big for any of our rivets, so it was the only real course of action. Then we put in new rivets. This was the first time either of us had used the riveting tool, so we really didn't know what to expect. It worked well, however, and we gained some valuable experience with the riveting tool. We got the pole back onto the mast and into its up and down position, all this just Dad and I.
--Orion Date
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