eye splice

I had fun weaving the eye splice for the top of the climbing rope !I still have the guy lines on the mast, but they will come down after I pour the concrete around the base.  

Yardarm

The yardarm installation was fun,  actually felt a little like a PG&E lineman up there.

More fun !

More fun today putting the pieces together.  I raised the railing while Lee took the photos. Then,  the joists and decking are installed.  Finally the railing is lowered onto the deck. 

Raising the Mast !

The raising went off just perfectly !!  With the help of a couple of neighbors,  We were able to do the whole thing with just 4 people.  Two people hoisting on the 4:1 block and tackle, and two people on guy lines to keep it straight.        

Gin pole again

Here is the gin pole ready for the final hoist.  Also note the board placed in the hole,  this is key to allow the base of the pole to slide smoothly into the hole.  

The Hole

On Tuesday,  we rented a power auger, and proceeded to drill a 12″ hole 5 feet deep for the pole to slide into. The drilling went pretty well but the soil was super wet and clay like so we drilled a foot then took out the auger and cleaned it off, and then drilled another foot, and so on.  This went OK until the last foot and then the auger was just too heavy to lift out of the hole.  It does not have a reverse.  So, I rigged the gin pole again over the hole and proceeded to hoist the auger out with a block and tackle. while two people were lifting.  Whew !

gin pole

I found a piece of 2″ pipe to use as a gin pole out at the stables.  The gin pole is supported from 3 guy lines.  I put a 4:1 block and tackle on the thing and was able to lift the pole by hand up 3 feet to this old table top.  I intend to lift a little higher here,  then move the Gin Pole to the other end and finish the raising, whilethe base slides down into the hole.                          

Leverage

Here I am levering the pole into position.  I put it on some 2″ abs pipe and it slides around well enough that I am able to work it around the  yard by myself.

The railing and deck

After much discussion on what materials to use for the railing we finally settled on having the railing fabricated at a local metal shop.  Here it is, along with the redwood deck that I built by making my own tongue and groove boards with a dado blade on the table saw.

taking the bark off