Mast assembly

Years ago, yes it has been that long, part of my initial construction was the mast pieces.  I say pieces because I cheated, I couldn't see me being able to  make a round mast by laminating wood and shaping it.

So I followed the building guide's other suggestion, which was to substitute the middle section with a marine alloy tube.  Mine is 6.5m long, 100mm in diameter and a couple of mm thick.  It weighs about 16kg from memory and easy to carry.  The top and bottom sections have solid wood pieces that are a tight fit to slide in, through bolted once the tube is in place.  The whole completed mast is 9.8m long, and too long to fit neatly into the shed.

Below is the bottom wooden section of the mast.  The silver bit half way up is the pivot pin which is stainless steel and fits in the tabernacle.  The base piece is hollow for a small section between the base and the solid bit for the pin, and between the pin and the top.  The bit that sticks up is solid wood and continues below the platform the same distance it goes above it for strength.

This is a close up of the platform for the boom jaws to pivot on, the hardwood supports it rests on and the space inside where the alloy tube slides down.  The hole is one of two drilled through for 6mm stainless steel bolts.  The bolts overlap in an X 10-15mm apart for strength.

This is the top section, the edge you can see on the left is the forward one, on top is a platform with the tri-colour/anchor light and behind it a wind vane.

When I made the top section, which is partly hollow and solid where the rigging fittings will go, I cut the inside filler wood with an angle on top and a hollow down one side.  This was to allow any water that got in to drain down and out of the mast, and to also allow me to run wires for the top light.  I left a piece of wire inside when I constructed it to pull the wires through.

After some swearing and several attempts I managed to get five strand 12 volt trailer wire through.  This allows extra wires for down the track if I need them.  Below you can see the wire before I attached the top to the alloy tube.

And this is with the alloy tube attached.  Because of the wires I couldn't alternate the direction of the bolts.  I'll talk to the rigger down the track and strap it if necessary to re-enforce it.

The tube attached to the bottom section:

And a close up of the bolts.

We are now almost up to date.  I have cut a slot in the bowsprit and fitted it over the stem fitting with the aft end bolted and supported into the fitting in the anchor well.  Photos to follow.

2019 will be launch year, I am running out of jobs that I will do myself.............

Scary.

Aug/Sept update Underwater Seal and paint

I've been slowly working along, not often with lots to show for it.  With the non-slip in place I drilled holes through the deck and hardwood pads for the stanchion bases.  Due to the angle of the bases the inboard two holes are through bolted with 6mm stainless bolts, the hull side two holes are two inch 14G stainless steel screws. 

I have also permanently mounted the portholes on each side.  Unfortunately the inside surrounds did not fit properly as they came in two halves and because of the thickness of the cabin side left a gap when positioned.  I ended up getting six 3mm thick aluminium rings CNC cut for just over $100 and drilled them myself to fit which worked out fine. 

Below you can see the port side stanchion and bases in place (see below for the silver underwater seal).

As I was doing this I was running electrical cables inside and attaching fans, charging points and lights.  The under waterline seal consisted of epoxy sealer/undercoat first (several coats), the same as above the waterline.

And aft:

This was followed by International Primocon (numerous coats).  This is in place of the topside paint and is aluminium based I believe and compatible with anti foul paint that will be applied just before launch:

And aft:

I've added the top rudder support, and attached the exhaust transom fitting along with the scupper covers for the cockpit drains.  You can see the four holes for the fitting just above the hole in the transom for the tiller.

The last part of September was starting on the rubbing strakes.  I laminated these from one layer of 10mm pine and one layer of hardwood, top ones are 70mm wide and the lower ones 40mm.  I put a third layer of 10mm hardwood where the chain plates will go to allow for adjustment to make them sit against the hull.

Below is the port side lower one epoxied and screwed in place drying with tape underneath to prevent it sticking to the hull.  You can see the third layer comes aft to halfway down the cabin, the clamps are helping keep them all aligned.

Jumping forward a bit here are the two port ones off with sealer/undercoat on the inside.  Right one is the longer deck edge one, more on the mast next.

Next post mast work.