Ray Frechette Jr

I would prefere a nice resinous softwood like Fir or southern yellow pine myself. Dfir heartwood would be nice... Mahogany would be nice too but too rich for my blood.

It sure wouldn't be my first choice.

I knew you knew that Charlie, but the question was posed by a newbie. so bears repeating... How's Business??? Slow. Very slow since 2007.

Unless the designer of the boat specifically specifies a particular radius and tape schedule. If so follow it. IE he has crunched the numbers and knows what stress will be seen there. As you increase the radius the neutral axis gets further form the fibers thus strengthening the joint in an I beam effect.

Depends on the application. depends on the thickness of the wood panels being joined. Depends on expected loads on the joint... On a Spindrift a toungue depressor works well. IE 3/8 inch radius.

Well, if you put a hole in the bottom of the boat it will leak water into the boat when you put it in the water. So what you need is two holes you see. That way the water that leaks in one hole can go out the other hole... Seriously though an Anderson Bailer just under the thwartseat next to the keel batten worsk very well.

Wall thickness wants to be the same. By having gussets form an internal octagon the thickness of the wall section after 8 siding will be same in the thickest part as it is on the thickest part of the flat faces before 8 siding. If going with a square mast with rounded corners and not rounding it over completely the gussets can be much smaller.

Yes but I am willing to bet the upper sections were much smaller diameter than the lower sections would have to be if wood. Not exactly and apples to apples comparison. Not necessarily, Concordia masts have rounded corners only. The term box is used because the construction has 4 sides, it does not necessarily reflect on the final shape. OK, Let me edit it to say Box Masts with internal Gussets can also be completely round and need not be square with rounded corners.

Truth be told I am far more fond of aluminum tubing section masts than all wood masts. Engineered material with known bend characteristics and strength and lighter in weight.

Box masts with internal gussets can be completely round after shaping and need not be square with rounded corners. The advantage is all in the layup. Basically each side is as long as the diameter of the mast will be. You then glue and tack in small trianular gussets on one side of each side offset in the thickness of the wood being used. The triangular gussets are of the correct dimension so looking down the glued up mast the interior will look like a perfect octagon. You leave out gussets in the areas you want the mast solid. On A CS bot or Bellhaven that would be the top and bottom section and where you have fittings such as the snotter, tabernacle pin area. In these areas you fit in solid squares that completely fill the interior when doing final assembly. Once gussets are cured you spread epoxy on all interior portions. The gussets make assembly a Breeze compared to birdsmouth. They align everything very nicely. Having long wide boards to assemble there is no sagging or banana masts ever as it is all self supporting horizontally and a whole lot less messy. Once box section is cured you 8 side the blank and then 16 side it and then round to final round shape. Simple as pie and you have a perfectly round hollow mast. Now if someone gave me 1 by 2's of Sitka Spruce free for the taking, then I would be interested in using them for Birdsmouth . because they are too small to be practical for much else...

If you have 1x 12 board s why on earth would you opt for Birdsmouth instead of a simpler box construction with internal gussets? Much simpler and cleaner and neater to set up and less hassle than Birdsmouth. I would only opt for Birdsmouth if I had a lot of long skinny pieces given to me free.

For the life of me I can not understand the appeal f Gorilla Glue. The question keeps popping up all the time. It is expensive. Cost per ounce clearly far more expensive than epoxy. If there is a gap in the glue line it is far weaker than epoxy. And it is not as waterproof as epoxy. To me Epoxy has all the advantages.

What do you save for lines on a Luff sleeve rig? 2 Halyards??? You still have snotters and downhauls don't you?? And you still have sheets. Not seeing any great advantage to eliminating 2 hayards myself.

Boy that Designer sure does have an eagle eye... I never really looked closely at that pic, but he is right about the dimensions... When i fit that step in I have it glued to the keel batten and also to the centerboard trunk and I fillet all around to the trunk and to the baltten and lay 3 strips of overlapped glass tape in the fillet and I use the screws... Likewise I fillet the mivven seat to the trunk and to the cleats on the seat bulkheads and tape those as well too. And I am now fitting a mast tube under the mizzen seat also. Not needed for strength but it is nice to just drop the mast down into the tube and not worry about seeting the heel of the mast in the step[. And it is nice withthat mast tube that all of the seats hole endgrain is well sealed and wwill not have the epoxy coating abraded and then allow water to ingress through end grain...

I have got to say when I first saw the psot if there had been no responses I would have called for tolerance of 25 microns ... But that is just my lesser nature showing through wanting to egg people on....

My daughter and her boy friend are on the couch looking at a lap top looking at engagement rings. He is swallowing hard looking at the prices... I remember that feeling myself. Now. If we could just get the whole culture to change... Instead of buying an intended an engagement ring, what if we got them sold on the idea of buying an engagement boat instead??? Sure would be a shot in the arm for the boat builders... And it would save lives too.. No more Blood diamonds..

48 replies on snotter attachments onan aluminum mast??? Really? oops, 49 now....

I wouldn't feel too bad about that Scott. That is the case with many people. Circumstances beyond our control.... If you are going to live on a big boat and sell the house , then big boat in the water makes much more sense. If I was going to do that I would consider a big boat in the water myself. I don't think that scenario will ever be one I am confronted with though.

That's the problem; I've rarely been to a seminar outside of my field that wasn't designed to separate a fool from his money. The problem started when your friend went to an earlier seminar about buying timeshares ;-) "Seminar" is a red flag word to me nowadays. Mike You know, it stands to reason. These organizations framea seminar to free you from a liability and push you to make an emotional decison to act quick. Just like you did the first time when you bought it. Time share owners seem to be a good mark for buying themselves out of the problem too.

"There is also something to be said for just taking some supplies and stepping on the boat sailing off in a matter of minutes verses loading, setting up, taking down and unloading when you return." Yeah, that is what I was thinking. That and standing headroom... Here is what I found out. I had my boat on a mooring as I could get a mooring for $1,500.00 a year. Docks cost about 3-4 K a year. BTW A year in Maine on the coast is really July through October. May and June are pretty cold and raw and foggy on the coast. So I pulled supplies out of the house and put them in the van. We drove to teh marina and found a parking spot. Hauled the gear and food from parking spot to the dock and offloaded there. Rowed out to the boat. Hopefully there would be an open spoto n the dock we could load stuff on the boat at. If not we were looking at about 2-3 rows out to the boat. Then we had to take off sail covers and prepare to leave. Coming back was same in reverse. I did not save a single second by having a boat in the water over what launching and recovering a Belhaven would be like. With a trailerable you schlep gear and food form house to the boat and form boat back to house when back. rather thanhouse to car to boat at marina.. Boat on warf might save a bit granted, but geesh, for the 3-4 K a year I was spending on the big boat it sure wasn't worth it. I am much happier with my coastal storm and hurricane preparations now too. Nope, I will Never ever ever have a big boat in the water again. A Bellhven 19 will be my big boat.

No, I never enjoyed it at all. I used it, but I never enjoyed it. The constant dripping of costs associated with it kept me form ever enjoying it. Tried selling it after first season as it only took me one season to determine I would never enjoy it.

This is a recent revelation for me. I had a big glass boat kept in the water and I lost my shirt on it. Sold it for half what i bought it for. after investing several thousand and labor too, and marina fees and all the like. But, I found out yesterday there are worse things you can buy. I went to a seminar with someone who had bought a time share. Bought it about 15 years ago. New Orleans resort. 2 weeks. Spent 7 K to buy it. Maintenance fees are $500.00 a year. You can't find anyone to buy used timeshares. You can't find anyone to take them for free. And you can't send the title back to the resort owner and give it back. Nope. You have that maintenance fee for life. And then your heirs have it after you. Seminar was for a group that will take your timeshare off of your hands and take the liability of it from you.... For a Fee... $7 K to have someone take your timeshare off your hands that you originally spent 7 k to buy. Makes me feel less bad about the Big Boat in the water fiasco I got myself into years ago....

John Brooks redrew the 12 1/2 in a Somes sound 12 1/2 glued lap iteration. In his plans it calls for angle =coamings and altered seat angles . doesn't veer too far from the aesthetics of the 12 1/2 but improves seating comfort considerably.

Clint chase gives a nice class on Oarmaking at Wooden Boat School. I learned a lot by sneaking a peak in form time to time during breaks in the electrical course I gave. As to issue of a=oars being too heavy. Heaviness is much less an issue of the oars are balanced. Balancing takes place by fitting copper tubes filled with lead in the handles to get the right balance..

What is your ambient air temp in the area you are testing Howard?