Charlie Girl gets her mast fitted

[kydocfrog]

What fun! Ran the mast up to fit the shrouds for the first time today.

Tabernacle and extended hatch work fine. I can do everything except clip or unclip the forestay standing steady on the cabin sole; no climbing or balancing. The mast rake seems to put just enough pressure on the locking pin (at least while on the trailer) to make it bind pretty badly. I think I can solve that though. Topping lift was not rigged for this photo, so main boom is just sort of drooping there. Now that I have seen the shrouds, I'm not sure that my plan to eliminate the gaff jaws in favor of a simple crossing boom -- standing lug style -- is going to work out. Not sure about that yet. That's the gaff standing against the port side in the photo.

Also will really need a substantial boom and mast crutch rig for trailering. Already working on that. But the tablernacle rig seems much stronger than the hinge thing. Plus I can demount the mast quicly for storage or even to run her as a picnic cruiser under power on the rivers around here.

And there is a silver coin under the mast. The goal now is Rend Lake. Lots of details to do, but I can smell the breze.

Hey, Adla -- having established yourself as the inspriation for the whole board this spring (both sailing and accurately rating the relative motivational value of grinding academic papers compared to sailing. I'm supposed to present one in late May; haven't even gotten started.) -- any pictures from today? You said you were going sailing. Hope that happened.

DocA in the spring time in Kentucky.

ps. The tabernacle is really a kind of buff. It looks pink in the photos. It isn't

[Guest Oyster]

Keep plugging away at it. Its all coming together, and looking good. 8) I tested the waters today since the weather was just right, and the water temp had increased, and a great time was had by all. But here is a target date and location for you to shoot for, right in your front door.

http://www.usawaterways.com/tsbb/

[umop_apisdn]

Now that I have seen the shrouds' date=' I'm not sure that my plan to eliminate the gaff jaws in favor of a simple crossing boom -- standing lug style -- is going to work out. Not sure about that yet. That's the gaff standing against the port side in the photo.[/quote']

That will be interesting to see how it works out. If you have to go back to a jawed gaff, will the jaws fit around your tabernacle hinge? You might not be able to lower your gaff all the way down. :shock:

Noel

[Dave R1]

Doc, she's looking good. I like your tabernacle arrangement, too.

As for a boom crutch, you could do what I did and build a sort of saw horse that sits up on the seats when the mast is down. I used some of the lumber from the dolly the boat sat on during building. After jointing and planing the wood down it looked pretty good. I used a 2x6 for the top piece and cut an arch along the top with a notch in the center for the mast and one just off center for the boom.

It's not something I take out in the boat when sailing, though. I just bungie it to the trailer after unloading the boat. I have a topping lift to support the boom when the sail is down. It is led back to the cockpit so I can also raise the boom to make standing room in the cockpit when the sail is down.

[kydocfrog]

Hmmm... gaff...good point.

Sawhorse...that's kind of what I had in mind, but the sawhorse image adds some clarity to the structure. Thanks

[Dave R1]

You can see some of the crutch here:

Pardon the mess, though.