[Public-List] Paul Vibert Mast Repair, Help Needed.

[Dan Rivera]

All,
This is a recommendation from an accomplished and experienced Bermudian sailor.


"OK, this goes back to traditional methods from the 19th century.  Here's a crude rig you can bang out in a few days.
 
Mast: make a box.  A box is a lot stronger than a solid mast.  Use something between 1x4  and 1x6 (it's a trade-off between strength and weight aloft, use your best judgement and don't let  it get too heavy relative to your boat) of the local hard wood (unless it is particularly brittle, then use the best thing you can find that has a bit of give), glue and screw it together with the best materials available.  Dress it as best you can and round off the corners with an adze or a plane.   Get some 1" to 1 1/2" diameter wooden beads (or bigger, not smaller) wooden beads and thin (1/8") line.  Thread the beads and then knot the line either side of each bead to hold each in place.  Make loops around the mast with the line/beads (2 beads per side, so 6 beads: front of mast and both  sides, the sail is on the aft end and the line will naturally stretch away from the mast, so no beads on the aft end) and attach to the mainsail securely using a reef
 knot.  Main should hoist and drop fairly readily with this arrangement, beads will roll over the wood even under load. This is MUCH better than just line, which will bind on the wood very easily and can prevent you from dropping a sail under load. 
 
Mast step:  make a robust mast step on deck out of 3x3, bolt it securely through the deck.  The foot of the mast should fit tightly inside this box, use a glue and sawdust mix to fill the gaps.  The sides of the mast step should be at least 3" high so that the mast cannot jump out, especially if you have to use rope rigging or if you can't get the wire rigging pretty tight.
 
Halyard: Use a regular block with a shackle at the top of the mast for your halyard, use a short piece of line or wire  to make a loop to catch one of the cheeks (see rigging below) to attach this block to the top of the mast.  This is a much stronger attachment than putting an eyebolt through the mast.
 
Boom: your aluminium boom probably won't attach readily to the mast with crude tools, so make a wooden one.  Take a  1x4 length of wood and glue and screw as best possible a 1x3" piece end on to it to make a T shape, the vertical is the 1x3 and the horizontal is the 1x4, the vertical points downward, so the top of the boom is a wide flat surface. Dress as best possible, round all corners with an adze or plane.  If the foot of your main uses slides, then lash it to the boom through the grommets, if it uses a bolt rope, glue/screw two strips of wood to the top of the boom that you have first grooved out with a router or chisel, to make a channel similar to that on an aluminium boom.  
 
To attach the boom to the mast, glue/screw strips of wood either side of the forward edge of the boom so that a 3 - 4 in thick section of wood protrudes forward either side of the mast about 4 - 6".  These are the "boom ears" and will hold the boom in place without the need for a gooseneck or other pivoting attachment to the mast.  Construct these "ears" of several thin (1/2" to 1") strips of wood glued together for strength and be sure that they overlap the boom by at least a couple of feet.  Through bolt the whole thing through the boom in at least two places.  Smooth out the resulting U shape that will contact the mast as best possible, use leather to line the U if available to reduce friction and noise.    Once the boom is finished and on the mast, tie a line between the ears at the forward end to prevent the U from jumping off the mast when lowering or raising the sail (when the sail is up, the forward pressure holds the ears in place, so
 this is just for when the boom is flapping about with no pressure on it, the line can be 1/8",  it takes no real load).
 
Rigging: Use wire if you have it, if not use a type of rope that won't stretch (i.e. no nylon or polypropylene), even hemp (sisal)  rope is fine if you keep working it for a few days. 
 
The top of the rigging: At the top of the mast, for attaching either wire or rope, glue a wedge shaped "cheek" to each of the four sides, with the thick edge of the wedge facing upward.  Sand a slight concave surface in the top edge of each cheek and round the edges.  Make a loop in the rigging wire/line and slide this over the top of mast so that it catches the cheek and is thereby prevented from sliding downwards.  Each cheek should be at least a foot in vertical length, and 3" wide and about 2" thick at the widest point of the wedge. It is  glued/screwed to the mast securely, thin end of the wedge down, thick edge up.  Thin edge doesn't have to taper to nothing, but it should taper a bit.  This is much stronger than trying to attach your rigging to an eye bolt a the top of the mast.
 
The bottom of the rigging: If you have wire and turnbuckles, great.  If you don't, in place of a turnbuckle, you can make a 6 part purchase out of rope.   You can fashion deadeyes out of blocks of wood (deadeyes are, traditionally oval shaped, blocks of wood with three holes in each; the holes are big enough to feed your rope through and the holes are smoothed off on all edges and waxed so that the rope will slide easily through them).  Feed rope through to make a six part purchase and attach this six part purchase arrangement to the bottom end of the shroud so that the bottom of the shroud comes about chest height off the deck before you start cranking down on it.   Then sweat the rigging tight (standing on the deck, pull the shroud sideways towards you, then take up the slack using the six part purchase, then repeat). When the shroud is as tight as you can get it, tie off the six part purchase rope securely using  a rolling hitch around the
 standing part of the rig.  You can get additional tension by making a "Spanish windlass" with a stick (poke a short stick through the ropes in the 6 part purchase and twist round and round to tighten), then lash the whole thing off very securely with more line.  Rig 2 shrouds per side, one terminating slightly forward of the mast and one slightly aft, a headstay and a backstay, so a minimum of 6 in all. A second headstay wouldn't hurt.
 
That rig will probably get you a couple thousand miles through bad weather, just take it easy.
 
Good luck



________________________________
 From: Kirk Little <kirkalittle at hotmail.com>
To: "public-list at lists.alberg30.org" <public-list at lists.alberg30.org> 
Sent: Monday, October 29, 2012 8:49 AM
Subject: [Public-List] Paul Vibert Mast Repair, Help Needed.
 

Well here is a chance to put the list to a very good use helping Paul 
out.  Here is the most recent email asking for some advice from the 
list; 



<<<<<Am having difficulty finding a replacement mast but was thinking...


Do
you think it would be possible to make a temporary hollow stick using 
lumber (ie. 2x6), glue, and a ton of screws.  It would need only be 
about 26 feet or so and would only be for the run to South Africa under 
reduced sail.  I would put additional shrouds on it to increase it's 
integrity or perhaps even a second pair of spreaders as well.  



Would
you please run this by some of the folks in the association who may be 
more informed in this area than I and may be willing to offer 
suggestions or insight.  Keep in mind that I have crude materials and 
rudimentary tools so there will be no smooth planed edges and I suspect 
that I may not even be able to find the proper glue nor clamps.



Please get back to me when you can.


Paul


P.S.  The wooden stick need only last 14 hundred miles.>>>>>


For the sake of timeliness I would suggest that any replies of value get
emailed directly to Paul or if you post to the list should probably be 
forwarded to Paul here (pvibert at yahoo.com) as well. I'm under the impression he may not subscribe.  



Something else to consider regarding suggestions for the mast, Paul says
he only needs to go 1400 miles, however that particular stretch of 
ocean has reputation for being extremely nasty at times.  I personally 
have at least three friends that were all rescued off the coast of S.A. 
and that was in one season.  Dozens other that I didn't know personally 
also called for assistance as well that same season.   Cornell's book 
says "Several of those who have made this passage described it as the 
toughest let of their entire voyage.  It is therefore essential to 
prepare the boat thoroughly for this passage".  Then when finally 
closing on the coast he will be crossing the Alguhas current which will 
likely be running up to 3 or 4 kts with real possibilities of strong 
wind on tide.  Just some things to consider when making any suggestions 
here, it can be temporary, but it has to be strong.  



Thanks. -Kirk                            
_______________________________________________
These businesses support your Association:
http://www.alberg30.org/store/A30supporters.html
Please support them.
_______________________________________________
Public-List mailing list
Public-List at lists.alberg30.org
http://lists.alberg30.org/listinfo.cgi/public-list-alberg30.org
 1351529429.0