Is that a mast?

OK, just so you understand why people are intimidated when they ask if the bamboo is a mast and we answer that we use it for battens. Ida got this offcut for making mugs of. But it says something about the size.

Batten waste

Fun with the new battens

My hands are oh so sore. Tying battens to a junksail (actually with these battens it’s the other way around, you tie the sail to the battens) is bloody business. If you can stand the swollen fingers it is great fun to walk around with the bamboo, thicker than my over arm, until someone asks “what is that? a mast?” Then you say, “no, it’s a batten”, and they think you are making fun of them and walk away quietly.

Hoisting the red sail is a lot better.  People were actually shouting over the bay how beutiful she was.

I took the camera, but had no time to take pictures.

Tomorrow we will rig the lazy jacks, sheet, etc. Will we sail on friday? It would be fun.

Mast

So, my mother and I raised the mast today. It is really easy when noone have to run around deck trying to get those wires attatched.

We changed the halyard from three strand to a braided one for less friction between the parts. And also changed to a wooden block, as you can see. And put some new tar on the servings of the grommets and whippings.

Mast crane

Linnea from above

Mast top with new wooden block that will hopefully give a better lead

Moldy battens?

Some of the bamboo battens grow mildew last year. Will try some treatment this year.

But what is best?

Paint? Varnish? Cuprinol? Nothing?

Suggestions, please!

Stupid me

I would like to think I know a thing or two about boats. The problem is, as the years go by, people who know stuff tend to become a bit rigid in their beliefs. But not me, you see. I don’t only know a lot about boats. I have also found a way to keep modest and continue to learn. I simply mess up big time, once in a while.

Yesterday we were going to take off the mast. In the plans it clearly states that the mast foot should have limber holes. But I didn’t put them there. I figured that could wait, since we were only going to make a few sail trials and not sail the big seas this year. We wouldn’t have big waves rolling over the deck. I mean, what could happen?

If you don’t put limber holes in the mast foot the mast swells. And it is difficult to remove a swollen mast. The mast crane was able to lift the boat quite high out of the water, though, pulling the mast top.

Now I have learnt something. Feels great.

Mast partners and partner knees

Warning! Old pictures. This is how the mast is reinforced.

Laminated pine for the mast partner under deck. Also works as an oversized backing plate for deck hardware. I don’t understand why some people use grp-tubes or stainless bolted to deck. This is much simpler for a wooden hull, anyway.
Mast partners

The partner knees are epoxied with large a large radius filet to the hull and deck and taped with a number of layers of glass/epoxy.

Partner knees

Then there is a watertight bulkhead, slightly over an inch thick. According to the plans that one isn’t really needed for the hull strength, but it sure feels fine to have it there.

Also, the mast foot, made of laminated ash, running over numerous floors goes through this bulkhead. So it shouldn’t move.

Bamboo batten blues – again

Today the bamboo for the battens finally arrived. But they are too thin. Obviously there was some misunderstanding in how to measure the diameter.

So we got 26 canes. 5,4 meters long. (That means about a third of the batten will be overlapped and seized in the middle.) At the thick end they were 40-45 mm while we were aiming for 80 mm at the top and 60 mm at the bottom of the sail. The thin end was 20-25 mm.

The good thing is that we have more than twice as many canes as we need. So we should be able to use battens on both sides of the sail. This will give a slightly heavier sail than to use a thicker batten on the mast side and just something thin to lash on on the other side. Two 40 mm battens are also not as strong as one 80 mm. So I am pretty sure they will bend too much and possibly break in any heavy wind. But we will know more about that when we have tried it. The battens were also different. Some where thicker at both ends, so we will put them at the top.

This is what the battens looked like:

We also brought the sail aboard so we can lash it all together tomorrow and cut the rest of the running rigging, like lazy jacks, sheets, sheetlets and downhaul. I added a mast lift even though it isn’t in Tom’s plans, to help the lazy jacks hold the sail up at the forward end. It also gives an extra line up the mast, that might be handy to have.

Let’s see what happens tomorrow!

Stop the presses – bamboo is in Sweden!

According to the latest info, the bamboo might arrive at Stockholm tomorrow. Then we might be able to finish the rigging.

Waiting for the bamboo

The bamboo won’t arrive until next week. So now we work on other stuff. After a couple of rides with our about 20 years old bosuns chair we had to get something new. So I bought a climbing harness a bit extra padded from a rock climbing shop. I also found an emergency break that can ride a second line. Everything works great, I could hoist myself up quite easy. And the lower attachment point of the climbing harness is great for working at the mast top. (Where else would you want to work on a junk mast?) Here is Ricard getting ready to be hoisted. We had to fix the lead for the halyard so it won’t chafe at the mast and create friction.

Meanwhile my mother is sewing on the boltrope and my father drives to the chandlers to find some line and fasteners.

Here is a picture of the mast at the galley. Looks quite good if you ask me. I had to discourage some people who wanted to hug it, because we had just had some extra oil on it. Maybe next time Mårten!

Big Mastday!

So at last we could raise the mast. Thank you Ricard for all the seizings etc.

First we moved the heavy thing to the mast crane.

Then we moved the boat.
We just had to take a trip under engine. Here is Ricard at the tiller. I must say that this boat is much easier to maneuver than our last boat, even though the propeller is offset. When in reverse I didn’t find any prop walk whatsoever and it started turning quite fast for a boat with this kind of keel.

A bit nervous at the mast crane.

I climbed up to untie the sling.

And we are up!

And back to the jetty.