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Mast is 12" tapering to 8 and is 5/16" thick. Is this a good idea for a mast. Boat is 50' and steel so I don't know if its too heavy for the boat. Do they generally use good alloys in these poles? Just curious no plans to use. Couldn't find anything on search but I can't string words together properly I guess.
how do you plan to run the mainsail up the mast? hoops?
what do you plan to do with the cantilevered mercury light at the top and/or any attached signage?
How do you plan to cut it down and haul it away from the off-ramp without anyone noticing?
I don't know much about how masts are constructed, and even less about highway poles. But I would suspect that there's a reason why masts are generally more rectangular in cross section, as opposed to round like a highway pole. Would the round pole be more susceptible to bending or breaking when the forestay or backstay tension is adjusted?
A local boatbuilder, with much the same type of philosophy as our own Brent Swain, used to write a column on economy boatbuilding in Pacific Yachting back in the heyday of home building. He advocated this very thing - the light poles were MUCH cheaper than mast extrusions since they were produced in such huge volumes.
He simply screwed or riveted an external track on them and used sail slugs.
Personally I'd go for a round one, not one of the faceted ones.
Being the traditional sailor that I am, I much prefer a old
wooden telephone pole as a mast as they come with spike
steps to climb up and set the sails and have already in place
yards, and if lucky they may still have some old telephone wires to be used as braces.
Really... thinking to much weight up top and you want some flex.
This is why wooden masts were/are built from Sitka Spruce,
light and flexible as are todays modern Aluminum spars.
Be careful using some of the newer wooden poles. The new FIOS wires may not hold up to the stress when tensioned as a backstay. But, i do like the rigidity of the pre-positioned foot pegs though.
not an engineer but I've read that to get the same strength the diameter of a wooden mast would be considerably bigger than aluminum and would weigh a lot more per meter.
not an engineer but I've read that to get the same strength the diameter of a wooden mast would be considerably bigger than aluminum and would weigh a lot more per meter
Joshua, the boat that Bernard Moitessier sailed in the Sunday Times Golden Globe solo round the world race had masts that were telephone poles. Wooden, of course.
It's not hard to find a mast being sold for scrap value if you look around, especially with the number of damaged boats and parts filtering onto the market now. Given a choice between buying a mast at scrap value or a lamppost at scrap value, i'll take the mast- all the hard work has been done, all the shroud and stay tangs are there, no sail track installation needed, etc.
I just read it and wondered. I don't know about wooden masts so I can't answer the question about flexibility. Apparently some people are buying new light poles which are cheaper due the the very high volume of production than masts. I haven't looked into it but the idea of buying a scrap mast that has good life left in it seems a good one.
They would make good masts for a gaff schooner, although they have more taper than is normal for a wood spar. However, when I was rigging my schooner; the light poles were very expensive, and I made wood masts for much less.
Hunter Vision 36 - the unstayed mast *was* an aluminum light pole, complete with a sleeve joint part-way up, very obvious as the taper was not continuous. So it can and has been done.
Several years ago one of the Sailing Magazines, perhaps Cruising World, serially chronicled the completion of a bare hull--I believe a Cape George--by a young couple. They fitted the boat with a Gaff rig using an aluminum light pole as a mast that proved very satisfactory. Once completed they took off with their two small children on voyage of adventure/discovery. Unfortunately, I cannot recall the name of the yacht but I suspect one could come up with the article and their blog if one were determined enough with Google or one of the other search tools.
Wow since we are talking THEORY only here... I think you should forgo the rigging, mast, and just take the chute approach... Way cheaper to implement, slightly limited on direction of sail (just a bit). I just think it's funny that they show this, like it's some kind of amazing invention.
I am thinking using a lightpole as a mast might be tiring to configure, but hey, you waste your time in the shop, or on the water... whichever works.
Used mast is probably the cheapest/quickest way to go and still get decent sailing.
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