Tabernacle for flat fish

[flyon]

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid80/pe4a669a63cdfe41ad346b93182bc106e/fb094318.jpg

I have attached concepts drawing for a mast tabernacle. My boat will be
trailered to the water and rigged for each days use. I raced a Hobbie 18
for a few years and found that if it takes over about 15 minutes to rig a
boat, the boat is not sailed as much as it might be. My intend is to have
my flatfish look as original as possible. Therefore the traditional
tabernacles I have seen would look out of place. If my idea can be made to
work it will be much more unobtrusive.

For the summer the boom could remain attached to the lower mast section and
the mast hoops left on the upper section. The mast world be laid flat, parallel
to the boom and the bronze pin in the mast would slide forward to engage
the notch in the bronze mast stiffener. The mast would be swung up rotating
on the pin up into position. I have done this on the Hobbie. With a line
through a block at the stem then trough a jamb cleat I was able to rig the
Hobbie alone. Once up right with the forestay held temporally in place by
the line to the jamb cleat the mast bands could be fastened and only a the
forestay would need to be fastened and the jib and main sail raised to be
ready to launch.

It is my understanding that the mast on these boats are somewhat oversized
but I would most likely up size the base of the mast to the next available
mast ring. The lower portion could easily be laminated out of hardwood and
if necessary the lower 3 or 4 feet of the upper spruce mast section could be
reinforced with a carbon fiber tow an each side hidden under a spruce cap.

What do you guys think? Workable? strong enough?bad idea? :confused:

Thanks Fred

[ 09-21-2003, 11:19 AM: Message edited by: flyon ]

[rbgarr]

Sounds okay to me as far as the tabernacle goes, but I've got a couple of other observations.

What do you mean by mast ring? Does that refer to mast hoops for attaching the luff of the sail to the mast, or the metal bands you show for holding the upper and lower sections of your tabernacle 'break' together under sail?

If it's the former, I guess you are going with the gaff rig. It seems to me that your approach to stowing the sails would be better with the marconi rig, because there'd be no gaff to fool with. At the same time I think you'll eventually find that you have to take your sails off each time or keep them on the boom instead of the mast.

If the sails were already rigged on the mast when you raised it in the tabernacle it would be both heavier and more likely to be affected by a gust of wind or something. Something in a smaller rig with a braille and sprit might not be so difficult but the gaff rig of a Flatfish would seem to me to be a handful.

Good luck!

[ 09-20-2003, 11:34 PM: Message edited by: rbgarr ]

[flyon]

The mast bands are bronze bands that are used on herreshoff boats to fasten the mast to a bulkhead.

I would leave the mainsail on the boom and fasten the sail to the wooden mast hoops before hoisting the main.

Thanks for your intrest :D

Fred

[Paul Scheuer]

So this is an unstayed mast for a gaff rig -

The first question would be can you trailer the length of the folded rig ?

You should be able to get the same strength with the addition of a little metal as you've shown without increasing the dimension of the wood.

I'd think about how the vertical loading works with the sloped mating surfaces. I'd go with either a horizontal interface or an arc so that the sections jam together when erect. The bands would be less critical, and you might be able to hold the thing in the upright position with a couple simple wingnuts. As shown, the sections look like they want to cam away from each other.

Of course, I'd noodle around with a model before I committed to the real mast.

[flyon]

No there are fore stays, shrouds and and two running backstays.

I angled the notches to prevent water from standing on a flat section. but I can see how under compression it would want to camb forward.

I did intend to use wing nut to fasten the metal bands togerther to hold the mast up right for rigging and machanicaly join the two pieces

By shorting the mast by the amount from the gooseneck to the keel the mast becomes about 5 feet shaorter and can be carried on the boom crutch and rested on the foredeck for transport within the length of the boat. 20.6 ft deck 19 ft mast.

[ 09-21-2003, 11:31 AM: Message edited by: flyon ]