woodenmast folkboat

[SnowGoose]

i am going to look at a woodenmast for a folkboat. It has been on the attick for at least 10 years. Has anyone (positive) suggestions where to look at..

[Bob Smalser]

Make sure it's still straight as the wood may be very, very dry from attic storage. Here's where I'd like a moisture meter....in a heated structure it could be as low as 6% in a dry attic.

Remove and poke the wood around hardware locations to make sure there is no extensive rot. Small soft spots around the smaller fasteners can be repaired with new wood patches and epoxy.

I'd move it outdoors onto sawhorses set up dead level, remove all hardware, cover it with a tarp that breaths and let it acclimate for a month or more before doing much with it.

[Ian McColgin]

There are some differences depending on whether it's hollow or glued-up solid or off the tree solid (least likely).

Any glued up structure may betray some glue line failures that you want to look for, but these are not necessarily fatal.

Look for blackened wood near the major highly stressed fittings such as the cluster of stuff you'll find at the spreaders. Look also down at the heel.

If it's well dried out bad rot may have gone powdery rather than the normal spongey.

Glue failures are pretty easy to repair. Rot is harder as it needs to be chased down and the causes eliminated. In hollow sticks, you can get rot working from the inside out and it can be a major pain to find.

G'luck

[Noah]

Hmmm....

Other than that usual rot, I guess there are a few Folkboat Specific things to look at. First would be that it would fit your boat. Some Folkboat's were deckstepped, and some were keel stepped. Folkboat's have steel spreaders for the diamond wires and you should see if there is rot under the steel, and also if the steel has rusted too much.

The top of the mast tapers down, and I can imagine if someone was too agressive with the backstay they could stress the mast, so I would check for any cracks up on the top.

The masts are solid, and it could be very dry, so I would think there may be some checking of the wood after all those years of storage, but I could be wrong.

Under and around any fastenings check for rot, and make sure that your sails will fit the bolt rope track of the mast.

Good luck, and happy Folkboating!

Noah

[Noah]

As for a slight twist or an un-straight mast, I wouldn't worry about it. My mast definately isn't straight as the wood moved at the time of glue up. (It wasn't me that built it) Folkboat masts are pretty flexible, and as long as it doesn't look like a banana it will straighten out when you rig it and put it on the boat.

Noah

[SnowGoose]

thank you kind for your reply and advise where to look at! Its nice to see that there are more people interested in the woodstuff.