Tanzer 16 Hinged Mast Retrofit -- Part 5 -- Installing the brace and and the base (step) for the king post

Tanzer 16 Hinged Mast Retrofit -- Part 5 -- Installing the brace and and the base (step) for the king post -- September 14, 2014.  Installing the deck brace was pretty straight forward.  The base was another matter.  Remember--you are seeing this as I build it.  I haven't finished yet.  There will undoubtedly be mistakes made along the way.  Don't take a hacksaw to your mast until we see if this works.  jim

To install the brace, I just clamped the brace in place, drilled some holes with counter sinks and fastened it all together.  Well, it was almost that easy.  First I spent an hour agonizing over the exact location.  I used jacks to level the trailer, dropped plumb bobs, and messed about with levels.  I don't know what exactly I was looking for, but I couldn't find it.  Finally I realized that for 41 years, the mast has just been rattling around inside the over-sized slot and the bottom hasn't been fastened to anything.  So,  what the heck!  Let's just get it close that will probably be better than it was--And, when the boat is sitting in the water, we can drop a plumb bob and shim the mast to true vertical.  Therefore  I just centered the hole in the slot and called it good.

The caulk is important to keep water from entering the plywood substrate

of the deck.

Installation of the base (step) was a little more interesting.  It was tight--really tight.  To drill the holes through the keelson I needed a very short bit and a right angle drill.  Like this:

It did go in, but in retrospect, maybe I should have stuck with the original fitting bolted to the keelson or just used one bolt in the middle of the base assembly.  When I cut the mast, I will hedge my bets by leaving an extra 3/4" so that the base mount can be changed back to the original fitting if needed.

To get the final fit, the port side needed some extra planing and the bottom

had to be shortened by one inch.  But, it is a sturdy little momma!

Next:  It's time to sailor-up and cut the mast.  This will be the first irreversible thing we have done.  I already made the special miter box for this operation and I think I know how to support the 24 feet of mast while we cut it.  (Work bench, table saw and rolling table with some spacers added.)  But, first I need to take a week or two off and do some leaf raking, firewood splitting, and actually do some things for my day job.  I will get back to you.

Today's Cliche:  God gave us the White Sox to remind us that anybody can have a bad century or two.

Tanzer 16 Hinged Mast Retrofit -- Part 4 -- making the deck brace for the king post

Tanzer 16 Hinged Mast Retrofit -- Part 4 -- making the deck brace for the king post -- September 13, 2014.  With the base for the king post (mast step) complete, it is time to create a deck brace that will hold the king post in position.  The idea is simple, but the execution requires some special tools, some precision work, and a good measure of messing about.  Remember--you are seeing this as I build it.  I haven't finished yet.  There will undoubtedly be mistakes made along the way.  Don't take a hacksaw to your mast until we see if this works.  jim

You need to cut a hole pretty much the exact shape of the outside of the mast.  That hole needs to be dead center over the top the keelson.  It needs to be in line with the centerline of the boat. It needs to hold the mast perpendicular to the keelson.  It should probably be centered in the deck slot for the mast. That is a lot to ask from what seems a simple hole in a board.  Here is the idea I stared with:

The spacers on top of the board are to provide clearance for the deck.

The edges of the deck have a lip.

To copy the shape of the mast's outside, just get a piece of nice plywood and trace around the mast.  Cut outside the line; then file and sand to final size.  I happened to have a little piece of MDO scrap laying around. This tear-drop shaped piece fits the outside nicely.

Not perfect like the plugs, but pretty close.

Then you take this pattern and screw it down to a board that will be the template for cutting the hole.  I kept using my little scraps of 1/2- inch MDO.  Then you get a router with an up-cut spiral cutting bit and put it in a router that has a pattern cutting sleeve.  Like this:

I used more scraps of MDO to support the router so it didn't tip on the

pattern. A small trim router works best on this kind of pattern.

Now you end up with a hole in the MDO.  That is the pattern you will use to cut the hole in the deck brace. You will have to change to a bigger guide (wider in diameter) and experiment until the hole you cut is just the right size. It took me three tries.  I ended up adding foil tape around the guide until it produced a hole that was a tight fit.  You need patience for this part of the job.

You can seem some of the test cuts under the actual board.

The final result from four or five hours of messing about was a hole that met all the requirements.

Pretty nice fit.  Certainly more snug than the deck slot

made by Tanzer.

Next:  Adding the spacers and mounting the brace under the deck.

Today's Cliche:  There are stupid questions.  They are asked by stupid people at the end of long, stupid meetings.  Stupid bosses attempt to answer them.

Tanzer 16 Hinged Mast Retrofit -- Part 3 -- making the base for the king post

Tanzer 16 Hinged Mast Retrofit -- Part 3 -- making the base for the king post -- September 8, 2014.  So far we found a spare mast to experiment on, purchased a hinge, and made the plugs for the mast. Time to make the new kingpost base.  Reminder--you are seeing this as I build it.  I haven't finished yet.  There will undoubtedly be mistakes made along the way.

You could keep this really simple.  You could just drill a hole in the mast base and bolt it into the keelson..As long as you position it so that the brace on the deck and the attachment point on the keelson are in the right place, it will probably work. That's what I intended to do.  I even drilled the hole for a 1/4" stainless bolt.

I didn't use a drill press, because I didn't want to make a fixture to hold

the casting, but I was very careful to make sure the hole was perpendicular

to the plane of the keelson.

Then it occurred to me that I would like the kingpost base to be a little more beefy.  And, I wanted the ability to move it fore and aft if I made a mistake--I was not trying to make it adjustable under sail--that's a rule breaker. (Eh, probably all of this is a rule breaker.  I would check with the measurer if you race in one-design fleet.)

Not real precise planning, but I thought I would just climb in and out of the

boat and figure out the sizes as I went along.  I did make it 11 inches long. I
decided later to leave out one piece of oak so the mast would only be
raised 3/4 of an inch.

To build this, you need to capture the angle between the floor and the keelson.  In my boat it is about 30 degrees.  I used a bevel gauge to find the angle.  I cut four pieces of oak with that angle.  The two inside pieces were the same height as the  keelson.  The outside pieces were wider.  Of course it's a boat  so everything is a curve.  The tops have to be tapered --just lay the side piece on the bottom and hold it tight against the keelson.  Then drag a pencil along the top of the keelson and cut the pieces off with a band saw.

I just cut four pieces wider than I needed them and then went back to 

the boat to get the height and taper to cut the top.  You really can't do this

with a hand saw.

I used a band saw to get the right taper on the top--the front is about

a 1/2" shorter than the top--the bottom rises as it nears the bow--it's a boat.

You could use a hand saw or jig saw for this operation.

Leave the outside ones a little taller so you can plane them to fit.

Then after some dinking around to get the width exactly right you can make a cap piece.



Everything needs to fit snugly around the keelson.  Screw it together--don't glue it.  The final assembly will look like this.  Put polyurethane sealer on everything.  You will bolt it through the keelson with 1/4 or 5/16 stainless bolts.  You don't want them too low or too far forward since you will have to get a wrench on these bolts when you install the support over the keelson.

High obligue view--plug is just sitting there.

End view.  Glue the two side pieces together,

but don't  glue the top plate down.  You

will be removing it several times before you're

through.

For now keep the screws in the top plate and the side plates loose.  You will have to take the support out and disassemble it so that you can attach a plug once you determine the final position of the plug--and hence the angle of the kingpost to the keelson.

At least, that's How I think this is going to work when I install it.  Remember; I am just making this up as I go along!

Right now the base weighs about six pounds--a lot of weight but worth it if it makes it easier to raise the mast.  I will just leave the outboard at home and sit a little more toward the back.

Next up:  The deck brace.

Today's Cliche:  A job is what you do to make a living.  Your hobby is what you do to make the job tolerable.

Tanzer 16 Hinged Mast Retrofit -- Part 2 -- making the attachment plugs

Tanzer 16 Hinged Mast Retrofit -- Part 2 -- making the attachment plugs  -- September 2, 2014 -- Now that we had the mast and the hinge, we had to come up with a way to attach the pieces together.  Some plugs for the mast.  O'Day sells those along with the hinge, but of course they wouldn't fit this mast.  So--first to capture the exact shape of the inside of the mast the fitting that attaches the mast to the keelson was removed.

Try not to loose too many of the little styrene beads.  They keep the water

out if you capsize.

Then plaster poured into an old container created a mold of the mast side of the old plug.  That allowed us to make an exact tracing.  I explored the idea of having the plugs cast out of aluminum or resin and called a friend to makes tooling for resin casting.  He suggested I find someone with a sand casting shop or make it out of wood.  "The have been using wood on boats for a few thousand years," he didn't say too sarcastically.

I used Fix-It-All, but plaster would have worked just fine.

I just wanted something more accurate than tracing the

outline with a pencil.

This is what I took to Ron.  He is such a perfectionist that he gave me

three samples--one cut in the middle of the line, one to the outside of the 

line and another to the inside of the line. (His shop is cleaner that most 

restaurants and some operating rooms.)

I had a nice piece of  2-inch thick oak provided by crew, Tony. At this point, I could have gone over to the band saw and cut the plugs and sanded them down to an exact fit--well, a pretty close fit--I wanted it nicer.
So-- planed the board down so both sides were clean and parallel.  The oak board and the pattern then went to Ron who owns a Shop Bot and he created some 1 1/2 inch thick plugs of that fit the mast nicely.

I asked Ron to make three of these plugs because I am thinking that

I would like to improve the mast step on the keelson while we are this

deep into the project.

Next step: Fabricate the base for the mast step on the keelson.  Of course it won't be the mast step any longer; it will be the base for the king post.

Today's Cliche:  The Internet contains vast amounts of information, but not a scrap of judgment or wisdom.

Tanzer 16 Hinged Mast -- Part 1 --extra mast & finding the hinge

Tanzer 16 Hinged Mast Retrofit -- Part 1 -- extra mast & finding the hinge  -- September 1, 2014  My first step was to find an extra mast for my boat.  If I wanted to take a hacksaw to a mast that is no longer being made, I felt I should start with an extra mast.  If I get this right, and document it properly, maybe others can approach this job with enough confidence to skip the "get a spare mast" step.

A new mast would cost about $400.  Since the companies I located were on the East Coast, and I am in Olympia, WA, shipping was going to be a problem.  Turns out that if they can drop it off at a recognized commercial address, in my case a friendly local lumber yard, the shipping costs drop down to about $250--of course that doesn't include the cost of any  fittings that you will be robbing from your old mast.

But!  I got lucky. A fellow down in Vancouver, Washington had put a Ranger 16 mast on his Tanzer, and we struck a deal for his old mast--200 bucks, and I drive down and pick it up.  Bonus--it had a complete set of fittings on the mast.  He threw in the old shrouds for another 25 dollars.  Thank you Ralph--see post June 23, 2014.

Ralph is the guy who did the total refurb on his Tanzer--like new boat and

trailer, with full cover, and nice sails.  He was only asking 4 thou--bargain.  

I would have bought it if I weren't already emotionally invested in my own.

boat.

The next task is to find a hinge.  O'Day was the answer.  They are still making their boat, current count 10,000 units, and they still make parts.  The hinge came from D & R Marine (http://www.drmarine.com) cost: About 51 bucks plus shipping.

This is the small hinge--they make a larger one, but this seems appropriate.

Next part:  Getting some plugs to attach the mast to the hinge.

Tanzer 16 a respectable last place - that mast must go!

Tanzer 16 a respectable last place - that mast must go!  -- August 30, 2014 -- Thursday was the last race of the season, and only our second time racing this year-broke my arm in May the night of the first race.  We were last, but it was a respectable last--the committee folks weren't drumming their fingers waiting for us to finish. Participation was light so we were up against the best sailors who had something gain--no low fruit to pick*.  We got very respectable starts on a skewed starting line--nobody could start on starboard tack and those that tried had to jibe behind the fleet or endure penalty turns for tacking in front of and touching other boats. (*Actually we beat a couple of boats but we didn't do the last of the three races; it was getting dark, and the boat had to go back on the trailer.)

We were just starting to bear off--we missed the C-Lark by about an inch.  

More room than I wanted to give him, but we were early on the line so 

we needed to kill a few seconds.  He had to luff to not cross early, and we

started dead even on port tack.  We were going faster at that moment.
He was about 60 -90 seconds ahead of us at the windward mark.

That is the value of racing; we were up against the best of our little fleet--we didn't make any mistakes.  We now know for sure that our boat is just a little slower than the others and points a little lower than the others, probably two or three degrees.  The new main has helped a lot, but there is more to do.  We never could get the main quite flat enough or get the boom all the way up to the center line on windward legs--the wind was about seven knots.  In our races that all added up to more than 90 seconds on the first windward mark.  We gained on the downwind legs but not enough.  Bright spot, our tacking and jibing have smoothed out so we don't lose time there. (And, we don't look like clowns.)

I have already stripped the boat and started working on next year's improvements.  It's early.  We could sail for two more months.  But, I am sick/tired/frustrated about the Tanzer 16 mast.  The Tanzer is a wonderful boat--but I hate that mast.  It is tall; it is heavy; and the base attachment to the keelson is impossible.   The portable hinge makes it tolerable--but just barely tolerable. The mast must go!

This is the new (used) mast.  The bottom fitting for the keelson has been
removedso that we could machine plugs.  They will attach the mast to the
two parts of the hinge--after we cut the mast.  In subsequent posts, you will
see step-by-step how the project unfolds. 

This is going to get fixed.  There is no sense starting and ending every sail with the dreadful task of dealing with that mast.  It is going to become a hinged mast like the early Tanzers and the Overnighters.  The parts are made and a spare mast is hanging in the storage area.  The most difficult part was machining the plugs that will attach the mast to the hinge.  A friend made them on his Shop Bot (plotter with a router).  The second most difficult part was an extra mast.  We found one down in Vancouver, Washington. (If you have to buy a new mast, a blank--no fittings is about $400 plus $200 or $300 shipping.)

I will explain the mast modification as the project proceeds.  I know this isn't just my issue.  Raising the mast and the cost of boats are the two most popular parts of this blog.  Lots of us must have trouble with this 31-pound, 24 foot piece of metal.  Wish me luck!

The to do list:
1) add hinged mast for easy raising with a gin pole
2) move halyards to centerboard cap; add cam cleats and a winch so it is easy to raise, lower, and adjust halyard tension underway
3) add additional blocks to traveler to gain 2:1 mechanical advantage so it will be easier to adjust traveler in brisk wind
4) add spinnaker pole
5) get new Genoa
6) paint deck, including filling holes left by previous owners
7) add new rub rail
8) do a little cosmetic repair to hull in bow area--somebody bashed a lot of docks
9) clean up trailer, paint, and new bunks
10) install cunningham with 2:1 mechanical advantage
11) refill the hardware box with shackle pins, rings, and cotter pins (lots of borrowing by others has depleted the spares)

That's a lot of stuff--but this boat is worth the trouble.  It is simple, roomy, easy to sail and very well- mannered.  Great design--crappy mast.

Today's Cliche:  Problems are just undiscovered opportunities.

Travelers for Tanzer 16's

Tanzer 16 Racing -- Travelers for Tanzer 16's -- August 17, 2014 -- Got an email from Ethan in Rhode Island.  He saved his money and convinced his dad to let him buy a Tanzer 16.  He wanted to know if he could improve on the rigid metal traveler on his boat.  It looks like this, and like all Tanzer things, it is simple and it works pretty well.

Simple but effective -- one of the nice things about Tanzer 16's.  Notice the 

nifty line to retract the rudder.  This photo is from the link "How to

make a rudder..."

But it could work better.  This arrangement won't allow you to loosen up the main sheet and still move the boom to windward.  The original plans show two different options.

Notice this drawing does not show how high the metal would have to be

to allow for rudder clearance.  I have never seen this arrangement.

Better, but they still had another option.

We had pictures of this arrangement when we viewed Ralph's boat in

July, 2014.

The class association manual shows what they call the Howe Traveler.  It looks like this.

I can see how this would allow you to flatten the main, but it doesn't look

like you can move the boom to windward.  I must admit that I have never

actually seen this particular arrangement in person or in a photo.

My boat had this traveler installed by Ron who sold the boat to me. I get a lot of control from this arrangement, but it is really difficult to adjust when there 10 or more knots of wind.  It really needs some form of mechanical advantage.  Maybe this winter we will add some two-part blocks.

This allows a lot of control and adjustment.  You can flatten the sail or

loosen it up, and you can control the boom position.

Truth be told--when we have to sail up to the launch dock on a super tight beat (a frequent occurrence in the evening when the wind comes out of the NW)  I just grab the boom and pull it to windward with my hand.

(Still waiting for parts to make my hinged mast--another winter project it would seem.)

Today's Cliche: The chances for failure increase exponentially as the number of people or parts involved increases  (one guy with a rock is far more reliable than a committee with a computer).
.