Reminder--you are seeing this as I build it. I haven't finished yet. There will undoubtedly be mistakes made along the way.
First order of business--build a miter box for this job. Some scrap 3/4 plywood fashioned into a box should do the job. I made it just big enough to hold the mast tight if you roll it over and lock it in with clamps. It's about 24 inches long. (Just finished a cabinet job so oak scraps are abundant.)
 |
Of course a jig was needed to make the jig. Blocks were clamped around
the jig to make sure that the hack saw stayed on the line as we cut
through the walls of the miter box.
|
Then we needed a way to hold the mast flat; I don't have a 24-foot long work bench. But, I do have a table saw that is the same height as the work bench--35 1/2 inches. (Actually the table saw is 1/8" taller than the work bench so the bench can be an outfeed platform for the saw.) My router table is a little taller than the table saw, and we added this little platform to 2 saw horses. Between the four supports, we will have 24 feet of support for the mast. Of course we will need to open the shop door so the mast can stick outside.
 |
| With enough scraps, a few nails, some patience, plenty of clamps, and some patience you can rig up almost anything. |
Next question -- how long to make the king post? I ran a string from the transom over the snubbing winch. If the king post were 24 inches tall, the mast could lay on the transom and still clear the winch. Then I added an inch in case we want to take out the hefty new mast step and go back to the original. So--25 inches and another 1/2--just for safety. This looks kind of like the spacing on the old Tanzer's that had hinged masts.
 |
| Old photo that I found scouring ads for the comps page. |
Cutting begins at 3:30. Hope it is a boring routine procedure. I will finish this post tomorrow.
Success! Before Tony arrived, I made a last minute adjustment to the miter box. The blade was not quite perpendicular on the back side so I cut the slot bigger and added a new pieces--like so:
After a beer and a little pre-planning we got down to business. The mast was adequately supported by the four tables, and we clamped the miter box in position. After quadruple checking, we decided to make the cut 25 1/2 inches from the bottom of the mast. Put a new blade in the hacksaw--easy cutting.
 |
| Because we had spent so much time on preparing for this step, the actual cutting was kind of anti-climatic. |
 |
In this picture you can see four clamps holding the mast. We used six--
and that was barely enough. The mast has to be locked down tight, and
the miter box even tighter.
|
Then we attached the hinges with stainless steel screws into the plugs. I will need to go back today or tomorrow and change the screws to 3/4-inch # 10's, but #8's worked for the moment. The 1" length screws bottomed out on the forward bolts.
We were a little pressed for time, but couldn't resist seeing if all the work had paid off. The new king post dropped into place perfectly. It is much more sturdy than the original set-up.
 |
The debris at the bottom are styro beads that fell out
everywhere. We caught what we could in a coffee can.
|
Next step: Final placement on the mast step so the king post is perpendicular to the keelson.
Today's Cliche: Prior planning prevents piss poor performance--mostly--a little luck couldn't hurt.
No comments:
Post a Comment