Rounding the mast

[Gareth Curtis]

Anyone got any good tips on rounding the mast?

I didn't round the other spars on Matt's advice and they look great. But with the main mast I attempted to round it.

Fundamentally it is round and condidering it's legnth, my skills and mostly using basic hand tools it's a pretty good job.

However.... it's very rough when you get close up and not very "evenly round". I attemted sanding the portion just above the kingplank as that is the bit you see and I figured I would start there and work my way up, however I'm not really getting anywhere, to the point I sanded the the mast a little to much and it's a bit loose in the kingplank but the mast still looks rough and not at all round??

Has anyone any tips on getting an evenly round, good finish.

The boat doesn't seem to care and for the most part neither do I , but it would be nice to finish it properly.

Thanks
Gareth

[Clem Freeman]

Is there a danger when rounding the mast that you weaken it if trying to get it round? Just wondered as its a decision I will need to make at some point, not for a while though as I'm still cutting out the ply.

[Craic]

Has anyone any tips on getting an evenly round, good finish?

It's simple: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KPXNKlaAo8

[Anthony Huggett]

I recall from Matt's notes on building the mast that a round Swallow Boat mast is built from an hollow octagonal section, which is then smoothed. It's apparently much trickier to build the octagonal hollow section than the square.

I agree with Clem that rounding a hollow square section is likely to take away too much from the corners.
  

Anthony

[Gareth Curtis]

Hi Anthony,

My mast is a solid piece of wood and is not built as a box section. I guess though in theory as you remove wood you must make it weaker???

Clem - I left my other spars square and just rounded off the edges they look great and I kind of wish I had done this with the mast, I'm not sure if is possible though as the mast has to be round where it goes through the kingplank?

Claus - that looks good, my engineering skills don't go much further than a screwdriver and hammer though. I guess there must be somewhere I can get it done like that, whether it's worth it of not I will have to find out.

So all you home builders (with solid masts) how did you do it? I'm hoping your not going to say elbow grease, but I suspect that's where it's going to be. It's always the same, 90% of the job is easy, but the last 10% is the important bit, is the most difficult and it takes 90% of the time. I shall think about it a lot whilst I am sailing.

Thanks
Gareth

[Craic]

So all you home builders (with solid masts) how did you do it?

Gareth,
with an electric planer, a prism mast support, and some discipline when turning the mast on systematically. You start of with a square section. Then plane down the corners until you have an even 8 corner section, then 16.
I stopped there and did the rest with an electric sander. Do that in the evenings when the sun is low so you can see the remaining ridges (corners facing up) better.

From close up such made masts still look a bit rough, but from a few yards away they look perfect. Good enough for me, and I heard no complaints ever.

I did 3 masts this way (2 for my Drascombes, and one for my SeaRaider as spare), and they got a bit smoother with every new go. So it's not just elbow grease, it's practice too.

But then, solid masts are dumb. They reduce the stability through their unnecessary weight. There are loads of tips on the www how to make hollow masts, it's not rocket science.

Good luck.

[Steve Joyce]

Hi Gareth,  just finished my main mast for my Storm 15,  and am pretty pleased with it.  I left my electric plane in the box and did the corners with a hand plane.  Did the basic rounding with a box sander which I made,  using 80 grade paper and finished off with a long piece of 120 grade with a shoe shine type technique.  Took about 4 hours from start to finish.

I may need to review my quality assessment when I have oiled it though.  Guess you have yours done now.