Mast and Boom Assembly

Here are some pictures of Shan Skailyn's stub mast and luff spar all assembled last weekend. As you can see, I still have some loose ends to tie up. Some of it depends on whatever reefing system I settle on. My original plan to reef by lowering the sail has proven to be problematic. Not impossible, just requiring more gear than I have at the moment.

Note the two cleats on either side of the stub mast. The one on the right in the picture is for the halyard, so I can quickly release in case things feel out of control (necessary for this unexperienced wanna-be sailor). The other cleat is for the rope that keeps the luff spar tensioned in it's universal joint.

Bamboo Mast Completed

I was able to put the finishing touches on the bamboo mast. If you remember, this is part of a stub mast configuration, so the base is made to pivot in a socket; kind of like a universal joint. The eye splice (pink loop) is for threading the downhaul from the boom. The orange wrap is to prevent the boom jaws from wearing into the bamboo. When I lower the sail for reefing, the white collar keeps the boom jaws from dropping below a certain point. In the other pic you see the sheave I installed at the head of the mast so that I can lower the sail for reefing.

Currently working on building the reefing system into the sail and boom. Pix to follow!

Bamboo mast / luff spar

Interspersed with some other 'chores' in preparation for our return to the US, I managed to squeeze in a bit of time today on Shan Skailyn's spars. The rig is going to be a stub mast configuration. The stub mast is solid wood, and the other spars are bamboo. I've been hoping to get at least one coat of varnish on the spars before leaving them so the bugs don't eat them while we're away.
Today, I glued up the boom jaws (pix forthcoming - probably after boom jaws completed) and I also put some finishing touches on the luff spar. Since I want to be able to drop the whole thing at a moment's notice if things get hairy, I wanted some kind of quick releasing joint/mast step. I got this idea somewhere online... I think Gary D. mentioned it somewhere on his blog. Here you see the step assembly all together. Gary mentioned that this was the original universal joint that windsurfers used to use. The rope that passes through the step (located at deck level) will be tied off on a cleat (or maybe even a cam cleat for quicker release potential). Then the other side of the rope will have a loop tied in it, both to keep it from pulling through the mast base and also to secure the boom downhaul to. In this setup the mast base pivots freely in it's little socket joint / step. The luff spar is held upright by a halyard running through the top of the stub mast.
Today, besides gluing up the boom jaws, I applied the fiberglass wraps around the ends of the luff spar to help prevent splitting. I also had to doctor up a split about four fifths of the way up. I think it must have split when it was originally cut and fell. The split was there when my friend brought it up. This was such a nice piece of bamboo compared to the others I had available to me that I decided to take a chance and try to fix it. So today I pried the split open a bit, loaded it with thickened epoxy, even used a hypodermic needle to inject epoxy into the narrower parts. I then covered the split with a piece of fiberglass (see pic). I'm sure hoping this will hold up well for me. Anyone out there ever tried repairing a split in bamboo before? Any luck? I'd love to get your input. I'm wondering if I should also put several full wraps of fiberglass on there too, or was what I did enough?