Thread: Coquina

Hi Ian,
The plans showed the position and it is intended for both towing and hauling onto and securing to a trailer. It is bored through the mast step so you may need to glue a filler block behind your stem and I presume it is positioned to assist with good towing qualities or perhaps it just looks a lot better on a traditional boat than a stainless retrieval eye bolted through the stem.

There is a separate deck fitting for a painter.

Some time ago, over two years ago in fact according to the post here I machined some hoop pine for the spars including the birdsmouth mast. It's amazing how the colour has darkened in that time from quite white to a gold anyway I thought it was about time I glued the masts ready for some shaping before the termites get at them.
After rummaging in the wood rack, retrieving the stuff and rechecking measurements my heart missed a beat cause I seemed to be one length short, how can this be then I realised I intended to saw one length into two after gluing (if you get what I mean).
That still didn't seem right as there was not sufficient width to achieve the desired diameter, oh no.
When all else fails read the plans and Doug added a note on the spar plan that if using DF instead of Spruce reduce the listed diameter by 1/16" I just hope Hoop pine has similar properties as Oregon.
Moral of the story I should finish something I start to save some confusion.

I decided to glue the mast in two sessions ie in halves for a couple of reasons 1.I was not overly confident in being able to get the job done before the glue kicked by myself. Doing it in the middle of winter fixed that problem as it turned out it didn't get above 8 deg in the shop for the last week so even after messing around for ages there was no sign. 2. I wanted to seal the inside with epoxy.

The biggest problem I had was making sure the taped (non glue) joints ended up on opposite sides, man I must be dense even after numbering everything and three dry runs I still mixed the staves up during glue up.

The second biggest hassle I had was spreading the glue in the V in the end I used a zip lock bag to lay a bead then spread with a bit of plastic. During the first session I was worried about lack of glue but when clamped there was reasonably consistent squeeze out along the seams.
I made sure I got plenty in for the second go and talk about squeeze out but now I've got glue all over the place.

Here is the set up and a pic of the inside

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In amongst all this fun put a couple of coats of primer on the hull. That was the good part the downside is a nice white coat has highlighted a couple of issues with the stem I missed during shaping. The width transition is not very consistent on the stem edge so do I do some more work or leave it. I'm inclined to leave it because I've now shaped the half oval to suit so it would mean buying another length and a lot of messing around. Not sure I will think on on it before the undercoat goes on.

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The spar making division of m2c1Iw Boatwerks has been in full swing this last week or so.

Well in between half hearted sanding of the hull I've cut out the spar blanks and worked on the mast planing through to 16 sides then a light trim to 32 sides. That reminds me need to make a couple of spar gauges for the next step tapering of the other five bits.

Here is the mast after 8 siding the glue up seems OK

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Then came the sanding wrapping a length of belt around it and sanding by hand quickly became a chore so I knocked up this mast sander as per many posts around the internet.
Just a 3" sanding drum bored out to 1/2" for the bolts, nuts and various spacers pretty rough but it does the job.
The ply disc is an after thought when on the test run the belt ran wild and ripped my hand to shreds.

The mast as it is and the shredder

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Lovely jointing Mike. I tried the sanding thingo, and although it didn't shred me, I didn't like it at all. I went back to the hand plane and felt much more in control.
I do hope you become un-shredded soon. It can be so messy....

Thanks Rob a spar plane is on my to do list in fact it sits half made on the bench. I was surprised at how a block plane can achieve a pretty good finish even in my hands but to get rid of the last bit of ripple I needed the sanding belt.
One thing to take care with is keep the thing moving it's easy to set up hollows along the length which is less than attractive. Hope I can rid mine with a suitable bit of storm pipe cut in half.

sweet !
AJ

Work has continued spasmodically for the month on the spars, much sanding and shaping later they are ready to have the jaws glued and riveted then some varnish.
I'm undecided as to epoxy coating will definitely coat rivet and line holes but to fully coat is a lot of work plus I've used Oregon and not Oak for the jaws so I'm now wondering if they will break anyway.

Some advice on rivets to prevent splitting please. The main boom has the grain running vertically unlike the others, don't know why I missed this anyway I've drilled the outhaul hole and the plan calls for a copper rivet fitted vertically about an 1" forward to stop splitting. This seems unnecessary to me as any splitting will be along the growth rings not across them.

After rounding the next step was to cut the flats for the jaws to land on not being to confident about using a hand saw I knocked up this rough router jig. Much mathematical gymnastics followed trying to remember how to divide fractions (don't know why I didn't just remeasure in millimetres).

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So here they all are and a fair few hours of work represented.

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A lot of test fits and sanding to shape but I'm quite happy with the result only some minor blemishes.

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Last is the round on the end there is something
therapeutic about planing and sanding the end of a spar.

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Until next time whenever that might be I need to give the shed a good clean after all this sanding so I'll be ready to paint when the weather warms up maybe even next week.

Hi

I didn't bother with the end rivets and haven't had any problems. I have sailed the boat for the last two seasons, many times in over 20kts. I think you are right about the splitting across the grain. I used jarrah for my jaws because I had some handy and oregon for the spars (slightly smaller dia as doug suggests) .

The spar that seems to take the highest bending load is the gaff. In a good wind it is amazing the bend in the gaff. Especially off the wind.

One thing I had to redo was the main mast length. After making the mast to the correct length I went to do the turned down section at the top for the peak halyard to fit on but got too smart for myself and thought why not drill a 1 inch hole and fit a 3 inch piece of broomstick in the top. The result looked and worked fine except that it wouldn't lay down in the boat across the thwarts it hits the rear tank. So my advice is make the mast exactly to the plan length and it will all pack up nicely.

By the way a very positive method of securing the spliced loop for the peak halyard is a good idea as when rigging there are about 4 trillion ways to tangle the peak halyard or have it come loose when standing the mast. All of which I am sure you will find.

Denis

Thanks Denis, more questions. I've been pondering the position of the various mast and boom fittings the plans don't show measurements.
If you have a minute please post the locations of things like mizzen peak halyard hole, the throat block etc. I'm sure it will save me a lot of grief if not trial and error.

Thanks for the tips my mast is about 3/4" short think you can guess how.

Hi

I just scaled the rough dimensions off the spars plan showing the little wooden cleats and the sail plan I think from memory. Nothing is too critical I dont think and a bit more or less of an angle can be adjusted later with ties or lacing to get a nice sail shape. The bridle length also has an effect. The peak halyard hole in the mizzen mast is just up near the top say 2 to 3 inches down.

I can measure more exactly if you want.

I got my sails made by a local sailmaker who is familiar with gaff rigs. We did a check measurement after the spars were made to double check before cutting. He is semi retired and works from home so they were reasonably priced.

Denis

Great knowing things don't need to be exact is very helpful.
I kept looking at the peak halyard and bridle angle and thought it fairly important. My experience with a gaff rig is zero.

Cheers

What's the old saying "look but don't see" guilty your honour.
I must have looked at the spar plan hundreds of times but did not see all the fittings carefully drawn to scale, sorry Doug.

BTW a plug for Ross Lillistone at Bayside Wooden Boats
Bayside Wooden Boats Ross Lillistone like all the people I've come across in the wooden boat industry Ross is very helpful and obliging to the backyard boat builder, thanks Ross.

Originally Posted by m2c1Iw

Thanks Rob a spar plane is on my to do list in fact it sits half made on the bench. I was surprised at how a block plane can achieve a pretty good finish even in my hands but to get rid of the last bit of ripple I needed the sanding belt.
One thing to take care with is keep the thing moving it's easy to set up hollows along the length which is less than attractive. Hope I can rid mine with a suitable bit of storm pipe cut in half.

Hi Mike,

You might find one of these useful. Also available in fine.

Cheers,
Alex.

Thanks for the link Alex all done now and here is my arsenal of sanding implements long board plus various diameter storm water pipe.

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