Designed for Mast-Raising Afloat

An unconventional solution

Article by Paul Wagstaff

I designed and built my trailerable 18-foot wooden catboat in the tradition of the old nineteenth century working cats, with an 8-inch diameter douglas fir mast and no supporting shrouds. This hollow spar was made with “bird’s mouth” joinery. To facilitate launch and retrieval, I designed a hinge system so that it could be raised or lowered single-handedly while afloat.