Considering the motley variety of rotten boats I’ve dragged home to restore—and typical condition of their weak, weathered spars—it’s amazing I’ve never experienced total failure of a mast, gaff, yard, boom or other important stick of wood.
Great article Marty. If someone elects to finish the spar clear, remember it is epoxy coated so UV protection is essential and if covering with good spar varnish (UV protection), it needs to be seen to every year or so to keep up the UV protection. Of course if using paint, white or otherwise, the epoxy may be better protected.
Man, this is the coolest stuff!! While I have an aluminum rig, this is just fantastic! Technology applied while still the "old school" appearance. And it makes the boats even more dependable. I love articles like this! I thought I wasn't going to like the transition from print to digital. Big surprise, I'm liking it better than I thought. Looking forward to the 2023 Salish 100 where we'll get our restored WWP 15 on the water after over 25 years. Really enjoying all the articles!! Keep up the good stuff!
I have a rectangular tapered mast from the 60s that seems like a good candidate for sleeving. Do you know of any special consideration for rectangular masts?
And for tapered masts, how might excess cloth be managed? It might spoil the effect to have a baggy-wrinkly looking masthead.
Ben - You can slowly pull and massage the sleeve over any tapered mast and it’ll be tight over length of the spar if you get it stretched just so. With a rectangular spar, you’d just need to be sure each corner edge had some kind of radius, since it might be challenging to maintain a tight fit if the fabric is forced around a sharp corner. And in buying the sleeving fabric for a tapered mast, you’d ideally want circumference of the sleeve to be close to that of the butt end of the mast so that the fit was fairly tight there and more loose as you worked the fabric toward the smaller upper end of the spar. (It stretches out like a Chinese finger toy, getting smaller in circumference—remaining tight—as you massage it toward the tip of your mast.) Good luck and let me know how it goes by sending a note to shallowdraftmarty@gmail.com
Great article Marty. If someone elects to finish the spar clear, remember it is epoxy coated so UV protection is essential and if covering with good spar varnish (UV protection), it needs to be seen to every year or so to keep up the UV protection. Of course if using paint, white or otherwise, the epoxy may be better protected.
Good point, Simeon…thanks for the reminder. Marty
Man, this is the coolest stuff!! While I have an aluminum rig, this is just fantastic! Technology applied while still the "old school" appearance. And it makes the boats even more dependable. I love articles like this! I thought I wasn't going to like the transition from print to digital. Big surprise, I'm liking it better than I thought. Looking forward to the 2023 Salish 100 where we'll get our restored WWP 15 on the water after over 25 years. Really enjoying all the articles!! Keep up the good stuff!
John - It’s great to hear you appreciated the column; we’ll try to come up with more of these kinds of specific how-to stories. - Marty
Ahoy!
I have a rectangular tapered mast from the 60s that seems like a good candidate for sleeving. Do you know of any special consideration for rectangular masts?
And for tapered masts, how might excess cloth be managed? It might spoil the effect to have a baggy-wrinkly looking masthead.
Thanks!
Ben - You can slowly pull and massage the sleeve over any tapered mast and it’ll be tight over length of the spar if you get it stretched just so. With a rectangular spar, you’d just need to be sure each corner edge had some kind of radius, since it might be challenging to maintain a tight fit if the fabric is forced around a sharp corner. And in buying the sleeving fabric for a tapered mast, you’d ideally want circumference of the sleeve to be close to that of the butt end of the mast so that the fit was fairly tight there and more loose as you worked the fabric toward the smaller upper end of the spar. (It stretches out like a Chinese finger toy, getting smaller in circumference—remaining tight—as you massage it toward the tip of your mast.) Good luck and let me know how it goes by sending a note to shallowdraftmarty@gmail.com
Thanks for the advice - I'll let you know how it goes.