Ben and Cooper, I hope your masts are hollow. I built the mast for my Whitehall in two pieces, routed a 1" by 1/2" groove on each half, smoothed the inside of the groove, epoxied the groove and the halves and, voila! had a spar ready for shaping. The groove began about 6" above where I estimated the deck would be. There is a 1/2" diagonal hole at the start of the groove that the main halliard feeds through and a slot large enough for the 5/16" sheave at the masthead. I eyeballed the hole and have tried running the sail up in "dry" mode. Works well. The reason for epoxying the groove is to prevent splinters that might catch on the halliard.
I am considering running a coax in the groove so I can set my radio antenna at the masthead. My fellow hams tell me that the bronze sail track will work as a ground plane.
Loving all of these Your Boat Build threads. Introducing me to some new designs and leading to much day dreaming
Good to see what you are building, Jim White.
Ben and Cooper, I hope your masts are hollow. I built the mast for my Whitehall in two pieces, routed a 1" by 1/2" groove on each half, smoothed the inside of the groove, epoxied the groove and the halves and, voila! had a spar ready for shaping. The groove began about 6" above where I estimated the deck would be. There is a 1/2" diagonal hole at the start of the groove that the main halliard feeds through and a slot large enough for the 5/16" sheave at the masthead. I eyeballed the hole and have tried running the sail up in "dry" mode. Works well. The reason for epoxying the groove is to prevent splinters that might catch on the halliard.
I am considering running a coax in the groove so I can set my radio antenna at the masthead. My fellow hams tell me that the bronze sail track will work as a ground plane.