I think the title of this post counts as studying for organic chemistry tonight...
Our mast is an octagon at the moment, created by Walt Donaldson, woodworker, boatbuilder extraordinaire. And, it is hollow - meaning lightweight for girls to lift and rig their own boats. We spent Monday afternoon putting it together. Walt had already cut the pieces - they are shaped so that they roll up and fit tightly together, with a hollow space in the middle (this is apparent at the end). They are also tapered, so the mast is wider at the base and narrower at the top. And at the base, in the photo below, you can see the juniper added to the long pine pieces that adds a core to strengthen the base.
To start, we had to put tape under the wood at intervals and space each piece just a little bit apart (otherwise they wouldn't roll up if they were already touching). We did a dry run test to make sure everything worked when we rolled the mast up into its octagon shape and to practice not getting the tape stuck in any cracks in the wood.
Then we started epoxying. We just used liquid, which is way easier to deal with than glue, trying to get it in all the cracks. I went first with a roller putting epoxy down. Then Walt and my dad followed with squeegees and brushes to push and smooth the epoxy down onto the edges of the wood. We went over the whole mast about three times until we were sure that all the wood had been coated and had absorbed the liquid - no dry spots, lots of epoxy everywhere, including on very slippery gloves!
Next we rolled up the mast, fastened the tape we had put down earlier to hold the wood together temporarily, and worked the pieces together so they were fitting right.
To actually hold the mast together while it dried, tape would not suffice. So we wrapped the mast in 80 lb fishing line about 4 times - two passes up and two passes down. Above, Walt got two strands of fishing line ready. He went ahead to remove tape as Daddy and I took the line and started wrapping.
Each of us went up the mast, then back down, pulling the line as tight as possible without breaking it (this line was made for catching pretty good sized fish, I think it's what I needed when I caught the elusive monster pike on C-3 pool at Seney that no one but Miriam believes because it broke my line 3 separate times). Anyway, back to the mast - once we finished wrapping the mast up, Walt tied off the line at the bottom on a few nails and then we took a little time to straighten all the wood up so the mast would dry in a straight fashion.
And at the top, you can see the hollow hole. There will actually be a plug at the top for strength and to keep stuff out - don't want a seagull to perch and poop down the hole, or water to get in for that matter.
Now that we have a mast and a lug, we just need to make the boom. (There's still lots of work to do on the mast, but at least the first few steps of progress have been taken). Also we heard from the sailmaker - Mr. Stuart Hopkins at Dabbler Sails - and it sounds like we are up next. And, Daddy, Shadowfax, and I took a trip to the beach at Panama City last week to look at boat trailers - we ordered a Trailex at Sunjammers that should be here soon - we'll be assembling it!
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