Mast, part 3

Lots of woodwork to be done at this point. Gluing up the next 3 sides took 3 days then an entire day to shape the mast. Now, to finish the job.

The second board is glued and clamped into place.

 

Here it is with the clamps off

 

Board #3 goes into place.

 

Before I installed the 4th board I filled the hollow cavity with aluminum foil making the mast a 12 feet tall radar reflector. Here the gls is on and I'm ready to clamp it together.

Lots of clamps!

This is where you begin to question yourself. taking a skill saw to your new wooden mast.

But, in the end, if you follow the lines you get a trimmed up mast ready to plane dowd to the final shape.

Lots of hand planeing to do.

Mast repair, part 2

Now that the mast is dry it's time to start replacing the wood. First, you have to cut the joint into the wood at about a 15 to 1 ratio. Then it's time to start in with the glue then get out the clamps and put the first repair piece into place. This mast is a hollow mast made from 4 pieces of wood and I will have to replace all 4 sides. The problem is that each piece has to be a different length so, the repair is a bit tricky.

I cut the first scarf using a router set on on these 2 slide boards

Next, put on some glue

Finally, clamp the first board into place. 3 more to go.

Chain

On the Goose, we use chain with our anchor 300 feet of it to be precise. After 20 years of use (the last 4 years in salt water) has left the chain as a rusty mess. So, today I took all 300 feet of it off the boat and put it onto the frontseat and the floor of the Metro (it weighs over 300lbs) and headed to the galvanizer with it. In a week or so I will have a chain that's just like new!

 

No picture but the re-galvanized chain turned out great! it looks just like a new chain.

Deck time

Since the mast has to dry for a week I thought that I'd build a deck on the side for a friend. The house only had a stairway with a small area at the top to gey into the house. Now it has a nice large deck with a wide stairway.

It took 2 trips to carry all of the wood.

I like this picture

Finished and ready to use.

Mast repair, part 1

It's time to start in on the aft mast. After pulling it from the boat I set it in the  main building and assed the dammage.
Then I noticed the water running out of the mast. It will take a week or so for the wood to dry out. In the mean time I started by removing 20 years of varnish from the mast. As soon as it's dry I'll start in on the repairs.

Water is running out of the mast.

I slowly worked a heat gun over the old varnish to soffen it and scrap it off the mast.
 



20 years of varnish!



Back on the boat

Well, after a hectic week where we drove back to Mi. for Will's college graduation, opened up the lake house and made the rounds of friends/family, I headed back to the boat without Anna to work on the Goose and do some contracting work. It's not all bad though for on Saturday Oriental had a village wide garage sale. I found a pair of anchor lamps in new condition that they just about gave away! What a find.