Stavanger, Tuesday
...Numbers, numbers, numbers...
Like Annie I think that the hybrid wood-aluminium mast is a great idea in this size range. The fine thing with it is that one can use an aluminium tube right from the shelf and then some spruce planks right from the sawmill. No expensive welding etc. of the aluminium (which would ruin its tempering) and no need for waiting for a tree trunk to dry (like on Malena’s and Johanna’s masts).
The new 7.5m JR mast for my 6.5m Jollenkreuzer, "Frøken Sørensen" will also be of the hybrid type. I will probably go for a tube, 5 or 6m long, 110 x 3.0mm in section. The alloy is 6082 T6 with a yield strength of around 250MPa (= 250 N/sq mm = 2550kp/sq cm) . This should give a bending moment of 669kpm. The boat’s max righting moment should be around 387kpm with 2 people on board. Priority is on a light mast on this boat: When sailing in protected waters and with an engine, it is no disaster if the mast breaks.
Now I found data about the 6261 T6 alloy on the web. It appears to be similar to the 6082 T6, just a little stronger at around 270MPa. If my calculations are right, Fantail’s mast should take a bending moment of 2250kpm. With the Raven 26’s max righting moment guestimated to be between 1300 and 1700kpm, that mast should cope well (remember, the ultimate strength of the 6261 T6 alloy is typically around 330MPa).
It took some head-scratching to handle these numbers - mechanics is not the main branch of my engineer’s training. I definitely don’t guarantee that my calculations are right!
Cheers, Arne
(PS: 1kp = 1 kilopond = 1kg force = 9.80665Newton. 1Pa = 1 Pascal =1N/sqm, which means that 1MPa = 1 MegaPascal = 1N/sq mm)