Anonymous wrote:
Hi all,
Just doing some research on masts and tabernacles. I have been looking around for an affordable ie: IN A SCRAP YARD! mast for my possible Traveller 32 conversion, and I've found a few galvanized poles that are approximately 9-10 ft too short. I would prefer Aluminum , but am not writing off steel.
I was looking online , especially at Shirley's Speedwell Of Hong Kong and thought "What about building with a tabernacle? I shorter , cheaper and easier to source pole , and steel box tabernacle seems like it would be fairly simple to construct.
Thoughts and opinions?
The most important thought to me is Bluewater strength?
thanks
Jonny
I don't have any thoughts that might be useful here, beyond suggesting a wood tabernacle might be just as easy to construct, as strong as steel, more pleasant to live with and easier to maintain. Pete Hill built Shirley's douglas fir tabernacle as well as those aboard Oryx and China Moon, in which he sailed non-stop from N E Brazil to Tasmania. How's that for blue water strength?
By the way, I've made several blue water voyages and the only times I've seriously feared for my rig have been on coastal passages, for example, on departing from a river on an ebb tide running out against an incoming sea. On those occasions, I wondered why the ship didn't fling her sticks out. The chief difference between blue water passages and grey water ones is that blue water voyagers put themselves beyond any hope of rescue and must be utterly self-reliant.