David Tyler wrote:
Then the mainmast is certainly going to be OK, particularly as you will probably be shortening it a bit.
I don't know about the wooden mast, without seeing it, but it can't be too bad, just maybe a bit top-heavy, if it used to be a gaff rig mast, which would have been less tapered than we're used to with unstayed masts.
Thanks. You are exactly right about the taper on the wood mast. My thoughts were this: Since it is so cheap , it would be worth the "experiment" : it's 5" at the bottom , tapering to 2.5 at the top ….. but is a very slight taper all the way to the top . I was thing about trimming the mast to the proper size , and sanding a better taper in the top half.
I figure since the foresail is only going to be 200 sq ft ….. it will probably be doable.