Stavanger, Friday

Hi there  -   with short days and nasty weather in Stavanger it is time to focus on next year:

I am in the early stage of planning a JR for my new boat, Frøken Sørensen. Since this is an un-ballasted, big dinghy really (built for inshore use in DDR in 1987), I need to make a light mast for her. Breaking the mast will be no disaster since I will be within motoring range from harbour anyway, so I want to pinch the scantlings this time.

One option which is quick and reasonably cheap is to use a lower section of aluminium and then add a top section of wood (5m+3.1m+0.4m overlap), just as Annie Hill did to her Fantail. I am considering the use of a 100mm x 4mm aluminium tube for the lower section (6082 T6 at 240MPa yield strength).

If this lower section turns out to be too limber, I may beef it up by wrapping it with e-glas or something.

My question is: Have anyone of you tried to beef up aluminium tubes, battens or masts, this way? Will epoxy stick to aluminium well enough?

I am not worried about the ultimate strength of the tube; I just fear that it will be too flexible, so it would be nice to have a plan ready for a quick fix.

Thanks, Arne