Creaky, wandering mast wedges

  • 24 Jul 2024 17:25
    Reply # 13385805 on 13364524

    After about 4 weeks of almost daily coastal sailing, my solution failed completely. It was creaking and wandering again, all over the place. The hose clamps finally fell off. It was to be expected, I guess, if you try to clamp something conical... 

    In the meantime we have been to Stockholm and were able to buy some straight wood slats. I rebuilt the fastening now to your suggestion, Arne. It is on for about a week now, so far so good. Thanks for the advice!

    Last modified: 24 Jul 2024 17:25 | Anonymous member
  • 09 Jun 2024 18:47
    Reply # 13367913 on 13364524

    Graham, thanks for your shared experiences. I feel like you are speaking from my heart, as in the beginning I constantly checked the mast step and bulkheads to be assured that the noise is not coming from them.


    In the meantime I took the chance for a visit at Biltema, and got stainless hoseclamps for next to nothing. However, they did not have wood... So I went shortcut: no stop boxes as suggested by Arne, just plain on the wedges. As they are distributed quite even, it might work. I waxed the wedges on both the inner and outer radius. Time will tell... but It survived one full day with choppy baltic sea waves and F5-6 from astern - no movement at all, and way way way less noise!

    2 files
    Last modified: 09 Jun 2024 19:32 | Anonymous member
  • 05 Jun 2024 11:14
    Reply # 13366004 on 13364524

    Paul, I initially had a similar problem with Arion's wedges.  In my case, the partners had not been made with a taper.  I finally bevelled the sides of my wedges so they were a tighter fit against each other, like barrel staves, then put a hose-clamp around them.  I fitted small round-head screws to each wedge, one just above and another just below the hose-clamp, so that no individual wedge could move up or down.  I used Western Red Cedar wedges, which are very soft and crush a little, which further helped with a tight fitting.

    Before I did that, the noise was disconcerting, and I had to continually reassure myself that the mast was not going anywhere, since it had a bolt through the mast step.

  • 02 Jun 2024 09:49
    Reply # 13364717 on 13364524

    Arne, I have to admit when I see a longer post from you including a sketch - in any thread - my heart skips a beat! Because it means, there will be something very interesting to read and to learn. Something where a lot of good ideas and practical thinking is involved. I like that!

    If I'm not too lazy, I will go both ways you, Annie and Arne, suggested: put on a seizing until getting to the next hardware store, to buy clamps and wood.

  • 02 Jun 2024 01:41
    Reply # 13364639 on 13364524

    Or, you could put a seizing around the mast above the wedges, which would stop them moving up and would be hidden by the mast coat.

    Last modified: 02 Jun 2024 01:42 | Anonymous member
  • 01 Jun 2024 18:09
    Reply # 13364548 on 13364524
    Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Paul, I would do it the way you suggest, that is, rubbing the wedges with a candle and then secure them with a pair of hose-clamps.


    However, at this point the wedges will not be of equal thickness, so the hose-clamps will not touch all of them. I therefore suggest that you cut out a number of  50-100mm long ‘stop boxes’ of equal thickness and then clamp these around the mast on top of each wedge.

    You may even want to do the same at the lower end of the wedges  -  in which case I guess basting tape would be helpful...


    The sketch below should explain it better than my Stavanger Inglisch...

    Good luck,
    Arne

    (..see my album, Arne's sketches, Section 7, photo 41...)

    Last modified: 01 Jun 2024 20:38 | Anonymous member (Administrator)
  • 01 Jun 2024 16:41
    Message # 13364524

    Hi,

    My recently finished junk rig for Ilvy performs really well. However, despite the amazingly noiseless tacks, a new source of noise appeared: the mast wedges. They also keep wandering up and down quite a lot, depending on the course sailed. Be assured, I really hammered them in. Twice, in four weeks. On the fotos one can see the deviation from their original, freshly hammered position by the pencil line after one full day out at 15 kn.

    Though I am not afraid of them going all the way up, the creaking increases significantly as they work loose... 


    The situation:

    • the partners have a slight angle built in, to which the wedges align exactly.
    • Wedges are made of pine. 
    • The mast has to be unstepped every winter, so permanent solutions like casting synthetics won't work. 
    • We are underway right now, solutions requiring a workshop will be difficult...


    If anyone could share some proven method to fix this, it would be much appreciated.

    My ideas so far would be (really only brainstorming):

    • Waxing the mast and partners at the wedges
    • Securing the wedges with a large diameter hose clamp
    • Lashing the wedges with chord, i.e. turks head
    • Screw in every wedge, just below the partners (ugly...)

     Any thoughts on this would be helpful. I searched the huge amount of information, but missed it probably...


    Cheers,

    Paul


     

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