Hi all,

All the posts I see about wooden/alu masts have the lower part as a parallel alu pole and a tapered wooden topmast.

Just out of interest, what would be the advantages/drawbacks of making a mast with a tapered aluminium light pole as the top part of the mast and a parallel wooden part at the bottom?

If you wanted, say, a 14m mast. The longest aluminium light poles are around 10-12m. Let's say 10m alu - so 4m wood needed to protrude - how much inserted into the alu? Maybe 1m? So 5m wood, parallel, 1m insterface, then 10m pole on top.

The most immediate advantage I can see is that the join is easily visible from deck and the (presumably) heavier wooden section is lower down. The foot of the mast could have an alu "shoe" epoxied onto the bottom to avoid potential rot in the bilges.

What do people think?

Cheers,

Roger.