Graham Cox wrote: I bought my mast in Australia from Federation Flags and Flagpoles for $3000 Aus, but it was manufactured in France by Sermeto (www.semeto.fr) and also has the name Valmont on it, perhaps the model.  It was 11.4 metres long with a 200 mm base and 110 mm at the truck, with a wall of  5 mm.  It had a welded base that I had to cut off, reducing the length to 11.3 metres.  Total weight before cutting off the flange was 110kg.  It seems to be spun taped and had a rough milled finish, unlike the smooth surface of drawn alloy extrusions.  I had to sand it a lot and then waxed it by hand with turtle wax.  It may have looked better polished but I ran out of energy.  I will just go up the mast occasionally and rewax it. I am very confident in its strength.   Stepped it yesterday and it looks very jaunty!  I hope to go for my first sail in a few weeks and am going to buy a digital camera this week so I can update my photos on my profile!  Good luck Dawn, I was very nervous about tearing my old rig apart which has served me well for a lot of ocean miles but now that I have done it I am thrilled.  I am a junkman!!

Good on ya, mate :-)

David Tyler wrote:

My masts are from spun-tapered poles made by:

http://www.nedal.nl/engels/index.html

and the model is a lighting column called "Boulevard".

Two more links for you, MD!

Got it, D. Fixed the broken links, and added all the distributors for Bebi while I was at it... New Caledonia, Aus, and NZ for the Far East gang. http://www.junkrigassociation.org/commercial_links

One and All: I'd like to build links to Charting Software since the Software Dept. is very thin, but I really, really don't know where to start or what's good and what's junk, oops, I mean rubbish. Please help here with recommendations. (I presume charting software is normal now. I prefer paper charts but, you know, "getting in tune with the times" and all that.)

Thanks,
"MD!"

I bought my mast in Australia from Federation Flags and Flagpoles for $3000 Aus, but it was manufactured in France by Sermeto (www.sermeto.fr) and also has the name Valmont on it, perhaps the model.  It was 11.4 metres long with a 200 mm base and 110 mm at the truck, with a wall of  5 mm.  It had a welded base that I had to cut off, reducing the length to 11.3 metres.  Total weight before cutting off the flange was 110kg.  It seems to be spun taped and had a rough milled finish, unlike the smooth surface of drawn alloy extrusions.  I had to sand it a lot and then waxed it by hand with turtle wax.  It may have looked better polished but I ran out of energy.  I will just go up the mast occasionally and rewax it. I am very confident in its strength.   Stepped it yesterday and it looks very jaunty!  I hope to go for my first sail in a few weeks and am going to buy a digital camera this week so I can update my photos on my profile!  Good luck Dawn, I was very nervous about tearing my old rig apart which has served me well for a lot of ocean miles but now that I have done it I am thrilled.  I am a junkman!!

Annie Hill wrote: I made my mast from an alloy tube at the base, with a wooden topmast.  My mast is a lot smaller than the one David is suggesting for you (is mine too small? I now ask in a fit of panic) at a dia of 152mm but with a 5 mm wall thickness.  It is 6 m long, which was the maximum length available.  I then made a square wooden topmast from second hand Douglas-fir, hollow, but with heavy - 35mm walls.  It was about 124 square which meant that once I had rounded off the corners, it fitted nicely into the lower mast.  I wish I could say that this was carefully caculated, but that would be a lie - it was as much by good luck as good management as I fully expected to have to pad it out first.  I did add extra wood (and epoxy - lots) to make the square round and then added wedges to provide a shoulder to lodge onto the lower mast.  David, rather unkindly I think, said it looks like a Saturn rocket. I am a very inadequate woodworker, but epoxy is the bodger's best friend and I think the whole thing looks quite professional.

Annie, your mast is big enough and looks great with its painted topmast. Junk rig building is "the art of the possible", and working within such constraints as we find ourselves under, and within the limits of the materials and facilities at our disposal, we can achieve a good sea-going rig, whereas it would be quite impossible with other rigs.

Paul Thompson wrote: Dawn,

David has pretty much answered you. I suspect the section you are being offered was designed for a stayed rig and is not really suitable for a free standing rig. I certainly think that a 4mm wall (with that section) is likely to be to light for your boat.

Thanks Paul, I have now emailed Nedal and asked for a quote. I will also read up on how to fit a wooden top mast to an alloy tube.