Neil Tanner wrote:Sorry I brought the subject up Jeff.... ;)

Not to be sorry, Neil.  It's useful to think of these things.  The good people here all jumped in and applied first aid, I think I'm going to make it.

Paul, thanks to you as well.  I'm not worried about the mast, I was just wondering if it was worth trying to change it to buy some extra space in the cabin.  No.  That is the least of my real worries.  I think the mast is very strong.  It's a birdsmouth construction, and they rounded off the portion above the partners but through the partners and down to the step still shows the hexagonal original shape.  It's not likely to get changed real soon.

I think that I can get a couple or three degrees of forward rake simply by putting the mast at the forward edge of the partner hole and concentrating the wedges at the back.  There is considerable empty space around the mast at the partners.

David, thank you for the information regarding the forgiving nature of long keeled boats.  It does seem, now that I think of it, that there was some mention in PJR of the differing requirements for CE relocation depending on hull characteristics.

I put a photo of her under sail, mainsail only, on the Meeting Seablossom album on my profile.  She looks pretty good, actually.  This is the photo that I think is on or in some JRA Newsletter.

I've been a little slow getting the deck hardware on in order to go sailing.  I had the boat parked in the sun, and local daytime temps have been in the 38 - 40deg C. range.  The day before yesterday I got smart, and we trimmed several lower branches off a big shade tree so she would fit under the tree.  Now perhaps I can make some actual progress.

Jeff

Jeff,

Neil Tanner wrote:Hey Jeff....I hope you don't mind me asking a few questions about your new boat or making comments from an outsiders view point.  You have had some concerns about the mast.  Looking at the photos you've posted and profiles from the Norsea 27 site, it appears to me that the mast for the junk conversion is in the same spot as the original mast.  How is the junk rigged?  From your pictures, it looks like there is a bowsprit.  Was she rigged after the conversion to include a headsail?  And reading your other post about Seablossoms delay, it sounds like you are finding a few issues with the rig.  I guess what I am wondering and leading up to is maybe the former owner didn't spend time working out a good layout for a junk conversion and opted for the easiest and not so right instead. Your present mast for example...how did the former owner come up with the size?  It sounds like you are making corrections to things you are discovering that don't seems right.  I know you are anxious to sail, but I believe you are doing the right thing by taking the time now and looking at everything thing and seeing if its right or if you can make it better.  Wishing you all the best.

Eek!
No, Neil, I don't mind you asking these questions, but I sure hate thinking about the implications.  I hadn't thought what I was looking at through very well.
Yes, I believe that the mast is in its original location.  It would be very hard to move it; there is a hatch right in front of it, and it (the hatch) is so much a part of the design that its footprint is molded into the deck.
Yes, the rigging included a headsail, running backstays, and a forestay.  There was no mast lift, no luff hauling parrell, and the topping lifts didn't render freely under the boom / bottom batten (on this sail it is definitely a heavy spar, one would surely think "boom" when one looks at it) but rather made fast to cleats on either side of the spar.
The halyard fall didn't go down the "chimney" (per PJR) but angled out to the side deck where there had been an existing block and then fed back to a winch and on to a cleat.  The yard hauling parrell angled out from the port side of the sail and did approximately the same thing the halyard did.
I would have clearly been impossible to let the sail out to 90 degrees for a run.  Between the backstays, the yard hauling parrell, and the halyard... well, you can see.
I've been putting blocks on the deck and blocks on the masthead to enable a conventional, as I understand it, junk rig on here, but...
What do I do about the mast?  It ain't moving.  I have no clue how the original owner calculated its size, maybe figured what would constitute "hell for stout" and multiplied by two.  I could move the mast slightly forward by getting about a 5" aluminum flagpole and mounting it at the forward edge of this dinner-plate-sized hole in my deck, but that's about it.
This is really scary.  I've blown the whole of my money on this project, and if it doesn't work out I have no way to recover.  It was an inheritance, I'm retired on a veteran's disability and Social Security disability (from the same wounds) and between the two of them don't make enough to recover from all I've spent on this project.
Of course, I've never sailed it.  Born sucker.
On the other hand, (he said with his fingers crossed) I do have a photo of her sailing without a foresail, and she appears to look fine.  This photo is from some issue of JRA Newsletter, although I've never gone and found it.  And I do have a document that says she showed up on her own bottom at Fiji back in the '80's some time.  Maybe it will work out all right after I get the various blocks and line bags where I want them.
I hope.
Jeff

Jeff McFadden wrote:I'm pretty confident this wood mast will otherwise outlive me, and that seems like a better and better idea.

Hey, no problem--we all love thinking about these sort of things--especially when there is no real risk we'll personally have to do any work :)

But ultimately, the more projects you can put off for "someday" and get sailing without them, the better off you are!  (Of course, all mine are on hold until I return to the boat this fall.  Then I need to make sure I put the right ones on hold for later!)

Barry

Have you thought of fiber glass sheeting your origanal mast  or trying a steel lamp post  . at the moment im using a 33ft by 4inch square builders galvinised tube  by1/8 wall jointed threequarter way up .[ e700s]  Using 2 foot of the same tube slit length ways giving me 4 angle pieces welded along the lenght of the tube at the joint . Reason ,I could not find anything else on the island , shes wearing 307 square ft as junket rig .eg, square mast . I had 4 old stays off my old second hand mast so ive used them as belt and bracers , stops vibration plus I rest the sail on the stay when im runing  .  Me and the boat  8/75 mtrs are only geting used to this rig , 4/5 knts in 10nts wind so far ,but the mast seems o/ k, but i am keeping an eye on it .   Your boat lookes sweat all the best bob.