You guys! Your never going to believe this!
I ordered my mast too short.
Dooooooo!!!
Looks like I am going to be trying out some sort of hibred mast after all.
The stats...
Taped aluminum pole 25 ft. Long 8 in wide at bottom, 4 in wide at top with a wall thickness of 0.219. (the top bit is a little thicker. Maby like .25 wall thickness. I need to measure that still)
Terminates just about at the yard. Maby a little above the yard with sail all the way up
My options; (that I can think of)
Wood up top
Pro's; is it is cheep, light, and we know it will work
Cons; probably shouldn't drill into it with hardware, so going to have to make a mast head for rigging, can only be 3.5" OD if I want to sleeve it into the aluminum.
Aluminum up top
Pro's; can have all my lifting hardware welded on before mounting it to the mast. A 4' pipe at 3.5 OD is obtainable. The two members cold be plunge welded together to make a strong joint.
Con's; expensive, heavy,
Wood on bottom aka "upside-down hibred mast"
Pro's; cheap (there is a new wood power line post sitting just outside my front door), I am going to be making a short version of this to mount the mast into the keel of the boat anyway. (Davids recommend wood isert with square tenant.) Plus all the other benefits listed below.
Con's; heavy heavy and untried.
I am 100 that there are more pros and cons then one could ever imagine. If I did it all over again... Would have just got the right size mast. But a. That's life. What do y'all think I should do?