Mast Gate

[rszemeti]

So during a winter rebuild of my trusty Mk1 GRP  (hint: if your trolley wheels go flat and the boat its back on it’s haunches,  it will fill with water and the weight will pop the stringers … ) I noticed the tabernacle was not  exactly solid … in fact the foot was moving around and the brothers were randomly moving at the top … and the mast foot fell off as I lifted the mast … not exactly right huh?

The shroud plates were also in need of work … the wooden core of the fillet plates had rotted out and the remaining GRP was soft enough to move with your fingers!

I put all that lot right, lots of epoxy and glass, new lumps of wood where needed. I’m hoping a good solid base for the mast will liven the performance up a little too, but I have no idea what to do at the mast gate … there’s a good sized gap, at least 12 to 14mm on each side, which in the past has been a pain in the butt with an appetite for eating jib sheets and refusing to let go.

How close a fit should it be at the mast sides? I can easily make up some Tufnol packers and use some stainless countersunk screws, recessed nicely to keep them out of the way … but I have no idea how much side play to leave. With the mast foot being positively located in a left-right (or is that port-starboard?) axis, I am not sure it would be a good plan to remove all movement at deck level, but equally, I would rather the jib sheets didn’t get fouled up all the time too …

They were clearly originally built with a good size gap at deck level, so any input gratefully received.

[bigal]

Try a piece of duck tape across the mast gate to prevent the sheets getting fouled and close the gaps at the side of the mast .

Are you sure your mast is an E section ?

Bigal

[rszemeti]

Yes, its an E section, 54mm across.   The standard deck gate is 84mm … which gives  a good 15mm each side for the sheets to get stuck in.

I don’t really fancy using duct tape, its OK for a quick bodge, but not really a working solution.

The Mk IV boats have much less gap, so I guess I’ll just make up some Mahogany/Tufnol packers to leave a few mm gap.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Mk IV Wayfarer mast gate[/caption]

[john1162]

I have seen many masts with lots of clearance at the side of the mast.  When you have your rig tensioned up you need to look up at your mast from the shrouds and move the mast side to side and you will be surprised at how little movement at mast gate level is needed to create massive movement higher up the mast. I chocked my mast at the side so there is no movement. Much better.

[Author]

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