Rigging Alice Gale

Alice Gale is rigged for sailing.

Alice Gale

 

 

Building a Birdsmouth Mast, Boom, and Yard. (Part One)

Now that the bulk of the build for “Alice Gale” is completed it is time to tackle the birdsmouth mast, boom, and yard.   I am a bit intimidated by building a 20 ft birdsmouth mast but I am moving forward based on the very good information from the Internet on how to build a birdsmouth mast.

First I finished up a few odds and ends with the trailer.  I finished wiring the lights, and added the side bunks.

Side bunk

I used my table saw and band saw to make the 8 boards for the mast.  Each board is scarfed to the required 20 ft length.   Also I tapered each board to create a narrow diameter at both the bottom and top of the mast.

Takes 8 tapered and cut boards for a birdsmouth mast

Next step was building an accurate construction table that was both level and had the right sized forms to hold the mast straight.   You have to build in the taper on the forms too, else you end up with a warped mast.  I used a normal level and a laser leveler to make the building jig with correct level and taper.   Glue up went well doing the work without help.  I used West Slow Hardener and had the necessary time to get the mast together before the resin went off.   I was careful to put the resin in a large flat pan to prevent excess heat from the resin and worked as quickly as possible in painting the resin on.   As long as I quickly spread the resin out I was able to mix several batches of resin as I worked.  It took about 1/2 an hour to complete the entire glue up and alignment checks. Preplan the entire process and it seems to work out ok. If I had screwed up anypart of the glue up I would have had to start over.

Mast table laser alignment

straight line with a laser leveler

mast construction forms, sized for taper

alignment check prior to epoxy glue up

 
The plans do not call for a hollow mast, but at my age I wanted a mast a bit lighter then solid wood. The finished mast weighs in at 29 lbs, (no hardware) and I am pretty satisfied with that.

More shaping and then on to fitting the halyard sheath and eye-bolts for the stays.

Birdsmouth construction with end plug

 

Floorboards, Fairleads, Locker Doors, and Trim

Here are few more build photo’s from the past month.   I have been working toward finishing the interior of “Alice Gale” for months now.  I think she will be on the trailer within a few weeks.

A fresh coat of UV sealer

Alignment check

The bronze fairleads that I purchased from Classic Marine did not match up cleanly with my round oak rub rail so I needed to fair the rail to fit the fairlead.

Fitting the Fairlead

Rub-rail trimmed to match fairlead shape.

With the canvas deck cover I need to protect the area of the mast partner.  This area will have a few holes drilled for belaying pins, so I cut out a cover from oak.  This will match the color of the gunwale rub-rail when varnished.  Also shown in these photo’s is the forward deck trim.

Oak mast partner cover over canvas

Dry fitting, to be matched to completed mast.

A bit of fairing and filler and it's done

I made my locker door handles out out extra mahogany stock.

Roughing out the door handles

I also added a few new low cost power tools to ease the final building details.

A needed router for my trim work

Table top sander, good for small part shaping

Adding a round curve to trim

Guide fence added to band saw for cutting width of trim

Adding the hardware

fitting of locker doors

View of forward locker