All the spars are going to be constructed
out of Sitka spruce. Except the Gaff they are going to be hollow.
I am using the bird's mouth method described
in a recent issue of Woodenboat. On the left you can see 4 parts
to make up the bowsprit (4 others are further back in the picture).
Next are 8 parts of the boom and on the right you can see the parts for
mast. The boom and mast are 11' long.
Notice how crooked the parts on the far
right are. When that board was ripped they went "wild".
The mast base (the lower portion below
the tabernacle) is being laminated from 4 pieces to make a 3.5" square
piece (on the left). In the middle is the bowsprit being held together
with hose clamps. It will be left as an octagon. Since the gaff would
require such small pieces (0.3" wide) I decided to make it solid and laminate
it out of 2 1.5" pieces.
The mast is being laminated. When
I went to put on the hose clamps, I found they would not fit around the
mast. Since I had the glue already mixed I looked around in despiration.
I found some duct tape handy. It worked almost better than the clamps.
Duct tape to the rescue (as usual). The trick here is to keep the
mast straight while the glue sets.
The boom was done in a similar fashion.
Above the mast hinge I wanted a round
non-tapered mast. I rounded the mast, gaff and boom with a spoke
shave. Even though it was a bit of physical effort, it made me feel
like a real ship-wright to do this by hand. I had some power tools
that could have done the job, but the spoke shave just seemed "wright".
Also, it didn't really take that long to do. Spoke shaves can really remove
a lot of wood quickly.
The ends of the mast, bowsprit and boom
were pluged.
Here is what the end of the mast and bowsprit
look like.
Because of the chaffing on the mast, I
added a piece of leather to the gaff jaws. I applied quite a bit of neetsfoot
oil to the leather until I could get it to easily take the proper shape.
This was attached with contact cement after ruffing up the surfaces with
sandpaper. I hope it will keep hold as well as it does now.
