Wooden Mast repair

[Andy]

Hi All,

on removing the spreaders on my spruce box-section mast this week in preparation for varnish I discovered a small area of rot under the spreader bracket. The mast seems to be solid at this point, hollow elsewhere. I have cleaned out the rot (about and inch deep) and chiselled a long, shallow 'V' into the mast (12-1 bevel on both sides) in preparation for epoxy gluing a matching graving piece. Problem is, I can't seem to get spar grade Sitka Spruce anywhere locally...

My question is, would Douglas Fir be an acceptible substitute or do I need to match the existing wood?

Andy

[PAR]

Douglas fir is acceptable as are several of the pines, and spruces.

[Andy]

Thanks PAR, so it's ok to use a mix of wood species in this way?

Andy

[PAR]

You're not really mixing species, but rather fitting a filler piece. You could do the whole repair with just thickened epoxy, but a filler piece saves on goo. Now, if you replaced the whole side stave, to a rectangular mast with a different species, then you'd have some issues.