a ball and socket joint so that I can have a rotating mast

The plans for the Gougeon wing mast use a 2" stainless trailer hitch ball and (iirc) a machined delrin insert inside an aluminum pipe for a socket. Simple machine screws threaded through the pipe capture the ball in the socket. HTH

 

Billy Bones,

Now thats a working/simple design!

For a 2" ball... how big a mast are we talking about? Those things are rated for 12,000+ lbs of load and probably could really handle ten times that.

Thanks.

 

Big.

My plans are for the "A" section mast(smallest) which is 16 inches long axis (3:1section). It is my understanding that the same system is employed in all three mast profiles (A,B and C).

There was a fantastic and lengthy discussion on these masts over at themultihull.com ...found it...

http://www.themultihull.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1286

HTH

 

Billy Bones,
The link wouldn't take me to the article even after I registered and they don't seem to have any way to enter the topic ID 1286. Is there some other way for me to get to your article?

 

Go to www.themultihull.com

click Forum

Scroll down to "Sails, spars, rigging layout etc."


Scroll down to and click on "Build your own spars?"

It's a 6-pager that has gone on for a couple of years now.

 

Thanks Billy Bones its been educational on several points. I also see your doing a Woods Sango. I got the study plans for that and almost bought the full set. I decided to go with his simple one Quattro 16 to see if I can deal with the wood/glass work before building one of his larger cruisers. I'm looking at either his "Eclipse" or his new 38' "Transit"