Mast hoops

[Stephen Ditmore]

Has anyone tried making mast hoops from washing machine / dishwasher discharge hose (or something similar)?

 

[jehardiman]

I would not try to make mast hoops out of any material that can "stick" on a smooth wooden mast. It has to be hard, hold its shape, and curved on the inside...or else you are going to have housting and falling issues.

Edit to add: Parrels, and parrel beads, are a special case

 

[seasquirt]

Hi Stephen, that sort of hose is often made from recycled rubbish plastic, with no UV protection, made for indoor domestic use. It probably wouldn't last one sailing season even if it did work in your application. See what is available from boating shops, and try to copy tried and successful hoops, or just fork out for proper ones. One foul up and you will be cursing your dodgy home made efforts, or maybe even swimming.

 

[Stephen Ditmore]

Pert Lowell seems to be a principle supplier if them, but by modern standards they seem carelessly made to me - screwed together instead of epoxied. Does Chesapeake Light Craft or Duckworks have a kit?

 

[jehardiman]

You know you can make your own...not really hard.

 

[Stephen Ditmore]

You know you can make your own...not really hard.

I lack my own workshop, unfortunately. Also, the hoops shown here do not improve on the Pert Lowell hoops. One could use epoxy, then do a lot of sanding to shape them, but that's time consuming. So I come back around to using some sort of plastic or rubber rod or hose, or perhaps HDPE (such as King Starboard) strips. It has also occured to me to cut the tops off Home Depot buckets and use those - perhaps after painting them with Aluthane.

My mast is 11-1/4" diameter so I figure the ID of the hoops should be 14 or 15 inches. My problem with mechanically the fastened wound wood bands is that it's what she has now. They've deteriorated to looking like crap.

 

[Rumars]

My problem with mechanically the fastened wound wood bands is that it's what she has now. They've deteriorated to looking like crap.

Sand them pretty and oil from time to time. If you want to make your own it's easy, buy non-glued edge banding, put epoxy on it and roll it tight around something the right diameter. If you don't know what edge banding is: Non-Glued Wood Edge Banding for Edging Machines - 15/16" Wide Rolls in Stock https://www.veneersupplies.com/categories/Edge__Banding/Non-Glued__Rolls/

If you want plastic buy a UHMWPE pipe of appropriate diameter and wall thickness and cut rings from it. Or a sheet the thickness you want the ring height to be and saw them out. The guys selling sheet might also offer a machining service, use it.

 

[jehardiman]

My problem with mechanically the fastened wound wood bands is that it's what she has now. They've deteriorated to looking like crap.

Welcome to the joys of BOAT maintenance...where BOAT means "Bust out another thousand$"....

 

[Stephen Ditmore]

What I'm leaning toward is preferring metal. This <attached image> is a handle that broke off a laundry bag purchased at Walmart. The stitching failed, not the handle. I think it's thin-walled aluminum tube that probably started about 3/8" round and distorted to oblong in the bending process. The right size for my hoops would be about twice this, and I think the right tube diameter would be 3/4" (double the 3/8").

Is there anything off-the-shelf that would approximate this? What about jugglers' rings? The largest size plastic ones are 40cm - just right. Are 40cm jugglers' rings available in metal?

 

[messabout]

You could use some heat to flatten half inch PVC pipe and then bend....with more heat, into the round shape that you want. You could use the Home Depot bucket for a bending form or anything else that you can find in the right diameter. The ends can be glued together with ordinary PVC cement. Cheap and easy mast hoops.