To install this app on your iPhone:
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
I'd google up birdsmouth spars and email someone who actually makes the things. Ideally, the mast should be tapered. It will still work if it isn't tapered though, just not as well.My boat plans require a 6.3m aluminum mast ("aluminum alloy spar, section approx. 57 x 73 mm, required transverse momentof inertia 14cm4, lenght 6300mm"). Please do not ask why "57 x 73 mm" because it looks round to me in the drawing...
Would you good sirs give me an idea of the dimensions for a mechanically equivalent birdsmouth mast? Should it be tapered?
Thanks!
It's a groove for the bolt rope and is what holds the mainsail to the mast. Yes, it runs the full height. You don't actually need it and there are alternatives, but it's common on dinghy masts because it's simple and efficient. Lacing sails to masts tends to be a bit messy, and lacing obviously can't go past spreaders. Tracks and slides are extra weight, work and cost.The plans I got show a cross section similar to the picture attached, with two kind of "claws" on the drawing (seen from the top).
Is this a kind of tunnel where the sail edge goes?
Does it run the whole mast lenght?
Do I need it at all? (is it some kind of alternative to tying the sail to the mast, thus facilitating putting it up or down?)
![]()
I think I have a solution to the problem posed by Mr. Wilson, and I intend to make my first mast like this, unless you say I am crazy.“Here’s a simple calculator (http://www.engineersedge.com/calculators/section_square_case_12.htm) for the moment of inertia and section modulus of round tubes; you can put in zero for the ID of a solid mast.
This assumes that you don’t make the wall very thin; the failure mode is different in that case.
If you play around with it, you’ll find that the larger diameter and thinner the wall, the lighter the weight for a given strength. For example, a 4-1/2” diameter mast with a 3/16” wall has the same section modulus as a 3” solid, but 35% of the weight. That’s way too thin a wall in wood, I think; I expect it would fail by splitting along the grain unless perhaps you could find a way to make a hollow plywood tube.” (In woodboats by Mr. Wilson. Maybe he even cohabitates in this here noteworthy forum).