Mast repairs

I have been putting this of for ages for 3 good reasons. Firstly I wasn't sure what to do. Secondly I hadn't got any suitable timber. Thirdly I thought it would be difficult. All the more difficult as the mast is too long to fit in the garage.

The solution to problem number 2 was obviously solved at the Boat Yard. A section of broken Loch Long mast was cut to length and then cut in half.

After many hours thinking about how to fix the mast and nothing else to do I decided to get on with it. The top section of Bobtails mast removed to expose sound timber and a scarf cut to each side face. The replacement port section was then cut to match and glued in place followed by cutting out the bolt rope groove and the hollow core for the main halyard.

The starboard side was then added with some rope packers wrapped in thin plastic (good idea Tim) to prevent any excess epoxy blocking the rebates and stop them being bonded in place. At this point things looked a bit crude with a large block of scrap wood stuck to the top of the mast.

About an hours work with a sharp plane and some 60 grit paper and things look much better. One scarf is longer than the other but they fit and that's good enough for me. All that is left to do is strip and varnish the rest of the stick.

The old top of the mast was so soft that a previous owned had used a pair of jubilee clips to hold the two halves together and prevent the halyard sheeve from falling out. Crude but effective for a while.