Must be that time of the month...

A current dumpster diving trend, a good take on Crypto, and in the`"Just how stupid/greedy have we become?" department...+

I often tend to forget that most folks knowledge of how boats work is not based on any kind of study but simply what they think a boat should look like. Or, as our previous stable genius president opined, "I trust my gut". 

A lot of people who are motivated to write me don't like schooners, junk rigs, volkscruisers, free standing spars, extreme shoal draft, or scows.

I actually wonder why some of these folk bother to read Boat Bits at all. Maybe they're just addicted to outrage and BB is just low hanging fruit to stoke their rage in the morning.

I'll also add that the folks who take offense to Boat Bits also seem to be the loudest complainers when I miss a day... Obviously we live in a strange and getting stranger world these days.

As it happens, I have some ideas regarding semi-freestanding spars and junk rig that I'm sure will piss off just about everyone.

Soonish.

Listening to Kid Sistr

So it goes...

an example of how "cheaper" and "better" go together...

On the current state of assholery, an apt Twilight Zone, and on the subject of budgets...

For a variety of reasons I've been thinking a lot about building affordable masts and sensible rigging to put them up with.

Which is somewhat out-of-step with what most people are doing as it seems that most folk seem to be more in the "Let's just see how expensive we can make it" school of boat building. Rather than the few asking 

"How do we make this better while cutting the cost at the same time?"

who seem to be in short supply. 

As I mentioned before I'm pretty impressed with Reuel Parker's current riff on a plywood mast and reading his follow-up article in the May/June 2021 issue of Wooden Boat Magazine that combined with a judicious use of textile rigging it's possible to put up a better rig for a whole lot less money than most think possible.

Better yet, the mast in question is super easy to build, lighter than any mast you're going to be able to buy, and, after perusing used masts on CraigsList, quite a bit cheaper than an old beat up mast on the used market. What's not to like?

So, why am I the only guy doing the happy dance?

One of my projects this week is installing a new tabernacle on "So It Goes" around the current mast and sorting out that it will work for the new mast I'm planning to build soonish of the Parker variety.

Listening to Ghalia Volt

So it goes...

Warning; Content may be woodie inducing...

Chuck Wendig with all you need to know about voting, some horror stories for your hard drive, and on the subject of climate change gentrification...

I'd write something today except I'm too busy trying to absorb all of the wonderfulness involved in Stephens Waring Yacht Design's take on a very appropriate tech modern wooden mast in their current post "Modern Wood Mast: A Photo Essay".

Listening to Gracie Abrams

So it goes...

Anyone need a mast?

Krugman makes a good point, kinda interesting, and, maybe I should get some FBI cufflinks...

Some of you may remember that Daniel from OddaSea lost his mast last year on his way towards Newfoundland...

His mainmast, I suppose, is still sleeping with the fishes but he still has a mizzen in good shape that is surplus to his requirements since he's in the process of doing a new junk schooner rig. For those with an interest you can find more about his conversion to junk on his blog.

That said, for someone building, planning to build a boat, or has a project, there is a 29-foot mast (6"x 4" section) with Dynex Dux rigging sitting in South Carolina just looking for a good home at a pretty reasonable price...

Might want to check it out!

Listening to Stacey Ken

So it goes...

A light just turned on...

Something of a conundrum, a tale of two villains, and some important news for Puddle Jumpers...

I was reading Webb Chiles' blog the other day and perked up when I read the following...

"In an exchange of emails today with Buzz Ballenger of Ballenger Spars, the mast maker of choice for Moore 24s, I learned two things.
First, that he grew up in Highland Park, not far from Evanston, and moved his company to California in 1979. Good decision. We’ve had a mild start to winter by Chicago standards, but it’s still winter.

And second, that of the two Moore 24 booms Ballenger makes, one slotted with cut outs to reduce weight, and one standard without cut outs, the lighter, slotted boom is the stronger."

Something to think about, that!

Listening to Laura Cortese

So it goes...

Making sawdust... Mast project day 2-3

One thing I don't like about doing single projects (like the mast) is that unlike building a boat you wind up wasting a lot of time waiting for stuff... Now, with a big multifaceted project while waiting on one project you can pick up another and so on. It's a lot easier to be more productive with several projects running than just doing one. Well, if you are somewhat organized it works...

Day two was mainly spent ripping strips for the mast and cutting out molds, not as productive as I'd like but workable within our two week build schedule.

Day three was (being Sunday) a late start (I blame the waffles) but we were able to cut most of the scarfs...

Today we woke to wind and a deluge of sorts. Rain is good for making the island green (there has been something of a drought this year) but not so good when you are building a mast in a parking lot without any rain cover. Not too problematic as stuff like this is simply par for the course... So it goes!

Birds mouth spars... but maybe not.

Since I have a couple of masts to build, more than a passing moment has been dedicated to thinking just how to build them... Do the words "cunning plan" resonate?

These days "birds mouth" spars are pretty popular as they are pretty easy to make and  low on material wastage. The downside is that the masts are heavier at the top then they need to be.

Back when we built the first Loose Moose we looked into a spar builder who did Bird's mouth spars and he sent several slices of a mast to show off his work and they all failed on the glue lines... So instead, we built our own and went with the as-designed Bolger  simple box mast that worked finest kind!

There is a lot to be said for Bolger's use of Herreshoff's favorite way of building a mast as it is easy to build and pretty light when all is said and done. Right now there is a very good chance that the new masts on "So It Goes" will be this sort, albeit with a bit of carbon thrown in for good measure.

Speaking of carbon though, there is a thought which keeps running through my head thinking about the rather awesome wing masts done by Gold Coast Yachts here in St Croix who use no carbon but build up a mast using 1/4" Fir and glass (with a whole lot of smarts) that has my "There has got to be a better way" genes seriously kicking in...

For those interested in doing a Birds mouth spar, a must read article and calculator set can be found over at Duckworks Magazine (always interesting stuff) in their "Bird's Mouth Spars Revisted"  which is all the info you really need to get rock and rolling! Throw in a router/shaper bit designed for doing Bird's Mouth profiles and you'll have everything you need!

masts and rigging for the real world...

Sadly these days a lot of things cost silly money and more than their share has the word "marine" attached!

For those of us firmly in the cheap seats, there are a lot of ways to bring costs down but I'm always surprised at just how expensive some stuff can be...

Take masts and rigging for instance! Seriously silly prices get thrown around for what is really just aluminum tubes and wire. Now in the cheap seats of course we know that we NEVER buy industrial stuff (like wire) from a purveyor of marine goods. Buying it from Acme wire who may not know a boat from a hole in the wall but certainly DO KNOW wire, is even more important because they are not in the world of silly marine pricing. They sell wire and other rigging stuff for what it's worth not what they can gouge which is often a huge difference!

The same line of thinking goes for chainplates and suchlike... Now that just about every city has some sort of CNC metal cutting operation you can make a drawing give it to a guy and have a perfectly cut and polished chainplate for just a little more than the cost of the metal value. I won't even mention the obscene pricing the last time I looked at chainplates from a marine store...

Masts, being low volume products with seriously high tooling costs are pretty silly price wise but you have to wonder how various mast builders always seem to have brand name masts with maybe a little scratch or cosmetic blemish in the anodizing for 10% of the retail price. Of course with masts being just hollow tubes there are all sorts of alternatives to marine industry spars... I've known more folks who built boats and wound up with light poles and suchlike that worked out just fine at a fraction of what it would cost to buy something from Francespar or the like.

Dudley Dix and CKD boats are even doing mast kits in... (Dare I say it?) ... Wood!

It might suprise a lot of folks but wood works real well for masts and in these days of epoxy and other evil chemicals, no longer falls prey to 99% of all the negative press... Check it out!

Speaking of Bowsprit accessories...

All this thinking of bowsprits has me perusing all the boats these days for clever (dare I say Cunning?) plans to get my Gennaker a bit more user friendly.

Coming into the marina the other day I could hardly miss this needful accessory...

Short Takes: Bowsprits, Solar panels, LED's

I've been looking at installing a bowsprit on So It Goes and the process has been somewhat problematic but as they say there is light at the end of the tunnel having narrowed the choice down to two different kits and a home brew solution.. Forte have a neat kit for a carbon spar as do Selden for one in Aluminum...The problem is that both kits wind up costing quite a bit in that being in the land of dimensional shipping rates I am afraid to ask just what a nine foot tube costs to get down here. More on this subject in greater detail as soon as I make a decision...

While researching home brew bowsprit solutions I came across a great site for Beneteau 235 owners group which also had an interesting discussion on clever use of those cheap Volkswagen solar panels...I can recognize a good thing when I see it and already have several cunning plans for these cheap and small solar panels!

Couple of weeks ago I received the BEBI replacements for the Tricolor and anchor lights and will be reporting on their performance as time goes on. For the record anyone considering about the possible shipping hassles of buying gear from FIJI might be surprised to know that the shipping from FIJI to our mail service in the States is as quick ( and often quicker) than getting stuff sent from WEST or other Marine megastores...And you get neat stamps!