Now I’ve got two tubes that will fit together here are some thoughts about some of the mast details:
Since I’ve got two tubes that fit together I’ll use them, rather than try to use wood.
Using the graphic method to find the lengths we get this:
One thing about sailing with small children is that you want to tie up to a jetty if at all possible. This means having usable cleats. It is possible to tie off to the traveller but having cleats is easier.
However, I don’t want the cleats to catch on the mainsheet or other ropes, This means they need to be somewhere out of the way. The best option appears to be to feed the rope through the handhold at the back of the side decks and forwards onto a cleat under the side deck.
I made up two plywood panels – one for each side – and attached the cleats using T-nuts. I’ve also added some spare T-nuts for other attachments, one spare cleat (it is always useful to be able to tie things on) and a clamcleat that will take string threaded through the scupper on the transom – this can be used for a foothold rope or for attaching the tent.
In previous posts I used a table for working out how long mast sections (main tube, strengthener, topmast) should be. Here’s a graphical way to do the same thing. It has the advantage of greater precision plus it is hopefully easier to see what is going on.
Martin's Blog 