The album of Ariel #422

[ebb]

That's thinking outside the box if not the TUBE!
Nice pattern tube - haven't seen it before.

Couple things: you know it's dangerous to cover stainless with plastic,
salt water will get in where you terminate the encapsulation.
MAYBE cleaner install can be cap screwing - through the deck - into the tube strongback inside.
Or even through bolting the tab, through the whole strongback tube using tube liners for the bolts as one does when thru bolting a mast - a avoid caving in the sides.
Any future leaks will be a heads-up that maintenance is in order!

The other thought is
that when you see European tabernacles they often hinge the mast at the top of the
tabernacle. This may allow AFT lowering visavis over your dodger to a boom gallows eg. Or if FORWARD lowering the mast won't be at a crazy angle visavis the the pulpit where it has to rest.

I'd guess that the mast at an upward angle on the pulpit will create some strong leverage on the pulpit and at the bolt end as well.
A lower angle of the mast when down will make unhinging the mast easier because the mast will be more level. Also reattaching the mast - as the mast's fulcrum is the pulpit - where the mast is 2/3s outboard - it's heavily weighted to falling further over the bow.

With a tall tabernacle aft lowering is preferred I think,
as more of the mast is inboard when lowering and when resting on a much more substantial gallows.

Interesting to see what you come up with!
Certainly not going to have any compression issues ever again!!!
Good tabernakling !

[CapnK]

Ahoy dere, Ebb -

Thanks for letting me see what to clarify!

The tabernacle material is aluminum (the type used in making those really tall tuna towers for sport fisherman), and tho' I didn't make it clear, the hinge/pivot will be above the diagonals, somewhere between 14-18" off the deck, and I intend for the mast to lower towards the stern.

That's the reason for the height - eventually Katie will sport some kind of dodger, so I was going for as much clearance as possible while hoping to keep it looking no too ungainly.

[c_amos]

WOw!

That is certainly a 'sporty' deck support. Like a compression post on steroids! I should think that if a bridge should come down on such a set up that you will have some liability for the repair of the bridge!

How does that 'feel' below decks? I know you were going for the modern 'open' floor plan... that is a pretty significant piece of hardware, does it still leave the cabin feeling open?

I really like the tabernacle. It is exactly what I was trying to describe, except I was picturing plates on the sides rather then the tube. I think yours is much stronger. I am sure that is what you were describing to me when I was there a couple weeks ago... I was just too dense to visualize it.

What plans do you have to seal the top of the open tubes? I am sure the tube design is going to be much stronger then plates, but they would not likely stay that way if they were to collect water all the time (or is that the design, with a pipe going to the water tank?)

Also, how do you intend to capture the mast 'shoe' at the bottom? Will it just sit on the plate, or is there some kind of receptacle that you picture?

Finally (for some more unsolicited input)... I would suggest through bolting the tabernacle, and having it sit on a built up platform rather then encasing it in fiberglass... even the stainless is going to corrode if it is denied access to the air (and it's right to 'sluf off' electrons as it would will so as to maintain it's 'stainless-ness')....

Beautiful work there Captain! I look forward to seeing it installed!

[CapnK]

Craig -

She feels plenty open - the pic might be misleading in its blurriness and perspective... The tubing for the strongback is 2" thickwall AL, the plate material is 1/4" thick.

Gonna seal the tubes somehow, haven't figgered that all the way out. Would like the caps removable, and also plan some tiny drain holes at bottom of the tubes...

All of this is aluminum, with the possible exception of the thru-bolts (and if I can use Al there, I will...). I want no galvanization if at all possible between the tabernacle and the mast. WRT strength of Al for this component, the tabernacle is built of hefty-enough tubing that it weighs about 7-8 pounds (scientifically tested by lifting it, then a 10# barbell to compare ).

Mast foot/shoe fitting - Still in the planning stage, likely to be built of composite to a tight fit. Gotta let the brain churn on it for a few days, now that I have tabernacle in-hand to see what exactly I am dealing with.

[Tony G]

How does that 'feel' below decks? I know you were going for the modern 'open' floor plan... that is a pretty significant piece of hardware, does it still leave the cabin feeling open?

Beautiful work there Captain! I look forward to seeing it installed!

Here! Here!

I admit it....I am insanely jealous! That open cabin is perfect for a boat this size and just what I really, really wanted. Oh well. Once again I live vicariously through Kurt.

Kurt, WRTyour mast support set up, is there a flat bar on top of the 'horizontal' tubing? If it is I completely missed that in your earlier photos. And believe you me, I looked at them tons of times! For some reason I too thought everything there was stainless and often wondered how you could have that much moolah and still be in port. That just didn't jive.

[CapnK]

LOL, Tony.

Nope - no stainless, all Aluminum. The internal piece cost me $300, the tabernacle only $120. I could have probably gotten the internal piece a bit cheaper, but made the mistake of mentioning that that amount was the most I wanted to pay...

Don't tell the fox where you hid yer chickens, ya know?

Thereafter ever aware of those consequences, I drove a harder bargain for the tabernacle.

There is a flat bar on top of the internal structure. I figured it would add more bearing surface, and be easier to 'mate' to the overhead that way instead of to the tubing.

[CapnK]

Cut thru the deck today, and trimmed back the cabin liner from where the bearing surface will be. Figure to do the glasswork below first; there is only 1 thin layer of glass on the overhead now, so by doing it this way (bottom first) I think I can re-induce the original curvature in the cabin top. It had depressed about 1/4" with the OEM structure.

So, pics...

First, Katies new dinghy...


The area of deck to cut away - added about 1" all around the tabernacle base. Cut on the red line with the SoniCrafter tool, using the half-circle blade. Hey Tony - see how close I was to the hinges? Maybe 1/2". I have even more aprreciation for this tool after today - more on that in a bit.



Outline cut, & first try at top skin removal. I was really hoping I could manage to peel up this whole piece and then re-use it elsewhere, but the 40 year old FRP was just too tenacious. I wound up cutting with the tool and fighting to get this little piece off. Going from this point, ripping about 1/3 of the skin off, it came off very irregularly, tapering up from the edge to just a last, 1 thin layer of glass at the end. Hmmm...



Broke out the SoniCrafter, and BAM. Perfect tool for this. Use plunge blade, Insert into core, cutting that free all the way across, then cut across the skin at about the point which would have been maximum plunge, and you get nice clean blocks of skin and core.



A 6"x2.5" block takes maybe 1.5 minutes to remove, and the surface underneath you can almost eat off of. You can use the blade to clean off the underskin.



More coming...

[CapnK]

This shows the first area - where you can see ripped mat at the lower part of the pic, from me pulling the skin off of the core (or trying to, at least). Contrast that with the SonicRafted area in the upper part of the pic, and you can see the improvement.



An example of a cut block using the tool. This was one of the first, they got even cleaner.



A couple pics of the tabernacle sitting in the deck hole....





The deck hole itself, in all its glory...



1 more coming...

[CapnK]

Last for now, these 3 pics show the strongback against the overhead, where the light is shining thru the 1 layer of skin left there.

[ebb]

[I asked Bill. Got the idea that Kurt removed them !]

I sometimes hit the blue line on the Discussion menu that says who's on line.
A 'guest' was logged on here.
When we log on cold we are directed to the beginning pages.
All of your earLy photos are replaced with a little red X.


Last page at the moment has your mast-step surgery into the cabin top.
Quality shots of quality work taking the mystery out for anybody needing a fix in this area
(which is probably nearly everybody.)
who hasn't thought they could do it - until now.
Important shots imco.

Kurt, I hope you post the conclusion of the repair.
And show us more or your intriguing and innovative

ALUMINUM TABERNAKLE in place.
How you attach the unit.

The mast in place.
AND HOW YOU RAISE AND LOWER YOUR MAST!

'I really wanna know"

[CapnK]

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa...

A lot of those pictures were on my old, now-defunct 'liquid-epiphany.com' website. Posted 'em there, with the good intention to save some bandwidth for *this* site/Bills wallet. Best laid plans, gone awry - as is not too uncommon... :/ I still have the pics, around somewhere, probably in several places. Which ones in particular were you looking for, Ebb? I could start by taking requests...

Attached are some pics of the beginning of the under-deck strongback area work I'm doing. Started by wrapping the aluminium strongback with plastic wrap to keep epoxy from sticking. Then cut lots and lots of strips of glass cloth, 2.5" wide or so. Between the flat top of the strongback and the curved overhead, were gaps approaching 3/8" at the widest (mid-point of the 3 flat areas across the top. Also, the gap is wider at the after edge, by about double of the front. After much thought and consternation and constipation and, well, delay I am just cramming glass up there until the gaps get closed with a solid layer of cloth. The last layer will get plastic wrap over the top to avoid it sticking to the under-deck skin. At that point, I'll do some cleaning up of this basic structure, grinding edges to make them purtier and fit better, basically get it 95% done, then apply it to the overhead, perhaps with a last layer or two of cloth for that last lil bit...

On to the pics...

This is detail of the top of the strongback, you can see the flatness...



Here's what it looked like after the first layer of goo was on, I started pulling plastic and then thought "Oops, pics...", so replaced it somewhat for this shot..



And here you can see that the new structure base has conformed to the top of the strongback - 3 same reflections, 1 for each plane. After this pic, I re-wrapped the strongback, and replaced this structure there as it was still a bit 'green' and flexible, so that it will harden to the true shape. You'll note some dry spots in the fabric - my resin was *cooking*, and I had to rush a bit more than I would have liked, to get things into thin layers so it wouldn't be shot too fast/hard. Good thing is that I will be able to wet that out easily later on...

[CapnK]

These three show the above in place.

I've begun on the outside part as well, filling in the deck hole with cloth. Going to attempt to get that near-done tomorrow. Will post pics of progress.

[CapnK]

Re: tabernacle... I *think* I have it figured out at last. I will cut the 2 nubs off of the mast foot (the nubs which sat in the plywood slot) so that I have a nice, flat bearing surface when the stick is up. I do not want the thru-bolt pivot to bear any of the weight of the mast. Thing is, when the mast rotates into position (I am planning on having it lay down aft), if it were to wind up where it was then sitting on the tabernacle base, is that the after portion of the mast and foot would have to be shaved off so that it will clear the base portion as it rotates into place. The after corner at the bottom of the mast would have to be rounded off. Rounding that corner will take away from the bearing surface I want. This is the Catch 22, that has stymied me for a couple of months...

One idea of many considered (and then rejected) was to make an oblong hole in the mast for the thru-bolt that the mast would rotate on, large enough to accommodate the corner clearance needed. Then, the mast would have to be pulled aft and up, for the last couple of inches of raising, to get the corner past, before it settled down on the foot. Doesn't sound like an easy thing to do, with a 35' long pole that weighs in excess of 100#'s.

What I've settled on is to use 2 shims. The mast will rotate up into place, 'hovering' on the pivot bolt, just far enough off of the tabernacle base so that that after corner has clearance when it rotates into place. Now, imagine a rectangle, the base plate, which is as wide as the space between the tabernacle legs, a bit longer than the mast in the fore-n-aft dimension, and just a smidge taller, maybe as much as 1/4", than the space between the mast foot bearing surface, and the tabernacle base below.

Take that rectangle, looking at the edge, and slice it on a slope into 2 pieces. Slice it so that if it is sitting on deck, the slice slopes from the upper aft corner, down to the front lower corner. Result: 2 wedges.

Once the mast is up, slide the lower piece, which will slope down and forward on top, into place on the tabernacle base. Then insert the top piece, wedging it back and up-slope on the bottom piece, until it takes up the weight of the mast. Secure it into place, and problem solved (I think...).

Re: mast raising... I've seen an idea where a fellow took a piece of chain on each side of the mast at deck edge, attached it to the deck at the ends, with enough slack so that when it was picked up in line with the tabernacle pivot, a particular link lined right up with that pivot point. From there, on each side of the mast, you lead a line up to the spreader bases, and make it off. Voila - legs. Then you can use tackle and a gin pole on the front of the mast, and hoist away. The legs will keep the mast centered until it is up and you can attach shrouds. I will probably also make a line off to the tabernacle base, aft, to take some of the kick-out load that will be there early on in the raise.

[CapnK]

Built up the 'strongback mating' piece somewhat more...

Trimmed the piece previously shown using the Rockwell tool (which is fast becoming my 'go-to tool' for this job...).



Labeled the piece generously, since the fit is different for vs aft against the overhead (tighter fit forward).



Shown with the mating piece is the scrap cutout from the cabin overhead liner. I intend to use this at the last layup in order to provide a nice flat surface for bonding against the overhead skin.



Glass cut and laid out for easy access. I positioned every full-width piece against the forward edge, smaller width pieces I laid slightly past the after edge in order to build a thicker section there.



Two resin mixing sessions later (the first one went off *fast*, too fast for me to layup all the glass at once), this is what i now have to work with. Have to trim it and measure, but I believe it is thick enough that I can lay on a paste of resin and colloidal for final forming, and then bond the liner scrap to it just prior to in-boat mounting. I put the overhead scrap piece against the resin when wet to make a 'pattern' of sorts so I know where to build up a bit more resin in the next step.

[CapnK]

Last for today, the CrewDogs are getting older, and getting them down into the cabin during the cold winter months has always been, well, interesting.

Molly is pretty fearless and will jump down, but she is almost 11 now, and I don't want to put that sort of stress on her old bones any longer. Buffett has to be 'persuaded' or brought down by hand - 55 lbs of wiggly furry mutt.

So this year they get their own accommodations, out in the cockpit. A cheap tent from WalMart with floor dimensions of 5'x6' fits the area pretty well. I am going to make an extension tube or something that will allow a good tight fit against the companionway from that side of the tent, allowing both me access to the boat, and hot air into the tent. I'll insulate it somehow.- am thinking of some batting material sewn between thin nylon that will basically blanket the tent. Will tackle that project down the road a bit, when nighttime temps start down below 40 or so...