Fruits Of My Labor (A-113)

[Tony G]

That is about all I've got for tonight other than these hangers we made for the mast. That was a real joy to place by myself given I don't have a ladder in the shop yet...

I am open to suggestions regarding the mast beam and anything else you might throw my way. Cheers to all of you and it feels good to finally do something boat related!

[Commander 147]

Tony

It's really good to see you are getting back to it. It is amazing how much having to relocate from one shop area to another can set back a project and all of the things it can effect (like your tablesaw out feed table for instance). When I look at how you have set up your work area I see a lot of similarities to the way I have either done things in the past or do them currently. And even though this is a boat site it is nice occasionally to see the shops behind the scenes that help to create these restored small yachts. As a matter of fact we should start a thread on workshops that those of us here use to do this work. It could be another way of helping each other to see ways of handling things during the process of restoring these fine boats. Before the economy dived I almost built a new shop for myself and I would have had all the delays you experienced.

As far as your mast beam dilemma here is my take as a fellow wood worker that has used Titebond II on a lot of projects.

First you need to look at it and decide if ripping things out now and replacing them would be significantly easier than it would sometime down the road. If it would be a similar amount of work either now or later then my vote is later (and maybe never). Titebond II forms a bond (especially in the large surface areas in your situation) that is most of the time stronger than the wood itself. It has been used in many structural applications in home building where it helps to support roof structures and never failed unless it was an obviously poor design in the first place and then it was not the fault of the glue. Your biggest concern should be keeping it dry. If you meticulously maintain the bedding under the mast step and make sure you have no leaks there I seriously doubt your mast beam will ever fail as a result of the glue. And if it does fail I doubt it will happen in one fell swoop. I would be surprised if you did not see some tell tail signs of a problem prior to an actual failure. And if you saw those signs then is when I would quit sailing her until I resolved the situation. That's my take and what I would do in your situation for what it is worth. Of course you mileage may vary. :-)

I really look forward to watching your continued progress as you get back to work on her.