Has anyone fabricated the mast step in the manual.
I would love to get rid of my wooden one
John
Has anyone fabricated the mast step in the manual.
I would love to get rid of my wooden one
John
I forgot the light mine is built into the mast.
I was wondering was this how they were
manufactured by Pearson and can you get
a replacement for it.
John
Not by Pearson. Supplied by Rostand which is no longer in business. We have a line on the school that has the patterns, but will not know anything before this summer.
Capt. John,
Couple weeks ago went down to Santa Cruz for some sand and sun. Took a side trip to Watsonville to Ballengers where I showed Buzz the sawed off bottom portion of the casting whose remains sit unmovable in the bottom of the mast. Didn't cut any of the mast. The plug is/was a stepped affair, most of it inside with about 3/8s" stepped out to support the mast extrusion. Really a nice casting. Outside is the exact shape of the mast. The mast wall is 1/8" thick. Took it down to Watsonville to be sure. But I bet B. has all the pertinent Ariel info in his data base.
Ballenger, highly respected West Coast spar maker, knows about tabernacles. A lot of sailors have to dip their masts to get into the upper harbor in Santa Cruz, for example. Lot of them use his gear. These boats have to do it all the time and have to lower while on the run. Buzz talked me out of this sophisticated lowering rig because it would have cost around $1200 for the Ariel. And arguably not as strong as the simpler one.
That rig in part requires that the bottom of the mast be radiused. Imagine the strange blocking you'ld need. But you don't have to loosen the upper shrouds. (Don't know about the drill with the aft lowers.)
The hinge step in the Manual and the s.s. one I bought from B. require that the upper shrouds, which are used to keep the mast straight while lowering, be loosened because the hinge is offset on the forward side, and therefore the mast rises a little when lowering. Scarey. The expensive rig has the hinge in the center under the mast. Imagine you'ld want to learn how to do it on a quiet day - with a couple of friends. The mast by itself weighs 71#!!!
Well, The $200 step hinge I brought home is made from 1/4" s.s. (so it's 1/2" thickness OA) and looks impressive enuf to lower the Trans-America building! Bottom portion is flanged upward both sides with five hloes each for turning blocks. B. will be making a new plug for the mast bottom from aluminum block to attach the step to. Delrin sheet material will be used to make up any difference from the original round wood one. And separate s.s. from aluminum. I'm not there yet on mounting the new step but will have some issues with it in relation to the balsacore deck and its smaller footprint. May want to spread the load out. May want to replace balsa with epoxy, etc.
For another thread:
Asked Buzz to fabricate a new masthead fitting with a spinaker bail. The old one isn't all that bad looking (some pitting and wear between the 'horns' where rigging is attached) but since it has been under tension for most of its forty years it was agreed that some unseen cracks or weakening may have developed.
Don't lnow what the costs are but will report later if anybody's interested.
Last edited by ebb; 06-05-2003 at 06:31 AM.
If the bulb and wire connections are good, what you need to get the light to work is a new double contact bayonet socket.
Unfortunately, the standard replacement bayonet socket they sell in marine stores doesn't fit (too big).
I'm still looking around. Does anybody have a source for a replacement socket?
Not yet, but it is on my list to do.Has anyone fabricated the mast step in the manual.
The first year I got my Commander I replaced the mast step.
I made it out of 4 layers of 3/8'' Okume plywood laminated
together with epoxy. I made a roughly 10'' square by the
newly 1-1/2'' thickness. On one of the sides I marked the taper,
1/2'' to 1-1/2 as I recall, and then dadoed the block on the table-saw.
On the 1/2'' side I left the outermost 1/4'' in place so that the block remained
level as I made the many cuts at graduating depths. When the cuts
were complete sand off the remaining piece and smooth off
the bottom. I cut out a rectangle for the mast step tenons and the
cut the block into a 9'' circle. The step is then finnish sanded and
coated with lots of epoxy in and out. I used the same two bolt
pattern as the original and painted it with a single part urethane.
Five years later the pad is as good as new. Bonded in wth 5200,
it is truly part of the boat, and requires little if any maintenance.
Cheers,B.
Commander#215
Apologize for the verbiage. I did assume you were refering to the aluminum mast step in the Manual (pg 64)
The first year I got my Commander I replaced the mast step.
I made it out of 4 layers of 3/8'' Okume plywood laminated
together with epoxy. I made a roughly 10'' square by the
newly 1-1/2'' thickness. On one of the sides I marked the taper,
1/2'' to 1-1/2 as I recall, and then dadoed the block on the table-saw.
On the 1/2'' side I left the outermost 1/4'' in place so that the block remained
level as I made the many cuts at graduating depths. When the cuts
were complete sand off the remaining piece and smooth off
the bottom. I cut out a rectangle for the mast step tenons and the
cut the block into a 9'' circle. The step is then finnish sanded and
coated with lots of epoxy in and out. I used the same two bolt
pattern as the original and painted it with a single part urethane.
Five years later the pad is as good as new. Bonded in wth 5200,
it is truly part of the boat, and requires little if any maintenance.
Cheers,B.
Commander#215
The original wood maststep on Ariel 338 (1965) measures:
8" diameter
55/64" thick on the fore
1 1/64" aft
1 3/64" each side
Measuring the depth of the cove side to side with a straightedge: 5/64".
Since there is a 1 1/8" X 4" hole in the step placed fore and aft, this measurement is approximate.
Hope this is useful.
check out (no comment, but it does look like the mast and step of an Ariel type.) www.mindspring.com/~ghz/mast.html
Last edited by ebb; 06-08-2003 at 08:34 AM.
Ebb,
It's a Pearson Coaster, 30' I think.
Looks like I was wrong about the light. What happened was that the original lamp socket had corroded so badly that the metal fused to the inside of the light housing. That's why the replacement socket wouldn't fit. I ended up grinding it out and popping in the replacement. Cost about $5.
I didn't wan't to replace the whole light with a new piece-of-crap Perko light.
On the mast step, I ended up coating my step with multiple layers of fiberglass and painting it. If you're thinking of having a metal one fabricated, I would give some consideration to going with a tabernackle. These boatyards charge alot of money to step/unstep the mast.
a Home made system...
http://mywebpage.netscape.com/TedsSa...t_Raising.html
To error is human
To Sail is divine... Book of French
Mike:
It's a Pearson Renegade. It lives in the same marina as my boat.
Al
lowering the mast questions
That there Renegade mast looks like a toothpick compared to Ariel. And it begs the question whether any Ariel's here have an aft lowering tabernacle - vs the forward lowering step/hinge?
As for lowering (it's too early to press the 'search' button, but I don't recall...) I would really enjoy reading and seeing in pictures just exactly what the raising and lowering ceremony is for said Ariels.
I'm particularly interested in what alterations to the upper shrouds are necessary to create the 'hinge' effect to keep the shrouds in tension as guys for raising and lowering.
Personally, having selected the cheap method of lowering forward and having never experienced this wonderous event, I'm rilly interested in what problems there are in having the mast cantilevered so radically over the bow - whether the pulpit can take the strain, whether a roller or a piece of sheep is correct, how does one release the pin at the hinge, and where does one put the mast over the cockpit? Wouild seem that there is even more fear involved in getting the spar positioned and up again! Stuff like that.
One assumes that this is good to know vs the extortionate yard bills for pulling the spar.
Last edited by ebb; 06-13-2003 at 07:01 AM.
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