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Hand, Reef and Steer, by Tom Cunliffe. Limited quantities available. Click link to see Amazon.com's listing, or search for used editions on Amazon's site. |
The mast itself is one of two distinct
types, according to Hand
Reef and Steer by Tom Cunliffe. A pole mast, as found on most
small gaffers, or a mast carrying a fidded topmast. Historically,
the gaff mast has been solid construction, without the concern about excess
weight that racer-induced thinking has brought us. Either one can
take a topsail, using a variety of ways to rig that Cunliffe details in
the book. Not a strict traditionalist, Cunliffe mentions the advantages
of reducing weight aloft if possible (but never in the boom, he says.)
My own solution to constructing a lighter weight, but still traditional
looking mast, is to use the "bird's mouth method" of making a hollow, round
mast. I detail my progress on my "Bird's
Mouth Mast" page on my personal website. I even include a beautiful
but bowed 12' failure in the hope that laughing at my mistake may help
you avoid making the same mistake.
The mast on a gaff rigged vessel is usually not tapered until "above the hounds" (or, above where the gaff reaches at its highest point.) This illustration below is from Tom Cunliffe's Hand Reef and Steer, and shows this arrangement. The reason is that the gaff jaws and mast hoops are sized to the diameter of the mast. Mast taper then forces you to compromise between the danger of binding near the deck if sizing the hoops to the mast correctly at the top. Or allowing too much space between the mast hoops and sail when the sail is hoisted at the top if the hoops are sized to the larger diameter of the mast at the bottom. Extra space between the sail and the mast can rob the sail of some power, and having the gaff jaws bind or be extremely sloppy is not good. You quickly learn where sailors obtained that "salty" language! |
| However, small craft ...
which are generally identified as those with main sail areas under 200
square feet ... can taper their masts without much trouble. Typically,
the mast is 12' to 15' tall, and the gap at the top between the sail and
mast is negligible. Having made an almost non-tapered but bowed mast
first, my second attempt produced a tapered mast. In practice, on
my 15' 4" tall mast, the taper is fine.
The illustration above shows the peak halyard arrangement on a large gaffer at "B", and the throat halyard just above the gaff jaws. Small craft, with smaller sails, don't need quite so many blocks to peak up the sail. More on the halyards later, of course. |
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