Boat Builder Central - Builder Forums

I guess it's time to start a thread on this build. I'm building this V10 from 1994 vintage plans that Jacques' daughter sold on ebay last year. No sheets of build notes were included, but hopefully it will be a simple enough build that they won't be all that necessary.

This will be a rowing & sailing version with capability of adding an outboard. Since this is my first attempt at a sailboat, I'm going to tackle the mast, sprit and sail before building the hull. For various reasons, I've decided to use a Bolger 40 sq. ft. leg o' mutton sail plan. The original plan is for a 32 sq. ft. sprit sail and the newer versions list a 35 sq. ft. sail. Following the path of other V10 builders, I wanted to increase sail area, but still want to keep the capability of downsizing to the original plan if I decide I need to store the mast and sprit inside the boat when I win the big lottery and need a dinghy for the yacht. With the sail plan I'm going to use, the CE will be within an inch or so of the original, giving me more area without having to worry about relocating the mast step and partner.

Here's a simplified sail plan. Obviously, the hull isn't drawn right, but the basic dimensions are to scale.

The mast will be a little tall initially to allow some adjustments if necessary. Mast is 13'5", sprit boom is going to be just short of 9' long.

Here's the basic dimensions of the sail.

I'll make the first one from polytarp or tyvek and then make a dacron version based on how the starter sail works.

Now for the fun stuff. My mast is made from laminated fir. Finding long enough planks that were suitable was too much of a challenge, so I scarfed together what I could find.

I used 10:1 scarf joints staggered about 2 feet apart.

The scarf joint closest to the mast foot is located in the middle of the laminate. This is it after turning the mast round and 2 coats of epoxy.

Making the square blank into a round mast was fun. I can't think of anything I've ever made that created so much saw/sanding dust. I ripped the square into an octagon on the table saw and then hand planed it to 16 sides. When I made up the 3 layers of the mast, I cut the middle one a few inches shorter to form a clevis when it was all glued up. A hole through the clevis and an eyebolt chucked in my drill gave me a sort of universal joint drive to rotate the mast so I could cut the taper and finish rounding it off. Each end of the mast sat on rubber wheels for support.

Most of the taper was cut with a 40 grit disc on my grinder, then finished off with the belt sander. Here is the last step of sanding while turning the mast. I used a sanding belt turned inside out. The green box on the left is a variac that I used to control the speed of the drill. Around 25 - 30 volts gave me about 50 rpm and that's about as fast as it needed to turn.


The end result is a not quite perfectly round, not quite perfectly straight, 2 3/16" X 13'5" mast that weighs 13 lbs. I'm quite happy with it.

Clever............nicely done, I will watch this quite carefully, I am getting a hankering to build a sailing dinghy.............. if I ever finish the FS17
good luck,
Steve

Excellent tutorial on your mast, GK. Great ingenuity, too! I am now hooked on your thread and I'm not even much of a sailor!

Huck

Thanks guys. I taught myself the basics of sailing in a BW Squall dinghy on Lake Huron about 30 years ago. That was tons of fun, but I've not been in a sailing dinghy since.
The next step is the sprit boom. I can't decide between a CF wishbone sprit or a straight one out of laminated fir. I guess I'll have to flip a coin to decide that soon.

This will be fun to watch.. After watching your D15 we are expecting quite a bit here... along with good tips...

I can already tell I am going to need a glossary of terms to keep up..

mecreature wrote:I can already tell I am going to need a glossary of terms to keep up..

A rope is a rope, unless it's connected to something, then it's a line. Unless that line is a sheet or halyard or something.
I probably won't depart much from the plans on the hull. It's a small boat and I don't want to complicate it too much. With the wood mast, I'm committed to some bright finished woodwork, so I'll probably go for more of that.

Awright,I realy like that drill with the eyebolt in it for a home made uni joint got a couple of old makita 1/2 drive drills sitting under the shelf in my garage; actuallity I am sorta scared to use them,they are quite powerfull and dont stop as fast as my old 3/8 drill ...sure know what to do with one of them 1/2rs now! wonderfull idea Thanks for the trick Mike R

I know what you mean about stopping that drill. It can be a wrist breaker when a large diameter bit hangs in the material you are drilling. I guess I'd better include this warning: Anyone that wants to try this should firmly anchor the drill and run it slow!!! The little speed control knob on the trigger should be set to dead slow at the start and speed increased gradually. I am lucky to have a variac to do things like this. It gave me good speed control that was easy to adjust. Even then, I had this vision of the mast getting loose and flailing around beating me up. Fortunately, that never happened.

OK, my sail is done. It's 100% tyvek cut in one piece from an 8'X10' plain white sheet. I used 2¼" tyvek tape and some outdoor grade polyester thread from WallyWorld on a home sewing machine.
Laying it out. I allowed 1½" to fold over on the edges.


Cut along the line. ¼" nylon boltrope for the luff and double sided tape to hold it and tape the fold down on the edges.


The finished sail.


The head.


The tack.

sounds like fun...

nice stitching..