Westsail guys: Detail request for mast tabernacle.

[Zach]

Hi guys,

Read the other day that the Westsail 32 has a tabernacle for the mast... Wondering what it looks like! Searched through yacht world and googled away, but have come up empty handed.

I'm really interested in the pin diameter, the height of the pivot point off the deck, and the thickness of the metal. Been plotting building one for Pylasteki, while raising the chain plates to the same height outside the hull so the shrouds can stay taught while raising and lowering.

Does the mast have internal reinforcing, like the male part of a mast step around the pin, or just a compression sleeve to keep from crushing the mast together?

Thanks!

Zach

[Rachel]

Non-guy here, but I can share what I know, as a former Westsailor.

First of all, here's a photo. Ignore the slender, aluminum-colored spar - it's the whisker pole. The mast is off-white. You can see a dark gap behind the whisker pole that's a few inches high, and that's the space above the mast heel.



Edited to add another photo with description: (Sorry that 99% of it is not mast step, but it seems to be covered up in most of my photos, by a sail bag, the dinghy, etc.)



The white triangle that you can see to starboard of the mast is one of the designed in reinforcements to the tabernacle. Basically, the tabernacle is two fore-and-aft flat plates, and with these triangular "gussets" that run athwartships. The base of the gusset is welded to the flat, deck-mounted part of the tabernacle/step, and the vertical edge is welded to the "ear" of the tabernacle/base. The top of the gusset is even with the top of the tabernacle -- that's as high as it is.

End of edit.

I almost don't think of this as a tabernacle, although technically I guess it is. By that I mean that it's not like, say, the tabernacle on a Dutch boat, wherein the pin is a foot or more off the deck, and the heel of the masts swings through an arc when you let it down.

The Westsail mast pin is just a couple of inches up off the deck. There's a compression tube built into the mast that a pin goes through. This has been the source of much (MUCH &*%/#) consternation to Westsail owners, because the pin is stainless, and the tube aluminum. Can you say impossible, binding corrosion?!

I can't remember the exact pin diameter, but I'd guess it at about 5/8" to 7/8". I'll have to dig to see if I can find another photo. If so, I'll post it. The tabernacle part was basically just overgrown "ears" on the mast step, with the compression tube built into the bottom of the mast, as I remember it. The stock Westsail spar (on most boats) is a painted extrusion by LeFiell.

This boat "grew up" in Santa Cruz, where there is a low bridge between where boats live and the ocean, and so she was apparently rigged and de-rigged for each sail. That's dedicated. The rigging had "hinges" (turnbuckles, etc., as mentioned in the link to Yves Gelinas' A-30 mast-stepping system) in the cap shrouds at the level of the mast step to facilitate this, although we eliminated them when we re-rigged, as we couldn't see ourselves lowering the mast that way, and we wanted to eliminate the complication of the additional rigging.

There's must discussion about it (mostly about the confounded pin) on the Westsail Owners' Forum (www.westsail.org).

[Zach]

Thanks Rachel!

Hinges above the turnbuckles... I'll have to do some reading/pondering on that. Sure would lower the weight of the chain plates straps by a bunch! (grin)

[Rachel]

Well they weren't actually hinges. I'm trying to remember what they looked like... I think it was an extra set of turnbuckles with D-rings in them somewhere -- or something like that. It's just a way for the cap shrouds to "fold" in a planned location (in this case, on the same horizontal plane as the mast step).

If I find a photo of the old rigging, I'll post it here.

R.

[BALANCE]

I've got one of those but I have zero experience with deck stepped masts. I'd be happy to take pictures for you above and below deck although I don't know how edifying they would be...

[Zach]

Balance,

Pictures would be great to see... Thanks! There doesn't seem to be a lot out there as far as details go for building a tabernacle for 30+ foot masts, other than the knowledge that it is done. (Edifying is an excellent word by the way! The English major in me had to go look it up... Grin)

Rachel,

I think I get the idea. Were there pipes or something slipped Over the turn buckles to keep them standing upright? I've been pondering how to establish that joint as where it wants to bend... about all I've come up with.

Thanks again...

Zach

P.S. Was reading "Trekka Around The World" By John Guzzwell and thought he had a pretty cool idea. Continued the chain plates all the way down to the water. Instant lightening ground. Adds a little more weight, a few more bolt holes, and a touch of drag when under sail... creative solution none the less.

[Rachel]

I think I get the idea. Were there pipes or something slipped Over the turn buckles to keep them standing upright? I've been pondering how to establish that joint as where it wants to bend... about all I've come up with.

Well, we replaced the rigging without ever having tried it, but doesn't it hinge there automatically? I mean both because the "joint" is right in line (on a horizontal plane) with the mast step; and because the two gin-pole shrouds also attach to the shackles (or what have you) that are at the hinge point.

Maybe Peter will chime in, as he's used the gin-pole system on his San Juan, if I remember correctly.

[Peter]

Did someone ring my chimes ? ;-)
Yes, I used it on the San Juan, which had a mast tabernacle that was hinged about 10" above the deck. The key of this method is getting the pivot point of the temporary shrouds at the same level as the mast pivot. I made up a couple of bridles using light chain, shackled to the toe rail.

Here is my source of info for making the bridle.

The whole business can be a bit intimidating, watching a 30' aluminum pole waggling around over your head. I always double up on any key support or lifting lines, using the belt/suspenders approach, and make sure to do it in an area clear of other boats and people ... just in case. But it's not as hard as it looks, and it's very stisfying to get the job done oneself.

[Rachel]

The key of this method is getting the pivot point of the temporary shrouds at the same level as the mast pivot. I made up a couple of bridles using light chain, shackled to the toe rail.

Ah, so does this mean you wouldn't need to have "hinge points" in the boat shrouds themselves, but just in the temporary gin-pole shrouds?

One reason we did away with the system (or thought we did) was that we didn't see ourselves using it often (or ever) and there were these big honking turnbuckles in the cap shrouds a foot or so off deck level. As we were working up our budget for re-rigging, it wasn't too hard to decide we didn't need those and would probably not be stepping the mast ourselves.

Maybe that led me to assume you have to have hinge points in the boat's shrouds themselves when, in fact, you don't?

[Zach]

Thanks guys!

Good stuff.