BOW AND MASTS

I got the mast safely to the workshop yesterday. After walking a while I saddled the bike and started pedaling. It was wobbly but I mostly keept to smaller streets. When crossing heavy trafficed streets, if such are to be found here in Västervik I did it by walking.

Today I have cut down the masts to size 2.6 meters long. They weigh in at about 2.5 kilos without paint and a few small fittings. The track will be grinded away  so they will weigh about 3 kilos each when finished. That will be wery handy. They can easily be set and taken down to suit the weather conditions. The masts of late Exlex had a weight of about 5 kilos so this weight reduction will improve stability and handling a lot.

 

The bow panels seems to come together nicely. I do it bit by bit as not to crack them.

Some pictures below.

Starting the mast transport from Marström Composite factory idyllically situated at the Baltic a few hundred meters from my small flat.

One of the masts cut to 2.6 meters on the scale.

The scale reads 2656.7 grams or about 2,7 kilos

The difference between the weights of the masts is 63 grams.

There will be a third mast made from glass fibre. Glass fibre makes it possible to place the AIS/WHF antenna inside the mast. This protects the mast and an eys sore is gone.

A combination of Spanish windlasses and clamp gets the side panels gently into place. The panels are here a bit longer than the boat. The reason to get a good curvature by bending. Once the are fixed the excess material will be cut off.

To be continued…

Regards Yrvind.