How to make a flag-pole - or maybe the yard for Gardens - without trying too hard… or…
Practice, practice, practice…
Take your pick.
The plugs were cut and installed yesterday and the two halves glued together. Everything seemed okay.
Today, the clamps came off, the mast went outside for a look-see and two things struck me: This spar seems really tall; and, it doesn't seem to be very stiff. And I started to think.
Okay, the luff of the mizzen sail is a smidgen over 10' - so why do I need a nearly 14' mast for that sail? And, why did the mast step-to-partner (stern seat) seem to be very short? I went looking for an explanation…
The first photo of a Pathfinder I looked at today explained it all: The partner is really at the aft deck not the stern seat! This is an issue for me because I (mis) calculated the bottom plug based on the height of the stern seat, not the aft deck. And that miscalculation is a result of mixing design features of the Goat Island Skiff (my other boat) and the Pathfinder AND not being as familiar with the Pathfinder design as I once was. The GIS mizzen mast is supported by the mast step and the partner - which is the stern seat. Somehow - cross-contamination - I assumed the same design detail for the Pathfinder. And, my GIS isn't even rigged as a yawl…
So, realizing I can't use this spar for the mizzen, my first thought was, "It'll be a nice flag-pole." But then, again, maybe it'll work as the yard. We'll see.
At a minimum, building this spar was good practice.
Maybe I should spend the weekend reviewing the plans and building manual.
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