Hinged mast base for Albin Vega 27

[Gene Neill]

HAHA, guilty, your honor! Burn stuff, shoot stuff, blow stuff up ... what's not to love??

Well, as I prepared to bolt down the lower hinge, I realized the spot where it goes is not quite flat. I tried using a couple different sanders to get it right, but there was still a slight fore-and-aft seesaw effect happening. So I mixed up some resin and some colloidal silica to peanut butter consistency, smeared it on the bottom of the hinge (which I coated with Fleetwax ahead of time, in the hopes of removability), masked off the surrounding area, and torqued down the two 1/4" x 4" wood screws on the aft end of the hinge.

Next morning, off with the masking tape ...

Yippee, once the two aft screws were out, the hinge popped right off:

And a side view of the bedding, showing the buildup at the forward end:

A little touch up around the edges, beveled the holes, and some gel coat:

.

 

[Ned Ludd]

Great post, I am looking at the same project on my Newport 28. I am interested in seeing how it works for you.

 

[CloudDiver]

@Gene Neill has reached Pro-level on his repairs/upgrades/modifications... I can't wait to see all the cool stuff he does on this Vega.

 

[Gene Neill]

HAH! Dude, I'm so clueless I'm a danger to myself and anyone around me. Let me substantiate.

It occurred to me that I was forgetting about insulating the aluminum mast from the stainless hinge. So I ordered up a sheet of .030 G10 from McMaster (love their one-click ordering!!) and the very next day it was in the mailbox. I made an outline on it in the basic general shape of the mast, cut it roughly with a razor knife, and then took it to that handy dandy disc/belt sander to shape it on the disc.

Fortunately for me, this only took a couple minutes. They say God takes care of drunks and fools! Because the moment I turned the sander off, I saw a full, brand new tube of Methyl Ethyl Ketone Peroxide sitting right on the friggin SANDING BELT!! In a few moments more, it would have ruptured and pure MEKP would have been flying all over my workbench, probably in my eyes, nose, mouth, lungs ... not to mention skin. I don't know how long it would have taken for the cancer to start, but I'm pretty certain my life expectancy almost went WAY down.
Anyhoo, the upper hinge half is ready to be installed, and I'm still alive for now ...

 

[Gene Neill]

Upper hinge, finally installed on the mast base:

 

[CloudDiver]

In the military we call that "High Speed, Low Drag"... very nice.

 

[Gene Neill]

Darn. Well, when I got to looking at the screw holes through the cabin top from the inside, I was a little disappointed. The two aftward holes came out right over the compression beam, so I can only use wood screws in them, and the two forward holes are closer to the beam than I would have liked .... and boy do they look closer together than they do on the hinge plate.

So I went with 1/4" x 6" wood screws through the deck and into the beam for the aft two holes. For the forward two holes I used 5/16" bolts, made a backing plate out of some heavy stainless angle, and lag bolted the angle to the compression beam with three 1/4 x 2" lag bolts. It looks strong, hopefully it's strong enough.

 

[CloudDiver]

@Gene Neill ; I thought you'd like this... Look what i found wandering around the docks in a little town south of Zurich called Horgen on Lake Zurichsee;

 

[Gene Neill]

Oh, my. That is SO pretty! Thank you! Hard to believe that boat is probably well over 40 years old. Is that some kind of mast tabernacle/hinge on her?

I got the lower hinge screwed/bolted down, bedded with Sikaflex 291 rather than butyl, since I wanted to tighten it once and be done with it. Next step will be to pull her out from under the carport and turn the mast around 180 degrees, then reinstall the standing rigging.

And, I need to hit the local WM, and make some mast-raising bridles similar to the ones in this still from the video on page 1:

I'm going to use braided stainless cable and turnbuckles rather than rope for the "triangle", both for strength and to get the geometry perfect. The more perfect the bridles, the less strain on the hinge.

 

[Gene Neill]

I got the bridles done, on the rigging bench at West Marine (what a luxury!) They look pretty close to perfect. You can see the pivot point of the hinge, like a bullseye in the middle of the stainless ring. The ring will be shackled to the end of the upper shroud, and the bridle's turnbuckles will be adjusted to get the tension perfectly even all the way around. In theory, the mast will have no choice but to remain perfectly in column as it is raised (and lowered).

In the video in post #1, Chuck Rose is very nonchalant about his bridles, just whips them up on the spot with a piece of rope ... which is somewhat reassuring to me ... but he's done this before! I myself am a little nervous. I wish I were starting with the mast UP, instead of down.

But the show must go on!

 

[Gene Neill]

Oh, and I got the mast turned around, with the bottom end facing aft now, and the standing rigging has been replaced.

It's getting very close to "go time".

 

[Gene Neill]

SUCCESS!

Sorry no video of the big event, but there was no one around but the Admiral and I, so no camera person. At Chuck Rose's suggestion, we used the mainsheets from the Vega and from our C22 shackled together to raise the mast, since neither was long enough on its own.

Time for the engine swap!!

 

[CloudDiver]

Glorious! Engine swap?! Can't wait to see what you have for that!

 

[Gene Neill]

Well, here's what I have ... ... a 14 horse Beta ...

What I DON'T have is any knowledge or mechanical expertise of any kind whatsoever! Guess I better start a new thread! Getting the old Volvo out looks to be pretty easy, now that I have the boom to use as a crane (I may be dumb, but I know how to lift heavy stuff.) But installing the new Beta is gonna be a whole nuther story.

 

[The Garbone]

What of the factory variable pitch prop on that Vega? Has it already been replaced?

 

[Gene Neill]

What of the factory variable pitch prop on that Vega? Has it already been replaced?

It's still there for now. I plan to replace it.

 

[CloudDiver]

@Gene Neill, No "knowledge or mechanical expertise of any kind whatsoever"... Yeah right! You may not be able to break down that old engine and rebuild it from the crank up... few of us have THAT kind of mechanical know how, but judging from all the awesome work you have done on other projects you definitely have the DIY know how to do that engine swap. I'm looking forward to that thread for sure. What will you do with the old motor? Is it complete junk? If you had the bench space in a garage (something I've always wanted to try), you could do a bench rebuild on it just for the knowledge and experience, plus get a good resale value. Time is also the greatest enemy there, with all the other work to be done who hast time for THAT!? It would be interesting though, and I'm sure if you had a good tech manual and put your mind to it you'd have no issues.

 

[Gene Neill]

Luke ... you give me way too much credit, buddy! But thank you for the kind words nevertheless.

The engine would fire up when we bought the boat last spring, but sprayed copious amounts of water out through a rusty spot in the exhaust. I intended to replace the engine anyway, so this was no big deal. The boat lived on a freshwater lake (Winnipesaukee) in New Hampshire for almost its entire life, so I would assume the engine has relatively few hours on it.

I also assume there is someone out there who would like to have it, for parts or rebuild, although I have no idea of its value, if any. I myself have no time or space to try rebuilding it. I'll probably just sell it cheap, give it away, or throw it away, depending on the level of demand.

 

[CloudDiver]

Luke ... you give me way too much credit, buddy! But thank you for the kind words nevertheless.

The engine would fire up when we bought the boat last spring, but sprayed copious amounts of water out through a rusty spot in the exhaust. I intended to replace the engine anyway, so this was no big deal. The boat lived on a freshwater lake (Winnipesaukee) in New Hampshire for almost its entire life, so I would assume the engine has relatively few hours on it.

I also assume there is someone out there who would like to have it, for parts or rebuild, although I have no idea of its value, if any. I myself have no time or space to try rebuilding it. I'll probably just sell it cheap, give it away, or throw it away, depending on the level of demand.

LOL... let me know the make/model of the motor and estimated year. I might want it if I can get reasonable freight shipping. Do you have a Fastenal store nearby? They ship freight in their own network and I have shipped pallets of motorcycle parts with them.