Coin under mast

[Our Seas]

I've been reading about the ritual of placing a coin under the mast for ggood luck. I want to put a silver quarter under the mast of my newly launched Catalina 22. I was looking for input to see if any other Cat 22 owners did this? Did you put the coin directly under the mast outside on top of the mast step plate or did you put it on the wooden mast support inside under the mast.

I'm also changing the name of the boat and I was wondering if anybody else has gone through that ritual also and what did you do? I've already removed the old name and discarded anything (Papers etc) with the old name on it. I'm hoping to christen the boat next weekend after 2 years of refurb and rename it. Its in the water now after succesfull sea trials last week. I know it may all sound silly, but it is fun, and I don't want to upset the Wind and Water gods!!

 

[SailAway1]

I don't know anything about the coin under the mast but we recently did the re-naming ceremony. Here is a link to the ceremony that we followed.
http://boatsafe.com/nauticalknowhow/rename.htm
It was a great time - lots of champagne made it even better!

 

[Our Seas]

Nice pictures Odayfun, thanks for the info. I'll use that renaming ceremony this weekend.

 

[Sea22]

I used a Penny

I put an old wheat penny(heads up) in the center of the mast step using clear silicone sealant. So far it hasn't moved after a dozen or so mast raising/lowering cycles. Don't know about the luck thing but my kids thought it was fun!

 

[Squidd]

Sounds like a recipe for galvanic corrosion from dissimilar metals..

 

[CrawJac]

It all sounds like fun and games, but since I went through the renaming ceremony it seems that my bad luck has vanished! But just have fun with it, this is a great excuse to have all of you friends over and enjoy your boat. You also get to give a cool speech and drink chamagne.

You can read more about my experence here:
http://thebuenavista.blogspot.com/2011/10/what-was-in-that-champagne-rocket-fuel.html

 

[Old Skool Neil]

The stories and superstitions are all fun but long ago when ships had solid wood masts stepped on the keel they'd place a copper coin or coins under the mast when stepping to prevent rot. The copper that leached out over the years was an excellent preservative.

In the 70's when I worked at Capital Yachts we had a couple of coin ceremonies with new owners of Newport 30's. We would place the coins on top of the keel in the area of the mast compression post in the laminations. As there was no benefit to be had from copper, silver dollars were the common denomination.

 

[Sea22]

Not too worried

Thanks for the warning Squidd. I used enough silicone to create a nice barrier between the copper and stainless steel. The only exposed part of the penny is the head.

 

[jfrench]

Perhaps placing the coin on the face of the wooden mast support in the cabin would provide both good luck and a conversation piece with guests. It would also be visible and a nice reminder as you sail.