daysailor mast

[sinbadwr]

I bought an old (1960s) daysailor I. Have had it out a few times. I have always noticed that the lower part of the mast, below the tabernacle seemed loose to me. And that the tabernacle was not properly attached to it. Well to make a song story short, my 1st mate undid the forstay a little quicker than either of us thought, and though both mast pins were in place and we were on flat ground with little or no wind, the mast came down. I lost one spreader, which I have repaired. And the tabernacled was torn off the lower mast. The tabernacle where it attches to the lower part of the mast was not in good shape. Rather than attempt to re-attach it with screws, as the previous owner did, I epoxied it. To work on it properly, and to avoid spilling epoxy on the deck, I removed it from the boat. That is when I noticed the little wheel under the mast.
Ok, I have re-attached the tabernacle. Now, what holds the lower part in place when the mast is not up. It seemed to stay put before, but when I re-attached the upper part to the fist pin on the tabernacle,(due to the position of the mast at the time there is some upward pressuer) the weight of the mast just pulled up the lower part off the mast step. Let me also say my mast is lose at the deck. The hole being larger than the mast itself.
So is this normal, is it normal to easily pull that little base up and off the mast step? Or what holds it down?
My next question, does anyone use that wheel at the mast step to tension their rig? And if so do you use the offical mastjack, that I read about in the manual. What does this device look like and where can I get one or fabricate one?
sinbad

 

[Sunbird22358]

That pin/wheel that the lower part of the mast is stepped to is the "Mast-Jack". I guess the early Day Sailers used that instead of turnbuckles to tension the rig? Anyway, when the tabernacle was added a hole should have been drilled through the base of the mast from one side to the other and through that mast-jack pin. The would have kept the lower part of the mast from lifting off the pin. The mast partner (aka, hole in cuddy top that the mast goes through) is a bit larger than the mast, but not much. This allows the mast to move a small amount fore-aft and port-starboard as the mast is tuned. I would say my mast partner has about 1/8" gap +/- around the mast.

 

[sinbadwr]

I thought that was the mast jack. But how do you adjust it. It has holes around the circle and I am sure that there is some kind of wrench that would fit it. I think that it would be helpfull to actually see one before I try to fabricate one. Or at least have one described.
The pin that the base of the mast sits on, the one you suggest I drill through, is steal and about an inch thick. That is going to take a lot of drilling. And fastening the base of the mast to that in that fashion will make the mastjack inoperable; as the base of the mast will be fixed in one position.
I don't want to do that as I have only one turnbuckle on the forstay. The shrouds have no adjustment.
Does anyone have a picture of the wrench to adjust the mastjack, or can they describe it or tell me where I can get one?
sinbad

 

[Sunbird22358]

The mast hinge/tabernacle really wasn't designed for the older DS I with the mast-jack, I can think of other ways to stop the lower part of the mast from popping off that pin..... but all of them would prevent using the mast-jack. I have to admit, that although I know of the mast-jacks.... I have never used one and was not really aware how it lifted the mast, and I didn't realize that your boat was still set up to use it. I do have a couple of pictures of a mast-jack from a DS I, that might help someone give you an idea about a wrench. If I were you, I'd post a question on hte Day Sailer Association Website, www.daysailer.org since most racers have the DS I, at least one or two (and I'm sure more?) still use the mast-jacks. I suspect that it is made of Bronze, not steel.... but still would not be easy to drill through!