Hinged mast base for Albin Vega 27

[Gene Neill]

Thanks, Luke! The sander is only a 6" disc. Guess I'll need a LOT of those coarse discs.

I wasn't sure what blade to buy for the chopsaw, so I went with "general purpose" 40 tooth, and saved the receipt. Think I should take it back and exchange it for one with more teeth??

 

[CloudDiver]

The chop saw didn't come with a blade? What a rip off.... The 40 Tooth is good for general cross cuts on 2x4 & 2x6. My DeWalt chop saw is a bigger 12 inch blade and it slides so I can cut 4 x 4's and 2 x 12 stock. For the Delrin, you want a blade that has the highest tooth count = finer cuts. Also, blade 'kerf' is how thick the blade itself is. That 40 tooth blade does say thin kerf but it probably knocks out 3/16" maybe. A high tooth count blade is usually a bit thinner. That blade will def do the job on the plastic but generate more heat that a higher tooth count. That blade is still good for general lumber cutting.
On the sander, did you pay around $100 for it? If so, return it and go to Lowes and get the same one that has the 8 inch disc, I'm pretty sure its a Porter Cable unit.

 

[Gene Neill]

Well ... I assumed the saw didn't come with a blade (I still haven't opened it yet), simply because there was no mention of an included blade anywhere on the packaging. We'll see.

On your advice, I took the sander back to Lowe's and exchanged it for the 8" Porter Cable. It was 60 bucks more, but I'm sure it's worth it. It definitely weighs a lot more, which is always a good sign. LOL

 

[Gene Neill]

Both the blocks of material have arrived. The aluminum was just as pictured above, no surprises there. But the first thought I had on pulling the Delrin out of the mailbox was "wow, that's heavy". But it is pretty big, and as hard as it is, I guess it should come as no surprise that it would be pretty dense. (Sounds like I'm describing my head! LOL)

Cant wait to get started shaping it!

 

[Gene Neill]

Man! This chopsaw cuts Delrin like a BOSS!!

In no time at all, I had the block pretty close to oval shaped. Then it was on to the sander, and before long I had it as close as I dare go for now. (The boat is still 1800 miles away in Massachusetts, so I won't have the mast right here to verify precise fit for another ten days.) Maybe I'll screw around with the aluminum block this weekend, just to see how it goes. Plus, then I'll have a spare plug just in case I somehow screw this one up.

Easy peasy!!

 

[Gene Neill]

Two tool boxes, with which I earn my living, one of them holding the nearly finished Delrin plug AND the brand new Ballenger hinge, were stolen out of my truck this week.

Sooooo .... slight delay.

 

[CloudDiver]

Two tool boxes, with which I earn my living, one of them holding the nearly finished Delrin plug AND the brand new Ballenger hinge, were stolen out of my truck this week.

Sooooo .... slight delay.

Nothing makes me more FURIOUS than a thief... especially when what they steal are 1) your tools by which your EARN your living (which obviously they don't)... and 2) things you made with your hands which can't easily be replaced.
I hope your insurance covers your tools, and I also hope there was video camera footage of the theft.

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

Gene;
Delivering a Hunter 31 years ago to an outlying lake a good day travel from the shop with all tools in the bed of the truck. Stopped at the rest stop on the Interstate to use the head and came back out and everything was gone. Left the trailer and boat at a secure location with video coverage and two days later picked up the boat with new tools costing me several thousand or more. Some were highly specialized tools and well you know that can be expensive. I feel your pain.

Week later, caught the culprit with tools in tow and since the cost was high, it was considered a major felony which he had to serve a lot of time along with all the other stolen items in his possession.

 

[CloudDiver]

Gene, give us an update if you can... I hope insurance has you covered for new tools, but I really also hope the culprits can be caught.

If we lived near each other, you and I would have a case of good beer and break out the plasma cutter and MIG welder and build you the most hardcore & secure truck bed tool boxes known to man... We'd have to take it slow on the beer, lol... wouldn't want goofy crooked tool boxes!

 

[Gene Neill]

Gene, give us an update if you can... I hope insurance has you covered for new tools, but I really also hope the culprits can be caught.

If we lived near each other, you and I would have a case of good beer and break out the plasma cutter and MIG welder and build you the most hardcore & secure truck bed tool boxes known to man... We'd have to take it slow on the beer, lol... wouldn't want goofy crooked tool boxes!

Thanks, Luke! With your skills, you could probably build a better tool box half drunk than anything I could buy at the store!

Long story short: no cops and no insurance claim. It happened on the road, towing the new Vega home from Massachusetts to Florida. I'm just glad we didn't have any mechanical issues after the theft occurred, or I'd have been pretty screwed.

But we made it home alive, with truck, boat and trailer all intact!

 

[OrangeOkie]

Great how to video. As I was watching the lowering of the mast I was trying to yell "stop" before the mast crushed the radar reflector into the thin fiberglass. ha ha

 

[Gene Neill]

The mast plug is done! Having already made the prototype pictured above (now stolen), this one took only a few hours. The only time consuming thing was climbing the stepladder up to the very top (where it says "DO NOT STAND"), and then standing there, checking the fit ... then climbing down, walking to the shed, sanding a little off the plug here and there, then walking back to the boat, climbing the stepladder back to the top, checking the fit ...

... a whole bunch of times.

But the fit is darn near perfect. It takes a light tap or two with your palm to insert the plug this far into the mast, with nary a gap anywhere around it.

The next thing I need to figure out is, how to insure that the mast, plug, hinge, and deck are all joined together in such a way that the mast is "straight", as in not rotated to one side or the other.

 

[Gene Neill]

Progress!

First I built a mast crutch (more like a gallows, a trickier project since there are no rudder gudgeons to base it on), and a mast "cradle" for the bow:

Next I "leveled" the mast, using a 4' level placed across the spreaders, with a PVC fitting duct-taped to each end, thus clearing the mast itself. Then, with the plug carefully inserted flush into the mast, I used a smaller level to get the top hinge in place and get it level.

Then, using my third and fourth hands, I held the hinge in position, and marked the holes onto the plug using a sharpie. Praying fervently all the while, I drilled the plug and bolted it to the hinge:

 

[CloudDiver]

Nice work Gene! That hull looks shiny, I can see a reflection in it... and it appears you have been sanding the old bottom paint off already. Are you holding out on us?

 

[CloudDiver]

A couple questions... You have to attach the plug to the base of the mast, and the plug bolts to the hinged portion (halyard plate) of the mast step... but with the nuts on the inside the plug has to be secured to the halyard plate first. So 3/4" stainless screws around the bottom edge? Pilot drilling should be no problem but will you have clearance to turn them in with the halyard plate already attached? BTW, I would go with 1/4" x 3/4" SS sheet metal pan head screws, you can tap the Delrin for machine screws but I'm not sure that it will hold the fine threads very well. Probably a good idea to go with 6 if you can fit them vice just 4. Buy a small pack of Delrin washers from McMaster Carr, these are awesome to go under screw heads where SS touches aluminum. I bought a 50 pack of both 1/4" and 5/16" Delrin washers to help isolate all the deck hardware that I have where the screw sits on aluminum like my deck organizers, and still using tef gel on the thread shaft.
Also, water in the mast? I would use table saw or circular saw to just cut a blade width at 1/8" deep in a cross on the top and bottom going through that center hole... that will give water at path to escape from inside the mast. If your masthead seals the inside from weather or spray, it probably isn't a big deal.

 

[Gene Neill]

A couple questions... You have to attach the plug to the base of the mast, and the plug bolts to the hinged portion (halyard plate) of the mast step... but with the nuts on the inside the plug has to be secured to the halyard plate first. So 3/4" stainless screws around the bottom edge? Pilot drilling should be no problem but will you have clearance to turn them in with the halyard plate already attached? BTW, I would go with 1/4" x 3/4" SS sheet metal pan head screws , you can tap the Delrin for machine screws but I'm not sure that it will hold the fine threads very well. Probably a good idea to go with 6 if you can fit them vice just 4. Buy a small pack of Delrin washers from McMaster Carr, these are awesome to go under screw heads where SS touches aluminum. I bought a 50 pack of both 1/4" and 5/16" Delrin washers to help isolate all the deck hardware that I have where the screw sits on aluminum like my deck organizers, and still using tef gel on the thread shaft.
Also, water in the mast? I would use table saw or circular saw to just cut a blade width at 1/8" deep in a cross on the top and bottom going through that center hole... that will give water at path to escape from inside the mast. If your masthead seals the inside from weather or spray, it probably isn't a big deal.

I'm glad you brought up the method of attaching the plug into the mast. I was leaning toward fine-thread machine screws, but the possibility of them backing out certainly did cross my mind. My understanding is that threadlock will not be effective. So your suggestion of 1/4" pan head sheet metal screws sounds pretty solid. The good thing is, these screws will only matter when raising or lowering the mast. If they totally fell out in mid-ocean, it wouldn't matter at all until it was time to lower the mast again.

Good idea about water drainage. Water will drain out just fine between the plug and the inner mast wall (they don't fit THAT perfectly), but draining faster can only be a good thing.

Yeah, I've been compounding the hull behind your back. Very gratifying work, and it's coming out nicely, thanks to the tutelage of the great @Maine Sail, may he live a thousand years and father a thousand children! Even prior to polishing or waxing, the difference is astonishing. I CAN'T WAIT to see this boat shining from stem to stern.

 

[CloudDiver]

I'm glad you brought up the method of attaching the plug into the mast. I was leaning toward fine-thread machine screws, but the possibility of them backing out certainly did cross my mind. My understanding is that threadlock will not be effective. So your suggestion of 1/4" pan head sheet metal screws sounds pretty solid. The good thing is, these screws will only matter when raising or lowering the mast. If they totally fell out in mid-ocean, it wouldn't matter at all until it was time to lower the mast again.

Good idea about water drainage. Water will drain out just fine between the plug and the inner mast wall (they don't fit THAT perfectly), but draining faster can only be a good thing.

Yeah, I've been compounding the hull behind your back. Very gratifying work, and it's coming out nicely, thanks to the tutelage of the great @Maine Sail, may he live a thousand years and father a thousand children! Even prior to polishing or waxing, the difference is astonishing. I CAN'T WAIT to see this boat shining from stem to stern.

That's impressive! The rehab on the Albin Vega looks like it will be pretty quick. Doing a new barrier coat after getting off all that old bottom paint?

 

[Gene Neill]

That's the plan. New bottom, new engine and drive train, new head, new galley, new standing rigging, new wiring, who knows what else. A lot of money and work, for a boat that was in pretty good shape to begin with!

On topic ... the bottom half of the hinge comes without any holes drilled, so the owner can match up to existing holes if they want - which is precisely what I'm doing. I sure hope they drilled 'em straight at the factory!

The factory mast step was only held down with four 1 1/4 pan head screws. Almost no strength at all, but then, none was needed. I'm going to through-bolt the two forward holes in the bottom hinge with 5/16" machine screws, but the aft two holes are located over the compression beam, which is a massive wooden beam running athwartships across the ceiling, supporting the mast. So, those two holes get 1/4 x 4" wood screws.

It took two days to drill and countersink these four holes in the bottom half of the hinge. They still aren't pretty, but they're good enough, and they're DONE.

 

[Gene Neill]

This may not be very interesting to anyone who doesn't own a Vega, but I can't resist noting it anyway. It was unknown to me until now.

As some may know, a Vega has no wood core in the deck. Rather, it is cored with PVC foam. There are only a handful of wood inserts, as shown in this diagram, including under the mast step:

But apparently in this, the third and last series of the Albin Vega, even those wood inserts were replaced with something else, something synthetic. As I enlarged the existing mast step holes, this is what the drill brought up. Just for fun, I made a pile of these shavings and tried burning them. All I can say is, it ain't wood.

 

[CloudDiver]

Sweet! No core rot to ever worry about! And you just like lighting $hit on fire...