Wooden Spreaders- Cat 30

[Charlie Jones s/v Tehani]

Will - you are most welcome. I ran a furniture repair and refinish shop for over 20 years, and then built wood boats, and restored plastic ones for another ten or 12 (and am STILL doing boats)

I have two on trailers in my yard now- one damaged in Harvey, waiting for me to have time, and one being readied to launch after a friend lost hers in Harvey, and bought another. THEN I can fix mine which was damaged in Harvey, but is afloat

I didn't know all this when I started- I stand on a WHOLE bunch of shoulders of folks who showed me , and taught me things, so I try when I can, to pay it forward

 

[SaltyLife97]

Thanks for all the replies everyone!
Mast is already stepped. Used spruce. Everything turned out very well.

 

[jssailem]

It is an old but real statement...

 

[TomY]

It is an old but real statement...

Here's a pair of 50 some year old spruce spreaders. Battle scarred, old screw holes plugged but still sound. No need to re-invent the wheel, just check what they did on old boats. More than a century of experience is available.

 

[jssailem]

Pretty, Tom.
The ones I removed from my boat in 2016 had not been maintained. When you squeezed them they collapsed like a sponge. They were 42 years old.
It is all about maintenance.

 

[TomY]

Pretty, Tom.
The ones I removed from my boat in 2016 had not been maintained. When you squeezed them they collapsed like a sponge. They were 42 years old.
It is all about maintenance.

Yes it is. Ironically, varnish which requires a bit more maintenance, is a better preservative in that you can see problems long before rot forms.

These old spreaders simply have a notch cut in the ends. A band of thin bronze lines the ends as well as the notch where the wire passes through.

 

[jon hansen]

tom, you should show the tips. the bronze straps are a interesting bit of enjineering. as the pressure gets stonger the straps on the tips hold the wood from splitting. old school.

i paint the tops of my spreaders white for sun protection. you cant see the white from the deck

 

[Will Gilmore]

They were 42 years old.
It is all about maintenance.

Sometimes, it's about the climate. Not that maintenance isn't important, it always is, but unpainted barns last over a hundred years in New England, not so long on a Southern coast.
West coast sea air isn't the same as East coast sea air.
- Will (Dragonfly)

 

[jssailem]

West coast sea air isn't the same as East coast sea air.

LOL.
You’ve been reading the Science message on the forum, haven’t you.

 

[Charlie Jones s/v Tehani]

My spruce spreaders were installed in 1961, and were still going strong,.,til Harvey. Now I have a broken one. I also paint top of mine white- Varnish here in Texas will hold up about 3 months- paint over varnish lasts a LONG time.

 

[TomY]

tom, you should show the tips. the bronze straps are a interesting bit of enjineering. as the pressure gets stonger the straps on the tips hold the wood from splitting. old school.

i paint the tops of my spreaders white for sun protection. you cant see the white from the deck

Easy to do Jon, with them hanging in my shop!

A phone pic but I think you can see the full span bronze rivet that goes from strap to strap. This prevents splitting. A few small screws are visible on the straps. The rigging wire(invisible under tape) captures the wire and runs through a hole in the wooden spreader. You can see the mizzen spreaders (just behind), were built the same.

A curious part on my spreaders are the bronze hoops you see in place of leather boots. The hoops are also through bolted, once to further prevent splitting. I've never seen them on another boat nor has the owner of the wooden boat shop in my harbor. I keep the hoops taped to lessen chafe on the genoa during tacking.

The brown rigging tape, while visible on the white (only seagulls see that), nearly disappears from below.

 

[jon hansen]

i use lots of tape. 'tape is cheap and sails are expensive'