Masts, Booms, Spars, the fitting out begins!

I can almost feel the shift of the breeze and hear the snap of the sail as I tack through the Chesapeake during Indian Summer, 2011. I am that close  to putting  the P14 into the water for her maiden voyage.I am currently working on the mast partner, a wooden brace, that will be placed across the front of the boat. It fits just underneath the sheer rail, crossing the boat at a point where the mast will go tthrough a hole in the middle of this structure which I am  fashioning out of red oak. The mast partner  will be screwed, but NOT glued to ledgers made of  1" thick mahogany, left over from the thwarts .  2.5" carriage screws are used for this, so the partner can be taken off, when not sailing, making more room for people to sit towards the front.

The mast is a 12 ' long structure made ut of spruce. I did not make the mast boom or spar. The mast and spar are rounded and long and rqire a high quaax

Rigging her for a sail!

The manual that Arch Davis supplies to help guide you in the building of the Penobscot 14 does a nice job of describing how to make the mast, boom, and spar for the three rigging choices for this boat. The Gunter rig, which gives you more sail area as there is a jib, looked tempting to me but a bit more complicated to do and, given that I am interested in just relaxing, easygoing sailing, not required for my needs. So I chose the Gunter rig which has a single trapezoidal shaped sail. The beauty of this rig is that the mast does not require wire stays, as does the Gunter, so it is easy to set up quickly and take down quickly, even in open water. In reading how to construct the wooden 12' mast, the boom and spar,I  became convinced that I did not have the right equipment to make these parts adequately, in particular, a quality table saw. So I commissioned Arch to make them for me which turned out to be a wise choice as, for a very fair price, I got the mast(with sheave slot cut out already and sheave hardware to install, as well as hand made wooden halliard cleat attached)), the squared off boom complete with jaws, the spar,. This came perfectly packed by truck with all pieces in perfect and beautiful condition, along with a bag of hardware. I have already done a light sanding on the mast, boom, and spar and next have to remove and glue and screw on the cleat, the jaws, and various other attachments. Once this is done I'll varnish all thre pieces. Seperate to these I received a box from Pope Sails containing the Lug sail, the lacing to attach the sail to the spar, the various ropes to attach the sail to the boom and the haliard. Also, a single block and double block to rig the boom to the main sheet. More on this later with photos, once I get it done.