interesting mast step option

[benz]

Thanks, Brian

The rubber foot thing is a good idea. Your instinct was correct: the base has holes for 3/4 bolts. Since I designed the partners to have a pole go through them instead of on them, I'll probably still just chop off that base and keel-step the thing, but still, I like to fully explore all the options.
I've heard good testimonials on welded masts, but being the worrier that I am, I know I would spend every dark and stormy night just waiting for that weld to fail, and balefully eyeing the place on the mast where I knew it to be.
When you sleeve two poles, do you manage to find a separate piece of tubing with just the right OD to fit inside the two pieces being joined, or do you take a bit of the same tubing and slit it lengthwise to make it smaller around?
Ben

[Brian Duff]

Ben,
sometime just the right piece of tubing is available. Most times we buy a piece of the same size but double the wall thickness, and turn it down on the lathe to fit inside perfectly. We achieve a seriously tight fit this way, and then we 'rosebud' weld throughout the splice area and butt weld the seam.

keel stepping would be the way to go, imo

[benz]

Thanks, Brian. I've always wanted a lathe.....
I, too, think keel stepping is the way--it just seems like a waste of a really burly base. Maybe I should mount the pole upside down and bolt a bushel basket to the base for a crow's nest. I've always wanted a crow's nest.....
Ben