Prepping the foredeck

So the foredeck is gong to have the mast partner.  Need to get that done before painting the underside.  I decided to add a backing clock at the forward end as well for the mounting of a stout cleat at a minimum and potentially an anchor roller.  With the roller I could deploy the anchor from the cabin and never have to bring the wet muddy thing inside the boat.  Anchor line can run up and into the cabin through the same vent opening the halyard and downhaul are coming through.  Keep a bucket for the rope and life is good.

I haven't found a pair of dry, clear 2x4's yet to make the mast.  Everything has been soaking wet that I've looked at and heavy as heck.  I had an old 8ft stud with saw hacks and nail holes floating around that I though would make a good stub to check the alignment and fit of the step and the partner.  Doing the math on the drawings I come up with a rake of @ 4.5 degrees by design, and I really want to check this and make any adjustments be fore painting of course.  So I whipped out a quick 4ft mast.

The wedge you see in the third photo brings the rake to 5 degrees.  Pretty close.  Had to cut 2" off to get it through the partner without banging the ceiling :-)

I'm going to be playing with a few sails on this boat.  As I've discussed before, the designed 138fts balanced lug is probably too much for my waters, and in discussing it with Jim something @ 100ft2 is probably more appropriate.  I have a 75ft2 lug for my Pelican I'll try on her.  I also have a 78ft2 junk I made for my trimaran, but the 8ft chord is probably not enough to get the CE far enough back. I've got one @ 110ft2 on the drawing board that looks like it will balance nicely, but for that I'll want a vertical or near vertical mast to avoid it castering to the centerline in light winds.  As a result, I'm going to trench the step back another 2.25", and then make a block that bolts in over the unused portion for either the raked or vertical configuration. I'm also checking out some stock sails for Jim's other boats in the @ 100ft2 range.  The classic Windsprint/IMB is about the right size, and I'm sure Dave over at Polysail has that one dialed.