JENAL ~ Onboard Systems

Details of special mast system.



 

This illustration does little visual justice to the end product, a 6 (7 meter measured from floor) tall mast with cross forms near the top, made from steel (originally aluminium, see below) and cleverly painted to look like wood.  Hydraulics drive the mast from horizontal deck resting to the vertical.

Like the wheelhouse, the mast hydraulics will assist in quickly lowering the mast when negotiating low bridges etc.

Hydraulic  motors drive the cable winch and the base turntable, allowing ease of pivoting the loaded mast with RIB or 'bike' from bow store to quayside or waterside.

The mast design is of the GAFF style and reminiscent of the 1800's rigging design where the sail has a squared off top section, reducing its height but offering more sq meters of sail area in its main cloth.

The GAFF arm is made of steel and the boom of aluminium. The reason for this differing materials is one of strength and wear-n-tear. The boom will undergo regular man-handling transfer from mast to deck as it is discarded when not sailing and when the mast turns into a hoist.

 
Mast Test 1 Mast Test 2 Mast Test 3
The design of the lifting mast proved to be more complicated than we originally conceived because our specification was of a lightweight construction in aluminium. As you can see from the pictures above, it bent in testing and could not safely lift the 300kg test weight. Back to the drawing board and a re-design to construct one from 7 pieces of profile-cut steel (rather than box-section alloy) which looked much better...
 
Mast Test 3 Mast Test 3 Mast Test 3
... The steel mast proved itself to be up to the job by not flexing a millimetre during testing. Here it is hooked up to the hydraulic system of a digger unit and the digital gauge reading on the right picture shows a weight test figure of 373 kilos. Its next destination was to Ament to faux paint it to look like wood.
Go To: Bow Locker page for more information on the mast arrangement

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