Fabricating New Mast Wedges

[Ian McColgin]

Feel mast pushing on the deck?

Properly made partners handle that stress and part of the idea of a keel stepped mast is that it's held in two places and can be a nudge lighter than a deck stepped mast.

In an older boat, the racking strain can be interesting. My old Goblin, an Alden 43' schooner, was almost 70 and when beating in any sort of wind the main mast cranked the hul and coach house so much that the door between the aft stateroom and the main saloon could not be opened if it was closed and not closed if it was open. The rectange of the door frame became a sort of trapazoid. Made her leak some as well.

If the structure is not handling the load at the partners, then you have some interesting problems possibly with the partners, maybe with the stick itself, and certainly with how you tuned it.

Start with a careful analysis which, if you're not up to it, find a qualified rigger who can.

G'luck