Doug fir pole mast

[De_sv_Taz]

Originally Posted by De_sv_Taz

My latest desperate notion is to skin a doug fir pole in thin aluminium...

I forgot to mention that part of the attraction of this desperate notion is an attempt to emulate a flitch beam, i.e. use the compression strength of the wood and the tension strength of the metal, for greater strength than wood alone but lighter weight than all metal.

I seem to remember that masts on old square riggers were often bound with iron compression bands (to prevent splitting?) but I can't recollect any instance of a metal skinned mast in my (not very extensive I admit) reading. This may mean that it's not a great idea, or just that they didn't have good light alloys back in the day.

Glassing a DF pole is also an option but given the amount of whip/flex in an unstayed rig I fear the glass layer would soon craze or fracture.