Wooden Mast Partners

[Brion Toss]

[quote=allene;6099
In any event, my mas partners are fairly tight which I have been told is wrong. I have been told that they should not be tight so that the mast can move with expansion without being restricted. A small amount of space isn't going to prevent the partners from supporting the mast. My mast is spruce.
Allen[/QUOTE]

The partners don't support the mast; the mast, wedged, should be unified with the partners, in order to create an effective couple with the step. If it isn't, what you have is, to some degree, a deck-stepped-keel-stepped mast, which is to say one that might be 40% or so more limber than it could be. So you either need a heavier mast -- which is the case for actual deck-stepped masts -- or you have one that won't hold its shape.
Fair leads,
Brion Toss