I did not have much success keeping hardwood wedges in place and tight on Windburn. Spartite is an option but after some discussions with a fellow racer that does rigging and a sailmaker I tested to see how much mast bend I get under normal maximum backstay tension. The sailmaker looked and said it was negligible, my untrained eye didn't see any. The concern is that I am getting additional rake which tightens the headsail luff but is that effectively transferring a lot of force into the cabin top / mast collar ( backwards ) and mast step ( forwards ) while requiring extra backstay tension? I understand with "flexible" masts that blocking at the mast collar is required and inducing bend flattens the main. I don't see much of that on my C&C 30-1.
So I wondered what the pro / cons were for blocking tightly. I made some measurements, tested hard rubber strips for minimum compression and fitted Windburn with them. Maybe the backstay requires a little less force to fully tighten, other than that I have not noticed any change in tune or sailing characteristics. The mast is snug but can move 3/16" forward and back ( rough measurement ) in the collar. The wedges might hold the mast collar down, opposing the effect of halyards trying to lift it and cabin top compression from the chain plates. Windburn has split mast collar hold down brackets with a bolt adjustment. Another tuning step every spring. Michael Brown Windburn C&C 30-1 From: Jeffrey Nelson <jhnelso...@gmail.com> If you have access to a bandsaw/tablesaw, it's fairly easy to make your own wedges from a chunk of hardwood. I don't know of anyone who has them comercially available. I milled my own a while back from a chunk of wood I grabbed off my wood lot. The wedges are tapered on one side. I cut the taper on my table saw on a wide board, then ripped the board into the width for the wedge to make a bunch. 2 inches seems wide for the wedge. More wedges and narrower will make fitting easier. I think I've got 8 or so around my mast. You must have a place like: http://www.kjpselecthardwoods.com/ around Kingston somewhere as a good source for some 4/4 or 6/4 hardwood. Another option is to use a product like: https://www.spartite.com/Default.aspx?SiteID=3 I replaced my forward hatch lens a number of years ago for much of the same reasons you are now. I don't remember the exact product, but I suspect it wasn't acrylic. Some other polycarbonate. Any plastics shop should be able to recommend the righ material for UV resistance and strength. Hope this helps. -- Cheers, Jeff Nelson Muir Caileag C&C 30 Armdale Y.C. Halifax
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