re-rigging university club

[Ghost 2501]

If any of you have looked in My gallery, you will notice that I have a Graupner University club RTR sailing yacht, pictured as she was straight out of the box.

for those who have not seen it, the pic is in the thread, as you can probably see, the mast is black carbon material, and the booms, both fore and aft, are fastenned white plastic. My plan is to rework them so that they are light weight Ali tubes with booms, I am wandering if anyone has re-masted a ready to run boat, if so, what they used?. the reason for the reworking will be to have lights on her.

[Sackie]

Hi there 'G', I can advise that aluminium masts are available in different lengths and sizes and this will make a scale yacht look more realistic and also the spreaders are available in aluminium but I would caution on the scale size if you truly wish to retain a scale appearance. I cannot determine how your mainsail is attached to the mast but there used to be slotted aluminium masts available and the mailsail would need a thick cord attached to the (opposite to luff, cant remember the term) front of sail and this will slide into the slot in mast and be of enough thickness to hold in a strong breeze. With that I would suggest substituting the string shrouds with stainless steel wire (fishing trace wire comes in different sizes) but you would need turnbuckles to be able to remove the mast from the boat. In relation to what you have already, carbon masts are the trend but you could change the booms to carbon ones as well, or aluminium at your preference.
Happy sailing.

[Ghost 2501]

on the question of how the sail is mounted, the main sail has several small holes punched in it close to the mast itself, through which there metal clips, which wrap around the mast, though they have now been replaced by heavy duty cotton, which is the same thickness as the metal.

the change of the mast is to allow me to use the mast itself as part of the electrical system so i can put a set of navigation lights on her.

have you have any pictures of these rings that go around the mast???

[Sackie]

on the question of how the sail is mounted, the main sail has several small holes punched in it close to the mast itself, through which there metal clips, which wrap around the mast, though they have now been replaced by heavy duty cotton, which is the same thickness as the metal.

the change of the mast is to allow me to use the mast itself as part of the electrical system so i can put a set of navigation lights on her.

have you have any pictures of these rings that go around the mast???
Hi again 'G', I have made my own clips for my Sanibel which arrived without the fittings package in which these should have been located. I had purchased Stainless Steel wire of a large size so bent my own to an appropriate size for the mast it came with, just purchase hardwood dowel or a size larger than the mast and bend the wire around this. Or if you wish you can purchase clips already made from some sailboat suppliers.
In relation to masts, there are aluminium full tubular masts available, not sure if tapering from base to top is available but aluminium tubes are available.
To see pics of the rings that go around the masts check out the following link http://www.gbmy.com/srig.html check out items #332 - #337.

[Steve Boone]

If you're going to use aluminum, visit your local archery shop and use arrow blanks. They're light and easy to find. That's what I used on my Victoria and I like the results. Lighter than the supplied aluminum mast, cheap and a coat of paint lets you match your boat color scheme. Just take you originals with you and use them to find the shaft size you need.

[Ghost 2501]

archery shops, none around here mate!

[Funkygrib]

on the question of how the sail is mounted, the main sail has several small holes punched in it close to the mast itself, through which there metal clips, which wrap around the mast, though they have now been replaced by heavy duty cotton, which is the same thickness as the metal.

the change of the mast is to allow me to use the mast itself as part of the electrical system so i can put a set of navigation lights on her.

have you have any pictures of these rings that go around the mast???

How did it all go ?