Mast height - looking for an average

[ShipsWoofy]

But not main mast..

I am about to order some ss tubing to build a simple T shaped antenna mast for the pushpit. But how tall is normal, am I aiming to get it above head height or just out of the way?

We have a centre cockpit, this means the aft deck is used, but making it say, 6ft off the deck seems quite tall in 'looks' to me, but then things that seem massive in the shed disappear on boats, like the radar dome, 'I'm not putting that on the mast' seems quite small when you look at it in place..

Basically, how tall is yours? Ideally, I don't want to use guys, I may however add a bar from the pushpit to a foot or so up to add stability?

Some photographs of your masts may help to give me some ideas, cheeky I know, but I would like mine to be functional and also not look like a bag of .....

Thank you in advance, I can't be the first to build my own /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[damo]

Mine is about 2.4m, made from tubing salvaged from an alloy scaffold tower, with diagonal s/s braces. It was built for the radome (not fitted as yet!) but carries the secondary vhf antenna. I put it at that height so it would be above head height.

I think it looks quite ugly on a centre cockpit sloop, but will do until I build a proper gantry /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

I have 2 braces because it seemed that there could be a lot of leverage from the radome when the boat was pitching or rolling, and I figured that there would be a lot of stress on the pushpit if that was all it was attached to.

I'll pm a pic some day /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[earlybird]

I made one, from 2" tubing, 6ft long. It is fastened at the base to the rear deck and clamped to the upper pushpit rail by means of a fabricated bracket and two "U" bolts. It is reasonably rigid, and carries a 15" Furuno radar scanner, with no problem so far. I'm pleased with it although I don't think any rear pole beautifies a boat. I don't think that a bar upwards from pushpit to pole would add anything since the limiting factor is the rigidity of the pushpit itself, rather than the stiffness of the 2" tube.

 

[bigwow]

I don’t know whether this is the sort of thing you are after, pic, just, shows mast on port rear deck. Mast holds radar scanner, 2 GPS aerials and I’m ashamed to say a TV one as well.

 

[Pinnacle]

I think you will need to make it long enough that it reaches down to the bottom bracket.
























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[ShipsWoofy]

Yours are all way too heavy, I am only planning to mount a spare VHF, navtex and HF aerials on it, maybe my wifi too, not sure about that as I like it portable.

I was considering 22 - 25mm tubing.

Interesting that you have all gone taller than I expected, maybe I should look at 6ft as a minimum.

I have had an offer hard to refuse, so my job might be even simpler..

 

[david36]

I suggest that given what you want to mount, you match the size of the adjacent rail and that as well as attaching with a big base plate etc you attach to the top rail with a bracket. That is what we have and it is fine. Regarding length, 2 meters works for us. One obvious point that nearly caught us, check that the tube is big enough, especially at the right angle bends, to take all the cables that you need. Some cables need a big radius to go through 90 degrees!. Good luck.

 

[FullCircle]

Mine is not what you want either, but here it is anyway..... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Mine is 2.3 metres above deck. I will be shaving about 0.6m off this when I get round to it.

Note it also has an S bend at rail height going outboard so that it doesnt interfere with anyone on deck.

Made in 75mm tube with 25mm bracing struts.

Contains
Spare VHF, Navtex, GPS and Radar. Room for another if needed.