Mast Wedges

[joliette]

Joliette has a Proctor aluminium mast. Having trawled through various rigging books in my local library, the advice seems to be to fit hard rubber wedges fore and aft thus allowing for some lateral flexing of the spar. However, I've seen wooden spars wedged all round .... What is best practice for wedging an alloy mast in a wooden hull?

 

[Peterduck]

Firstly, what does the shape of the hole in the deck allow you to do? If there is room for wedges all round then by all means wedge it.
Peter.

 

[nmiller]

The idea of using rubber wedging has merit. If the aluminium spar has not been reinforced to accept the point load imposed by the mast partners resisting the masts bending solid wedging could overload and cripple the spar. You should consult the mast's manufacturers.
Nick

 

[Adamastor]

Rubber door-stops (the wedge-type) work a treat if the gap in the partners is close. Personally, I'd prefer Spartite, but failing the doorstops or the Spartite, rubber conveyor-belting also works- hard enough to chock the mast fast, but resilient enough not to strain the partners if they move at all.