Newbridge Topaz

[WAHARVEY]

I purchased a topaz a couple of years ago, sailed her quite a lot last year on the river Deben but unfortunately she's laid up this year due to other commitments. She called Holly Blue and by the look of her paperwork has been sailed alot on the boards. I still have a wooden mast, which is showing its age now, and would love to find out how to modify an enterprise rig to fit. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Baddad jive]

Hi There! It's great to discover another Newbridge Topaz! There seem to be only a few around! ? They do seem to be Broads boats, but ours has happily handled the River Thames, canals and the Big Blue Sea!
It was quite straightforward to fit the enterprise mast, but some are shorter than others, so check mast height.
We aren't at all concerned with performance, so smaller sail sizes don't really matter to us!
I've attached a photo of Dorothy's Way and hope we can talk further! ?

 

[Baddad jive]

We had to extend the side stays, but these were easily arranged through a local wire rigging Co. We had to drill the mast to take the pin that locates it on the tabernacle, and otherwise strip miscellaneous bits that would be used in a dinghy. It makes sense to replace the halyards with rope, or dyneema? ? But that's up to you! ?

 

[WAHARVEY]

Thank you for your response. It does not sound too hard to convert then. I really wanted to keep her wooden mast as I love the look but it's starting to split open down the entire length and I'm not sure if I can salvage it. Here is a couple of pictures of mine, will hopefully get her back on the water next year. It took me a while to work out what type of boat she was and trying to find information about them is really hard.

 

[mjcoon]

Thank you for your response. It does not sound too hard to convert then. I really wanted to keep her wooden mast as I love the look but it's starting to split open down the entire length and I'm not sure if I can salvage it. Here is a couple of pictures of mine, will hopefully get her back on the water next year. It took me a while to work out what type of boat she was and trying to find information about them is really hard.

I've not knowingly seen a Topaz, but I note multiple mentions of Enterprise rigs, and back in the 1970s I had a wooden Ent with a wooden mast. I noticed then that the mast was made in two halves lengthwise so that the result was hollow and I think could take internal rigging (IIRC). So it must have been constructed with some reliable glue. Maybe there are some wooden masts that have outlasted their inadequately protected hulls but not yet been scrapped...

 

[DownWest]

Thank you for your response. It does not sound too hard to convert then. I really wanted to keep her wooden mast as I love the look but it's starting to split open down the entire length and I'm not sure if I can salvage it. Here is a couple of pictures of mine, will hopefully get her back on the water next year. It took me a while to work out what type of boat she was and trying to find information about them is really hard.

Likely the mast was glued with Aerolite back in those days. If you can seperate the halves completely (possibly with the help of a japanese pull saw) then clean up the joint face and reglue with epoxy.

 

[WAHARVEY]

That's what I need to look at more closely. The main issue I can see at a quick glance is that it's had at least two repairs made over the years and both are pieces which have been inset across the main glue line