Mast calipers for a straight RC Sailboat mast

For best performance you'll want your mast to be perfectly perpendicular to the deck. A simple pair of mast calipers can tell you if your mast is perpendicular.

To make mine I simply found a straight piece of scrap wood about 36" long or so. I notched the end to match the angle of most decks.

Then I drilled a hole in the opposite end for a screw to eventually go through. But don't screw it in yet.

Next I ran the stick through my tablesaw and ripped it down the middle. Now just turn one of the pieces over so that the ends are opposing each other like the picture above. Insert the screw at the top and voila!

Use the screw point to determine the center. Because you drilled your hole first, it really doesn't matter if that hole is perfectly centered. The screw point will always be in the exact center if you drilled before you ripped.

Adjust your shrouds to center the mast and you're done!

Good luck! _/)

Comments

Introducing the Salish 475 RC Sailboat

Yes, it's the same boat, but with a new name all its own... the Salish 475 RC Sailboat . Perhaps it should be formally known as the Coast Salish 475 in homage to the First Nations Coast Salish peoples of the Pacific Northwest and to better define it as being from the PNW coast. Some might object to it being named after a people though, so in that case it will be simply the Salish 475 as in the Salish Sea. Although I have taken 9 credits at the University of Washington from Bill Holm on Northwest Coast Native American art, I do not have adequate talents yet to incorporate NW Coast art onto the boat. Perhaps in a future boat! A number of ideas were floated on the RC Groups discussion , but the final vote was my wife's. I like it! By the way... it's pronounced "Say lish". The Coast Salish 475 : LOA: 47.5" Beam: 11.375" Weight: 14.5 lbs, 9 of it in the bulb (Yes, it could easily be build lighter... this was the prototype) Kiln-dried cedar

Moving to a new RC Sailboat blog! Check it out...

Since I've now sold the T37 , and have completed these two Star 45's (well... one Star 45 and one Salish 475), I thought it would be a good time to end these two blogs and focus on one generic RC Sailboat blog where I could post any new RC sailboat projects. Please check out my new blog at http://www.rcmodelyachts.com/ . Or you can use my older address of http://rcsailboats.blogspot.com/ . If interested in the Star 45 Construction Manual , you have two options: 1. An electronic PDF version for $20. Email me for details and payment. You will send a PayPal payment to my account and then I will email you the PDF. 2. For a full-color, printed copy (they're coil bound so they will stay open to any page!), go to Lulu Press . They are $35 and only take a week or so to get to you. So with that, I'm officially signing off! Peace!

Salish 475 pictures

More pictures of the new Salish 475 RC (radio control) Sailboat... Hope you like it! Also see the posting on RC Groups under Sailboats . See what else I'm working on at my other blog: http://www.rcmodelyachts.com. Until I develop a logo/icon/symbol thing for the Salish 475 I'll just use the numbers on the sail. You can see them in the picture below using the font Slugfest. The logo/icon thing will need to be in the Northwest Native American art style and reflective of the Coast Salish people (or maybe some of the people's a bit to the north... Haida, etc... they also have amazingly beautiful art!) Aloha! _/) Fine art radio control sailboat. Wooden radio controlled sailboat. classic wooden radio control sailboat. Star 45 RC Sailboat. Salish 475 RC sailboat. R/C Wooden Salish 475 RC Sailboat radio control sailboats Star 45Radio Control. Radio Sailing. Classic wood sailboat. Cedar hull planking. Cedar sailboat bottom. Wooden sail

Star 45 RC Sailboat Build Blog

Search This Blog