Morgan Ohlson ) writes:

Which is "the best quality (performance included) compared to price" when it
comes to attatching sailes to the mast?

a mast sleeve, like on the laser. mast turbulence is the worst performance
loss on sails (test by AJ Marchaj) as the leading edge is so important.
also cheap as it requires no hardware.


What makes the best home made mast... GRP or wood?

I've not seen a fibreglass mast. It would be very heavy. The usualy choice
is wood or aluminum.


What is the price for full performance Al alloy mast profile of standard
quality?

perfectly round aluminum tubing is fine on cruiders and is used on many
home built boats. I don't know how to determine required diameter
or wall thickness.


One more fence to overcome is to make the mast really unstayable. Support
needed for self tacking jib though....

I doubt it's possible. To get the straight jib luff you need a lot of
tension. You need the stright jib luff to point high. A bendy mast with
stays and spreaders is the usual way of doing it on dingy's. You're
getting into some spohisticated sail controls like outhauls, boom vangs,
cunninghams, mast rams, etc. that's a recing boat and why they are
expensive.

you don't need a jib for responsive sailing (quick tacks) or to point high.
TF Jones, the builder/writer I mentioned earlier, sails on a tidal river
and favours unstayed sprit sails on his small boats - no jib. any boat
with the front edge of the sail attached to the mast can point high and be
very responsive.

hope that helps.


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