What's under your mast?
 

Anyone know where the custom of putting a coin under a mast started?
What's it for?

Under my main mast I have a 5 dollar coin from the Bucket of Blood
casino, and under the mizzen a JFK 50 cent coin.

What coin is under your mast?

Joe

What's under your mast?
 

On Nov 4, 1:43 pm, Joe wrote:
Anyone know where the custom of putting a coin under a mast started?
What's it for?

My Swedish step dad commercial fished the PNW all his life said, you
put a silver dollar under the mast for good luck. He also said a boat
painted any other color but what was trying to hid something. When I
was running some DC wire in the ceiling of my 1979 Freya I found a
1979 penny glued to the over head. I smiled.

When I pull my mast this winter Im going to glass in an 1879 silver
dollar for the same reason I:
1) removed anything with the boats original name on it.
2) completed a de-naming and christening ceremony.

Bob

Under my main mast I have a 5 dollar coin from the Bucket of Blood
casino, and under the mizzen a JFK 50 cent coin.

What coin is under your mast?
Joe

Bucket of Blood??? Humm, my mom welded WW2 Liberty Ships for JA Jones
in Miss. She talked about a place called the Bucket of Blood. Same
place?

What's under your mast?
 

Joe wrote:
Anyone know where the custom of putting a coin under a mast started?
What's it for?

Under my main mast I have a 5 dollar coin from the Bucket of Blood
casino, and under the mizzen a JFK 50 cent coin.

What coin is under your mast?

Joe

I have a silver dollar that General Motors paid me for a patent.
Couldn't spend it because it's molded in acrylic with my name and the
patent's name. I drilled holes in the four corners and screwed it down
to the step.

Bernard

What's under your mast?
 

Joe wrote:
Anyone know where the custom of putting a coin under a mast started?
What's it for?

To pay the crew's toll for the ferry on the Styx River when she goes
down.
Pleasant thought.
Those old timers were really a lot of pessimists.

Bob wrote:
My Swedish step dad commercial fished the PNW all his life said, you
put a silver dollar under the mast for good luck. He also said a boat
painted any other color but what was trying to hid something. When I
was running some DC wire in the ceiling of my 1979 Freya I found a
1979 penny glued to the over head. I smiled.


heh heh when I bought a 20+ year old Lightning to sail & restore, I
found the the previous & only owner of the boat, a very wealthy man,
had drilled through pennies to use as washers. There were at least 120
of them all through the boat.

When I pull my mast this winter Im going to glass in an 1879 silver
dollar for the same reason I:
1) removed anything with the boats original name on it.
2) completed a de-naming and christening ceremony.


Which one? There are several floating around. When we changed the name
of our boat, we simply re-christened it. No bad luck so far, but then
the previous name was so childish & repugnant that I'm sure the gods &
goddesses of the sea never took it seriously.


Under my main mast I have a 5 dollar coin from the Bucket of Blood
casino, and under the mizzen a JFK 50 cent coin.


Bucket of Blood??? Humm, my mom welded WW2 Liberty Ships for JA Jones
in Miss. She talked about a place called the Bucket of Blood. Same
place?

Could be, but it's been a really long time and the Gulf casinos have
attracted some big money owners, none are in WW2 era buildings.


Why not get a real gold doubloon? In boat money, they're relatively
cheap.
http://cgi.ebay.com/2-Escudos-Gold-C...QQcmdZViewItem

or
http://tinyurl.com/2lovk7

I may get one for my next boat.

Fresh BReezes- Doug King

What's under your mast?
 

wrote in message
ps.com...
Joe wrote:
Anyone know where the custom of putting a coin under a mast started?
What's it for?

*To pay the crew's toll for the ferry on the Styx River when she goes
down*.
Pleasant thought.
Those old timers were really a lot of pessimists.

snip....

Wasn't that the pennies put on a dead persons eyes?

What's under your mast?
 

On Nov 4, 4:03 pm, Bob wrote:
On Nov 4, 1:43 pm, Joe wrote:

Anyone know where the custom of putting a coin under a mast started?
What's it for?

My Swedish step dad commercial fished the PNW all his life said, you
put a silver dollar under the mast for good luck. He also said a boat
painted any other color but what was trying to hid something. When I
was running some DC wire in the ceiling of my 1979 Freya I found a
1979 penny glued to the over head. I smiled.

When I pull my mast this winter Im going to glass in an 1879 silver
dollar for the same reason I:
1) removed anything with the boats original name on it.
2) completed a de-naming and christening ceremony.

Bob

Under my main mast I have a 5 dollar coin from the Bucket of Blood
casino, and under the mizzen a JFK 50 cent coin.

What coin is under your mast?
Joe

Bucket of Blood??? Humm, my mom welded WW2 Liberty Ships for JA Jones
in Miss. She talked about a place called the Bucket of Blood. Same
place?

Mine is from the original bucket of blood ..A quait little Saloon up
in the High Serria's.... Virginia City .

Joe

What's under your mast?
 

On Sun, 04 Nov 2007 15:30:06 -0800, Joe wrote:


Mine is from the original bucket of blood ..A quait little Saloon up in
the High Serria's.... Virginia City .


Original? Maybe in this country, but you forget the Old World.

http://www.cornwalls.co.uk/photos/img188.htm

What's under your mast?
 

On Nov 4, 4:21 pm, wrote:


when I bought a 20+ year old Lightning to sail & restore, I
found the the previous & only owner of the boat, a very wealthy man,
had drilled through pennies to use as washers. There were at least 120
of them all through the boat.

Wow he must have been filthy rich Doug..That's over 1.20..

Dimes make great #8 washers and cheaper than SS.

Joe

What's under your mast?
 

On Nov 4, 4:23 pm, Joe wrote:

Wow he must have been filthy rich Doug..That's over 1.20..

Dimes make great #8 washers and cheaper than SS.

Joe

Yea.......... whats that all about?!?! I used nickles as spacers when
I was rebeding deck hardware cause it was cheeper to use money that
buy flat washers??!?!?!?!?!

Whut up wit money worth less than a washer??
Bewildered Bob

What's under your mast?
 

On Sun, 04 Nov 2007 13:43:37 -0800, Joe
wrote:

Anyone know where the custom of putting a coin under a mast started?
What's it for?

Under my main mast I have a 5 dollar coin from the Bucket of Blood
casino, and under the mizzen a JFK 50 cent coin.

What coin is under your mast?

Joe


I think the tradition originally specified a "silver coin".


Bruce-in-Bangkok
(Note:displayed e-mail
address is a spam trap)

What's under your mast?
 

found the the previous & only owner of the boat, a very wealthy man,
had drilled through pennies to use as washers. There were at least 120
of them all through the boat.



Wow he must have been filthy rich Doug..That's over 1.20..


You're pretty good at math, Joe!

I said that he was very wealthy not because of the washers, but
because his house was on 2 blocks of property in a very expensive old-
money inside-the-beltline neighborhood. His house & yard was bigger
than many university properties.


Dimes make great #8 washers and cheaper than SS.


I think you'll find that they have a lot of creep & distort too much
at high loads. However if you don't mind tightening the bolts every
time you sail and replacing the dimes every year or so, they'd be
great.

Look up the relative strengths/properties of the materials before
making cheapo substitutes.

I guess that's why there's a demand for real engineers.

DSK

What's under your mast?
 

Bob wrote:
Whut up wit money worth less than a washer??


That's what happens when short-sighted whores are put in charge of a
nation's fiscal system.

Not the first time, either.
"Those who do not learn from history will be forced to repeat it."

DSK

What's under your mast?
 

What's under your mast?
 

On Nov 4, 10:09 pm, wrote:
found the the previous & only owner of the boat, a very wealthy man,
had drilled through pennies to use as washers. There were at least 120
of them all through the boat.
Wow he must have been filthy rich Doug..That's over 1.20..

You're pretty good at math, Joe!

Thanks, as long as you do not stick letters in the math questions I do
OK.

I said that he was very wealthy not because of the washers, but
because his house was on 2 blocks of property in a very expensive old-
money inside-the-beltline neighborhood. His house & yard was bigger
than many university properties.


Most likely made the money on his own, and knows the value of work and
being thrifty when needed.

Dimes make great #8 washers and cheaper than SS.

I think you'll find that they have a lot of creep & distort too much
at high loads. However if you don't mind tightening the bolts every
time you sail and replacing the dimes every year or so, they'd be
great.

Depends on the application Doug, attaching 1/4" wood paneling would
be an example where a high load would not be experienced. Nickles
would be best for high loads, once you get above nickle size you need
to switch to washers. BTW if you do not have a gasket for your wear
plate on a Jabsco pump, a dollar bill can be made into a nice strong
long lasting gasket.


Look up the relative strengths/properties of the materials before
making cheapo substitutes.


Sounds like over engineering IMO, some of us could use simple logic
and do not need written proof from some black tie pencil pusher in a
cubical.

I guess that's why there's a demand for real engineers.


Well there are times when they come in handy.

Joe

DSK

What's under your mast?
 

"Ian Malcolm" wrote in message
...
snip... NB 'Defacing the coinage of the realm' was an offence over here
under an
act of 1861, no-one seems to know if its been repealed, and as I dont want
to be transported to Australia, I dont know how the 2Ps ended up with
holes in them, Honest Guv ;-) *(The Queen's head and the portcullis on
the obverse were carefully sanded off before they were drilled*, no point
in inviting trouble.)

--
Ian Malcolm. London, ENGLAND. (NEWSGROUP REPLY PREFERRED)
ianm[at]the[dash]malcolms[dot]freeserve[dot]co[dot]uk
[at]=@, [dash]=- & [dot]=. *Warning* HTML & 32K emails -- NUL:
'Stingo' Albacore #1554 - 15' Early 60's, Uffa Fox designed,
All varnished hot moulded wooden racing dinghy.


Sanding off the Queens head??? Isn't that still a 'flogging offence' in
jolly England?

What's under your mast?
 

I said that he was very wealthy not because of the washers, but
because his house was on 2 blocks of property in a very expensive old-
money inside-the-beltline neighborhood. His house & yard was bigger
than many university properties.

Joe wrote:
Most likely made the money on his own, and knows the value of work and
being thrifty when needed.


Actually, he was a fairly close sailing acquantance; I don't know his
whole life story but he did come from "old money" and did pretty well
for himself too. He was a commercial real estate broker.

The boat, Lightning #11900, he had bought new for his son to race and
then used as his "beater" daysailor & loaner at the club for a couple
decades. It was the last of a long series of one-design racers that I
bought cheap and fixed up to be competitive.




I think you'll find that they have a lot of creep & distort too much
at high loads. However if you don't mind tightening the bolts every
time you sail and replacing the dimes every year or so, they'd be
great.

Depends on the application Doug,

Well... yeah...

attaching 1/4" wood paneling would
be an example where a high load would not be experienced.

But why would you need washers for that anyway? I would think you'd
want the fasteners either countersunk or under bosses for looks
anyway. Unless you want your guests aboard to say " Hey cool , you
drilled out a bunch of (pennies, nickels, dimes, or other coins)....
wasn't that a PITA"?

.... Nickles
would be best for high loads

Umm, no.
A washer with a backing plate would be best for high loads.

.... BTW if you do not have a gasket for your wear
plate on a Jabsco pump, a dollar bill can be made into a nice strong
long lasting gasket.


OK thanks, I'll remember that trick.


I guess that's why there's a demand for real engineers.

Well there are times when they come in handy.


True, but much of the time a welder or plumber is a lot more handy.
My "litmus test" for engineers is what they do for hobbies....
engineers who are sailors, pilots, sports car bugs, in other words
something requiring real-life skills, are generally good. Ones who
prefer to fiddle with computers or something that could just as easily
be done sitting in a cubicle.... I say, leave them in their cubicles.


Ian Malcolm wrote:
Well, I've got 2P 'washers' under the nuts holding the pintle and
gudgeon onto the transom of my Albacore. No problems with dishing or
sinking into the wood. Untill the coins were fitted, there were always
problems with the fittings working loose. Bronze fittings so stainless
would be not so good. Our recent 2Ps are cupronickel over steel so one
has to go through one's change with a magnet if selecting washers :-(

I wonder if you've found (or perhaps very carefully applied on
purpose) the exact amount of torque that will not dish them out yet
will hold the gudgeon on. I'm a little surprised the haven't dished
out with the wood underneath compressing... even cupronickel has a
higher compression strength than wood... but then both are also
somewhat elastic... more so than any type steel.

Albacores are great boats, I sailed one this summer.

The pennies on the Lightning were definitely overstressed, they were
all dished and badly bent. The Lightning is a bigger heavier boat with
a more powerful rig though. Putting pennies under the jib tracks, for
example, was just plain not smart.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King

What's under your mast?
 

On Sun, 04 Nov 2007 16:23:59 -0800, Joe
wrote this crap:

On Nov 4, 4:21 pm, wrote:


when I bought a 20+ year old Lightning to sail & restore, I
found the the previous & only owner of the boat, a very wealthy man,
had drilled through pennies to use as washers. There were at least 120
of them all through the boat.

Wow he must have been filthy rich Doug..That's over 1.20..

Dimes make great #8 washers and cheaper than SS.

I find it strange to use copper pennies. When two different metals
are placed together in salt water, there is terrible corrosion.




I'm Horvath and I approve of this post.