I am planning a Vacationer build and I've been reading through a LOT of the old posts. Right off the bat there's a few modifications I want to attempt.
1st I've read a lot about people having moisture and rot problems around the mast box and where the mast comes through the deck. So I am thinking about just supporting the deck solidly right below the mast and eliminate the "thru deck" hole altogether and creating a tabernacle on top of the deck. I'd like to see some more detail on any tabernacles used and especially any that just exist above the deck. Any links to those pics? I'm sure there here just haven't found yet.
 Also before I go cutting out my keel I'd like to explore Paul's modified keel for Sans Souci over to a Vacationer. Any way to scale up the drawing? How happy are you now with some mileage on that keel Paul? Do I understand the appendage is a little fatter than the rest of the keel and faired to a semi foil shape?
One last idea. I eventually might want a birdsmouth mast. But to get on the water faster and still have a light and strong mast has anyone built one 4 sided out four pieces of one-by just butt joined with the corners rounded off? Seems I've seen some on other boats.
Thanks All!!
Hi Pat, tabernacles can be difficult to engineer properly. There are a lot of loads and they come at surprising angles. Rather then eliminate the mast box, replace it with a simple compression post. This will bear the loads of a deck stepped mast and still permit you to have a "no hole" deck under the mast step. If the step is hinged (like the production boats do) then you have a means of easily raising and lowering the stick.
A traditionally done tabernacle will need to pass through the deck and attach to the bottom. You see, one way or the other, the rigging loads have to get to the hull shell, so they can spread out and help drive the boat forward. A mast floating on the deck, held upright with the rig, will try to shove it's way right through the deck, so you need something there to prevent this. The two common methods are a compression post or take the mast to the keel.
The keel modifications can be (and have been) used on Vacationer. Each is tailored to the needs of the builder, so none have been precisely the same as the previous versions. Contact me through email and we can discuss your options.
Birdsmouth masts aren't hard to build and can be rewarding too. They sure look a sight better then a box section pole and they weigh a lot less too. A box section mast is easy to do and is slightly stronger then a round hollow mast of the same diameter and wall thickness too. But, like everything in yacht design, it has it's good and bad points about it. Square and rectangular section masts can be difficult to use a gaff jaw on. They also don't look right with hoops or lacings, so you need to buy tracks. Tracks are superior to most anything, but they aren't cheap or light weight. So, to answer you question, sure you can lightly round over the corners on a box section mast, but I'll bet you'll just wish you went ahead and built a birdsmouth stick instead.
Go with the bird´s mouth. It is fun to make, not complicated at all if you have a table saw and saves you a lot of work. Actually it looks very good with just the ooze out cleaned and left octagonal if you want to minimize the work.
OK, you guys said that the only stupid question is the one that isn't asked, so here goes...
What is a birds mouth mast? How is this different from the mast that is in the plans? What are the advantages and disadvantages of this configuration?
Birdsmouth is a method of building a hollow, round or oval wooden mast or spar. I've been using this method long before it was popular and before it was commonly called birdsmouth.
Basically, it's a mutli-stave, (long skinny pieces of wood) typically 8 sided (though 5, 6, 7, 9 or 10 are possible too), box that has it's inboard edge notched to receive it's neighbor.
The advantage is the way the pieces are self aligning during assembly and it's uniform weight/strength for a given stave thickness compared to other methods.
A solid mast is easy to make, but it's awful heavy. Saving weight, particularly aloft in the rig should be preformed (within reason) as much as possible. Hollow spars are one way of doing this. In modern Bermudian rigs, they use carbon, spectra and titanium all of which are very costly (except spectra) and difficult to work with. In a gaffer you just do the best you can.
It's simpler to build a box section hollow mast, but there are aerodynamic reasons for the round mast as well as aesthetic considerations. Nothing looks better then a well varnished round mast. Hoops and gaskets or lacings ride these much better then square too.
In the end, the hollow mast options have about the same weight advantage over a solid stick, so it boils down to a little more effort to make a round birdsmouth for it's looks, streamlined entry to the sail, attachment type and pride of ownership. Some of this is more tangible then others, so it's your call. You don't "need" it, but it can be more then just pleasing to look at, if you do.
Thanks Paul and Pat. That's one question out of the way.
I assume that there is a jig that one makes for the cuts. I'll do a search for the info before I ask anyone to post anything in detail. I'm far from that point in construction anyway.
Thanks again.
  Thanks Paul for the answer. I think I meant to say that I was maybe thinking more of a mast step and building an internal "Mast box" as a compression post to support the deck and carry the load down to the keel. What is the difference between a mast step and a tabernacle? Is it just that the hinge point on a tabernacle is higher up? Will probably need that somehow to account for the height of the cabin. Maybe build some type of tabernacle on top of the deck.
 Although this is called a tabernacle on the drawing, this is more of a traditional mast step to me, right?
http://www.sv-galena.com/WOM/images/Full...rnacle.jpg
But I,m thinking to raise from the rear it would need to hinge a little ways higher up because of the cabin height. Any ideas?