This was one of those leaning events that happened Fri. night. I was taking a break from the kitchen reno that is at the flooring and cabinet installation phase, the pallet of materials is stored at a friend's place until Sun or Monday. So I was working on my home designed jiffy reef system on my main sail, I had the blocks attached to the boom, routed the sheets through the reef points. Earlier in the week I moved the boat between the street, and driveway To safely clear the rain gutter on the house the starboard aft stays were disconnected. The perfect storm is brewing. The sail was all the way up, there were gusty winds, the stays unattached, I was heading to the garage in search of some screws to install the cleats. Then timber, the 7 year old weakened mast stump, let loose, at my sail came crashing down on my neighbour's roof. There was no damage to the house, the bolts on my mast were attached to the hinges, the wood was torn up pretty bad.
So Sat. AM, I'm off to the hardware store to find a new more secure hinge mounting system. I'm considering the long "V" hinge method on the Weekender plans. The narrow hinge on the Vacationer plan seems to be weaker. The mast will require shortening by about 2-3 inches, so there is solid wood to fasten things to. Had the stays been attached, the events would have been much different. My launch will likely be delayed until Sun.
Greg
As a Newbie I was wondering if you had followed The stevenson's Plan 7 years ago and used the Long V Hinge to begin with would this have happened?
             Alan
Ouch! Greg, sorry to hear that.
Glad there wasn't much damage though
Dan
The vacationer plans use a T hinge setup, with the T portion attached to the mast with 4 bolts and only griping the bottom 2-3 inches of the mast. That's the point that weakened and broke.
Today I found some 8 inch V hinges, and I set the mast tabernacle attachment point similar to the Weekender plans, I still have the side cheek points for some stability. The wind has picked up this evening, and some stormy weather is forecast for tomorrow. As a result I'll wait to step the mast for hopefully calmer conditions on Sunday, or even Monday.
Greg
Greg - I used gate hinges with a 1/2" piece of rod as a pin. Â They were pretty nasty for a carpenter of my lack of skill to install, but they are definately strong ...
One thing to consider is something that I remember in an article that I think Peter Stevenson wrote talking about strength of materials. In that article he mentioned that if you make all of the elements too strong, in the event of a catastrophic failure, you'll be floating in the bay surrounded by wood chips since everything would fail at once. If instead you have weaker points, like shear pins, they will fail, leaving you in a position where most everything else works.
I've read a few tales of dismasting of Weekenders/Pocket Cruisers/Vacationers and in almost all cases the tabernacle hinge fails after shroud failure leaving the boat to make it's way back to harbour crippled. However, you don't hear stories of the mast breaking free and punching a hole in the side of the boat, or tearing out the deck.
Just something to think about ....
I had my hinges welded where they wrap around the pin. Gives them much more strength.
  After reading about this problem I was wondering about a notch on Port & Starboard side of the mast with a pin like A Barrel Bolt Lock supporting the mast from all four sides. Unlock the Port & Starboard Locks, remove the Forward hinge pin and lower the mast according to the plan.
  Trying to look ahead, any thoughts on this ?
                 Alan
You want to avoid anything that will stick out of the side of the mast as it will catch on your hoops as you hoist the sail.
Also, the purpose of the tabernacle on these boats is to hold the mast in place while attaching the forestay and tightening the shrouds - it's not really structural.
One reason that I went with the gate hinge for my build was that none of the regular hinges I could find would bend backwards more than 90 degrees. I was worried about ripping it out if the mast got lowered on to the transom.
To reiterate what Andrew posts above:
Please do remember that the tabernacle set-up is ONLY there to hold the mast temporarily. The whole rig relies on the shrouds and forestay to hold things upright. I'd never leave the mast up with the pin in place and no forestay/shrouds tensioned up for more than the time it takes to get forward and hook up said forestay. I'm even a bit careful walking around to not subject the tabernacle to too much stress from whipping around.
Mike
I built a tabernacle like Ryerson Clark's "San Souci". Basically a pair of 2X4's fixed to the forwar bulkhead, passing through the deck and situated on either side of the mast. The mast pivots on the tabernacle. It eliminates the need for a mast box and allows no water below deck. I agonized over how high above the deck the pivot point had to be, but I realized the tabernacle really ISN'T structural. I stopped worrying, placed the pivot 2" below the boom and will fix the mast with the shrouds and forestay.
Dave