8-Siding the Mast and adding fillets

The mast halves have cured and were run through the table saw with the blade at 45 degrees to get down to eight sides. The mast foot fits into recesses cut into two halves and here is the rough fit.

The next step is to support the inside corners of what is essentially a rounded box section with epoxy fillets mixed with 50/50 colloidal silica and micro balloons. There will be a lot of fillets when we get to the hulls (soon!) so this is good practice.

Filler blocks are used to make the mast solid at the ends where the foot and sheaves are supported. The plans call for 1/2" ply but we had 1 1/2" x 1/2" fir scraps so we're using those instead which should be stronger and lighter. To reduce stress points from the sudden change in stiffness at the filler pieces we used the excess epoxy mix to taper the transition.

When we're happy with all the fillets we leave the mast halves to cure.

The recesses for the foot are done, the recess for the masthead sheaves will be next and then we can glue the mast halves together and put it aside until later for the final finishing.