I'm NOT about to buy a GIANT fishing rod, for junk.

[CapnK]

Edit: Didn't work out. Gonna go with the original rig - mostly. :)

For a junk rig mast, that is. A 35' composite light pole manufactured by - get this - Shakespeare, the fishing rod company. lol

It's maybe for Katie the Ariel, maybe for Sundance the A-30.

I'm in the process of moving off the I-36, and back onto Katie. Plan to load her up with everything I want to have for 'down the road', and see if, with my interior mods in mind and roughed-in into temporary place, she will work out to have the stowage I need for the long haul. A few weeks of living aboard with all that should tell the tale.
If not - then Sundance.

Right now tho I'm trying to figure out how to get a 35' long - but only 130 lb - pole from near Atlanta to here in Gtown. I have some ideas to do with boat trailers and fetching it myself, but will wait and see if I can get it picked up and delivered by a trucker person instead.

My almost 90 year old mother has come down with dementia and aphasia. She is a few years into it now, but not so bad that she doesn't know who her kids are yet. Our names do escape her at times, and I know worse than that is an eventuality. I cannot leave her until she no longer knows or cares whether or not I am here. At that time, Good Lord willin' and the creek don't rise, I'll become as Franks post puts it, someone living their dream again, instead of simply dreaming about it.

Also, my best friend Barque the Crewdog is 13 now and it is telling. It is getting difficult for him to go up/down the companionway, and slippery surfaces are tricky as well. So I know there's a pile of loss in my future to deal with, before I get to cut the docklines...

Still have lots of work to do, either way with either boat. Thinking about Youtubing it. Tho' single old guys with no bikinis aboard don't get the "famousness" of those who do, maybe enough folks would like it to make it worthwhile.

Anyone with a 25'ish foot long trailer happen to be traveling from Hotlanta this way any time soon? I can help pay for your trip... :D

[Godot]

I'm always at a loss when it comes to tragedy, bad news, the aft end of life's timeline. It's never easy and sadly non-negotiable. But the end of one story usually means the beginning of another. Best of luck through it all.

If you do youtube it, I can't say you'll make any money or get any recognition, but I'll subscribe. It's a lot of work, so I think you really have to enjoy it to make it worth while. Barry "The Old Seadog" Perrins seems to be doing well with nary a bikini in sight, so you never know.

[s/v necessity]

Did you ever move forward with this?  We have an old CD28 project that stalled out in the driveway, and I've often thought of turning it into a junk rig project! 

[CapnK]

Hi Mark - Been doing a TON of learning the past few days, as I'd never considered a GRP pole as a spar for a junk. It seems few have, and so there is a lot of disparate information I'm putting together to make sure it'll work before committing to it.
That said, I'm pretty sure I'm going to buy the pole, maybe even tomorrow. I am near 100% sure it'll work for Katie the Ariel, and about 90% that it'll work as well for the A-30. The A-30 and the CD28 have the same displacement, and very similar hull forms, so it'd probably work for you as well.

The fellow I am buying from (*very* interesting and nice guy, an engineer) is just outside of Atlanta, and he had 16 of these for sale, left over from a project but all brand new. From my research into these and other poles (mostly AL), a new pole big enough to use as a spar for the CD will set you back no less than $2K and probably closer to 3. These GRP poles retail for about $3500, he's selling his for $800. They're 35' long, 135 lbs, wall thickness at base 5/16", thickening to 7/16" about 1/3 up. Being GRP they won't corrode or conduct, and lb for lb are stronger, more flexible, and lighter than AL, and are repairable. I'll attach a spec sheet. I've been looking for at least a year now and this is the best deal I've seen. Most other poles out there at this price are used, or if new, too small/thin.

[CapnK]

Update: I've been having a hard time determining if this pole would work well enough for offshore use. I'm pretty sure it would be fine for coastal work (even on the A-30), but not so sure about offshore, because I cannot really get any hard data or feedback, given the info I have.
Only 2 boats of all of the JRA users have GRP masts, so not much hard info there. I emailed the one guy I could get an address for to ask him some Q's, not heard back from him.

Have spent hours & hours for the last couple weeks, doing some deep research, thinkin', and figurin'. Pretty much concluded my best option is to: 1) sell I-36 for funding*, 2) live on the A-30, while 3) I refit the Ariel w/rig as a sloop.

Only major thing I don't have for it is new sails, and checking price on those, a new main and a 135 will be very close to the cost of conversion to junk (if I were able to source a sub-$1K pole for the spar), yet without the Q's about suitability and durability.
Other than that, over time I have accrued all the parts I need - fabbed up some beefy external chainplates, got a Monitor vane, Alado roller snarler, my buddy Rick of Sail Ready Rigging is going to help me with standing rigging at wholesale cost, etc... I've got pretty much everything except for some electronics (AIS, lighting).
The goal is to be able to have her sailing later this year, complete or near so. That's "Plan A".

* A note on that, or "Plan B": The above is also dependent on the amount for which I can sell the I-36. If, by the time I'm ready to buy new sails and install the expensive add-on goodies which have market value (vane, furler etc), I cannot sell the I-36 for good value, then it makes more financial sense to pivot that way. Tho I am *much* more comfortable and feel 'at home' in general on the Albergs, the I-36 is a proven capable vessel, and only a few short jobs and new standing rigging ($2k or less, the most & only major expenditure) away from being able to travel. I've got good sails for years for her, the Perkins only has about 1K hours on it, and they're built stout enough that one has passed the 3 Capes non-stop.

[Frank]

Look forward to seeing how thus progresses
Keep us posted