I really wanted to make setting up at the ramp as easy as possible, and while this is a short mast and won't be a trouble to lift, the possibility of keeping more of the lines and fittings attached during transport encouraged me to think further on it. To begin with it seemed logical to make a lightweight one out of stainless steel, but I wanted to avoid too much of a metal look on this boat; I want it to be softer, more tactile.
Once committed to the tabernacle idea it was only a short jump to commit myself to designing one high enough to fix the gooseneck from it, enabling the boom to stay put for transport. But as I alluded in the previous post, the appearance of this was going to trouble me, because I had committed to a bulky material and possibly, to a very ugly appendage.
The process for arrival at this as a design solution can be followed in the sequence of pics on the Flickr page. I began in a very chunky fashion, then removed as much 'beef' as possible from the design, transferring loads in a more architectural way. Hardly worth the bother in a sense, because most of the curves will be hidden under the foredeck, but I hope they will echo the shapes within the boat elsewhere, and become a background thing- only noticeable if you are looking for them.
The two prongs above deck will always be strong visually, but I hope they just look like they are doing what they are supposed to do. There are still details missing from this dry assembly, and joints that will be faired to become invisible. The little gap between the 'legs' might be a good spot to stash a map, or maybe a novel...
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