Simple Sailboat Mast With Luff Groove - Made With Router

One of the things about a PDRacer is that it promotes the use of many different types of sails, and sails that are much larger than would be typically used on this size of boat. A mast made from a tapered 2x4 is quick to make, and very adequate for use with sails that are laced to a mast, such as polytarp sails.

You might have noticed there are a ton of inexpensive sails available on eBay, however they mostly have a "bolt rope" in the luff and require a mast that has a luff groove in it like conventional factory made sailboat masts have.

This is a picture of a wooden mast that another ducker sent me. It has one conventional type of luff groove to it, you can see that the boards which create the goove are simply glued onto the mast.

This is one simple method you can use to create a wooden mast that has a luff groove.

You are going to laminate 2 boards together to create your mast. So start by using the router to create half the groove in each board.

Then laminate them together with a skinny spacer between them. The picture to the right is just a couple of small test boards, just to show proof of concept.

From Tim Cleary

I like the idea of a mast track. I thought of a modification of your idea and that is to laminate the two sections of 2x4's after the luff groove has been routed, but without the spacer. Then rout a tunnel to the groove to allow access as in the diagram to the right. Also I show a taper of only the foreward edge of the mast and a built-in sheeve.