Hal-
Now that's interesting too! I had heard vague rumors that there was a
version of aluminum masted Potter that had the mast stepped through the
cabintop down to the cabin sole. I can see why you would want to change it.
Your mast must be about three feet longer than the masts on current P15s.
It would also be a problem sealing around the mast opening in the cabintop.
Yours must be one of the first "Mk I's." (There never was a Potter called
the "Mk I," but when HMS Marine changed to the larger 4-sided sail, omitted
the lazarette, and started calling the boat a 15-footer, it was sold as the
"Mk II Potter," so we call the aluminum masted P14s "Mk I's.") The Mk I's
had the small sail plan of the gunter rigged P14s and retained the
lazarette. Yours must have been one of the first non-gunter-rigged Potter
14s. All the Mk I's I've seen had the mast stepped on the cabintop.
Your best bet would be to inspect a Mk I or Mk II and convert yours to a
similar setup. You can probably do as I did with my wooden gunter mast,
i.e., saw it off flush with the cabintop and use the remaining lower stub
as a compression post. You can get stock mast step hardware from
International Marine or order one you like from Dwyer Masts, and mount that
on the cabintop. IM may also have hardware for attaching the compression
post to the cabintop and sole. I've heard that their compression posts are
tailored to fit each individual boat, so an off-the-shelf post would
probably be the wrong length. You can probably use the stub of your
sawed-off mast, as I said, and attach it securely to the cabintop with
brackets or a clever piece of woodwork with a cutout for the mast. If you
maintain the existing mast height you can probably use your existing stays.
Another possibility for a compression post would be one of the lathe-turned
posts sold in building supply stores for banisters and such. Varnished, it
could add a salty touch to the interior. Be sure to close the existing
cabintop hole completely so you no longer have to worry about leakage
there. Unlike mine early model, your boat has a cabin liner, so I can't
speak for what problems you might have in accessing the cabintop inside, to
attach the compression post.
The #230 I mentioned, converted from a gunter rig, belongs to Mike Brownlee
of Santa Cruz, who I think is on this mail list. The conversion was made by
a previous owner, but Mike might be able to describe it to you. Another
gunter-wood-mast conversion to aluminum stick is owned by John Ulmer in
Ohio. John may be on this list also, or you can probably reach him through
Lars Mulford of the ECPA. I think John did the conversion of his boat.
Check all the photos on the Potter Yachters web page
<http://songbird.com/py> and then see the links there to all the other
Potter pages. You may or may not find some photos that show what you need.
Where are you located, Hal?
Harry Gordon
P14 #234, Manatee
Mountain View, CA
>Hi
> I read with interest your reply to Emile. I want to covert my
>aluminum mast #448 to cabintop stepped. Are there any photos or dwgs on
>the net of #230. Thanks in advance
> Hal Henty (Rosebud) #448
>===
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