The task for the evening was the construction of the brackets to hold the bottom of the leg of the boom crutch. A boom crutch is usually a pair of softwood timbers about 3" wide, 1" thick and as long as necessary. These legs are loosely bolted together near the top and the legs then located in the brackets on the deck. The upper part of the crutch above the pivot bolt acts as a cradle for the boom when the sail is down.

The boom crutch on Shoal Waters can be seen in the photo above.

Firstly the spacer blocks were cut. The angle was calculated to be 65 degrees and set on the mitre saw making the construction of these very easy. The piece of timber from which they were fashioned was trimmed to 2" in width and then cut as you can see here.

They will be arranged in opposite pairs like this.

Some time later the brackets are constructed, rounded and sanded.

The slot in the centre of the brackets so sloped.

These will fit just behind the poop deck.

The bottom of each leg of the crutches is cut at an angle that matches the angle of the slot, this is just a demonstration, I do not have the wood for the crutches yet.

The leg then fits into the bracket which will be glued and screwed securely in position.

They have now had two drain holes made in the bottom of the brackets to let any water out that should get in and otherwise be trapped inside, and have been glued up. I'll be taking these inside the house to dry since it is currently 1 Celsius outside and snowing a little. A tad too cold for glue setting.

Two fairly simple brackets but still just over 90 minutes in the making so far and they have yet to be fitted in place.