Despite it being shopping day I took the opportunity at lunchtime to sand the bottom of the mast.

The resulting mast foot is quite good as you can see from the photo above but the real test is whether or not it fits into the tabernacle properly.

So I put the tabernacle on the mast foot. It seems to be a reasonable fit despite the extra mast to be cut off later.

The upper section of the square foot also fits the upper section of the tabernacle. I should decide on when the mast should be cut to length. I can't think of any reason why I should wait any longer, in fact the main arguments are in favour of doing it sooner so that the fit to the tabernacle can be properly checked and the location of the hole for the pivot bolt marked. Also the position of the tabernacle on the boat can be determined. The mast does not need to be finished to do these.

So, the evening's task, as we finished the shopping early, was to trim the foot of the mast and to paint the chain locker.

The trimmed mast with the edges rounded.

The piece that was cut off.

The foot now looks as it should.

And the tabernacle fits nicely.

A good fit, in fact, not too tight and not too loose either.

The chain locker was given a sanding to provide a key for the paint...

...and then given its first coat of locker paint.