The stage centerpiece will be a large (18 ft) center mast to reach the ceiling with the High Seas Expedition logo on the mainsail. The bottom of the sail will be about 6 feet off the floor so that people can walk under it.
Joann's carries several widths of muslin, unbleached and white - since our walls are off-white, we will use the bleached white muslin so that it stands out better. The least expensive is 48 inch wide for $1.99 ($1.50/square yard) and 119 inch wide for $6.99 ($2.11/square yard). A 40% of coupon gets the 119 inch muslin down to about $1.27 per square yard. WalMart also carries muslin, 38 inch for $1.67, 108 inch for $5.00, and 119 inch for $6.54. I bought 2 1/3 yards of 119 inch wide (about 10x10 feet) for $15 with a coupon. A pennant flag will be made from brightly colored posterboard so it stands out from the mast
Every year I make several projects that can easily be made by anyone using common materials. But sometimes I want to make something big, using materials that I already have - my mast and sails will be one of the latter. Bruce Barry's plan for a 10 foot sewerpipe mast in a 5 gallon bucket of concrete should work just fine but I want a taller mast, I don't think a 18 foot sewerpipe will support itself. Even if you don't build a extra tall mast, there may be some ideas here you can adapt to your mast.
I started with a 10 foot section of 3 inch black ABS sewerpipe and a 15 foot piece of 2 inch aluminum pipe. I cut four pieces of 2x4 12 inches long and screwed them together with 3 1/2 inch screws as
shown in the diagram below. The square hole in the middle is 3 1/2 inches, the same as the outside of the ABS pipe.
I took an old 15 inch car tire and set it on a flat, level surface and layed a trash bag out inside it. I put my square wooden support in the tire, the support is smaller than the tire, but bigger than the opening - I had to use a hammer and large crowbar to get it in. Cutting each of the 2x4 pieces to 11 inches instead of 12 would have made it easier. I placed the ABS pipe into the square hole, pushing it all the way to the floor, and centered the wooden support in the tire. Next I mixed up two 60 pound bags of concrete mix and poured them into the tire, distributing the concrete evenly around the wooden support and smoothed the concrete out some. I used a bubble level to be sure the mast was pointing straight up
I want the bottom of my sail to be 6 feet from the floor so it can be easily walked under, so I cut my mast pipe off at 6 feet. I attached a ABS cross fitting (3x3x2x2 Sanitary Double T) to the pipe and put the 4 foot section on top of that. I bought two 10 foot sections of 2 inch black ABS sewerpipe to use as the cross beams and cut them into four 5 foot pieces. I did not glue the pieces together at this time as I will take it apart for transport. When I assemble the mast at church, I will connect it with 1 inch screws through the pipes and fittings.
It turns out that my 2 inch aluminum pipe fits snuggly inside a 2 inch ABS fitting, so I bought a 2x3 inch ABS reducer coupling to go at the top of the 3 inch ABS. I dropped a 3 foot piece of wooden 2x3 into the 3 inch ABS pipe and slid the 15 foot aluminum pipe into the top of the 3 inch pipe and reducer coupling. There is now 7 feet of aluminum pipe inside the 3 inch ABS pipe, being supported by the 2x3. 8 feet of the aluminum pipe sticks out the top, making it a total of 18 feet tall. I put a long screw through the ABS pipe into the 2x3 to hold it in place
By now, the concrete was cured, it was easier to work on with the mast laying down. I slid a 2x2x2x2 cross fitting on the aluminum pipe to be 16 feet from the base and inserted the other two 5 foot pieces of 2 inch ABS pipe. Now I have a 18 foot mast with a cross beam at 6 feet and another at 16 feet. The area between the crossbeams is just the right size for a 10x10 foot sail. I drilled a hole in the aluminum pipe just above the upper cross beam and another at the very top of the mast. I put eye bolts
in these holes for ropes to support the cross beams. I ran a 15 foot piece of 1/4 sisal rope to the top eye bolt and drilled two holes in the ends of the upper beam, tieing both ends of the rope through the holes. Then ran a 25 foot piece of rope to the bottom eyebolt and tied the end through holes in the bottom beam. These ropes will support the beams to keep them from sagging and add some visual detail.
I painted the mast tan and dry brushed some dark brown on to TRY and make it look like woodgrain, re-tied the ropes, and added the Block & Tackle along the top crossbeam. These will be used to hoist the daily Bible Buddy posters. I also tied some rope accents on the mast.
I made some simple belaying pins out of 1/2 inch PVC - a piece about 7 inches long, a piece about 3 inches long, a PVC cap and coupling. I drilled a hole through the bottom crossbeam and dropped the belaying pins in, the hole is big enough for the pipe to slide through but not as big as the coupling. These are used to tie the poster hoisting ropes to,
The top pennant flag is made from a sheet of poster board and about 6 feet of very heavy wire (9 gauge). Fold the posterboard in half lengthwise to make it 11x28 inches. With the fold on the top, use a yardstick to draw a line from the bottom left to the top right corner. On this line you have drawn, mark a point 2 1/2 inches from the bottom left corner. Draw a line from this point to the upper left corner. Cut both layers on these 2 lines.
Bend the wire to this approximate shape. Point A will go inside the mast, Point B will hang outside the mast, and the horizontal wire will be inside the posterboard pennant.
I sprayed the both of the insides of the posterboard with spray adhesive and let it dry a few minutes, then folded it over the wire and pressed the adhesive together. I stapled the open edges together with a regular office stapler. Then bent the wire to give the flag a "wave" look and spray painted it red since I used plain white posterboard.
Posted 2/1/10
Updated 5/4/10