Mast Gate

The Dwyer mast that I have with Seafrog, my M17, has a slot about 30 inches above the mast base. It has presented problems for me when I reef because the sail slides would alway slide right out. I went to a fabricator who made this mast gate for me.

This is what it looks like mounted. It has two slooted holes that I can use to loosen the nylon screws and slide the mast gate forward.

This second photo shows how it looks like when the two nylon screws are loosened and the mast gate is slid forward. This allows me to take the main sail and/or boom off without taking the mast gate completely off.

Laying on the dock, you can get the gist of the design. One photo shows from the front side and the other photo shows the back (blind) side. It's not a work of art, but it works great. I plan to smooth down the weld and polish it up a little.

It may be hard to see from this picture, but the mast gate is made from two pieces that are sandwiched together and welded together. The larger plate with the slots is one piece and if you look close you can see the 'lip' is layed underneath. It needs to be layered like this so that the plate part rests on the outer surface of the mast and the inner "lip" is recessed to fit in the slot.

Arrival in North Carolina, some bottom paint and a spash

After leaving California, I stayed in touch with Bob and with the driver. There were three Montys on the tractor trailer all headed east. Since I was furthest east, I would be the last stop.

I was very lucky to arrange to find a marine surplus store that just happened to have a 10 tone travel lift to pluck Seafrog and my trailer off the towing rig.

A little bit of road grime to clean up....Putting on the tape was like drawing a straight line around a watermellon. I didn't have a third person to show how one friend held my "hose level" while I went around and marked the hull.

After some boring coats of epoxy... time to refresh!

Then some even more boring coats of antifouling......,

........it was time to take Seafrog home for a nice wash and wax.

Now it was time to see if my water line marks matched the actual water line!!

The Making of Seafrog

Here we are at Montgomery Boats owned by Bob Eeg home of the Montgomery Boats and the Nor'Sea boats. If you've never seen the process before, here's your chance to see how these wonderful crafts are manufactured. The following photos are of the construction of my M-17, Seafrog. There are three major components: the hull, the deck, and the pan (interior) which covers about 2/3 of the hull. (is that Bob in the second photo pushing parts around?? Definitely the hands on owner)

To make life easier there are things to be done before the three components are all put together. The liner is tabbed in. The handrails, mast step, bowrails, locker hatches and other hardware are installed. Notice the original portlight is glassed in to fit the new ports.

After tabbing in the lower portions of the pan, the deck is attached. I opted for the opening ports since it gets kind of steamy here on the outer banks of North Carolina. The photo below shows lowering the deck. At this stage only one pair of the two pairs of port holes are cut in.

With the handholds installed and the beautiful bronze portlights installed the deck is attached with epoxy and s/s nuts/bolts every 6". Here the jib rails are being installed as well.

I opted for the IdaSailor rudder. We have a lot of shoaling and very shallow water. Unexpected shallow water! So it's very nice to have this design.

With the arrival of the trailer, Seafrog gets her first glimpse of daylight. She's starting to look like a boat now. I selected a green sheer stripe to compliment the tan bark sails.

With Seafrog finished, Bob's hamming it up with his talented workers. And later, Seafrog is loaded up for her trip from California to North Carolina. She will be loaded up with two other Montys to head east. She looks so clean leaving. Wait til you see her when she gets here to NC!!