Annie, Kerry is most impressed with your standard of work and finish, I may have to lift my game. :)

About the mast head fitting: The masthead fitting for Teleport was designed to be made from welded SS. I took a course in welding so I could do it myself but I quickly discovered I don't have the aptitude for that kind of work. I can't concentrate without my brain being distracted by unbidden thoughts. And also, SS welding is more difficult than mild steel. I didn't want the thing falling apart in a blow.

So, I had a machine shop make me one in mild steel and had it hot-dipped galvanized. The cost was much less than a SS job. That was 32 years ago. I imagine the halyard loop needs to be inspected for wear on the galvanizing.

The tube also acts as a cross piece to help get the lazy jacks away from the sail. making for an easier raising and less distortion of the sails shape.

Interesting idea. Addressing several issues at once.

You're thinking outside the mast. :-)

Arne wrote:

Congratulations, Annie,
I hope Fanshi will serve you well.
As for the way webbing has been used at the mast top, I share Ueli’s nagging worry: There will be a very sharp bend and then the halyard will pull to this and that side as the sail swings about. This could lead to high point loads at the edge of the webbing. You know I used similar mast tops on my Broremann and Frøken Sørensen ( photo below), but these boats were after all only meant for pottering around on the fjord.

I see Asmat has made the ultimate sunhat from a discarded fender  -  a mighty good idea.

The trouble you got with ss. bolts on Fantail’s mast top, stems mainly from less than good engineering: An eyebolt protruding from a mast like Fantail’s, is not meant for taking cyclic bending loads from a halyard. Such loads will put very high strain on the top edge of the bolt (and maybe even there were threads there as well?). After a while, the metal may stress-harden and fail. Stainless is particularly vulnerable to stress hardening  -  a cheaper, galvanized bolt would probably have fared better.  Actually, the optimal use of a bolt is to keep it under tension where the whole cross section of it works in unison.

Cheers, and good luck,
Arne

This is how I am doing it nowadays (see  photo) A simple heavy wall stainless steel tube with eye straps to act as locators for the Dyneema strops. My mast are steel but it can just as easily be used on a wooden or aluminum mast.

The tube also acts as a cross piece to help get the lazy jacks away from the sail. making for an easier raising and less distortion of the sails shape.

Not a great photo as it comes from my phone but it still shows what I do.

Congratulations on yet another step Annie,

Fanshii looks great!

regards Rudolf