Grace's Logbook #3 - A New Mast

The Grace Rebuilding Series

A New Mast Rises

Grace's reconstruction continues, making great progress. The toe rail wood has been repaired and refinished. The fabrication of the metal canopy structure has begun as well. This logbook entry will detail a very specific, and important part of the project...reconstruction of her mast.

The Many Purposes of Masts on Vintage Motor Yachts

While sailing vessels rely on their masts and rigging to harness the wind, the elegant masts adorning vintage motor yachts serve entirely different functions. These classic nautical elements combine practicality with tradition on these powered vessels.

Communication Hub

The primary function of a motor yacht's mast is communication. The mast and its horizontal yardarm provide mounting points for various flags and pennants that identify the vessel, display yacht club affiliations, and even communicate with other boats through maritime signal flags.

Navigation and Electronics

Masts serve as the perfect elevated platform for essential equipment:

• Navigation lights that make the vessel visible at night
• Radar arrays with unobstructed views
• Radio antennas with maximum range
• Weather instruments and GPS receivers

Aesthetic Tradition

Perhaps most importantly for vintage motor yachts, the mast and yardarm maintain the vessel's classic nautical profile. These elements connect modern luxury motor yachts to their maritime heritage, preserving the elegant silhouette that defines these timeless vessels.

The woodworking skills needed to keep a vintage motor yacht afloat are a rare and dying art. Everything wood is hand made on site and is custom to the project. Grace's mast is no exception. Her prior mast was a rather simple affair...tapered hardwood mounted to the deck able to carry the required navigation lights and to rig (with difficulty) a simple display of decorative signal flags. It was weathered and in poor condition prior to being destroyed in the storm on September 26, 2024.

The shipwrights and wood working craftsmen of TMI have really outdone themselves in re-creating a beautiful and functional mast for Grace. Starting with a complex composite of mahogany wood planks joined about a central steel core (providing both structural support, and a channel for wiring to run), each section of the mast was turned down by

hand on a huge lathe to reproduce the appropriate tapered profile. The yardarm was attached, and the sections were then sanded and finished with at least 8 coats of marine varnish to make it resistant to weather.

Grace's new mast and yardarm will be home to a halyard system of lines an pulleys for a much more elegant display of signal flags, a modern system of navigation lights, the radar dome, and a compressed air signaling whistle all meant to improve safety and the aesthetic charm of Grace.

For some perspective, below are photos of masts from some of Grace's different bygone eras...the left in 1916, the middle in 1963, the right in 2016.

The next time you admire a vintage motor yacht, take a moment to appreciate how its mast serves both practical needs and aesthetic tradition—a perfect blend of function and nautical elegance.