by John C. Harris on Wed Oct 17, 2012 10:45 am
I'm a big fan of birdsmouth spars and have designed and built a number of them. For a moderately skilled woodworker they are a fun and rewarding bench project. A round, hollow replacement for PocketShip's mast could use the same taper profile shown in the plans for the box-section spar. Also the same 3/4" stave thickness, and the same sections blocked off solid. And you could use the same tabernacle without issue.
I think there are websites around that offer design tools for getting the staves right. I know Geoff Kerr is a big birdsmouth spar guy and has the formula memorized.
For the record there is no sailing performance advantage. They just look nice, and are fun to build---two perfectly good reasons to do it if you feel like it.