First Mast Raising Attempt! | Will My Rotating Rig Actually Work? | 23ft Sharpie Yacht Design/Build

After years of designing, building, casting, machining, and second-guessing... it's finally time to see if the mast will fit. In this video, I reach a major milestone in the build of my 23ft Sharpie trailer yacht as I prepare for the first trial fit of the mast. Before that can happen, I need to finish and install the custom aluminium mast bearings that I designed, cast from old car mag wheels, and then machined to suit my prototype version of the Ljungström rig. This is one of those stages where a lot could go wrong. The yacht was designed around this rotating mast system, so it isn't just another component—it is fundamental to how the entire rig is intended to work. Will the mast rotate freely? Will the bearings perform as intended? Can I safely raise the mast on my own? As expected with any prototype, not everything goes according to plan, but that's part of the journey when you're building a completely original yacht design. Fortunately, summer is still some way off, so there's time to solve problems, refine the system, and continue turning ideas into reality.