large wood mast hound or spar straps needed

[dancamp009]

I want to add an inner forstay to a 43' hollow wooden mast. I've included two photos. One is of westmarine.com mast hound and another is of one I found on internet (http://yachtvalhalla.net/articles/forestay/forestay.html) that some guy found in a bucket. I need to know if the mast hound available at westmarine is right for my mast or should I look for these other biggers ones. I'm doubting the masthound at WestMarine is big enough (3" x 4.5") for this 43' x 4.5" x 6" +- wood mast? Any ideas where I can find these bigger ones?
Also, can anybody recommend a good way to secure these large straps to the mast? One suggestion was to tie the strap ends together with a through bolt inside some pvc tubing for compression strength while clamping down on bolt. maybe helps with water protection too (with chalking)?
Should I be concerned with weakening the mast with through holes?
thanks for any help on this.
DanCamp009

 

[dancamp009]

Re: large wood mast hound or spar straps needed

Incredable as it may seem, I just found exactly what I was looking for buried deep inside our local second-hand marine supply store a half hour after posting this thread. It even has three of the four tangs needed for running back stays attached to it. Totally incredable. . .

 

[oops!]

Re: large wood mast hound or spar straps needed

ask and ye shall receive......


and im really glad....cause this one had me totally stumped.....

i saw this post earlier....i was hopin blow boat guy would jump in

cheers
oops

 

[dancamp009]

Re: large wood mast hound or spar straps needed

I'm back with the same problem. The mast hound I found just doesn't seem big enough to support the 11/32" solent forestay I want to add to my Offshore 40 sloop. I have to measure the pin size again when I get back on the boat, but it was pretty small (around 5/16"). I know the pins for the original forestay is 5/8" on the bottoms and only 3/8" on top. That always seemed weird to me, but I imagine now that the pins don't have to be as strong up on top of the mast as at the foot of the stay.
Does anybody know where I can buy a mast hound to fit almost to the top of a 46' wooden mast sturdy enough to support this 11/32" solent stay?