Dismasted!

[petebrayton]

Hi everyone, I am new here and this is my first post. I wish it was about something else however! I was sailing my 1988 Mac 26D in Wyoming this last week and was hit by what I believe was a micro-burst from a nearby thunderstorm. I know that I shouldn't have been sailing near thunderstorms and I certainly hope I have learned my lesson. Anyway, the mast snapped in two at the spreaders with the leading edge of the break being on the front side of the mast and perfectly horizontal from one spreader bolt hole to the other. All of the sail slides were torn off the main and I don't think there was any damage to the main or jib. At any rate, we were able to motor to a nearby beach and took down the mast, retrieved the rigging and sails from the water and lashed the two mast pieces to the deck and continued to make this a week-long motorboat trip (it happened on the first day!) My friend sustained no damage to his boat which is a 93 Mac 26S with a smaller reefed main and smaller storm jib than me. I am now in the market for a new mast. Also, one of the mast-raising support cables pulled completely out of the deck. Up to the time of the micro-burst, we had a little rain and maybe 10 mph winds. The micro-burst lasted about 15-30 seconds and was gone. The skies cleared within an hour and my friend had 5-10 mph winds the rest of the day. I am going to call my local Mac dealer but I am not too hopeful for finding a new mast for a boat this old in Colorado. Any ideas?

[Tomfoolery]

Blue Water Yachts can sell you a new one, but shipping can be an issue.

[kurz]

Hi
why not welding the 2 pieces of the mast together again? Could be stronger than before and you don't have any expensive shipping/waiting time. Just find somebody that is experienced in aluminium welding...

Good look!

[petebrayton]

Hi Guys,
I called my local Mac dealer and they said to contact Bluewater also. In addition to the mast snapping, both pieces are also bent so unfortunately I think that welding them together is not an option although I had considered that before I looked along their lengths. Thanks for the advice. I forgot to mention that no one was hurt, unless you consider large amounts of adrenaline and rapid heart rates as detrimental. I will mention that the Mac 26D does very well as a motorboat! We still enjoyed the trip and made the most of our situation. I will still go to Seminoe Reservoir in Wyoming...I just hope I will not be overly optimistic about the weather situation and avoid conditions such as we experienced.

[Sumner]

Sorry to hear about the problems, but after living in Wyo. for over 25 years can understand the wind deal. When you get another mast be sure and make sure the rigging is tensioned properly, especially that the shrouds are tight.

Search on this site and on this site....

http://forums.macgregor.sailboatowners. ... y.php?f=68

for posts on putting a Hobie mast on a Mac. Some people have done that. Also on here and there you will find posts on putting a rotating mast on for more performance using parts from the M that are available. I don't think we will ever do that just being cruisers, but if you are looking for the performance you might want to look into it now.

Good luck,

Sum
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Our MacGregor 26-S

Our Endeavour 37

Our Trips to Utah, Idaho, Canada, Florida

Mac-Venture Links

[mastreb]

I would strongly consider installing the rotating mast from the M as sum mentions. It's quite clear that I get between a half and a full knot of additional speed in light air with it. If you're replacing a mast anyway, it's probably the most effective mod you could perform and would be close to free.

This way you can buy it ready to go from the factory or BWY (presuming the forestay hound is in the same place on the D and M, which I don't know).