Great Memorial Day Sailing...until the mast came down

[Fxwg80hd]

Tony - Just looking at the picture again, but have you thought about having a sleeve welded to the bottom of the mast so you can use the original bolt hole location again? Would save you having to cut the mast, raise the forestay, and raise or adjust the side stays.

If welding will weaken the mast, then maybe have a sleeve made that can be riveted or bolted on and still allow you to use the original base plate bolt hole location on the mast.

One more thought, instead of buying a new Mast Base Plate from BWY why not have one made by a local machine shop that has taller side mounting brackets so the bolt hole can be placed an inch or so higher on the mast.

Chris

[TFlight]

I SUGGEST THIS MOD FOR EVERYONE....

Mast hound should be as hgh on the mast as possible and turnbuckle is on the port side of anchor roller. In this location there is no interference to the furling jib and the Mod was less then $100, including swagging tool from http://www.duckworksbbs.com/hardware.htm This now gives me some piece of mind with a redundant forestay

I like it also a good idea

[TFlight]

I want to thank you all for all your suggestions and input.
Here is how I am thinking about fixing the mast. Understand I am still waiting for my new parts to come in and the pic of the upper and lower base plate is just to visualize.






Get some bar-stock and run two pieces up the inside of the mast about 6" to 8". Then using a total of three bolts to go all the way through the mast and steel or aluminum bars. Putting locking back up nuts on the inside top two bolts to prevent from crushing the mast and keeping the metal plates secure inside the mast. It would look something like a ladder inside the mast while maintaining the same height. Problem to consider is crushing the mast when tightening the upper two bolts, hens the back-up nuts, the bar-stock can't be too wide because of the curvature of the mast and only making surface contact on the edges, the bolt head and nuts interfering with lines coming down the mast. Note the base of the mast still seems to be very flush except where the bolt ripped out. This mod would not require any change to the roller jib or stays since there wouldn't be a change in mast height.

The other way to fix it is to shorten the bottom of the mast 1" and raise the jib hound 1"
Someone mentioned to add a spacer to the base plate if I cut off an inch of the mas well the welded bolt in the plate is too short.


Tell me your thoughts,

Tony
p.s. I hope the pictures attached

[Québec 1]

I may sound like a spendthrift but as I am lacking essential knowledge of structural requirements I would just get a new mast and some ring dings!

2003 - Current 26M Rigging 3215-1M0 MAST, DRILLED & NOTCHED, 26M, 3" X 4.5" $ 555.00

Q1

[mastreb]

I may sound like a spendthrift but as I am lacking essential knowledge of structural requirements I would just get a new mast and some ring dings!

2003 - Current 26M Rigging 3215-1M0 MAST, DRILLED & NOTCHED, 26M, 3" X 4.5" $ 555.00

Q1

Quoted for truth.

[Fxwg80hd]

I may sound like a spendthrift but as I am lacking essential knowledge of structural requirements I would just get a new mast and some ring dings!

2003 - Current 26M Rigging 3215-1M0 MAST, DRILLED & NOTCHED, 26M, 3" X 4.5" $ 555.00

Q1

Wonder how shipping is to get a 30 foot mast shipped across country?

[Québec 1]

I may sound like a spendthrift but as I am lacking essential knowledge of structural requirements I would just get a new mast and some ring dings!

2003 - Current 26M Rigging 3215-1M0 MAST, DRILLED & NOTCHED, 26M, 3" X 4.5" $ 555.00

Q1

Wonder how shipping is to get a 30 foot mast shipped across country?

BWY has a 100$ packaging cost ..otherwise I don,t know
Call em up, I have had big stuff trucked by my local transfer truck company to my local garage for cheap. After all they ship motors to the garage every now and then.
I'm sure they could send it by transfer to your local dealer.
Q1

[Catigale]

I think the bottom inch of the mast comes off, and you take the opportunity to put a Johnson lever on the forestay, which requires shortening the forestay anyway

At least your money goes into new useful kit.

[Ixneigh]

Dunno if the guys already fixed it but if it were me I'd have that welded. They can rebuild the base of that mast and make it stronger then it was before. It's all in pure compression anyway. It probably will not weaken the metal. They weld aluminum boats together.
I am going going to replace my headstay with 3/16 wire next time the mast is down. The headstay should be the heaviest wire not the thinnest.

[Bleakco]

I agree with welding it!! any good welding shop could weld it up and put a doubler on the inside..redrill and done in about an hour or less....I had a pretty good tear in mine from not using the baby stays and letting the mast get away while raising it. I did the weld and reinforce in about 45min...

[bastonjock]

I have a spare 26m mast in my back yard,unfortunately the cost of shipping from the UK would be greater than the cost of buying a new one.I too had the experience of my mast coming down,the line from the tow boat slipped as a result of wave action and it ran up the rigging and it caused it to collapse,my x turned onto its port rails with the force,i thought that i was going submarine.

[Ixneigh]

For any one still worryed about welding aluminum look at all the tee tops tuna towers and other aluminum structures on boats these days. All welded together. You may even be able to do it yourself. I saw some special rods a while back that let you weld aluminum with a regular torch. Don't know how good they are never tried them.

[ALX357]

I think aluminum requires heliarc welding, not the regular torch.

[Y.B.Normal]

You were very lucky no one was hurt and the damage was minimal.
I had a similar experience on the test sail of my boat. I was with the owner, his wife and my wife off Door County, Wisconsin.
Due to high winds and the owner's inexperience with the Mac, we decided to stay inside the harbor and sail with the main only. After sailing around for a while, tacking, jibing, etc., I noticed the boom was lower than it was when we started out. Looking forward. I saw the forestay wasn't connected to the plate. Once I went forward and did a closer inspection, I saw the pin was gone, and the only thing keeping the mast from falling was that the top hole in the jib bag wouldn't let the jib pull through it. I got some line and secured the jib halyard to the bow cleat, dropped the main and headed in.
We bought the boat, and after that, the pins and ringdings are checked before each sail.

As for repairing the mast, you can either take it to a welder or have a doubler riveted on.
As for securing the pins, I'd use stainless cotter pins on the shrouds. They're inexpensive and easy to install. You don't have to bend them completely back for them to be secure. A little rigging tape will keep them from catching on anything.

Good luck/Good sailing.
Dale

[RobertB]

I too recommend you have a welder work the bottom of the mast. Needs some reforming, fitting of a couple of filler pieces, and optionally a doubler. Suggest calling around Annapolis to mast riggers (probably a fairly common repair and should have compatible aluminium). As stated previously, this should be a fairly easy and quick repair - you probably will not be able to tell it was damaged after the repair. Should beat cutting (hard to get a good square cut unless have proper tooling), drilling, and re-rigging.

By the way, I am the owner of the third that came in Sunday night. Great day sailing, Luna Sea too hit close to 7 knots, 20 degree heel, full main and 150% Genoa ( a first for us in a relatively new boat). That 20 degree heel let us know there are some items that need to be tied down a wee bit better inside the boat - kids had fun cleaning up after the cooler with the bait for the crab pots took a spill. Also fun hearing the X-Box generation a bit surprised when that they looked out the windows to see the sky and instead were looking into the water.

Good luck