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I bent one of the spreaders when taking down the mast tonight.

It was one of those "I will never do that again" kind of things. Too much muscle and too little brain. It bent back easy enough, but does show a small kink.

Question:
1. Is this a serious saftey issue? As we are planning to sail tomorrow. Seems like the shrowd should hold it in place.
2. Is this a propriatary part, or can I just get aluminum pipe from somewhere?

Wind Chime wrote:I bent one of the spreaders when taking down the mast tonight.

It was one of those "I will never do that again" kind of things. Too much muscle and too little brain. It bent back easy enough, but does show a small kink.

Question:
1. Is this a serious saftey issue? As we are planning to sail tomorrow. Seems like the shrowd should hold it in place.
2. Is this a propriatary part, or can I just get aluminum pipe from somewhere?

I would assume this would be a serious issue considering the load the spreader takes. Did the same thing What I did is take the bent spreader to the "Metal Supermarket" here in Ontario Canada and they match the spreader with the same aluminum (I replaced both) for $10.00 total vs $33.00 each for new ones at Dowsar Yachts, and I reinforced them with smaller dia. aluminum pipe on the interior dia. to prevent this in the future. You just need to drill the holes carefully (drill press), and there you have it

I don't think that just any aluminum tubing from a hardware store will do. That grade of aluminum is too soft and will bend too easily.

I have a 2000 26X and replaced both of my spreaders recently, with the following material:

Alloy type: Aluminum 6061-T6 Bare drawn tube (not anodized)

1" OD X 0.065" thickness X 0.87" ID X 44" length

Here is the merchant that I used:

http://www.onlinemetals.com/merchant.cf ... top_cat=60

Good luck.

~~~~~~~~~_/)~~~~~~~~~~
Rich Plumb, "Plumb Crazy"
26X, Covington WA

I will be taking two spare spreaders this winter, which are just 44" of 25mmx 1.65mm equiv 1" x 1/8", they may not be strong enough but the existing ones are pretty soft and besides the pressure is endwise, the main pressure on these is when raising especially when we get impatient or don't see a tree limb etc.
Would be happy to hear any argument to the contrary especially the actual grading of the originals.
Note cost for 6.5m length is $36 or 5 spreaders if neccesarry the ends could be reinforced but this adds weight where you really don't want it.

I just replaced a spreader on my M. Got it from BWY for about $28. Also replaced an upper shroud,from BWY.
I would assume anything in the upper rigging that is "tweaked" is a serious issue,considering the loads under sail.

I just like having the mast stay up until it's supposed to come down.

I got a replacement set from boatbimini.com (they advertise on this site). They also had an additional tube inside for reinforcement. Not listed on their site, but call them for info.

http://macgregorsailors.com/phpBB/viewt ... t=spreader
This was discussed to a large extent reciently, and reenforcing the spreader has consiquences(sp??) you should consider, also Bill from Boats4sail has posted his quick replacement method.

replaced my spreaders with thick walled ss tubing. they're a little heaver, but stronger and look nicer to boot. i remove them when de-masting for trailering. so far, working out just fine.

Thanks for the links to previous threads, I can never seem to find what I am looking for when using the search function.

I think I am now armed with enough information and advice to fix it ... or really screw it up