Mast.....Toast?

Toast....or beams?

it's toast...sorry.

looks like your club has a source of unique trophies for the next series!

I've used pieces of mast for trailer cross arms and trophies (obviously much smaller pieces).

Flagpole.

I've gone through so many masts, I could start my own flagpole biz.

TOAST

Carbon ones make very good mast racks on motorhomes
I have started collecting up other peoples aluminium ones as their scrap value is not too bad at the moment

Burnt toast. If you use it the next sound you'll hear will be the PING!! of death.

Did you drop it?

Gorner!

Michael

I don't know why anyone would ever throw away a carbon mast if it were broken. We have internally carbon sleeved a couple of snapped carbon masts then scarf the external join and glassed the small scarf area to match the external surface and to finish off, moulded an external sleeve off of an undamaged section of the mast and epoxy glued it to the outside over the seam, The repairs are only visible if you really search for them and any different bend characteristics and strength in the repaired mast are unmeasurable from the original.

Hey,

I still see a good mast for recreational use or a spare.

1. Cut at 'kink'.

2. find similar mast,.....cut a 2 foot piece from that for the sleeve.

3. slit the sleeve at the track end....maybe cut 1/4 inch or so up this slit...top to bottom...( or cut out the track )

4.fair out the original mast at the sections.

5. place the internal sleeve, assemble, epoxy,.,pop rivet,...seal.....done.

It may be a little stiffer than the original, but down here, we repair this all the time.

Heck, my Hobie 33 comes with a stock sleeved mast and it has been fine since 1985.

regards,

Bruce
I17
St. Croix
USVI

If you claim on insurance for a new one[in the UK], the insurance company asks for the bottom 2' to be sent in the post to prove that the mast is being scrapped! This mucks things up.
I would not dream of throwing anything carbon away, the stuff is worshiped in this household. It just waits to be recycled into something else - like a lightweight mast rack!

What would happen, if you had your friendly aluminum welder, completely fill in the dent and grind it flush? (My welder works for cheap and for kicks I'd give it a shot, if the rest of the boat is old enough to risk further damage.)

You could give it a shot however I suspect the heat involved will change the temper of the surrounding material which will probalby cause failure near the weld (but the weld would probalby be fine ). You could try to re-temper the mast but I don't like your chances. Good luck with it though.

Michael

Check out the sideways "U" shaped discolorations on either side of the dent.

That's the extent of the damage, not just the dent. The discolorations show pretty dramtically the extent of stress hardening = brittle aluminum.

A new mast is cheaper than a new sail and a new mast.

Filling up the dent by welding will screw up the bend characteristics of the mast and probably create high stress concentration around the inflexible repaired area making failure just next to the weld a possibility. I expect slowly growing cracks then. But this is just my personal opinion.

I did take out a similar big big myself, also on the side of the mast. However it was above the hound fitting. I opened up the mast from the top and lowered a hydraulic vice into the mast. This thingy I lend from an auto body repair shop and it had two arms that could be pushed outward by the hydraulic pressure. I cut to pieces of hardwood in the shape of the sides of the mast and fitted them to the stainless steel arms of the vice. Then I pomped out the dent by pushing the dent outward from the inside. The mast also straightened as a result. I sailed with that mast and boat for 3 more season (even adding a spinnaker to it) without any troubles. I must say however that the bend characteristics were different; I put this down to the deformation hardening. However it was a recreational boat for me and I could live with some reduction in sailing behaviour in favour of not spending 1500 Euro's for a new mast on a 2000 Euro's and 14 years old boat.

So in my experience the best way to take out this dent is to push it out from the inside. You may try car jacks or whatever for this purpose. Anything that will fit inside the mast section and is able to develop a significant force.

After I pushed out the dent I didn't do anything to the mast except put the top fittings back on.

Wouter

actually, if you could find yourself a honda scissor jack, that would fit down inside the mast.

If you decide to take Wouter's advice and push it out. That depends on your budget. You may think about finding a very hard rod who's length is that of mast front to back or more. Drill a small hole in the back of the mast track toward the dent. Then use something to press is out from the back. Maybe a hammer delicately, maybe not. Then put something back in the hole to keep the mast from taking on water when you go over.

Dan

Pound it out from the other side through yet another drilled hole? This means adding another weak spot. NAh.
I like the scissor jack idea, if you can locate "the spot".

F-18, buy a new mast. Repair this one for a spare.