just bought a P15 and after getting it home the mast is bowed just a bit, about 3-4 degrees maybe up to 10 about mid way up. Is this a problem? When I step it and rig it the shrounds will straigten it back up shouldn't it. should I try and re-curve it straight by weight in the hot sun? Tried once by having my wife stand on the bend and picked her up off the ground with no success.
jerrypcman wrote: should I try and re-curve it straight by weight in the hot sun?
You would somehow have to fasten the mast so that the weight would pull opposite to the bend. From my experience once metal has been bent, you can never get it back to it's original shape. It's worth a try though, how about using a ratchet strap or even your ratchet-blocks from your mainsheet system?
Is there room to add spreaders and diamonds? This would let you straighten the mast and give it extra support to prevent it from returning to the previous shape.
A Prindle 15 should already have diamond wires
Prindle 15 does not already have diamond wires. Do not try to bend it back-will only kink. If serious about bend, take bottom casting off and fill mast with sand before attempting to straighten, otherwise add diamond wires. Cheaper to buy used mast. Pete
Filling it with sand is a good precaution. The modulous of elasticity has to be exceeded to straighten it if it has not reached it's yield point (kinking). Filling it with sand will aid in holding the shape. Basically, you have to put on something like saw horses and find a way to apply ever increasing loads till the M of E has been reached. Usually a hydraulic jack with a 2x4 between the jack and the mast. Have a pressure gage attached to see how much you are loading. Do it in increments... see the mast move, note the pressure on the gage... unload and see if it straightened. If not.. reload to a slightly higher load, unload and check it.
Do this till it is straight. DO NOT USE HEAT! Aluminum does not glow red... it just suddenly goes to a liquid. Talk about a mess!