Mast repair

[rickv123]

Hi.
I am fairly experienced small boat sailor looking to buy a used Sonar sailboat. I recently came across a Sonar for a decent price, the only problem is that the mast had been snapped at the deck (a mooring field accident!) The mast was repaired with a replacement section placed inside the mast at the break point as a reinforcement with the the 2 original pieces (top & bottom) riveted together. Any thoughts?? Assuming a quality repair, does anyone have experince with this type of repair?

Thanks, Richard

 

[Captain Larry-DH]

If the sleeve is a good fit (and of proper thickness) your repaired section is as strong or stronger than the original. It is a bit stiffer, but not an issue. Go sailing.
Edit: Many new masts are shipped in sections and assembled like this at destination. Its standard in the industry.

 

[rickv123]

Thank you Capt. Larry,
I was told that the sleeve is a piece of a mast, from the same model, different boat. Thanks for the input.

Peace.

 

[dlochner]

Thank you Capt. Larry,
I was told that the sleeve is a piece of a mast, from the same model, different boat. Thanks for the input.

Peace.

Placing a sleeve inside a broken mast to repair it is a common practice. I'm curious about how they did this. Is the mast tapered? If it is not tapered then the ID of the mast would be smaller than the OD and the sleeve would not fit inside. Also how long is the sleeve? You should be able to tell by looking at the rivets.

 

[Benny17441]

Such repair is standard practice, but there are repairs and there are repairs. Pull strongly on the shrouds and see if there is any play at the joint, there should not be any. What they usually do is cut a section from another mast and then cut vertically a strip where the gate is leaving the section in the shape of "U" for which the sides can be compressed to fit inside the broken mast.