Catalina 27 Mast and rigging

[John rolka]

I'm planning to work on my rig this winter, add halyards run them internally, replace a wire rope halyard of unknown age, sheaves, redo the wiring, nothing of the mast works and nothing is accessible. I have a few questions.

My boat is 1979, can I expect to find a conduit for running wire in the mast? If there isn't what is the best approach to stabilizing and protecting wires in the mast?

The spreader sockets are frequently discussed as an important upgrade. Tubular spreaders and cast alumn or stainless sockets. Thing is my spreaders are nothing like this. They are flattened elliptical aluminum extrusion, and the connection to the mast is a fitting which slots into the extrusion. The lower shrouds connect to tangs directly to the mast, not to the spreader socket fitting as the drawings and kits I've seen. Did Catalina ever build this mast this way? Or do I have something completely different?

I've sailed the boat for 2 years this winter it's just the next thing to get to. No real problems but I'm looking to avoid problems so I'm giving the rig a thurough going over.

Thanks for any input,
John

 

[Jon_E]

I totally re-did the mast on my 1977 Cat-27 a few years ago. Here is what I found and what you may find:

• There may be conduit for your wiring and/or VHF antenna. Stand on deck and look at your mast - you should see rivets going up. If you do, that is what is holding your conduit in place. Some masts were built with the conduit molded-in when it was made at the aluminum extruding factory, but I don't think Catalina used any of those on the 27's.
• If the wiring does not run through conduit, expect to find it wrapped around some sponge halfway up the mast, usually around the spreaders. That was done to shut it up - that is - keep the wiring from pinging into the mast.
• Be prepared to buy a new mast head (corrosion). Consider upgrading the sheaves to roller bearing sheaves.
• Be prepared to buy a new mast step (corrosion).
• If your mast is painted, inspect it carefully for corrosion. It looks like blisters under the paint. Check carefully around the spreaders, tangs, etc.
• As long as you have your mast stepped, it would be a good time to replace the anchor light with an LED fixture.
• If nothing on the mast works, be prepared to re-wire the whole thing. I replaced my steaming light and deck light with one combination fixture from Forespar. The steaming light is LED and the deck light is halogen - more than enough.

I'm attaching a few photos I took from my mast rehab. You can see inside the mast at the conduit in one. In another, note the blisters at the mast exits indicating corrosion where the dissimilar metals were reacting. Painting aluminum is not the same as fiberglass - it's a whole different process. As you can see, the corrosion at the mast step was very severe and necessitated a trim. You would not have known it was this bad from the outside, before the mast was stepped. In the last photo you can see where the loss of that bit of mast was compensated by a heavy chunk of aluminum between the mast plate and mast step.

My mast rehab effort was way more work than I ever expected. Once you step the mast and can inspect it closely, only then will you know how much work you're getting into.

Good luck.

 

[John rolka]

Hi Jon, Thanks for the input, that looks like a nice bit of work. I hauled the boat this weekend and took the mast off. No conduits, I see you have a flat sided mast, my extrusion is different, flat on the back oval on sides. It looks like metal mast 6842 or close to that, I'll verify with measurements. the masthead is a welded aluminum the top and bottom doesn't have anything like the corrosion it seems you had. Did you just cut an inch off the bottom? I'm suspecting this mast may be a replacement given the condition of the step, head and ends. The mast head is closed I'll take it off and see what kind of obstacles there are to running internal. This seems like some nasty work, trying to pull all thru 30 feet of alumnimum tube. I'll post pics later. John Rolka

 

[Jon_E]

Hi John,

If you removed the mast and found no internal problems, you can exhale now! I had no idea of what I was getting into when I started my project. Yes, I cut one inch off the base because of corrosion, but added a one inch chunk of solid aluminum under the step as a riser to make up for it. After 34 years perhaps some corrosion is to be expected on non-anodized aluminum.

The riggers I talked to said it was not uncommon to have to replace a mast head. The pins for the shroud attachments can fuse themselves in place, making removal almost impossible. I got the new mast head and mast step from Catalina Direct and they fit the mast like a glove, so I assume my mast is original equipment.

You mentioned "metal mast 6842"... I don't know what that is.

Something you may consider when going to internal halyards is the halyard type. Sponges stuffed inside the mast near the spreaders are used as a sound dampener for internal halyards and non-conduit wires. I removed the sponges completely and replaced my wire-to-rope halyards with the all-line halyard set from Catalina Direct. The 5/16" Krypton Dyneema core line works great; there is no metal wire to ping against mast and it is supposed to be stronger than traditional 3/8" line. Only one traditionalist from my marina was against all-line halyards, but most of the riggers I polled were for it. The all line halyards have worked beautifully for me so far.

J

 

[Barnacle Bill]

My guess is you don't have the original Catalina mast, but a replacement. And since it probably is newer than the boat, it is fine, in regard to the spreader bases, but inspection will reveal any problems. Metalmast is a mast company and Catalina used their own stuff. The number is probably the serial number for the mast. If your sheaves will allow you probably can ditch the wire to rope halyards and go all rope. Much lighter and today's ropes are non stretch.

 

[Jon_E]

If your sheaves will allow you probably can ditch the wire to rope halyards and go all rope. Much lighter and today's ropes are non stretch.

Yes, I should mention that I upgraded the sheaves too. Even though the new mast head came with new sheaves, I ditched them for roller bearing sheaves also from Catalina Direct. They assured me the new sheaves would fit the 5/16 line, and they did.

 

[John rolka]

Well thanks for this input but projects on hold, have a mast and all rigging in good condition, just no boat to go under it, lost her in Sandy. Starting to look around for a new boat... Another adventure.

 

[Jon_E]

Oh John, this is terrible news. What happened? Was the hull crushed? Sunk? Are you able to salvage anything at all?