1982 Capri (Catalina) Cyclone 13

[Capri]

I recently bent my mast at the point where the two pieces join. I drove under a low power line. I managed to bend back the piece that inserts into the second piece but there are subtle areas that evidently have bulged and the insert does not go in all the way. If I can manage to gently hammer the insert piece to go in, do I need to be concerned about the stability? I should mention there is a very small hair line crack in the piece that inserts into the other longer piece.

Do I need to try to fix this or look for another mast? Are these available?

 

[jrowan]

I am not that familiar with that Catalina model, but if any part of your mast is or has been bent then scrap it. It has lost its structural rigidity & can no longer be trusted.
I would replace it before sailing that boat again. Masts suffer from way too much pressure & significant loads from wind to ever sail with them damaged.

I would also say that you are very lucky that the overhead wires that you hit must have been well insulated! I've seen videos of a sailboat that hit an uninsulated high voltage overhead wire, and BANG! once the boat hit it, a fire erupted and the boat literally melted its fiberglass down to the waterline in a matter of seconds. The sailors onboard barely had a chance to jump overboard before their ship literally melted into a blob of plastic & promptly sunk. Consider yourself extremely lucky, but it doesn't pay to test providence more then once. Replace your mast & stay away from powerlines!
ps. Other unlucky souls have hit overhead wires by forgetting to drop their masts when exiting a marina parking lot after hauling out onto a trailor, & BAM. It only takes one mistake like that to cost you your boat, or worse. This is probably a good reminder post for other trailor sailors to read.

 

[jrowan]

ps. Here is just one of the videos on the web of a sailboat hitting a major overhead powerline. This was in Chesapeake, Virginia, not far from my boat. These poor bastards didn't read their charts heading North off the ICW & went into a creek that is not supposed to be navigable to larger sailboats:
www.tooshocking.com/videos/2348/Sailboat_Hits_A_Powerline