240 Mast Bend??

[JerryA]

I'm going to step up from my H170 to something larger for next season. I've looked at a few 240's. A couple of them had bent masts, or at least what I would call severely bowed masts. I've seen this done on some race boats. I guess my question is... is this common on 240's or do these couple boats have a problem. They were both 1998 models. It just doesn't look right.Thanks for any help anyone can provide,JerryA

 

[240_sailor]

H240 Mast Bend

The mast bend you noticed is normal for the H240. When stepping the mast you hang a weight, I use a 10" adjustable wrench, from the main halyard. With the boat level the halyard should be 6" from the mast. This gives you some idea on the bend in a 240 mast.Good luck searching for the new boat.

 

[Mark]

Not to sure about that

This is a great subject that has been discussed thousands of times on this forum.It is really interesting.Mast rake must not be confused with mast bend.Rake is the amount of "lean" towards the stern of the yacht. This can effect the amount of helm you have.Mast bend however is just/exactly that. The amount of bend in the mast. This effects the amount of power a sail has. More bend the flatter the sail is. The straighter the mast the more power the sail has in it.Racing yachts put bend in their mast whilst sailing to flatten/de-power the main and staighten the mast to put more shape in.So hanging a wrench on the halyard and letting it hang just above the boom and measuring the amount of distance between it and the mast on a 240 should be about five inches. This must be done when the yacht is level.

 

[Ron Baer]

Mast Bend

The 240 should have mast bend. I agree partially with what was said about the halyard being 6" from the mast, but this measures the amount of mast RAKE, not bend. The bend is put in the mast by the reverse diagonals and the shrouds. The forestay sets the rake. See the link below for instructions on how to adjust the mast.http://www.usspars.com/pdfs/rigging.pdfhttp://www.hunterowners.com/ref/br.html

 

[JerryA]

Follow-up Question

Thanks everyone for your responses. Should the mast still have a noticable bent once un-stepped and tied down to the boat for trailering? I'll try to take picture of one this weekend.JerryA

 

[Rick Macdonald]

Yes

That's the mast "pre-bend", put in by the reverse diagonals. See Step #1 in the second link that Ron posted (I've copied it to this post too)....RickM...