Bent Mast Blues...help?

[johnnystarliner]

Hello fellow cyber boaters,As I was backing my O'Day 17 foot daysailer down the boat ramp for our trial sail I caught an overhead line and snagged the mast but good. She is tweeked a good 20 degrees.As I see it my only option to use this mast is cut it on both sides of the bend (removing about 4 inches of the mast)and have it butt welded. I can lower the boom stop (I don't know if this is the correct term for that thingy in the sail groove of the mast) and I could raise the step part of the mast 4 inches and everything should be in the right spot .....correct?What would be a whole lot simpler would be a cast alloy mast repair thingy. It would be like the thingys that go on the top and bottum of the mast except it would be double ended........basically an internal sleeve. It would fit into both ends of the mast and have some sort of collar/stop/shoulder to hold it in place. It would be great if the collar/stop/shoulder would be 3-4 inches to make up for the chunk I am about to cut out of my mast.Does such a part exist??????????????If so where do I get it????????????If not I could I take two of those top of mast things cut everything off above the collar/shoulder that sits on the top of the mast.....bolt and or weld them together and make my own mast splice?Any and all help would be welcome.Johnny Starliner cjjc@quest-net.comps.I am used to the school of hard knocks and I expect to pay some dues from time to time. However this mast episode got my children, especially my 8 year old daughter, pretty sad so as they say on in the movies,"now its personal" and I will straighten this mess (sorry pun intended) out soon.Oh yeah if there was a mast within a couple hundred miles of central Vermont I would consider that too!

 

[Don Evans]

Go to Dwyer Mast

Tell them your tale of wow and listen closely to your options. These people are the experts. They will probably know the boat, but you can take your mast dimensions to them. If it was me I would not dink around with cutting this, rejigging that. I'd replace the entire mast...bam...your done and sailing. You may be down 400 bucks but you will be a hero to your children.p.s thank your lucky stars that was not a powerline...talking about 4th of JulyGood luck with your deliberations.Don

 

[Ron Maloney]

Mast welding

FYI. I have a friend who owns a 27 ft boat, he has had his mast welded (twice) at the base because it was bent while being taken down/ put up. The weld held great (fact, the second time it happened the weld held and the new break was above the weld). The cost was a little over $100. But this was on a $1500 + mast. Hope this helps you decide what to do.

 

[P Corbett]

welding is good

I had a crack in the base of the mast in my R19. We shortened the mast by the length of the crack, and welded a sleeve onto the base in that length. I think it is more sturdy now than ever. If this sounds too difficult, check Dwyer Mast Co, in CT. They have masts and can ship, and will even recommend fixing rather than buying their product if they think you should. Good luck

 

[Larry C.]

repaired mast

I recently repaired my broken mast using this method my local sail loft gave me.First I located a 18" piece of similar sized mast, I used my compression post and made a new compression post from round pipe. Then I cut the bolt rope section off. I then compressed the tube with c clamps and slid it 9" into each half of the mast. I then rivited the secion in place and had it welded at the crack. I have had the boat out in VERY heavy wind and it looks and feels like new. Total cost was $30.00 for welding and 1.00 for rivits. Email me if you need additional info.JLcribbs@usa.net