Cracked Mast ~ How bad is this?

[catalanc]

I recently purchased a 22 MKII, which was shrink wrapped at the time. She has been commissioned by the marina and is now in the water. I noticed a crack on the front of the mast, starting at the hole for the mast light wires. The previous owner (who is at the same marina) says he did not notice the crack last season. The marina "expert" said that it is not dangerous and that there is no reason to purchase a new mast at this time, but keep an eye on it. He drilled a hole at the end of the crack to prevent further spreading (pic appended).
So, is this sound advice?

(sorry for the quality of the pic; my phone camera has issues ...)

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

Don't know if it's dangerous but certainly something tobe concerned about. If your rigging is properly tuned, there should, in theory, not be any extraordinary sheer stress at the step to exacerbate the crack. Watchful waiting is one option but I'd try to find someone like a structural engineer or metallurgist, rather than some 'boat expert', from whom a knowledgeable opinion you could rely upon.

 

[CloudDiver]

To me that is really bad for several reasons... Drilling holes for electrical lines to go into the mast if fine, they just don't need to be that BIG! I've seen holes like that for GIN poles which don't seem to cause a problem, Capt Don has a similar hole in the same location of his Mk II mast for that very reason.
So it begs the question, why the crack and what appears to be crumpling and deformation around the hole? Just by looking at the pic without any further info I'd say its a combination of the hole is too big and compromises the strength of the extrusion (Gin Pole socket argument aside), and the standing rigging was way too tight putting a great compressive load on the base of the spar. The wall thickness of the spar could be questionable.

To fix it would be most effectively done by TIG welding. Luckily because its a C22 the mast can be taken down and brought to a shop, even the home shop if you know a skilled welder. Since all of (what looks like) dents and deformation are at the base of the mast you can easily reach inside with body tools to smooth out the bad parts. I wouldn't suggest a full sleeve because any added thickness will prevent the mast from seating into the mast step.

I'd suggest smoothing out all the metal if deformed, welding the crack and closing that small hole, and then using a plate that is annealed and lightly curved to close the big hole and overlap the repair are by around .75 inch.

The heat from the welding will ruin your anodize, but since this is the bottom of the mast you can just paint the mast to about 18 inches up and maybe put a nice pin stripe where the paint meets the good anodize.

 

[catalanc]

Mast Crack update

Thanks for the input guys. As a follow up, I found a brochure for the MKII online and append a pic of the mast from the cover of the brocure. Note that there is a hole the same size and in the same location where mine is, but also a second smaller hole above it. Looks like mine was missing the upper one and that this is where the wire should go. So you think the lower hole is for the gin pole?

 

[Leeward Rail]

So you think the lower hole is for the gin pole?

The Mark 2 did have a factory gin pole available and your mast does look similar.

CaptDon has a Mk2 with the factory gin pole setup.

He posted close up photos in a recent thread:
http://forums.sbo.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?t=172367&#post1217596

Your photo is a bit blurry but it looks like the hole was bent outwards at the top.
You'd likely end up with the same bend if you stuck a pipe in the hole, and the pipe was pushed down without the halyard attached to the end of the factory gin pole.

 

[CloudDiver]

That is some interesting new evidence posted above. So it seems the hole that size should not compromise the strength of the spar for its intended purpose, so trying to figure out this mystery leads to me to a new possibility; maybe in the process of stepping the mast some of the rigging snagged on something but the operator kept cranking on the winch. The mast was being held fast by whatever was hanging it us, putting all the applied force on the bitter end of the Gin Pole in the socket. So there you have the crack as well as what looks like crumpled aluminum around the hole.
I stand by the rigging also being too taught, the initial damage could have been less but made worse over time.

I'd still have it welded up with the patch placed over the large hole. Re-drill your electrical hole and put a grommet in it in the proper place, probably just using the 'crack-stop' hole as a pilot hole rather than welding it shut.
If you still want to use a Gin-Pole in the factory fashion, I'd drill a smaller hole than the original through the new patch. Have the same welder cut you a length of aluminum pipe that is the correct size as the original, but use the next size down to match the inner diameter and weld that into the base, making a smaller but thicker wall insert to place in the socket. It will be stronger than the original.

 

[CaptDon01]

Someone screwed up, plain and simple.....

The large hole is for the factory mast raising system, and there should be a nylon bushing attached to the opposite side for the gin pole to set in. That is NOT the hole for the mast wiring. There should be a small hole above the large hole for the mast light wiring to exit, and every MK-II would have a hole for the mast light wiring, right from the factory. First indication someone screwed up is that black wiring wrap is someone's doing's, it didn't come from the factory like that.

Did the boat come with the factory mast raising system?, how about a stainless steel mast crutch? How about 5' long stainless steel cables with pelican hooks on one end and T-fittings on the other end? If it has a stainless steel mast crutch, it probably at one time had the factory mast raising system.

It almost looks like someone tried to raise the mast with the gin pole and the nylon bushing was missing, or they didn't know how to correctly install the gin pole and missed the bushing. The gin pole has a slight angle built into it at the base,(this gives it a slight upward tilt so there is room for the block and tackle when raised), and if not installed correctly, or the bushing is missing, or broken, I could see this as being the result. Somehow some serious prying was done.

The photos show my mast base after years and countless mast raisings and lowerings. Also, if you look at the end of the gin pole, you can see the slight angle I was talking about. It's not a straight shot.

In my opinion, yes it is bad, and it needs to be repaired properly by an experienced aluminum welder. Lot's of stress at the bottom of the mast when it's being raised, and that crack weakens the area.

Is the "stop crack" hole in line with the center of the large hole? In my opinion,(yup, got a lot of opinions), it appears to be in line with the center of the gin-pole hole, and was drilled by the factory, not the marina "expert". Also I smell a rat, "if" the expert did in fact drill the hole, , going back to my aircraft airframe mechanic training, you don't need that big of a hole to stop a crack. Again, in my opinion, sounds like BS to me.... :naughty:

How could the previous owner have not know this? This was caused by a serious screw up, and somebody knew it happened. From the photo, it's obvious there was some severe prying going on for whatever reason, the damaged metal says that. Somebody, i.e. previous owner, or the marina "expert" is full of it in my opinion. If the previous owner will sign a letter stating this damage was not there when the boat was put away for the season, then the marina would seem to be responsible.

Might be time for a small claims filing. Maybe the threat of a lawsuit will get someone talking.

Don

 

[catalanc]

Don,
I agree with your analysis. Pretty sure that it was the marina crew. Don't think that I have the gin pole but will check. Question is why there is only one big hole at the base for mast raising but no additional holes for mast lights. This is very unusual, yes?

I'll be talking to the marina staff once I get all my info. together. Thanks to you all for the help.
cec

 

[CaptDon01]

cec,

There are two holes in the mast on ALL MK-II's from the factory. All of the MK-II masts were set-up for the factory mast raising system. All the MK-II masts have the large hole to insert the gin-pole, and ALL MK-II masts have a smaller hole for the mast wiring to exit. All MK-II's may not have the factory mast raising system, (it was an option), but ALL MK-II mast's came from the factory all ready set-up for it. If you could take some better photos of the damage area from straight on, and other angles, you're going to probably need them eventually in court. I believe they never drilled any "stop crack hole", that is the hole from the factory for the mast lighting to exit. As my photo shows, the hole is not that large, the mast lighting wire from the factory is probably about 1/4" in diameter. There has to be an exit hole for the wiring because there just isn't any other way for the wiring to exit, and the gin-pole will not fit into it's designated hole if the wiring is also routed through it. I'll stand by my opinion that someone made a MAJOR SCREW UP, plain and simple. It's probably not a major problem while the mast is raised, but when raising or lowering, there is a lot of strain at the base simply because of the long pivot bolt. All the stress is concentrated at the mast base during this process, and it's only going to get worse. You'll probably need to man-handled the mast to lowered it.

I don't know what kind of relationship you have with the marina, but feel free to show them my photos which clearly show the hole about where your "stop crack hole" was drilled. Another point, how nice of them to notice the crack, and drill a hole for you to stop the crack... Did they ever tell you, "hey cec, while we raised your mast, we noticed you had a severe crack in the base of the mast, so we did you a favor and drilled a hole so it wouldn't spread any further". Again, I believe they, or someone knows they made a major screw-up, and are blowing you off.

Don

 

[catalanc]

Hey Don,
Yes, someone definitely screwed up and I have sent my initial request for information to the marina. As for the second hole, they are truthful in this statement. I initially noticed the crack emanating from large hole in the mast but there was no second hole. They (the marina) drilled the second hole after I told them about the crack. The weird part is that if all the masts came standard from Catalina with a large and small hole for GIN pole and electrical, respectively, my mast must have been changed out at some point, yes?

 

[catalanc]

Oh yes, I indeed asked them to confirm that they saw the crack when they stepped the mast a month ago. Would be a hard thing to miss ...

 

[CaptDon01]

Take a look at my photo of an early MK-II and look above the bow pulpit and you'll see an oval hole, these are about 5' up on each side of the mast. The factory already installed these for attaching the baby stays to the mast, as part of the factory mast raising system. If you don't have these, then I would highly suspect the mast has been changed. I've had 3 MK-II versions, including one of the very early models, and they all had these oval holes,(which have a metal insert pop-riveted inside the mast to strengthen it), and we had 5 MK-II's on the recent National cruise, and all were set up this way. So although it's possible I guess for a MK-II to leave the factor with a different configuration, I doubt it. Besides, it still doesn't answer the question of how the wiring for the deck light, steaming light, and anchor light would've made it to the deck plug. Then the question is, if the mast was changed at some point, why would someone drill the larger hole for the gin-pole? Also, stick your finger in the gin-pole hole, do you feel the nylon bushing,(might be able to see if laying on the deck). Also, imaging the center of the gin-pole hole, is there a small hole, or a machine screw in the rear side of the mast drilled into the sail slot? The nylon bushing was secured with a machine screw through the center of the bushing and that's how it's held in place.

Good luck Skipper, hope you get some answers from the marina.

Don