God I'm an Idiot!

fred1diver · Mar 12, 2016

theres an error you won't make twice, can't be as stupid as me last summer, raising the mast getting ready to launch the boat, start trailering the boat to the ramp and I hit an electrical line, forestay snapped and down came the mast, breaking the companionway cover in the process

so it can happen to everyone, I feel your pain

wufibugs · Mar 12, 2016

Isn't that how they make fractional rigs?

capta · Mar 12, 2016

Golly gee. And I'd thought to move to a trailerable boat later in life cause they were so simple and light weight. We never have those sorts of problems on our boat. lol

Benny17441 · Mar 12, 2016

It is called air draft. In the Cape May canal we banged the mast against a hanging lamp in the center span of a fixed bridge. Nothing happened other than the lamp was left swinging like a pendulum. We had been approaching at slow speed but it made us realize we had no clearance and we had to back off and wait almost three hours for the tide to drop enough. We used to rig and launch a trailerable in a lot at the end of a runaway of a municipal airport. It was something to be standing on the cabin top raising the mast to have an airplane go overhead at not much more than 100ft in the air going 65-80 MPH. There was an accident once in ST. Petersburg, FL where a small plane on approach clipped the mast of a sailboat entering a creek. The aircraft made the runaway and crash landed and the boat suffered a broken mast but thankfully no one was hurt. We all make mistakes but the true stupid are those that do not even realize what they have done and blame everything on someone else or bad luck.

Stu Jackson · Mar 12, 2016

Benny17441 said:
but the true stupid are those that do not even realize what they have done and blame everything on someone else or bad luck.

Wait, Benny, you mean there ARE other reasons???

centerline · Mar 12, 2016

OUCH!.... how is it possible that the lack of a backstay is the reason it continued forward?... with the shroud chain plates being behind the mast on ventures/macs, the shrouds should have came tight and prevented it from falling forward.
I wonder, has someone moved the chainplates forward on that boat?

31seahorse · Mar 13, 2016

"God, I'm an idiot!" Somehow, I think He already knew that.

In my case the proof of my "idiot" status was while retrieving our Celebrity sailboat out of a long, narrow, steep launch area at Lake Wallenpaupack, PA. The ramp was "L" shaped at the water's edge and the approach was a downhill, narrow lane. As I put the boat onto the trailer I saw several power boats lining up to launch as soon as I was out of their way. Being the considerate fool that I am, I decided to drive up the narrow lane to the large parking lot about 30 yards up the hill. Of course there were overhanging branches. (but you already suspected that) I figured I could snake my way up the lane and avoid the branches. I did pretty well for about 20 of those 30 yards. Then the mast caught on a limb and tilted the boat up onto one side of the hull. Fortunately, some kindly men came to help guide me back and keep an eye on how the mast could be untangled from the greenery. It was managed by unhooking the trailer for more maneuverability and with some "dumb luck". The really embarrassing part of the entire incident is that I was trying to hurry to get out of the way for other people, AND I knew it wouldn't work but did it anyway!

DAVA390 · Mar 13, 2016

Benny17441 said:
It is called air draft. In the Cape May canal we banged the mast against a hanging lamp in the center span of a fixed bridge. Nothing happened other than the lamp was left swinging like a pendulum. We had been approaching at slow speed but it made us realize we had no clearance and we had to back off and wait almost three hours for the tide to drop enough. We used to rig and launch a trailerable in a lot at the end of a runaway of a municipal airport. It was something to be standing on the cabin top raising the mast to have an airplane go overhead at not much more than 100ft in the air going 65-80 MPH. There was an accident once in ST. Petersburg, FL where a small plane on approach clipped the mast of a sailboat entering a creek. The aircraft made the runaway and crash landed and the boat suffered a broken mast but thankfully no one was hurt. We all make mistakes but the true stupid are those that do not even realize what they have done and blame everything on someone else or bad luck.

At Martin State Airport in Baltimore county they have placed a ring of market buoys off the end of the runway to keep sailboats out. I was anchored off the end of the runway outside the buoys one day when the Blue Angels came out, low and not slow! Ear-splitting and awsome!

Jackdaw · Mar 13, 2016

centerline said:
OUCH!.... how is it possible that the lack of a backstay is the reason it continued forward?... with the shroud chain plates being behind the mast on ventures/macs, the shrouds should have came tight and prevented it from falling forward.
I wonder, has someone moved the chainplates forward on that boat?

I was going ask the same thing.... When stepping the mast on a fractional boat I usually don't have the backstay connected. It avoids it getting stuck on something in the cockpit the way up.

Johnb · Mar 13, 2016

When lowering the mast on my CM23 I always disconnected all 4 lowers and secured them to the mast to reduced the amount of spaghetti in the cockpit as it came down.

centerline · Mar 13, 2016

topcat0399 said:
Usually our backstay and shrouds always stay connected even when the mast is in trailering position but while measuring the rig for finally getting new sails this last January they were let loose. Believe me when I say I'm full of woulda coulda shoulda right now.....

ok then... its the lack of shrouds that let it fall forward, as the ventures/macs dont even need a backstay unless its being used as a sail/mast trim tool, or rigged with a pigtail to support the boom.
it surprises me that it didnt go over sideways before it ever got high enough to fall forward... and that you didnt see/notice the lack of the backstay hanging from the mast tip as it went up... and the lack of tangles.

as for the repair at that spot in the mast, you need to be aware of the compressive loads in the mast column, and if it should fail there after the repair while under load, it will be catastrophic and almost certainly life threatening....
so understand fully the dynamics of the mast at that point before attempting to straighten and splice. (you will be creating a hard point in the flexible column that is prone to breakage just above or below the repair)

if the damage and subsequent repair, was close to the foot or the head, the dynamic loading becomes more static and less likely to have/cause any further problems, but near the middle of it one needs to think it thru completely before trusting an attempted repair.

Anonymous 121765 · Mar 13, 2016

TOP,
Don't beat yourself pal remember, an idiot will do the same thing over & over again
expecting a different result. I believe this is also the definition of insanity.

Just remember the adage, "Check twice, do once & do it right."

CR

Ralph Johnstone · Mar 13, 2016

captnron said:
TOP,
Don't beat yourself pal remember, an idiot will do the same thing over & over again
expecting a different result. I believe this is also the definition of insanity.

Have you ever used MicroSoft Word ? That's the standard operating procedure.

31seahorse · Mar 13, 2016

Wow, topcat, I thought the bow pulpit was bent. I need to read more carefully! There have been ads on ebay for masts and for extrusions. The auction/sale showed a pile of masts. I do not remember where they are located, but I guess they could be trucked. Uship quotes perhaps? Length, shape, wall thickness, etc would all be important measurements.

Bill Roosa · Mar 13, 2016

Screw works loose on the mainsail track while the sail is up. Cant get it down, and it is 80% up. Anchor to try and figure out what is wrong (did not know the screw had worked loose at that time). Anchoring with the sail up is not a fun thing BTW. Neither is weighing anchor!! Decide to motor in and fix it at the slip. After taking out the radar mast (the installere was still working on it!!!) in the boat next to ours and fighting getting her into the slip I realized that I could by just moored her at the end of the pier and did not have to make 3 turns with the sails main up and 10 knots of breeze!!!!

DougM · Mar 13, 2016

Topcat, your avatar says "cheese land", if that implies Wisconsin, there ought to be gobs of scow masts lying around. You might be able to find an extrusion that comes close to what you would need. Melges in Zenda is a noted scow builder who might be able to give you some leads.

JohnShannon · Mar 13, 2016

I think you are too hard on yourself. Idiot is irredeemable. Once an idiot always an idiot. Optimists prefer to say, "I sometimes suffer from bouts of idiocy" Sorry about your mast

God I'm an Idiot!

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