Help!......cracked mast

[hercguy]

I finally finished my fiberglass and restripe project and got the boat all ready for the season. As I was raising the mast, I cracked the reinforcement plate and about 1/2 inch of the mast. Picture one is with the reinforcement plate on the mast and picture two is with it off. About a 1/2 inch of the original weld in the mast separated. What do you guys recommend?

I was thinking about having a welder weld the mast back into place and attaching a stainless steel collar for strength. I would also cover up that hole and raise the mast using an alternate and less stressfull (for the mast and myself) way.

Any suggestions?

 

[rufus1138]

needs to be an aluminum reinforcement, ss will corrode the aluminum away from underneath it. have the guy re-weld the seam and do a pipe scarf over the top of it.

 

[kloudie1]

Rufus is right on.. If you have internal halyards, make sure the inside is smooth after the welding. That looks like it could be re-used as well.. if it is aluminum..

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

I have never been a fan of rewelding aluminum due to loss of structural integrity and suggested a new mast when the mast is split like that. Although the above suggestion is an alternative, the decision will be up to you. The mast was a Z Spar and now U. s. Spars.

 

[hercguy]

What I ended up doing is have an aluminum shop fabricate a heavier duty aluminum sleeve that braces more of the mast (approx 12 inches).

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

Although that is good I am still worried about the crack in the front of the mast that could very well elongate. Just keep a close eye on that sir.

 

[woodster]

have the welder stop drill that crack and then reweld the crack in the mast ...if they clean the aluminum with a fine grinding disk and ss wire wheel and tig weld it .... it will be fine and use 4043 alloy filler metal