Jumper strut on Oday Daysailor Mast

[meg2323]

I have on old Oday mast from a daysailor I with a jumper strut. The jumper strut is partially broken. Looking at newer daysailor II and III masts, it looks like the jumper strut has been removed.

First question is, is the jumper strut purely for performance or is it structurally necessary?

Secondly, are newer daysailor masts stiffer in general than earlier masts thus not requiring a jumper strut or was it removed just to make rigging simpler?

My preference would be just to remove it from the mast, rather than try and make myself a new fitting.

 

[Sunbird22358]

It may be that the newer masts are stiffer (jumper struts seemed to have been eliminated around 1969 or so), but even the racers seem to have removed them. I'd ask this question on the DSA web forum for a good idea of whether the jumpers are really needed. My gut feeling is that since the standard Day Sailer mast has always been untapered (even the ones with the jumpers), they probably proved unnecessary. I do know that class rules appear to consider the jumpers as "optional".