Mast Down Inspection

[john6206]

In the records of my new-to-me 30 year old Catalina 320, there was no mention of standing rigging ever being replaced or the mast ever being lowered, so I had them remove the mast at winter haul out so I could look (Also, I‘m getting some work done).

Im going to have a rigger inspect it, but from my observations the standing rigging looks good (Great Lakes boat).

I do have a couple questions.

There is a weld on the mast that I don’t see on other masts… does that indicated she hit a bridge at some point? If so, the repair looks good, so I’m not too worried. I do sometimes wonder if I bought the right boat.



Also, I’ve been wondering all summer what this round thing is. I was hoping there would be a label or something that would give me a clue. Looks like I should be able to get HBO on it.



Anything else I should look at while the mast is down?

Thanks,

John

 

[dlochner]

I do sometimes wonder if I bought the right boat.

Sometimes known as buyer's remorse. A common response from people who made major purchased.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buyer%27s_remorse

There is a weld on the mast that I don’t see on other masts… does that indicated she hit a bridge at some point? If so, the repair looks good, so I’m not too worried. I do sometimes wonder if I bought the right boa

That is unusual. It does look like a good weld. Ask your rigger.

Also, I’ve been wondering all summer what this round thing is. I was hoping there would be a label or something that would give me a clue. Looks like I should be able to get HBO on it.

It is a TV antenna for the broadcast bands. It looks old, probably doesn't pick up the new HD signals.

 

[john6206]

@dlochner
Thanks!

 

[frenzy13]

I think the weld is there to taper the extrusion. They cut a little out of each side of the mast bend it together and weld,

 

[FastOlson]

If the standing rig is over 2 decades old, even in fresh water, replace it. Immediately.
This is deferred maintenance and should have been factored into the agreement on selling price. At "30 years" it's time to re-bed every deck fitting, also. Again, the prior owner chose to take some financial loss and pass along his lack of maintenance to the next owners.
Unfortunately this is often the case with middle-aged yachts.
(Worst Case: the broker, the seller, and a naive buyer all "conspired" to conceal a lack of maintenance. Not at all uncommon , and that's why the only person that gives a voice to the boat was your surveyor. The survey will have listed all these concerns. Hopefully.
And, yes about the weld on the tapered upper portion of the spar. That's done one many/most better boats. Good Sign.

 

[dlochner]

If the standing rig is over 2 decades old, even in fresh water, replace it. Immediately.

Freshwater sailors seldom replace their standing rigging. With the mast down, take the rigging off, label it and send to a rigger and reinstall it yourself. No sense in paying a rigger to do this. I've used Rigging Only in Fairhaven, MA and been pleased with the work and turnaround time. The other neglected item that many non-racing freshwater sailors do is not tune the rig. If you are unsure how to properly tune the rig, hire a rigger next spring and have him teach you. It's not difficult.

 

[Rich Stidger]

You have a UFO-III TV antenna that will receive and amplify both VHF (analog) and UHF (analog & digital) band. It is not the latest and greatest, but unless it has somehow failed, it will do a good job for current TV signals. Your model has 20db of gain, and the latest has 30db of gain. That is roughly 8x more gain.
These units are very reliable- I replaced mine when I had my mast down because I was not getting good reception. It turned out that I just had a failed coax connection to the antenna. But since I had already purchased an upgraded antenna with more gain, I went ahead and installed the new one.
Attached is the instruction manual for your unit.

 

[Scott T-Bird]

That weld is common on Catalinas with double spreader rig, I think. It's on my boat. The double spreader allows less weight aloft. You should have noticed the taper. It's a performance enhancer. By contrast, look at a Catalina 34 with single spreader. The mast, at virtually the same height and close to the same sail area is seriously thicker and heavier. Look at a Catalina 36 to see how massive the mast can be and there is no taper at the top. Then look at every Catalina with double spreader and you will see a mast that is lighter weight and tapered at the top, well above the second spreader. I wouldn't worry about it unless the rigger finds a crack in the weld.

That round thing looks like a cover over the windex to keep birds off. But, as others have said, it's probably an antennae.

It's a good idea to inspect the rigging but at 30 years, I think I would replace all rigging & fittings regardless of fresh water or not. I told you to be prepared for it going into the purchase. While the mast is down, it will be easy to change out halyards, replace wiring or anything inside the mast that might look sketchy. Pay particular attention to the cable connections at the base of the mast and make any repairs deemed necessary.

Also, take a close look at the stem fitting. The older ones, like mine, had a weak weld on the flange. There is an article in the Catalina 320 Owners forum that describes the potential defect. Catalina Direct sells a replacement that is far more robust and it was a very reasonable price in my opinion. I have all the confidence in the new stainless steel stem now that it is installed. The original one was sketchy adn I was glad that I read that article and addressed the situation in my first winter with the boat. I replaced all the bolts and was able to get them secured alone, but it would be a much easier job with 2 persons.

Removing it is tricky. You have to take the rub rail and the rub rail frame off where it bends around the bow (that means the rub rail will probably be taken completely off - but the aluminum frame comes off in sections). When I removed mine, the stem fitting needed to be bent ever-so-slightly to get it off when I didn't remove the rub rail frame. It made a difference because the new one will be custom-fit. You send the old one to CD for the template. When my new one came back it, the bend was a fraction of an inch off. (Photo attached) and it was because I had unknowingly bent the original while removing it. They returned the old one and I realized my mistake. It wasn't a problem for me after I took the new one to a machine shop and they corrected the bend for me (wayyyy to stiff to attempt any self-styled correction). You have to take the rub-rail off to put the new one on so you may as well start that way, rather than struggling to remove it with the rub rail on as I did.

If you change the stem fitting, while you will have to remove the rub rail, it's a good time to replace that as well. That was an easy job when the temp was warm and I had a heat gun to ease it into place. You shouldn't have to replace the aluminum frame unless you want to, depending on its condition.

You have stepped up to a seriously bigger and more complex boat than you had before. It should give you much more confidence in the difficult conditions you are more likely to encounter as your horizon is expanded on the Great Lakes. You should take into consideration that the rigging is critical and leave no room for doubt. I fully agree with @FastOlson to replace the rigging, but I don't agree that you would get very far in price negotiation. Every seller is going to argue that the condition of the rigging is already factored into the price of a used boat. If you want new rigging, you pay either to install it yourself or when you buy a higher-priced used boat with new rigging. When selling, I would never reduce the price when the buyer suggests that I should cover that cost - no way, no how. Just move on ... So don't beat yourself up if it is suggested that you got taken. Every single boat that I looked at had the original 20-year old rigging and no seller was ever going to cave on that issue.

With a double-spreader rig, you are going to want a rigger to put it all back together. Why take a chance on your own? I wouldn't and I'm pretty supportive with diy projects.

 

[DaveJ]

I would add that you should inspect and possibly replace the pulleys at the top of the mast.
Cheers

 

[john6206]

@DaveJ
Good Idea!

 

[shemandr]

You'll likely want to replace the lights on the mast and maybe wiring. If those lights are incandescent they should be upgraded to LED which draw a fraction of the power compared to incandescent.
And, I would look to a new VHF antenna or at least re-doing the connections for the old one.
Clean the mast slot/track and inspect the sail sliders/slugs to look for irregularities which would hinder raising/lowering sails.
Also inspect the spreader mounts, spreader tips (Which means removing tape if present), and hardware.
There's a lot of potential work to do once the mast is down - especially if the mast hasn't been lowered in some time. Boatyards like to complain that sailboats aren't as profitable as power boats. But they generally don't know what sailboats need and how to do it.

 

[jssailem]

At 30 years old, it is still a sound boat. With the mast down, it is a great time to inspect the mast, the rigging's connections to the mast and the boat hull, and all of the standing rigging wires plus their connectors. I would service all of the electrical connections on the mast (i.e. lights). This is basically a rebuild of the mast, plus the connection of the mast to the boom. It will allow the boat to be sailed safely for another 15 plus years, barring the mast or rigging striking something.

You can attempt this DIY or seek a local rigging professional. On my boat, I did some of the work, and a professional did the rest. The cost was about $11K. The professional provided me with a completely updated mast and rig for my boat.

ps. I sail this boat at all times of the year and in open water. A professional rigger with years of seamanship experience was cheap insurance that all of the issues were addressed.

 

[john6206]

Thanks for all the advice everyone.

 

[thinwater]

You'll likely want to replace the lights on the mast and maybe wiring. If those lights are incandescent they should be upgraded to LED which draw a fraction of the power compared to incandescent.
And, I would look to a new VHF antenna or at least re-doing the connections for the old one.
Clean the mast slot/track and inspect the sail sliders/slugs to look for irregularities which would hinder raising/lowering sails.
Also inspect the spreader mounts, spreader tips (Which means removing tape if present), and hardware.
There's a lot of potential work to do once the mast is down - especially if the mast hasn't been lowered in some time. Boatyards like to complain that sailboats aren't as profitable as power boats. But they generally don't know what sailboats need and how to do it.

^^ All of this can be done with the mast up. But consider how much fun it would (will?) be hanging out in a bosuns chair compared to at waist level with all of your tools comfortably at hand. I've done all of those things with the stick up, and it was much less fun. And I like climbing!

Also the pulleys, mentioned up the thread. A common problem, and a real pain with the mast up if anything is seized.

 

[FastOlson]

Also the pulleys, mentioned up the thread. A common problem, and a real pain with the mast up if anything is seized.

Do replace the sheaves while the mast is down and it's easy. Get the new ones from Zephyrwerks, The Sheave Factory
Reasonable prices and very high quality.