Mast for 310 with inmast furling

[Richit]

I read with interest the stories of getting boats ready for the season. Living in Ft. Lauderdale, I have the luxury of having the boat in the water year round. One curse, however are the bridges over the ICW. And last Saturday, the worst happened - at least the worst to me. One of the bridge operators closed the bridge as I was transiting through the opening. Bridge hit my mast, and crumpled it. Luckily my mate and I were unhurt.

In addition to having the damage assessed to the deck, step, chainplates, fittings, etc., I now have to find a replacement for the mast. The main question is does anyone know what the make and model of mast was used for a 310 launched in 2005 with in-mast furling which operated on a spindle, with two lines (in and out haul). I sent a note to Catalina, but I'm not sure they will have the answer.

Thanks
Richit
Opal Sea

 

[Long Story]

I have this quote:

 

[Richit]

Wow, this is exactly what I needed. Thanks. Did you have to replace your mast? If so, do you remember what the rigger charged to step and set up the mast? Great Forum.

 

[Long Story]

I did not have to replace the mast, I was looking at adding furling main with the original factory set up. I had bids to do the work, and they were reasonable. $100 to take down the old mast so I could switch out the spreaders and attach rigging, then $350 to step it, and attach stuff, and do the rough tuning.

 

[Richit]

Thanks. Not bad pricing. I love (or at least loved) the in-mast furling. Very easy to use. Some argue that it's difficult to reduce sail in a storm, but I haven't had a problem. (Old adage says that when you first think you should reduce sail, that's the time to do it.) And I agree with some who say the loose foot reduces performance, but I just cruise anyway. Hope you have a great season.

 

[Alansails]

Richit, Long Story,
Sorry to hear about that, we love our boat also and when the marina hauled her out this spring they "Chunked" the port side stern quarter, they also fixed it BUT still!
I cannot imagine watching a bridge close on our mast. Any damage to the sails?
Will the bridge operator/agency be responsible for the damage?
I would have the boat put together professionally, as we told the marina, We want it to be just like it was before the incident, THAT was NOT my fault!
Let us know!

 

[Ad Libitum]

Just read your post and perhaps this will be of some help

Due to a severe back problem that I had at the time (which was making hoisting the mainsail very painful), in 2007 I retrofitted an in-mast main. Purchased the mast, rigging and sail from Catalina FL through Warren Tandy. Catalina had it in inventory as excess and I got a deal because they had changed mast vendors. The brand they were no longer using and sold to me was Charleston Spar. Moreover, I believe that the same mast had been used on the Catalina 320. My rigger who installed the new spar did a reasonably good job but did not install it 100% correctly. The problem was that the main had a tendency at certain times to roll up with wrinkles. However, subsequently I have had the rig adjusted by another local rigger who made some further adjustments to the boom. The other problem with the original rigger was that he did not properly bed the chain plates so a couple were starting to leak after a couple years. Since, a buddy and I rebedded them all and there have been no subsequent leaks.

Gary F Gray
Ad Libitum
Anacortes, WA