Need some offbeat advice

Jan 11, 2021
6
Cheoy Lee Luders 36 Lavallette NJ
Hi all,
I'm secure in my manliness so I have no problem asking for help, but for personal reasons I really don't to talk about the specifics of this one.
Here's the situation: I have a 45 foot mast off a Morgan 32 that I need to get rid of or keep paying the marina 40 dollars a month in storage fees. The solution seems easy enough, cut it half, stap it to the roof rack of my jeep and take it to a metal recycling place and sell or give it to them. When I was married and had a 400 sf fully stocked workshop I could figure out a way to do do it easy. But my entire tool collection now can be stored in a Lowes tool box and a mechanics tool bag. I know the answer might be obvious, but. for some reason I've been drawing a blank on this one. Any solutions offered will be appreciated more than you know. Thanks guys.
 

capta

.
Jun 4, 2009
4,766
Pearson 530 Admiralty Bay, Bequia SVG
Rent a sawzall for a day if you must cut it up.
Otherwise offer it on Craig's List as a free haul it away themselves mast.
 
Jan 11, 2014
11,323
Sabre 362 113 Fair Haven, NY
Ask around. Sometimes folks will use masts for flag poles or Gin Poles. Maybe a Craigs List or FB Market ad. Good Old Boat magazine has classifieds and maybe here. Put the word out.

A grinder with a cut off wheel will cut it up. It will be easier to handle in 3 pieces.
 
Jun 2, 2004
3,390
Hunter 23.5 Fort Walton Yacht Club, Florida
Circular saw and a blade you don't much care about, of course safety glasses and I'd cut it in thirds or maybe quarters mostly just because its more fun.
 
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Jun 2, 2004
3,390
Hunter 23.5 Fort Walton Yacht Club, Florida
Looked quick on Harbor Freight

This might be easier to do it with if you don't already have a saw for thirty bucks it'd work long enough to do the job.

Just give it to the marina maybe?
 

SFS

.
Aug 18, 2015
2,066
Currently Boatless Okinawa
If you are going to take it to the recycler, check with them to get pricing on 6063 extruded aluminum. This will help you decide if you can recoup the cost of renting or buying a sawzall, which is the preferred tool to use. Get metal-cutting blades. While they are on the phone, ask them about the longest length piece they will accept. Our recycler wants 3-ft (or shorter) pieces.

Clean aluminum is worth more than "dirty". So, for the best price, removing any fittings and winches that are present. Note that this is more effort, but the winches you can scrap separately as dirty bronze.

Make sure they pay you for 6063 aluminum, and not 6061.

If it's not worth your time to cut it up, and the marina/yard doesn't want it, then the two thoughts posted earlier are the way to go: find a scrapper who will come get it (and possibly pay you), or list it on CL as a flagpole. In the latter case, the fittings (cleats and masthead block) can be used as a selling point.
 
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dLj

.
Mar 23, 2017
3,373
Belliure 41 Sailing back to the Chesapeake
Can you simply ask the marina if they want it for free?

dj
 
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Jan 11, 2021
6
Cheoy Lee Luders 36 Lavallette NJ
SEE, that's why I love this forum! Things like renting a saw, buying an inexpensive electric metal cutter and especially cutting it in three pieces probably saved me from a lawsuit which I realized when I pictured how two twenty-plus foot pieces on my roof rack would give new meaning to the word unstable! The saddest thing is that I learned I could easily sell it for around 900 dollars, but when I called a few shipping companies I found the cost to ship it would be about 850 dollars. And I'm not sure how it happened because it defies the laws of physics, but somehow that skinny stick like thing that sticks up off your deck somehow because ginormous once you take it off.
Oh, and one more thing: I know I sounded a little whiny complaining about how things never go my way so here's a story that pretty much sums up what it's like to be me. As soon as I was legal I took my girlfriend to A/C. I walked in, got my ten one dollar chips they comped us, took about five steps to a roulette table, red/black, 50/50 odds, the laws that govern math prove it. I put down a total of 9 chips and lost 8 times. I held up the last chip and said to my girlfriend, "I'm keeping this one as a souvenir, and I will never, ever gamble in any way again for the rest of my life" It's going on 35 years and I still. haven't. Thanks again for your help guys!
 
Jul 27, 2011
4,989
Bavaria 38E Alamitos Bay
Roulette odds on red/black are not 50/50. They’re slightly in favor of the House due to the green O and OO pockets; something like 1 1/9:1 against the player:(. Otherwise the House could not make money reliably. It can’t win half the time and lose half the time and still stay in business.
 
Last edited:
Jan 11, 2021
6
Cheoy Lee Luders 36 Lavallette NJ
sell it, then buy more tools
jon, I loved my kids more than anything and my marriage was good as well but there was nothing I enjoyed more than sitting in my shop with a beer looking around planning upcoming projects. Since I was a cop I was off a lot on weekdays and for about three years I would check the listings of estate sales and if any included the word "tools" I would go. I don't know how much I paid for them all but at retail prices I had at least 150,000 dollars worth. Example: I bought a drill bit at one sale that was a specialized wood bit. I paid ten cents for it. The next time I was at Lowes I needed a hole saw bit and while I was in the drill bit section I saw the exact same bit I paid a dime for and it was priced at 28 dollars. Now you might be wondering how I went from that to a tool box and a tool bag. Even though you don't know her, and never met her I promise, you're about to dislike my ex wife. I don't know how much you know about the divorce process but you pretty much hash stuff out until you both agree on all the stuff, then they type up a final draft for you to review just to be sure everything was good. Then one of the lawyers types up on the fancy paper two copies that when signed by the judge becomes your official divorce decree. We were divorced on November 17th and the agreement said I would have to have all my property out of the house by February 28th. Anything I left behind would become her property. A few weeks after the divorce I was looking at the decree for some. reason, saw and read something and I believe my exact quote was "you have got to ******* be kidding me" Her lawyer was the. one who typed up the official final one and there was a little one word change in the official one she typed up. The word "by" was changed to "on" So the two months I had to gather and move all my stuff, because of that little one word change I now had to remove all my property not by February 28th I had to remove everything ON February 28th and anything I didn't get out was hers. Towards the end of the day because there was a time period during which I had to do it all. As the clock was winding down I remember looking down at a real, ie; heavy safe of mine that contained at least 7,000 - 10,000 worth of coins that were part of my collection, but I still had clothes, all my financial and police records and my entire workshop. So I bailed on the safe and coins walked to the basement stood in my workshop and when I saw it all, there was no way it would even fit in my small, two bedroom fifth floor walkup in West New York apartment so I just shook my head and walked out.
 

TomY

Alden Forum Moderator
Jun 22, 2004
2,758
Alden 38' Challenger yawl Rockport Harbor
A hack saw, stout one with a new aggressive blade, would likely do the trick.
 
Aug 21, 2017
51
Sunfish Thistle NY
There's a guy looking for a mast for a C&C 35 on this site. Maybe he could use your mast, sleeve it and extend it for his boat. He's located in New York. Here's the link to his post. It would need some modifications but it might be worth a conversation. Seeking used C&C 35 Mast
 
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Jan 19, 2010
12,362
Hobie 16 & Rhodes 22 Skeeter Charleston
Otherwise offer it on Craig's List as a free haul it away themselves mast.
:plus::plus::beer::beer:

I've gotten so much of my junk hauled off for free this way... I could fill a page of examples.
 
Jan 1, 2006
7,040
Slickcraft 26 Sailfish
When I need a tool for short term use, I hit the local pawn shops. And we have a ton of them in Florida. Theoretically you can sell it back after its use but I haven't done that -so far.
 

dLj

.
Mar 23, 2017
3,373
Belliure 41 Sailing back to the Chesapeake
jon, I loved my kids more than anything and my marriage was good as well but there was nothing I enjoyed more than sitting in my shop with a beer looking around planning upcoming projects. Since I was a cop I was off a lot on weekdays and for about three years I would check the listings of estate sales and if any included the word "tools" I would go. I don't know how much I paid for them all but at retail prices I had at least 150,000 dollars worth. Example: I bought a drill bit at one sale that was a specialized wood bit. I paid ten cents for it. The next time I was at Lowes I needed a hole saw bit and while I was in the drill bit section I saw the exact same bit I paid a dime for and it was priced at 28 dollars. Now you might be wondering how I went from that to a tool box and a tool bag. Even though you don't know her, and never met her I promise, you're about to dislike my ex wife. I don't know how much you know about the divorce process but you pretty much hash stuff out until you both agree on all the stuff, then they type up a final draft for you to review just to be sure everything was good. Then one of the lawyers types up on the fancy paper two copies that when signed by the judge becomes your official divorce decree. We were divorced on November 17th and the agreement said I would have to have all my property out of the house by February 28th. Anything I left behind would become her property. A few weeks after the divorce I was looking at the decree for some. reason, saw and read something and I believe my exact quote was "you have got to ******* be kidding me" Her lawyer was the. one who typed up the official final one and there was a little one word change in the official one she typed up. The word "by" was changed to "on" So the two months I had to gather and move all my stuff, because of that little one word change I now had to remove all my property not by February 28th I had to remove everything ON February 28th and anything I didn't get out was hers. Towards the end of the day because there was a time period during which I had to do it all. As the clock was winding down I remember looking down at a real, ie; heavy safe of mine that contained at least 7,000 - 10,000 worth of coins that were part of my collection, but I still had clothes, all my financial and police records and my entire workshop. So I bailed on the safe and coins walked to the basement stood in my workshop and when I saw it all, there was no way it would even fit in my small, two bedroom fifth floor walkup in West New York apartment so I just shook my head and walked out.
I can assure you, there are many of us here that know very well the in's and out's of family court... If I were to tell you my story... well... let's just say you would have to read a book, and it would be a horror story... Stephen King would be terrified....

I have a very close friend of mine that said to me awhile back - "If I hadn't seen first hand everything that happened to you, and someone were to tell me half of what that was, I'd walk away saying they were a liar..."

dj