I purchased this Hunter 380 new in 2001 with a Selden Roller Furled mast and a mechanical Rod Kicker (boom vang). About 2 years ago we noticed a bulge on the port side of the mast, just aft of the Furlex jib halyard port and have no idea how long it had been there. The bulge is the exact height of the port opening (5.5” high) and runs aft from the inside edge of the port trim strip (it is also bent out) to the forward edge of the in-mast furled mainsail inspection port (bulge is 3” wide), and bulges out ~0.75”. The bulge is in line with where the foot of the mainsail enters the mast. There is no sign of prying on the mast and the mainsail furls ok. To the best of our knowledge, the bulge is only on the outer mast extrusion (and not on the inner cylinder holding the furled mainsail). The yacht has only been sailed in the greater San Francisco Bay area--where we often experience wind up to 30 knots--and some limited coastal passages. There have been no known stressful incidents and the B&R rigging has been tuned several times.
A number of sailors and riggers have looked at it and all say the mast is obviously structurally compromised, but with a wide range of comments re seriousness and no opinions about how this could have happened. Last year while in a boatyard for other work, pictures were taken and sent to Selden, along with some dialog. It went all the way back to their Swedish engineering dept for opinion and all Selden could offer was “we have never seen anything like this before and have no idea how it could happen.” They offered no help. This sectional style mast was discontinued four years ago and there are no replacement sections available. Their only advice has been for me to replace the entire mast—at great cost to me.
A couple weeks ago, when at the same boatyard for some upgrades, I learned that within the last year there have been several Hunters in that yard with Selden masts that have failed most where their Rod Kickers (vangs) have joined the aft side of the mast and caved the mast in. Selden staff reportedly were here on site removing the effected masts and studying this second type of cave-in problem and noted that it seemed to be only happening in the San Francisco area. While this is a different set of dynamics, it is happening only about 1.5 feet away from my different bulge problem and to me reinforces my opinion that there is structural failure occuring.
Has anyone seen, or heard of these issues? Ideas and suggestions are welcome. I am now planning to file an insurance claim.
A number of sailors and riggers have looked at it and all say the mast is obviously structurally compromised, but with a wide range of comments re seriousness and no opinions about how this could have happened. Last year while in a boatyard for other work, pictures were taken and sent to Selden, along with some dialog. It went all the way back to their Swedish engineering dept for opinion and all Selden could offer was “we have never seen anything like this before and have no idea how it could happen.” They offered no help. This sectional style mast was discontinued four years ago and there are no replacement sections available. Their only advice has been for me to replace the entire mast—at great cost to me.
A couple weeks ago, when at the same boatyard for some upgrades, I learned that within the last year there have been several Hunters in that yard with Selden masts that have failed most where their Rod Kickers (vangs) have joined the aft side of the mast and caved the mast in. Selden staff reportedly were here on site removing the effected masts and studying this second type of cave-in problem and noted that it seemed to be only happening in the San Francisco area. While this is a different set of dynamics, it is happening only about 1.5 feet away from my different bulge problem and to me reinforces my opinion that there is structural failure occuring.
Has anyone seen, or heard of these issues? Ideas and suggestions are welcome. I am now planning to file an insurance claim.
