STYROFOAM IN THE MAST

[Walt Pierce]

When I went to put the wiring and coax cable through the mast of my '66 O'Day Mariner I found the mast to be full of styrofoam. Have spent a day and have about a third of it dug out. Tough and frustrating job! I'll get it out eventually. My question is why was it there and will removal of it cause a problem. I assume that the aluminum mast was extruded around a styrofaom core and the core simply left there. Any thoughts on this subject? Your response will be appreciated. Thanks much!

 

[Ben Allen]

SHHH - Keep It Quiet

Chances are, the styrofoam was placed there by the previous owner when he or she rewired the mast. It is one of the methods used to keep the wires from slapping the inside of the mast when you are trying to enjoy a romantic evening at an anchorage. OK, so maybe everyone dosen't have this kind of evening, but when there are several boats around, maybe, just maybe one of them could be having this type of evening, and you certainly would not want to ruin the moment.Another, less messy way of obtaining the same results is to place three wire ties every 18", leave the tails on the ties and space them so that they are pointing every 120 degrees.So next time you are at an anchorage, in the boat right next to you, since your have no wire slap, could be my wife and me, enjoying a great $5.00 bottle of wine, with the golden glow of the lantern shining ever so softly ........ and the kids up front saying to turn the radio/TV up. Oh well, one could wish.Ben AllenMontgomery, AL"Latte Dah"O'Day 26

 

[Mike]

less annoying

I have seen several masts filled with styrofoam to stop internal halyards from slapping against the interior of the stick; however, I have never seen a mast filled with a solid core of styrofoam; I have only seen those annoying little peanut-shaped packing nuggets of styrofoam (sometimes known as "ghost poop") used. I would guess these things are easier to remove than a solid hunk of styrofoam.

 

[Rich]

my 022 mast is foam filled

The 23' mast for my O'Day 22 is completely foam filled. I assumed it was done at the factory. The mast actually accounts for quite a bit of volume, hence bouancy. Since the mast is a huge lever arm, I assumed that this was to help in the event of a capsize. Many multihulls have even more volumenous masts filled with foam, for just this purpose.Aluminum is extruded very hot, so this could not have been done "around" the foam. I'm sure it was an easy matter to shove it in there when new.