It is time to let others know of my frustrations with US Zspar company. Three years ago I replaced the main roller furling drum on the mast. The old part's plastic tracks were breaking due to sun exposure and tension in strong winds and reefed main. All was good after I got the new part.
Fast forward to end of April when my mast came down at sea due to a failed cotterpin and I found myself looking for a new drum. I tasked it out to my rigger who was getting me all the parts to replace my whole rigging. It cost me $1,000 is baggage fees and a lot of effort to carry 5 bags of parts through airports but I got to Providencia with all my parts. Well, the parts that Zspar supplied would not work. The spreader pins weren't even close to the right parts. I ended up using the old pins under the advice from my rigger that they never break.
The drum though is a different story. They told my rigger and are still telling me that they don't make the part that came with the mast anymore but the replacement part will work with just a little filing of the mast to make the hole bigger. I guess they think I have a really good file because the new part is 4 inches longer than the old one. That would mean I would have to move the boom up 4 inches and have my mainsail re-cut. Not something I want to do and I would have to return to the states to have this done properly (I wasn't planning on returning for years and it's kind of hard to do without a main sail).
I ended up taking the drums apart and mixing parts. I thought I had what would work but it seems I failed. Once you start taking the drum apart the bearings go everywhere as they are terribly designed (very cheaply). I guess I didn't get the bearings back right because she sticks when furling without pressure on the sail. Sticks to bad I know one of these times I'm going to break something and that worst possible moment at sea.
So, to summerize, US Zspar will not support masts on mid to late 1990s boats which is exactly the boats that need the new parts. I am not sure what they though we would do when that plastic breaks but it is obvious they don't care about us sailors, just the sailboat makers who buy their masts.
So, I highly advise anybody from buying a sailboat with a US Zspar mast. It just may come back to bite you later like it has me.
Fast forward to end of April when my mast came down at sea due to a failed cotterpin and I found myself looking for a new drum. I tasked it out to my rigger who was getting me all the parts to replace my whole rigging. It cost me $1,000 is baggage fees and a lot of effort to carry 5 bags of parts through airports but I got to Providencia with all my parts. Well, the parts that Zspar supplied would not work. The spreader pins weren't even close to the right parts. I ended up using the old pins under the advice from my rigger that they never break.
The drum though is a different story. They told my rigger and are still telling me that they don't make the part that came with the mast anymore but the replacement part will work with just a little filing of the mast to make the hole bigger. I guess they think I have a really good file because the new part is 4 inches longer than the old one. That would mean I would have to move the boom up 4 inches and have my mainsail re-cut. Not something I want to do and I would have to return to the states to have this done properly (I wasn't planning on returning for years and it's kind of hard to do without a main sail).
I ended up taking the drums apart and mixing parts. I thought I had what would work but it seems I failed. Once you start taking the drum apart the bearings go everywhere as they are terribly designed (very cheaply). I guess I didn't get the bearings back right because she sticks when furling without pressure on the sail. Sticks to bad I know one of these times I'm going to break something and that worst possible moment at sea.
So, to summerize, US Zspar will not support masts on mid to late 1990s boats which is exactly the boats that need the new parts. I am not sure what they though we would do when that plastic breaks but it is obvious they don't care about us sailors, just the sailboat makers who buy their masts.
So, I highly advise anybody from buying a sailboat with a US Zspar mast. It just may come back to bite you later like it has me.
