Will a shorter mast work on my boat?

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Aug 22, 2005
3
- - Lake City, SC
I recently bought a Hunter 25.5 without its mast (Lost a fight with a Shrimp boat outrigger). Didn't do any damage to the deck (deck stepped) or mount upon initial inspection. The boat's specs call for a 34'3" mast and I can buy a 33' mast (6.5X4" base) and a 11'6" boom at a good price. Since I have to rig everything from scratch just wondering if i can get by with a foot shorter mast. I really can't justify (read afford) buying the mast new. This is my first sailboat so learning the hardware and sailing (with an instructor) should be interesting to say the least. Thanks in advance for any opinions.
 
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Someone

Someone who is better at math than I can quickly figure the percentage of reduction in sail area, and how this new number fits into a slightly lower Sail Area/Displacement ratio. So your performance will go down slightly. But losing one foot doesn't seem to me to be a huge difference. Good luck.
 
Jun 7, 2004
28
- - St. Augustine
Charles, some things to consider

The important measurement is from the mast base up to the goose neck. If the boom is a foot lower than the stock 25.5 this could present a problem. Ted
 
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