Wooden spars or aluminum?

David

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Jun 17, 2004
115
Macgregor 26x Morecambe
I've been thinking that it would be a good idea to replace the wooden spars with aluminum ones. It should be pretty easy to find decent aluminum masts and booms secondhand.

However, I have a couple of concerns. First, though it seems that reducing the weight aloft is a good idea with respect to righting moment, I've heard that this could cause the boat to roll more at anchor. Second, though my spars are painted, wood at least has the possibility of having that beautiful varnish look. I'm not sure that I'll ever do that though because it sounds like it could be a lot of maintenance.

Any opinions?
 

TomY

Alden Forum Moderator
Jun 22, 2004
2,758
Alden 38' Challenger yawl Rockport Harbor
What condition are the spars in on your boat?

If the wood was cared for(coated) it could be in fine condition. You would save a fair amount of money reusing them as opposed to re-rigging the boat. Are they near the boat David?

It is possible they could be stripped and varnished and yes it is more work but at 43 years of age and still in fine shape, wooden spars have a long long life, many aluminum don't last that long unless they too are at least coated periodicaly. You could continue to paint the spars which is the least maintainence.

They should be fairly easy to convert to aluminum though. The main mast is not that long and could be a cut down version, mizzen just a smaller version or skip the mizzen altogether. I would keep the mizzen though, it is much more helpful than you may think and allows a staysail to be used which is very handy. I had an owner tell me his boat sailed alittle better with aluminum but he missed his wooden spars broken during a yard accident.

The less weight aloft the better for keeping a boat on it's feet. Challengers like to sail on their lines, not overly heeled. I don't find my boat tender even with the wooden spars. I do reef her early though, but I do that with any boat, it seems to go faster and keep the crew happy.

I don't think it will make much difference at anchor either way. Hope this helps.