Mast overhaul

[Steve Laume]

I used these.

http://www.defender.com/category.jsp?pa ... &id=312069

They take three machine screws tapped into the mast. You could run them all the way up but the ones at the top of the mast make working there much easier. I usually step right out of the bosuns chair and clip in with a harness around the mast or onto the spinnaker crane. The steps give you much more mobility than trying to would out of the bosuns chair, Steve.

[Jeff and Sarah]

That's a good tip. I'll consider adding a set. Life is slowly starting to calm down- or at least that's what I keep telling myself. Fire lesson #1: you are always under-insured.

[Jeff and Sarah]

Well it looks like I'll be fixing the top coat after all. Some of the contractors fixing the fire damage managed to scratch the boom pretty badly and it needs to be repaired. Awesome. It's been a heck of a month. I think I'll head to the boat this weekend and just enjoy some uninterrupted time on her.

[Jeff and Sarah]

Life is finally back to normal after the house fire so I was able to schedule a day to raise the mast. Short story is during the raising process the mast shifted it's balance while hanging from the lift and the spreader bracket was torqued out of shape. We brought the mast back down and the bracket was salvageable (it is stainless and was able to be straightened) but closer inspection revealed the bracket compressed and deformed the mast immediately above the spreader bracket. Somehow the mounting holes for the brackets were elongated as well. Oh yeah- to add insult to injury the paint was pretty dinged up too... The yard has been somewhat helpful so far and they have a rigger coming to inspect the mast this week. I'm not very optimistic about this. I notified my insurance company and plan to let them sort it out. Obviously having a mast deformed at the point it bends the most is a serious issue. The deformation is smooth- there are no creases but I'm not very comfortable with it. I don't know enough about the properties of aluminum to know if it can be brought back into shape and still retain its strength.

This project has been a nightmare for all the wrong reasons. The work went pretty smoothly but a house fire, careless contractors damaging the boom at the house, jerks stealing all of my tools from my tool trailer, and now this have really ruined the experience. Today was my deadline for completing the project and I would have been done if it weren't for this last issue- now it looks like a long road ahead. (My wife's work schedule improves greatly today after 13 years of abuse so our sailing calendar is comparatively wide open starting tomorrow morning.)

Has anyone dealt with a deformed mast before? Should I be fighting for a new spar? I don't know how well a riveted sleeve would work because of where the damage is.

Man, I just want to go sailing....

[pete faga]

Jeff and Sarah. Sorry to hear about your above problems home and about the mast. A tree limb fell on my mast last fall a few days after I hauled causing a small dent between the spreaders and the mast head. I had it filled by a welder. Repairing aluminum is different than stainless but can be done. I hope you have insurance or the yard that was handling your spar does. Please keep us informed of progress. Pete