TY Senior New Mast and Foresail Roller Reefing

[Woody Norwood]

In a race last Monday in a 20kt breeze as I tacked to a port tack the inner port shroud failed, putting all the pressure on the port spreader which broke the mast at the spreaders and down came the mast. No one was hurt, as the rig fell to leeward. Also, to my happy surprise, the tabernacle was not destroyed nor the deck torn up as the mast foot is engineered to stay with the tabernacle as the mast falls over. In inspection later, it turned out that a ringing holding n the pin at the chainplate had worked its way loose and eventually the pin came out. So, it was not rig failure, it was my failure in not using the old fashioned cotter pins with tape in these critical applications. Lesson learned the hard way.

I have been trying all week to try to order a new mast from Rig-Rite. On Tuesday they said it would take a few days for someone to determine whether one is in stock and they would call me. Friday afternoon I called to follow up my inquiry as to in-stock availability. The gal had apparently completely forgotten to ask anybody to find out if they had what I needed in stock. I held the phone for about 30 seconds while she asked someone. The answer is that they have one that is "complete". I asked what "complete" meant and what would;d be the price. The gal said that complete means whatever comes on a mast when it is new. I asked if this includes shrouds. "No". Does it include steaming light? "Don't know". Well, what is the price? "We don't know what the price is. Do you want to buy it?" Not until I know what the price is and what is included so that I can know what else to order to go with it at the same time, I said. I asked, When can I find out the price of the complete mast assembly?" "Not today, probably some time next week" she said. "Like, Monday?" "Impossible", she said. "We are really busy on Mondays. We can probably get you a price by sometime on Wednesday, and when we do that we may be able to tell you what is included. Then you can tell us what else you want". Great. Wonderful customer service. Is there an alternative source for CD masts?

My Hood roller reefing pipe was pretty badly beat up in the process of being towed to port. I am wondering if maybe it is time to consider an alternative roller reefing set-up. My cut tent one probably dates to 1985. It works OK, and I could probably just replace the bent tubing. Have any of you tried any of the updates, like Harken?

[Steve Laume]

Try these guys.

http://www.capedory.org/board/search.ph ... mit=Search

I would hate to see Rig Right go out of business but until the get their act together, I would never order from them, Steve.

[Woody Norwood]

Thank you very much. I have checked with Dwyer and they have exactly the section and the parts I need for the Typhoon Senior (mast section DM450 $766.50 plus all the other parts other than stay and shrouds $470) all laid out on their web site in an easy-to-follow format with prices for each item. This is in contrast to Rig-Rite in which one has to search for the items, and there are no prices and it takes days or weeks just t find out what they have in inventory and what they would actually charge for the items, and what would be included in what they refer to as a "complete" assembly. What a difference. I am not optimistic that Rig-Rite will ever get back to me with pricing for the "complete" mast assembly they say they have in stock (they say they are too busy on Mondays and Tuesday to be bothered by quoting prices for an order that is pending). I'm ready to go with Dwyer this week when I get back to my boat to measure the location for the mainsail feed slot. It will be interesting, however, to find out what Rig-Rite asks for the same things as Dwyer.