Banana mast!

HeidiHeidi

Bit of a mystery going on here......

We got the guys at the club to drop our mast for us after the boat was lifted out in October.

Just before Christmas I went out to have a look, and one of the guys said they'd noticed it was a bit bent. I thought he meant front-to-back, as that's normal on a Sonata mast, anyone who isn't used to it is always slightly alarmed by its shape.

But he wasn't talking about front-to-back, he was talking about side-to-side - and he wasn't joking :eek:



We didn't particularly notice any difference in performance between tacks last season, and we have absolutely no idea how this might have happened! The only thing we can think of is that the tension on the shrouds on one side was enough to pull the mast over and permanently bend it - but there's no way there was that much tension, ever - we're forever swinging out of the shrouds and would definitely have noticed.

I suppose I have two questions here.....

- Has anyone any suggestion as to how this might have happened???

- And has anyone any suggestions (outside of buying a new mast) what we might do about it???

Help!!!

neris

where on the mast is it bending sideways? could be an inner wound on too tight or if its the top section above the shrouds it could be weakened. Use to be a sonata out in Howth 20 years ago that they had put jumpers onto to stiffen the top of the mast and also a set of checkstays

HeidiHeidi

Not sure tbh, haven't examined it properly yet.

The pic shows the mast looking from the foot, that's literally the only look I had at it, took the picture and legged it in shock!

We bought the boat from Howth, wonder is is the same one.....??? Although that's a "new" mast, ie one that we had fitted after the other one broke.

What are "jumpers"?

neris

Jumper struts or diamonds. Forward facing spreaders & wires above the shrouds. Is it Jiminey cricket?

Steve

Can you re-post the pic? cant see it.

Side to side is normally not a problem to fix. Are there any obvious joins where it may have been previously broken and repaired?

HeidiHeidi

https://www.dropbox.com/s/7xn4hcj8wddh18b/20170107_131113.jpg?dl=0

(dunno why the embedded one didn't work)

No joins, and we put the mast up so know there was no damage.

neris

was it like that on the boat? or just when its lying down? could just be aluminium with no tension on it mine does the same when its on a rack but is fine when on the boat tensioned up

HeidiHeidi

neris wrote: »

was it like that on the boat? or just when its lying down? could just be aluminium with no tension on it mine does the same when its on a rack but is fine when on the boat tensioned up

that might be it..... we weren't there when it was taken down, the young fella just said they'd noticed it was bent.... could have been when it was put on the rack though as opposed to when it was still up. Hopefully!! We certainly never noticed it while we were sailing.

Tabnabs

Is that on the National hardstanding?

Give Gerry Doyle a ring and ask him to have a look over it. Gerry Doyle (Rigger) Tel:+353 087 677 2779

Gerry is the only man to deal with in the harbour for rigging etc.

HeidiHeidi

Tabnabs wrote: »

Is that on the National hardstanding?

Give Gerry Doyle a ring and ask him to have a look over it. Gerry Doyle (Rigger) Tel:+353 087 677 2779

Gerry is the only man to deal with in the harbour for rigging etc.

He's on it already! Has bits of the standing rigging that we were going to replace anyhow this year. Asked him to have a look but haven't heard back from him yet.

neris

does that rigger do northside aswell?

pedroeibar1

+1 on Tabnabs recommendation. That was fast....for Gerry He lives in Bray, I don't know if he crosses the Liffey.
Under tension it would not be a bad bend to straighten - set up the inners first then the outers. Anyone would notice that when sailing, so it happened during the lift-out or after. Looking at the image it looks as if somebody parked their ar$se on it while it was on the cradle or it was not properly supported for quite a while? You should look for wrinkles in the alloy at the height of the curve, somewhere just above the spreaders. I'd also turn it through 90degs to see if it would 'reform' (unlikely), but at least the luff grove would not fill up with gunk.

JamesM

Just spotted this article: http://www.pbo.co.uk/practical-projects/straightening-bent-mast-28876