My mast broke

[pjk170]

We got to the boat, ready to take it out for a sail and the mast is broken, about 2 inches above the tabernacle. Pretty depressing. Anyway, I guess we have 2 options:

1. We cut the mast to flatten the part that sheared off and reattach the top part of the tabernacle.

2. Or we do option 1 and purchase the bottom part of the mast that is extended by the amount that we cut the top part of the mast (i.e. we shear off inches of the top part of the mast and we order the bottom section from D&R with 3 inches added onto it). I guess with this option, we wouldn't have to adjust any of the rigging or change the height of the boom.


If we went with option 1 and stuck with the bottom of the mast that we currently have, would we have to adjust all the rigging? Or would we just be able to tighten the stays to compensate for the lost section of the mast and lower the boom a few inches.

Another question.....I’m assuming that the mast broke because our stays weren't tight enough. Are we supposed to tighten them as much as we can? I thought I read somewhere that there was some danger to over tightening the stays. We are planning to leave the boat on the water at a slip all summer.

[seandwyer]

Hi pjk170,

Man - that is so depressing! I'm sorry to hear about this. In my oppinion, if you can replace just the bottom piece and order it longer to account for what yu will need to cut of of the top, I would say that is the best alternative. However, I thought you had to order he entire mast. Can you order just a section lik that? If so, this would be best rather than finding that you need to adjust all the hardware - possibly having to redrill holes for rivets and bolts etc.

As for the stays - I'm sure that they can be too loose as well as too tight. Too tight and they can't give when the mast is being flexed in the opposite direction - too loose and they aren't doing anything for support - but I don't know how to gauge this either since I'm a greenhorn. I hope others will comment.

Sean.

[pjk170]

Thanks for the reply. It turns out we are only going to have to cut 1 inch off of the mast so we are hoping that we won't have to order the lower mast section but I'm going to see what other say before proceeding.

To address your question on whether I could order the bottom section...I talked to the O'Day parts guru, Rudy from D&R Marine, and he can custom cut a piece based on the measurements i give him. It would be $18 per foot (without the shipping of course). He strongly suggested, since i'm leaving my boat on the water all summer, that I get a new set of stays with the upgraded fullsize turnbuckles http://www.drmarine.com/proddetail.asp?prod=DS800B

[seandwyer]

Yes - I want to get the upgraded stays / turnbuckles as well - and I like the sound of the quick disconnect forestay attachment too!

[GreenLake]

About the stays: they need to be at least tight enough that they begin to sound a low note when you 'pluck' them.

Normally, shrouds and stays are dimensioned so that their tension is set to 15% of breaking strength. Independent of diameter, each 10% of breaking strength means the wire gets stretched 1 part in 1,000.

My shrouds are 16ft, or 192". That means, after getting the slack out, I would need to tighten them by about 1/4" (on each side). I worked that out for # of turns for my setup, and it's given me what I think is a good ballpark value to start with. Your mileage may vary.

In a textbook setup, the lee shrouds would normally not go slack, but I seem to remember reading here that for the DS "slighlty slack" was OK, when you are sailing upwind with the strongest winds you expect.

The force you use to turn your turnbuckles, incidentally, is a poor guide, because it depends on their internal friction.

[algonquin]

It is pretty tough to perfectly adjust the tension on your stays. Especially if you are close to over tight and the gusts kick in unexpectedly. One caution though. The rigging is only as strong as its weakest link and over tightening your stays can cause failure where the chain plates are attached to your hull. Brad

[Woden]

My fore stay is tensioned to 200 lbs and my side stays are tensionede to about 300 lbs. Set up with a Loos gage with 1.50 in of aft bend in the upper mast. Works great. See North Saled trimming info for our Daysailor.

Pete

[EberbachD]

When our mast went over (due to someone taking out the cotter ring on a side stay as a prank), we wondered the same questions. We decided not to take the inch of the bottom because of the effect on the rest of the rigging as well as the loss of the inch of headroom when the boom swings. We took it to a welder and he was able to add aluminum to the damaged area to make the repair. It has held up for 4 seasons so far. Assuming your mast is aluminum and depending on the extent of the damage, you might consider this option.

[pjk170]

When our mast went over (due to someone taking out the cotter ring on a side stay as a prank), we wondered the same questions. We decided not to take the inch of the bottom because of the effect on the rest of the rigging as well as the loss of the inch of headroom when the boom swings. We took it to a welder and he was able to add aluminum to the damaged area to make the repair. It has held up for 4 seasons so far. Assuming your mast is aluminum and depending on the extent of the damage, you might consider this option.

Thanks for the suggestion but it turned out that the mast did not have to be shortened at all. We just cut off the piece that had been screwed into the tabernacle because it bent away from the mast when it broke. We screwed in a piece of aluminum from the mast to the tabernacle and replaced our stays with thicker stays. It has held up on the slip and under some pretty strong winds while we've sailed so we are pretty confident in the repair. Now if we can only figure out why our centerboard gets stuck sometimes.....