Bad start to season: Broken mast

[RJG 26S]

Well isn't this just great, within ten minutes of sailing today on the first time out this year, my mast snapped in half

I just set the sails, we were on a port tack sailing between a close reach and a beam reach with about 12 kts of wind and a gust between 15 and 20 kts hit and the mast just snapped in half. It was surreal, I could not believe that it just happened to me.

Fortunately nobody was hurt. The outboard was off at the time so nothing wrapped around the prop. I was also happy that both my main sail, roller furler and genoa all survived the incident unscathed. I had a small chunk of gelcoat knocked out of the sliding top hatch and the mast base bracket got tweaked a bit.

The crack originated in the hole for the lower side stay mounting bolt. There is a little corrosion (possibly galvanic) right around the hole.

Here is the kicker, I think my rigging adjustment was just too loose. To help making rigger easier, I attached a turnbuckle to the back stay. When raising the mast, the back stay was slacked which made it fairly easy to attach the pin on the base of the furler. Afterwords I would tighten the back stay. However, I never really set the side stays so they would be very tight. As I was rigging today, I was commenting how much easier it was to raise the mast than on my previous boat.

I think with a little slack on the side stays and a strong gust of wind the mast bowed and then broke as it flexed. Had my side stays been tighter, they would have prevented the mast from bending as much and the leeward side of the mast would not have been placed in as much tension and I would not be sitting here telling this fine community about my lousy day

Time to order a new mast from Bluewater Yachts.

[mastreb]

Yes, stays must stay in proper tension or the mast will be constantly shock loaded each time you tack or the wind gusts. That constant shock loading caused the crack, and then a season's worth of corrosion weakened it to the point of breaking today.

Thanks for reminding me to check my tension before I go out next time!

[Catigale]

Always a worry of mine for the folks that upgrade the forestay to 5/32....if you don't raise the tension to 10% Breaking load, shock loading occurs. I doubt it is a coincidence that your mast cracked on the through bolt starboard spreader side...but I'm not sure if corrosion played a role.

[Ixneigh]

Would this same thing happen to an M without a backstay?
Seems like the side stays get tighter as the winds pick up due to the geometry.
Blue water should offer a mast repair kit.

Ixneigh

[Divecoz]

So Far So Good On My M.. But I do use that adjutment tool to "balance" the tension.. I think I will keep a BETTER eye on that tension..

Would this same thing happen to an M without a backstay?
Seems like the side stays get tighter as the winds pick up due to the geometry.
Blue water should offer a mast repair kit.

Ixneigh

[pokerrick1]

within ten minutes of sailing today on the first time out this year, my mast snapped in half

That's going to leave a mark - - - on the boat!

Glad everyone is OK. At least you knew something about sails and sailing. Me, on the other hand, when my M was brand new I had the bottom painted by "professionals" and apparently they had to uninstall the genoa furhler and then put it back together. Well, they reinstalled it backwards at the bow. My boat was in it's slip when I noticed it and decided to turn it around. Of course, as soon as I disconnected the furhler, the mast came crashing down (who knew?)! Fortunately, no one was hurt AND it left no marks on the boat and the mast was basically undamaged (I told everyone that I just wanted to inspect the mast more closely).

Half the guys in my basin at MDR came runniing to my aid and they got the mast back up with everything connected correctly (they knew what THEY were doing).

I took a few guys sailing after that and they were surprised at how well my powersailor performed (with them at the helm, of course).

Rick

[snotnosetommy]

Wowser, that's a pretty impressive break. Really glad nobody was hurt. I keep the shrouds pretty tight, but still should probably look the whole rig over more carefully.
We just always think it's gonna happen to that other cat.
FWIW, there are a couple of posts about welding a broken mast.

[yukonbob]

I've had no slip for the season, a frayed forestay (one on the way), heater is acting up, the engine wouldn't start (now fixed), it looks like a bear took a bite outta my daggerboard (one on the way, i'll post pics when I get them) there's shells from the otter living in my transom all over the f'n boat and I've only caught two shrimp this year! Hope this helps though
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmAC9FlxRrE
Got some sailing in with my ripped and missing batten yesterday...and yes its as cold as it looks

[RJG 26S]

Wowser, that's a pretty impressive break. Really glad nobody was hurt. I keep the shrouds pretty tight, but still should probably look the whole rig over more carefully.
We just always think it's gonna happen to that other cat.
FWIW, there are a couple of posts about welding a broken mast.

I am bummed about the money and hassle of fixing this, but I consider myself very fortunate that my kids and I are all well.

Since the mast broke in a location with a lot of business: shroud mounting bolt and spreader bar attachment, I would be worried about either a weld defect or residual stresses and would be biting my lip every time the mast was loaded with sail and wind. While I am sure there are many capable aluminum welders who could put it back into service, I would feel much better about having a new mast.

Looks like my next rigging challenge is strapping a mast to the top of my Nissan Quest and making the 180 mile drive from Bluewater Yachts to Moses Lake . This should not be too bad with Quest being about 15 feet long I would have about 8 feet out in front and about 8 feet in back. I will cut out a couple of blocks to make a nice stable cradle to attach to the roof rack.

Looking at the bright side, my mast top VHF antenna was not working well and to fix it I was going to replace it and run a new wire. At least I did not fix it before the mast broke

[yukonbob]

Ya the bright side is you get all new rigging?

[Catigale]

With BWY in the backyard, new mast is a no brainier IMHO

[RJG 26S]

So the Admiral says, "While we are replacing the mast, could you get a better one?"

Answer: "Heck yes, we could get a carbon fiber mast "

There is no way I would spend the money on that, but just out of curiosity has anybody checked the price of one?

[yukonbob]

without wasting someones time on a quote I (and only spending about two min on it) I found a used one for 5K. So i'd imagine a custom built one would run significantly higher. Excellent idea though

[Seapup]

It sucks, but as you said could have been a lot worse. Thats the exact spot mine broke too.

You could always go to the rotatinig M setup, seems like a fair amount of work though.

You are lucky as catigale said, with BWY in your backyard. They were quite reasonable priced.

Roofrack works fine for transport, just watch tight corners

[RobertB]

Looks like my next rigging challenge is strapping a mast to the top of my Nissan Quest and making the 180 mile drive from Bluewater Yachts

Say the mast is about 30 feet, on the Nissan, you may have about 12 foot overhang each side of the roof rack. How about trailering the boat to BWY and strapping the new mast on top of the boat.