Smashed Sail Feed Slot

[POsailor]

We had an unfortunate event when lowering the mast today, went down a bit too fast a hit the electrical box on the dock. Thankfully nobody was hurt but the sail feed slot sustained damage that will hopefully be repaired. I am looking for recommendations to open the slot back up and not cause any further damage. Any suggestions will be much appreciated. The pictures should give you a better idea of the damage. Thanks in advance.

[Jimmyt]

Welcome to the forum! Hate to see this as your first post, though.

I haven't tried to make a similar repair to a mast. But, I wouldn't use steel tools to try and pry on it unless you can put a wood or aluminum "pad" between the tool and the mast. Scratching or gouging the slot would be a bad thing.

I might try driving a greased ball-bearing through the damaged section if I could find one the correct diameter in my bearing bucket...

If you could get a pair of these in with electrical tape on the jaws, maybe...



Hopefully, someone else has done it and will chime in.

Good luck.

[kurz]

to prevent that the aluminium cracks you should heat it with a 220v fan/heater. I think it will work out ok. Just take your time. stept by step!

[POsailor]

Thanks for the suggestions. Yes, Jimmyt, not happy about this being the first post, was hoping to share some more epic sailing stories. Once we get everything squared away they will be coming.

[Jimmyt]

Do you have a mast raising system? Might be helpful to others to know where the wheel fell off during your process of lowering the mast. We have a few that raise and lower by hand. Others have some sort of gin pole or winch system. I have the Macgregor MRS, which I have modified to include baby shrouds on the winch pole to prevent side loading the lower bracket. The brake winch on my MRS will hold the mast at any position if I let go of the handle.

Just curious if something failed...

[miamistyle]

I had a similar thing happen years back with my first mac mast. Our drop was a bit more "exciting". Thankfully no one was hurt.

We had luck with a wood wedge and a hammer. It will take time but bang her in there, then leave it and repeat. The damage is already done, you don't have to be gentle. You will also need some fine grit sandpaper used for metal when done to get it as smooth as possible.

Another thing that will help is to over-tighten your rigging to bend the mast in the opposite direction.

Good luck.

[POsailor]

We weren’t using the mast raising system just lowering by human power in the water and it was a complete accident, when the man at the mast slipped. Will use the mast raising system in the future. I will try the suggestions and let everyone know how the repair goes. I won’t be able to get to it for another week or so.

[bubby-joe]

I spent years working on marine and RV field the problem sounds like a bent, tight sail track rail, is that correct. If that's the problem, I have a tool in my kit that is used to straighten an awning track it goes in the slot and with the assistance of a hammer goes first one way then back in the slot straightening and the resizing the bent track to ease the install of the awning in your case the sail track. At the moment I don't have a cell phone to take a picture any more so I will try to add a photo to this post when i find my small Nikon camera with size in added text.


OK the round piece goes in the track groove and gets tapped up the track to the bent area then massage it through the damaged area and the rest of the way then back to the bottom job done

Hope it helps

It would be easy to make to fit the slot and put it with the boat tool box for next time if all else fails.

[Russ]

Did you get that at Home Depot or West Marine?

[Jimmyt]

Better than a greased ball bearing. I like it!

[bubby-joe]

I actually got it from the local RV dealer, when I worked there, but looking at it making one is as simple as finding a 5/16 or 3/8 rod to fit the sail track 2.5 inch long and finding a friend with a welder to attach a tab 1/8th X 1 inch weld only on one side at the mid point just make sure it goes into the mast track easily. Original was used to straighten the awning track to make installing a new awning cover without ripping it. Same idea with the sail track.