Bent Mast

[eonwing]

The clip connecting my jib to the front of my boat snapped last summer causing my mast to fall and bend. Today I tried straightening it out and was wondering if this would be straight enough to sail with.

[WinSome]

I don’t think so.
At least try and get bent it straighter. You’ll have to support it where needed and load it (beyond straight). Mast is stronger than you might think.
Locate a local millwright or metal worker to assist if you’re not comfortable with the job. It has to be done safely
Search this site for info.

[Stickinthemud57]

I agree. It looks like the bend is well above the shroud attachments and is a bit much to control with shroud tension.

I had a similar problem to deal with and managed OK, but I'm not sure the amount of time spent justified the money saved.

WinSome's advice about seeking pro help is sound. Do it wrong and you might end up with a S-shaped or corkscrewed mast.

[Sea Shadow]

I don’t think so.
At least try and get bent it straighter. You’ll have to support it where needed and load it (beyond straight). Mast is stronger than you might think.
Locate a local millwright or metal worker to assist if you’re not comfortable with the job. It has to be done safely
Search this site for info.

I had a similar bend. Tried to straighten it myself at home, but could not put enough weight on bend. I went to a rigger who had a fixing point in the concrete of his workshop. Support the mast either side of bend, winch down at bend. He did say that it was a bit risky but after the job was done he said the mast is heavier than he thought given the size of the boat. All good now.

[LakeMac26C]

While I am not suggesting you try this with something as important as the mast on your boat, I was able to fix a similar bend in the mast of my old boat. Granted, it was a smaller, lighter mast, but I was able to straighten it by myself.

I was able to find two tree trunks in my back yard that were at the right proximity to each other such that when I put the mast between them, it provided a nice fulcrum. I then walked the mast forward and back to line up the bend in reference to the trunks/fulcrum and simply walked the end of the mast left or right to make it straight again. I was able to sight down the mast to take out the worst of the bends and had plenty of leverage to easily bend the metal.

Again, your boat, your risk. And the Mac has a bigger mast. Maybe use two people?

[Stickinthemud57]

Having a little experience (once, to be precise) straightening a mast, something I would suggest is that if you attempt to straighten it, consider using a long piece of lumber (say 2"x6"x12') to spread the load out at the fulcrum. The idea being to avoid crimping the mast or introducing a small bend in the middle of a long one.

At any rate, it was a fairly long process: Attempt to bend, check progress, repeat, creeping up on it rather than risk overshooting.