Photos of the Bent Mast...For the strong of heart only!

[richandlori]

Here are two photos of my bent mastso any thoughts? Do I live with it or blow $750 on a new mast or $1000 installed? Or do I ignore it and just not look up?

[jsserene]

Rich, I can think of a lot of other things to spend $750 - $1000 on. I would live with it. Hopefully it will not cause any significant problems. You might only be as fast as a white boat now!!!

[richandlori]

I have been sailing on the boat twice with the mast in this condition and did not notice a thing! I did have to tighten the inner starboard stay as it was loose after the incident. I can also tell that there is additional tension on some stays now...which worries me...will I overload things and cause dis;arlghup?

[Moe]

What's the deductible on your insurance?

[kmclemore]

Hard to tell from the pic, but is that a simple bend (only in one direction and only in one place) or is it a twisting bend (bent in one place, but rotated) or a compound bend (bent in more than one place)?

If it's only a simple bend, you may be able to get a nice body-and-fender guy to hook some chains to both end of that mast and use a hydraulic ram to gently ease it back to straight again. Just a thought, but might well be worth a try.

[richandlori]

well deductable is $500. It is more like a "S" when tensioned by the stays, but more like a 4" bend to one direction without tension. It looks pretty ugly and you can't miss it even from the cockpit.

[kmclemore]

Hmm.. well, if it truly is a simple bend to one side, then it has the potential to be straightened by a good frame man. You'd be surprised what can be done!

[waternwaves]

shame on you Kevin!!!

thinking that a an Iron monger would have the skills and tools to straighten extruded aluminum. heheheh

HAve to deal with the brittleness, low workability, inability to anneal, loss of structural strength, grain collapse, corrosion surface issues....... locallized stressees from the rebending rollers..... naw.... no thanks.......arrrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh..... most extrusions are considered non repairable.

not that I wouldnt try it.....

I just wouldnt trust it unless I could get 2 for free to test prior to implementing my repairs.

having to mess with the rigging strain, and the adiditional strength elements just hardly seems worth it.

[Tom Root]

shame on you Kevin!!!

thinking that a an Iron monger would have the skills and tools to straighten extruded aluminum. heheheh

HAve to deal with the brittleness, low workability, inability to anneal, loss of structural strength, grain collapse, corrosion surface issues....... locallized stressees from the rebending rollers..... naw.... no thanks.......arrrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh..... most extrusions are considered non repairable.

not that I wouldnt try it.....

I just wouldnt trust it unless I could get 2 for free to test prior to implementing my repairs.

having to mess with the rigging strain, and the adiditional strength elements just hardly seems worth it.

Technically you are correct, practicality wise...people in our yacht club have rebent them straight all the time, including myself. It takes usually 2 people and the trailer makes a superb bending jig. Float the boat and use an empty trailer, not with the boat on! Using good size pieces of carpet, wrapped in stategic locations, and easing it gently back in to position, it can be done. It's more of an art than a science.

Before defeat, I advocate to at least try!

If you do bend it too far the other direction, throw it away! If you bend too fast it will snap. If you get some extremely minor cracking, strange marks that look like stretch marks, and are fearing that the annodization is compromised a bit, use clear spray laquer to seal.

All the characteristics listed by Water n Waves is totally true, but it certainly MAY not be a hopeless scenerio either! My statement is of course all theoretical in each case, looking at the pics, and it's description, if I lived a bit closer, I'd help ya myself!

The bolt rope slot, if too narrow can be opened up with an appropriate sized piece of metal, ran in the channel, and convinced with a hammer. Likewise, a wood 2X4 can be used to narrow the channel, that can be done several times in the same place with no worries of structural loss!

If you are faint of heart, or screw up, spend the $1000 bucks.

Or not, and live with it!

Either way, standing rigging tensions should be given the once over, and adjustments made!

.....and, if you decide to throw it away, I'll gladly take it off your hands!

[Gerald Gordon]

Well there are two sides to consider:
1.) The rational you
2.) The emotional you

If it bothers you then you won't be able to ignore it.
Sorry....that's hard to deal with.

[James V]

Should be easy enough to do or at least give it a try. Just put the mast on 2 logs with the bowed part up and push down several times a min. It should slowly start to become unbent. Be careful not to over do it.
Within about 5 min. or so it should be straight or I should say, straighter. I have done this to drills that had a wobble at the end of the bit and on a smaller boat's mast.

[kmclemore]

I agree about the stresses that Water & Waves states, but with such a small and gentle bend I don't think it's highly compromised. As the others noted, I'd give it a shot.

It could indeed be done by hand, and if you've got some experience in that area I suppose you could get it pretty close. However, as an ex-bodyman myself I know how accurately you can do this sort of repair using a hydraulic ram so I'd take that option. I'd just attach a chain to both ends of the mast and place the ram at the exact point of the bend (on a wood block to prevent scarring and distribute the load), using a ram-extension to get a good sized triangle out of the chain. Then I'd gently apply pressure, carefully measuring as I went along, until she came back to where I wanted.

One thing you *don't* want to do is repeated bending, so the advice for pushing down on it over and over again until it's straight is not what I'd want to do. Bouncing on the mast is only going to further work-harden the mast at the point of the bend, making the actual bending on each next consecutive 'bounce' increasingly more difficult as the material hardens, and leading to a potential fracture later on. My advice is to bend it back once.

The re-coating with laquer is a good idea afterwards to be sure that there's no gaps in the annodizing... and besides, it will make it look great, too. Might even want to buff down the mast first with some 0000 brass wool to brighten it first.

Once the mast is truly straight it's fairly unlikely to bend again. However, if you bend it by hand and manage to leave a bit of a bend it has a much higher chance of being bent further later on.... what I'm trying to say is that accuracy in your bending is crucial - a dead-straight mast tends to stay dead-straight, being pulled down true to the deck by the shrouds. However if it's already got a bit of a bend it's very likely to bend further under strain as it's already leaning that way.

As for James bending drills, I'm amazed... drill rod is so hard that it almost always snaps before it bends for me!!

[ALX357]

.....alternate rig for bending ... off the boat.... similar to using ram, but more accessible at home. Two trees, or tree and side of house, or some other immovable objects
..... locate mast up off the ground about even with your trailer hitch ball, wrap and pad the mast at each end where it contacts the trees or house, and at the center point of the bend. Attach a strong ratchet-action come-along or whatever they call it where you are ( it is like a winch, but in line with cable hooks on each end of steel cables. ) Park the tow vehicle so the come-along can be used to slowly bend the mast back straight.
Ratchet the come-aong one click at a time, sighting and measuring at every click to monitor when it is straight, then re-measure after you disconnect the come-along (slowly).
This method is very similar to using the ram, but is do-able by yourself at home, and avoids the repeated bending and associated work-hardening mentioned in previous posts.

[Moe]

I agree that I'd give it a try... and would probably succeed. But with a relatively new boat like your M, I'd bite the bullet and have the mast professionally replaced by the insurance company. It's going the cost the same $500 whether you do it or have it done by someone who's done it before.