LOUIS B HOLUB wrote:A Mac Dealer showed me a set of spreaders that he replaced on a Mac-X last Fall, and the ends were badly oxidized and bent at the mast connect points. Spreaders in this condition are weak, and prone to a mishap.
my '02-X spreaders looked like that.
i bent them during my first 5 or so steppings (a nautical term).
i know better now...
It's simple to just use the jib halyard as a backup. I always keep it clipped to the bow pulpit and cleated. Since I have a furler it really has no other purpose except mast raising and lowering (never use your main halyard for this, the block is too high up the unsupported mast). After I use it to raise the mast I just un-clip it from the end of the gin pole and clip it on the pulpit. The only problem I've had with this is a few times it has tangled when rolling the sail back up with the furler. Other than that it's a simple and perfect backup.
As far as noise I always pull both the main and jib halyards out to the baby stays with a bungee. This eliminates and mast slap.
When I first got my Mac, I was also worried about the forestay (coming from a boat with much stouter rigging) so I tied the jib halyard to the bow pulpit. But it frequently interfered with the furler so I stopped doing it. I figure the dodger and bimini frames would cushion a good deal of the impact if the mast fell. Actually, there is already a kink in the dodger frame that looks like the P.O. may have dropped the mast on it.
There is one potential hazard when you have the furler installed.
The last ime I went out I noticed that there was a broken strand at the top of the forestay, and not wanting to cancel, I ran a halyard down to the anchor roller whist underway.
That was our last trip beforethe winter so the next thing was to pull it all apart for maintenance/replacement.
When I slid the forestay out of the furler foil there was some resistance, the reason for which soon became clear. The broken strand had unravelled and bunched at about the half way point. I guess all that I am saying is that a broken strand on a bare forestay is easily picked up through a casual inspection, but the foil hides things.
Found my spreaders were slightly bent this year...replaced them straight away. Expensive here in the UK.
UK owners, prob cheaper if you went to a factory dealing in aluminium tube...prob get a heavier guage too.
I will next time!
I don't think you can mess with the gauge. The inboard end goes into a socket and the outboard end has an end-plug going inside. So you are stuck with the id and od but the good news is that it is a stock item at Aalco - a national chain of aluminium tubing suppliers. You'll have to buy a minimum length of 4 metres or thereabouts but they'll cut it for you to the exact length on a machine (nice square cut) so you also get spares. The price seemed insignificant to me. It's not anodised but what the heck -I sprayed some silicone wax especially on the end in the socket but will inspect regularly. You'll need to measure and drill the holes for the bolts.
A hanked on jib halyard will hold up the mast if the fore stay parts or comes loose. The hanked on jib foot attaches independently to the fore stay bracket.
The shrouds will keep a falling mast alinged along the axis of the boat for about half the fall.
I leave my baby stays attached permanently, mast up or down and they give me somthing to hold while going forward.
I keep my mast winch and 6 ft. pole in brackets attached to the port stanchons.
mike
Yes, thanks for the info. hadn't thought about the end cap.
Wonder if I could fashion another end cap to use with heavier gauge?
I might mess around with different gauges during the winter.
Max
PS had a great sail off barmouth yesterday. 4 dolphins ran with the bow wave. A very humbling experience.
Seems to me it would be easy to have the ends of the undersized I.D. tubing bored out to fit the existing end caps.
Not that I'm a proponent of oversized tubing. Mine are still fine after six years. I'm always a little wary about replacing the weakest link in a system which also happens to be the cheapest and easiest to replace link in the system, with much beefier stuff which is liable to move the failure point to something more expensive, like the sockets or even the mast itself.
Chip's point is valid. Every one of us who've bent a spreader have experienced a "mast risk event." The spreader absorbed enough of the excess force to create a bend, rather than transfer that force elsewhere into the rigging system. The result of our event was probably noise, a shock thru the rigging, and a noticeable residual effect, the bend. It's like a $30 "rigging fuse."
If the spreader refused to bend, would that force have simply driven that (much stronger) spreader straight through the mast? ... maybe. Owners have reported a half-dozen masts that have broken in half right at the spreader sockets.
I should think there is some inherent weakness at the spreaders. I too have observed a number of masts broken at the spreaders. I wonder if it were not from shock loading, being pushed hard through some rough sea with the backstay tight, beating to windward.
If I might claim witness to mast pumping under 35 knots of wind coming back from Mexico crashing through some good sized swells at 8 knots on a large boat. It was quite a thrill in the late afternoon sun as the 40+ masthead plowed through swells with green water and foam rushing over us hiking on the high side of a reasonably fast Peterson Masthead. I cannot relate the thrill and excitement of hours of the best sailing Ive ever experienced, but the Mast Pumping drove one crewmember below. Call me terribly without worry for the menace, but it was enormously thrilling! Ill never forget it.
