Mast Rebuild

[Dimitri-2000X-Tampa]

Well, I'm hoping my new mast may actually be enroute from Costa Mesa to Florida...finally. So, I'm figuring that I should make this a project and build it better than it was before. But there are a ton of unanswered questions, and maybe you guys can offer some opinions.

1. steaming/foredeck combo light. I searched several old posts and see that several Macsters have replaced with this (or a similar) model but I can't seem to find any place that sells it. I suppose I can ask WM to special order it, but that is always a pain. Here is what one from aqua signal looks like:



Anybody know of a shop (either B&M or Internet) that sells this light?

2. New topping lift - the one that comes stock with the boat seems to be a few feet too short. I'm gonna buy about 28 feet of 1/4 inch yacht braid instead of using the old line which always had to be concatenated to another line to work right.

3. My windex vane broke off so I figure I may as well get a new one. The new ones come with the bird spike on the bearing screw so that is probably a good improvement. WM has a 15 inch windex for about 50 bucks. Anyone know a cheaper place to get one?

4. Looking at the mast yesterday, I noticed that the steaming light seems to be attached with aluminum rivets where as the gooseneck is attached with SS rivets. I got a rivet gun from an autoparts store that is supposed to do 3/16 rivets but I saw from other posts that this may require feats of strength. The real question is should I get a new gooseneck while I am at it? The old one got loosened in the accident and is slightly bent now. I bent the tangs back a bit but if this weakens it, then maybe its better to wait for a new one to arrive. I've seen a few posts about broken goosenecks.

5. I'm wondering whether its worth spending the extra money for an LED anchor light. While I am at it, I'll rewire the new mast with a 4 conductor wire and put a new deck connector in. I'm figuring one conductor for the anchor light, one for the steaming light, and one for foredeck light. Should I also get some spreader lights to light up the cockpit? And should this be on the same circuit as the foredeck light?

6. I'm still debating about whether to replace the standing rigging. After inspection, the original rigging looks fine, but the tang which attaches the lower starboard shroud is bent some (60-70 degrees). Pretty easy to bend it back in a vise, but will that lower the strength significantly enough to be worried about it? Probably not a good idea to replace that one shroud alone as I think I should at least do both the lowers, or just replace all four.

7. And last but not least, I thought I may as well get a new (4 inch shorter) forestay and turnbuckle. There is nothing wrong with the existing one, but hey, while I'm doing all this other work, you know how it goes. Should I yank the old one out of there and take it down to a local rigging shop or have people had good luck with any mailorder (Internet) rigging shops putting one together? I figure its also good to increase the size of the wire to 3/16 and put as big of a turnbuckle as will fit under the FF2 furler. I'm also assuming that the wire is rigid enough to just push it through the furler, without having to use any special "fishing" tricks, is this correct?

Sorry so long, but lots of questions. I hope you guys who have experience with these issues can give me some advice cause I hate doing things the wrong way. Thanks in advance.

[Bobby T.-26X #4767]

1. steaming/foredeck combo light. I searched several old posts and see that several Macsters have replaced with this (or a similar) model but I can't seem to find any place that sells it. I suppose I can ask WM to special order it, but that is always a pain.
Anybody know of a shop (either B&M or Internet) that sells this light?

places to buy...
Ship Store.com - $59.99
Binnacle.com - $50.95
Ebay - $39.95 + $10 shipping

3. My windex vane broke off so I figure I may as well get a new one. The new ones come with the bird spike on the bearing screw so that is probably a good improvement. WM has a 15 inch windex for about 50 bucks. Anyone know a cheaper place to get one?

i prefer the smaller Davis windex:
Davis Windex 10 Sport
It seems to suit a Mac better than the 15. WM lists for $35.


Bob T.
"DaBob"
'02X w/ '04 90-TLDI (14" x 11 pitch)
Dinghy Motor: '06 2.5-Suzuki

on edit: as long as you're rewiring the mast, you should add a VHF antenna wire. also, remember to either place all wires in PVC or fasten wires with plastic "zip ties" leaving ends uncut to prevent "mast-slap".

[baldbaby2000]

On the gooseneck question: I think that you are probably OK with the old one and just put new rivots in it. I'm basing this on you saying that it's slightly bent. If that's the case, bending it back probably won't weaken it much.

[Frank C]

When I phoned to inform Macgregor of a snapped gooseneck casting, factory Bill was puzzled. When I broke the second one, amazed! He contends that the gooseneck actually doesn't endure extreme stresses. But my gooseneck casting had its fixing hole bored too far aft (thru the boom), leaving too little meat ... somewhat brittle anyway, it was fractured by vang tension (note that this was the casting in boom, not the mast bracket).

Your gooseneck bracket is simply locating the boom and it isn't brittle. Unless you're using the tack hook, it is possibly restraining the pull of the halyard. And, consider that the mainsail tack is actually a "reinforcing" rt angle ... all just as food for thought. It won't incur much stress and has eight rivets (?) ... agreeing w/Daniel, it should be just fine.

On a different tack (!), consider that the predominant failure seems to be snapping the mast at the spreaders, most frequently from static loads. There are mast holes drilled there to fix the spreader brackets, plus that's where the static rigging loads push forward on the mast. It's not clear if your new mast is pre-drilled ... if not, I'd probably choose to move the steaming light a bit farther away from the spreader brackets - fewer holes in that single locale couldn't hurt.

[Moe]

We mostly buy from Defender rather than West Marine any more. They have the Hella Marine masthead/deck light that should match the nav lights (and use the same nav bulb) as the factory MacGregor nav lights on later models.

--
Moe

[Duane Dunn, Allegro]

I'd replace the gooseneck if your's is the original style like mine with the drilled aluminum bar. The new one articulates much further and just looks stronger and better built.

[Bobby T.-26X #4767]

We mostly buy from Defender rather than West Marine any more. They have the Hella Marine masthead/deck light that should match the nav lights (and use the same nav bulb) as the factory MacGregor nav lights on later models.

that's a good product at a good price ($49.99):



although they also sell the Aqua Signal for $47.99

[Moe]

They also carry the Davis Windexes.

--
Moe

[Dimitri-2000X-Tampa]

Thanks for the tips. I should have looked at Defender in the first place as that is where I have been buying a lot of electrical stuff lately. They seem to have a good selection of lights, and also good prices on VHF antenna's and blocks. But this was the first I heard of Binnacle.com and they have the best price on Windex 15 (42.95) as well as good prices on yacht braid and some shackles. Go figure, I guess each place has different deals with the manufacturers. Some of the larger places like WM and boatersworld give free shipping over $100, but I think you still save money by paying the shipping at Defender/Binnacle.

They have the Hella Marine masthead/deck light that should match the nav lights (and use the same nav bulb) as the factory MacGregor nav lights on later models

Hmm, I'm pretty sure the ones that were on mine are AquaSignal. Maybe they switched to Hella later on.

I'd replace the gooseneck if your's is the original style like mine with the drilled aluminum bar. The new one articulates much further and just looks stronger and better built.

I don't think there is anything aluminum on mine, but maybe I'm not talking about the same piece. It is the mast bracket which just looks like two pieces of SS welded together. And I think it is held on by only 4 rivets, not 8. I only use the tack hook when I reef the main. I guess it makes sense to just use the old one unless I'm making another order from BWY or I mangle the old one getting it off.

As for the location of the steaming light, looks like it is about 2 feet lower than the spreader attachment where the mast breaks at. That seems to be a good location. But what I would worry about is drilling another hole near the spreaders for the wire to come out for a spreader light. Anyone installed a spreader light? Seems like it would be nice to have a lit up cockpit at the throw of a switch. Right now I have to dangle a Davis utility light off of the boom to get some light there.

Yes, I am also replacing my VHF antenna. The marine surveyor said once they take a dunk in saltwater, they never work right after that. It did get bent anyway, so may as well start with a new one. I'll also go ahead and get new coax since its possible the cable broke on the inside of the insulation...no use skimping on that. I'll probably get the wires from bestboatwire.com as they have the best prices on coax and electrical wire it seems. Looks like a Canadian outfit though so I hope there is no problem with duty, etc.

What about the rigging questions, anyone get a new forestay lately? And if I bend the lower shroud tang back to straight, will it lose enough strength for me to worry about it? The tang is built into the swage loop so I'd have to buy a whole new shroud to replace it. Seems like it is pretty thick..and all new standing rigging would be pretty expensive so I'm kinda leaning against it.

[Dimitri-2000X-Tampa]

Here is an even cheaper mast/deck light at Binnacle, only 19.95.

http://us.binnacle.com/product_info.php ... ts_id=1349



Looks just as good as the aqua signal, even has a halogen deck light. Not sure who makes it though (AAA?).

[waltpm]

If you are getting the type of vhf antenna that has the ss whip, you can buy a windex that just slips over the whip and rotates around it. Gives you one less piece of hardware to install.

[Chip Hindes]

How do you intend to "get away" with shortening the forestay with the furler? If you shorten the forestay, you'll have to shorten the furler as well. I don't kinow about yours but the furler on my X is about as short as it can be already; I can barely get a tight luff on my genny as it is; I couldn't shorten it any further without having the sails recut as well.

[Highlander]

It should be ok to bend the shrould tab back to its original possition just don't work it back & forth

I installed 2 forestays on my the new genoa stay was kept at its original length but the bottom was moved forward three feet onto a bowsprit I then installed the large quick connect shrould levers about 10" long snaps closed to about 8" and is adjustable

I installed a second mast hound with a second set of spreaders and added a third set of shroulds the second stay & furler also have a quick connect shrould lever which lets you get lots of tension on your furlers I now have a cutter rig. So you have lots of things you can do to your rigging I have seen mods here where the mast hound was raised on 26x not shure about the 26m to allow for the quick connect should lever to be installed makes the forestay attachment a snap and raises your jib or genoa off the rails I have also seen where a second mast hound has been added above the original for a second jib halyard to raise the spinnaker off the forestay . as for turn buckles don't like them they break to easy if they get bent although I have a set of them on my third set of shroulds

check out. www.hollandmarine.com

John

[Frank C]

How do you intend to "get away" with shortening the forestay with the furler? If you shorten the forestay, you'll have to shorten the furler as well.

With the objective of reducing mast rake by 2 degrees, I shortened my forestay by 4 inches without problem. I first measured the new UK Genoa very carefully - could have shortened the foil another 2 inches or so - but it worked out well. Never measured for Roger's Genoa, but the factory jib also works fine in the same foil ... no problem.

It could be that Chip's issue with luff length relates to the amount of lufftape relief?? ... cut a few inches of lufftape clear at the bottom to move the Genoa tack closer to the furler drum. My UK Genoa tack is about 4 inches above the drum's tiedown. Otherwise, you can always move the hound upwards, say about 6 inches ... ?
Ask Pythagoras(*).



* Greek philosopher who proved the Pythagorean theorem;
considered to be the first true mathematician (circa 580-500 BC).

[Dimitri-2000X-Tampa]

So has anyone shortened the forestay using the stock genny? I guess coming to think about it, like Chip says, it does seem to take the whole track to get the luff good and tight.

When you say raising the hound, do you mean along with the shrouds too or do you mean only raising the forestay attachment point so that it ends up being higher than the shroud attachment point? Seems like if you do i the latter way, you would be putting a lot of stress on that area between the two points. If you want to get your rigging good and tight, perhaps that stress would be too much.

John, thanks for your opinion. I guess instead of a vise, I could just use the shroud tension itself to bend the tang back to straight.