MacGregorSailors.com

Hi,

I've recently moved with my family back from Scotland to South East England. Got a haulier to transport "Rockhopper", our 26S on a flat bed truck as I didn't fancy driving nearly 500 miles up north and then down again. During transport it seems that the mast support bent (the U shaped bit that holds the rubber roller, not the straight metal pole) and the mast must have crashed onto the coach roof . Nothing else broke and there is not even a scratch on the gel coat, just some superficial marking from the mast that easily washed off. A sign of the great quality of the 26S build. I wonder if the haulier did tie the mast at the height of the support too tight and strapped mast and hull together onto the truck . I've managed to bend the mast support back into shape, and at least at the moment the mast is resting safely on it whilst "Rockhopper" is on hard and is not being moved. I do worry, though, that this might happen again, particularly worry about material fatigue and that perhaps next time this might just snap. So might just have a new one made by our local "Mr Stainless". Also, I've noted that with the mast stepped it is hanging through in the middle. So my questions are : (1) Would it be a good idea to have a further support for the mast perhaps at the height of the coach roof and (2) should the mast support close on top or hold the mast like a clamp/vice to not allow any excess movements of the mast up and down rather than tying the stern end of the mast onto the support and strapping it all onto the hull ? Has anybody had similar probs with their mast support ?

Best wishes and happy trailer sailing

The same happened to me once when I forgot to tie the mast to the stantions at the companionway. This tie keeps the mast centered and helps keep the side loading off the upright forks on the aft mast support.

RobertB wrote:The same happened to me once when I forgot to tie the mast to the stantions at the companionway. This tie keeps the mast centered and helps keep the side loading off the upright forks on the aft mast support.

I see, what you mean. Personally, I try to avoid tying anything onto the stanchions. I don't think they are the best strong points but the winches might just be ok. What I am thinking about, though, is to have the upright forks longer than originally. One could then put a coach bolt, and perhaps a wing nut through above the mast to prevent it moving both horizontally and vertically. A similar support could be put onto the coachroof, perhaps at the mast step. Would secure the mast but also make it pretty quick to undo. Would that be feasible ?

I was told specifically to tie the mast to the forward cockpit stanchions by Mike Inmon when I took delivery of the boat.

As I understand it, your mast essentially is now bent aft at the top - same thing happened to me, only it was when my wife (now ex-) was holding the mast up by hanging on to the jib halyard on the dock, and she for some reason thought I told her to let go. The mast came crashing down, and bent at the spot where it hit the edge of the cabin roof. I've found it is not serious enough to worry about (you can barely notice it, and only when you are standing next to the mast and looking up. I just tell people it is intentionally raked that way.

mastreb wrote:I was told specifically to tie the mast to the forward cockpit stanchions by Mike Inmon when I took delivery of the boat.

That is very valuable information. Thank you. I was told on my RYA courses never to put any load onto the stanchions as they are usually not fixed too secure. I guess things are better reinforced on our Macs, another credit to these boats !

sonofasailor35 wrote:As I understand it, your mast essentially is now bent aft at the top - same thing happened to me, only it was when my wife (now ex-) was holding the mast up by hanging on to the jib halyard on the dock, and she for some reason thought I told her to let go. The mast came crashing down, and bent at the spot where it hit the edge of the cabin roof. I've found it is not serious enough to worry about (you can barely notice it, and only when you are standing next to the mast and looking up. I just tell people it is intentionally raked that way.

Ouch ! I am glad only the mast is bent and nobody else got hurt ! Mine is really only hanging through at the height of the coachroof when stepped but luckily not bent.

My mast has a heck of a wow in it. It looks (is) raked hard about 4-5" back from the spreaders I think. It also bends out the side. Specifically to Port above the spreaders again.
I didn't think about looking at the start of the bend to see if someone has dropped it while raising it. I did notice a dent in the top of the mast! Yes a dent. I'm betting the sideways bend is from.... Not looking backwards when going backwards. I have only had it out once since I got it in Nov. And myself, I was trying to remember how to sail so there wasn't allot of scrutiny placed on it. Some of the guys at the yacht club said they will give me a hand to straiten it. I'm going to take them up on it as soon as I get it out of the water. (I have some pictures on the other Mac site "curly mast") Don't know how to post pictures here or if you can.

finding41 wrote:My mast has a heck of a wow in it. It looks (is) raked hard about 4-5" back from the spreaders I think. It also bends out the side. Specifically to Port above the spreaders again.
I didn't think about looking at the start of the bend to see if someone has dropped it while raising it. I did notice a dent in the top of the mast! Yes a dent. I'm betting the sideways bend is from.... Not looking backwards when going backwards. I have only had it out once since I got it in Nov. And myself, I was trying to remember how to sail so there wasn't allot of scrutiny placed on it. Some of the guys at the yacht club said they will give me a hand to straiten it. I'm going to take them up on it as soon as I get it out of the water. (I have some pictures on the other Mac site "curly mast") Don't know how to post pictures here or if you can.

Do you have a link for the pictures ? Is the bent more evident with the mast up rather than with the mast stepped ? If this is the case then I reckon, you'll be able to fix things by adjusting the tension of forestay and sidestays. I've got my mast up now and followed this easy tutorial :

http://thecoastalpassage.com/petrearigging.html

I don't think it has ever looked that great !

Here is a link to the topic I started about my mast. http://forums.macgregor.sailboatowners. ... p?t=140281
I will add more pictures to it when I haul out and try and straiten it. Check my you tube channel as well, just search finding41
Hope yours stays strait. Thanks for the link.
Oh, by the way. How did you straiten yours?
I'm thinking of putting it across a couple of trees and using a come along to bend it opposite until strait.

My mast itself was only hanging through in the middle, no proper kink. Interestingly, when the people at the marina up north stepped my mast (furler headstay ripped off during a storm when I was away - I have a second forestay which it did hold the mast up) they put it upside down, i.e. the slot for the mainsail was pointing up, not down. I turned things around here and simply put some slight pressure at the mast when I had already fixed the bottom end back into the mast step. This and adjusting the tension in the stays seems to have done the trick. What is really badly bent is the mast support for trailering . Good luck with straightening out your mast. I hope the kink did not weaken the structure too much. I shall have a look at your youtube channel when I am back at home, I am working away and my mobile network is very stingy with streaming .

Fair winds,

FS (Immo)

I have the week off and am thinking of tackling the bend in my mast. may as well put on the roller furler I have while I'm at it. (I'll get a few pictures and try and make a video as I'm combining a snapfurl 700 base and top with 1" PVC extrusion.) I don't have the snapfurl extrusion so I am going to use my hank on jib. I plan to cut slots out of the PVC about 4" long to allow for a bit of play.
I'm not going to drop the mast until Thursday or Friday this week so any Ideas would be appreciated in advance of then.
I will have a few of the guys at the yacht club help me with straitening and furler install. But I was looking the other day and my boat is one of 5 fractional rigs on the water. Everything else is mast head except for the Lasers. This may pose a problem when we go to tune the rigging. Any tips would be great!

How did you get on with your mast ?