Mast extension

[Deleted User YDKXO]

My stepdaughter and her boyfriend have recently purchased a 40' steel hulled yacht in Australia of indeterminate parentage which is fitted with a wooden mast. Although they have limited experience they have sailed her from Brisbane to Cairns from where they plan to sail her back to the UK
They have just told me that they intend to increase the mast height by some 5 foot and buy a new set of sails with a larger sail area and a local yard has offered to carry out the work for them.
As an unreconstructed stinkpotter, I have no idea whether this kind of modification is wise or not and whether a surveyor or even a naval architect should be consulted to check whether the mast is suitable for such a mod, whether the fixings for the revised rigging are strong enough or even whether the boat has sufficient stability
Any thoughts?

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[chippie]

I think you are right in expressing concern. Some designs have different rigs if they are for different areas. If they dont know whether their design had a larger alternative rig as an option they should get the designer's input or that from a naval architect. I am sure they will need to get more reefing points added to the sails if they decide to go ahead with the modification.

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[oldharry]

Increasing the sail area of most boats is not generally a major problem. An extra 5 foot of mast on a 40 foot hull is not going to make a huge difference, and there is nothing worse than an undercanvassed sailing boat! The increase in sail area will be much the same as flying a large genoa rather than the standard No1 jib - except that the rig will remain balanced and therefore more effective.

As to structural considerations, the small increase proposed is highly unlikely to take things anywhere near the limits of the rigging fastening points - especially on a steel boat.

My concern would be much more to know whether the yard doing the work knows really does know what they are doing in terms of mods to a blue water boat, whose demands are specific and far greater than those of an inshore/offshore boat. Is the work going to be done properly and to the required standard? An independent surveyor would very soon spot any inadequacies in the proposed work and advise accordingly.

But your stepdaughter needs to recognise that a larger more powerful rig is just that - and will need that much more effort and skill in handling it, particularly in the seas they will be crossing!

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[tony_brighton]

Have they considered the effect on stability? A naval architect should be able to advise on the increased weight and force aloft and whether its sensible for the boat.

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[Aja]

Why? Is the question I would be asking.
Is the performance of the boat not what they were expecting? If so would they not be better getting a proven boat more suitable to their needs? Maybe they need to sail in a wider variety of boats, rather than start altering something. Has their only sail in her been in light winds?

Donald

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[Deleted User YDKXO]

I'm not sure but it seems that the diesel fuel tank fitted to the boat is very small and their engine range is limited so they want to modify the sail area to maximise their sailing capability in light winds. Also they mentioned something about the boat being 'roachy' whatever that might mean
To me, the obvious thing to do would be to increase the fuel capacity and forget about the mast extension

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[Twister_Ken]

Roachy

Full of cockroaches, full of 'herbal' cigarettes, or has a a lot of mainsail sail area behind an imaginary line drawn from the top of the mast to the end of the boom. Assuming it's the latter, then it might make the boat unbalanced to steer, but it shouldn't do the light airs performance much harm.

A bigger tank (or an extra one) would make sense, should be room on a 40 footer somewhere.

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[ParaHandy]

makes a change from the huge number of other extensions was offered by email this morning ...

assuming it is a wooden mast, would the weight reduction in an aluminium spar not aid stability?

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