Mast Repair

[cindersailor]

I need to replace the mast on my 38 year old Cinder 22. It is the original and is corroded in places, and most of the holes for the standing rigging fittings are rather worn and oval in shape. Before the rig comes down around my ears a new one would seem sensible. Being such an old boat a new mast would probably cost at least half the value of the boat. As usual therefore I am looking to find a shoe-string solution. I have therefore bought somebodies broken mast and have two sections in good condition which in total are over a metre longer than I need. This also means that I should be able to use the existing standing rigging, which is only a couple of years old, if I am careful with the tape measure.

The question is how to construct the joint. Having spoken to Z-spars they say that using the extra metre to fashion an internal sleeve is possible. Most longer masts are in fact built in 2 sections with a sleeved joint. The guy I bought the mast from said that repairing a mast in this way is quite common among racing folk who make a habit of mast bending. So someone out there must know how to do it. Realisticly the "sleeve" will need to be rather two plates, one for either side of the mast, as the sleeve piece will need to be cut to fit it inside the mast section. I then envisaged plenty of epoxy and monel rivets. An external "sleeve" would be a simpler alternative, which would seem to me to be structurally similar, although cosmetically inferior.

I would be grateful for any advise from those that have tackled similar jobs.

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[boat_one]

Hi yer cindersailor;

The inside sleeve is the acceptable repair, i'd take a short section, cut the "tailing end" out with 2 verticle cuts using a plywood blade on a skill saw (don't forget your safety glasses) and compress the section to fit inside the new mast.

Use self taping screws or pop rivets to hold everything together.

Good Luck;

<hr width=100% size=1>Regards;
Dave

 

[William_H]

The splice needs to be centred on the middle of the mast where the intermediate stays attach or in the case of a fractional rig centred on where the intermediate stays attach. Otherwise no problem provided the pieces of mast are straight they usually bend before breaking. regards will

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