wwaites
New Member
Removing the mast on Hale Kai revealed a surprise. There is a substantial masthead crane in stainless steel. This is not the surprise, it's pretty obvious from deck level. The surprise is that it was squint. The stainless piece is fixed to a smaller underlying aluminium piece, which is continuous and passes through the masthead, is badly cracked and bent.
The stainless piece contains a couple of sheaves for halyards for the foresails, in poor condition, with their pins welded in, so not easily replaced. The single foresail halyard that was fitted was instead passed through a block hanging on a pin. There are two pins for the twin forestays and a welded loop for a spinnaker halyard. The stainless piece is fixed to the aluminium piece with two pins and a screw. The backstays are connected to a double toggle which hangs on a pin through the aft part of the aluminium piece. All pins are 8mm or 5/16".
Cap shrouds are fitted to tangs that on a bolt that passes through the mast section. It is unknown if there is any reinforcing sleeve on this bolt apart from the aluminium piece mentioned above.
Some photographs: rigging
The question is, what to do about this. So far, there are two ideas:
The stainless piece contains a couple of sheaves for halyards for the foresails, in poor condition, with their pins welded in, so not easily replaced. The single foresail halyard that was fitted was instead passed through a block hanging on a pin. There are two pins for the twin forestays and a welded loop for a spinnaker halyard. The stainless piece is fixed to the aluminium piece with two pins and a screw. The backstays are connected to a double toggle which hangs on a pin through the aft part of the aluminium piece. All pins are 8mm or 5/16".
Cap shrouds are fitted to tangs that on a bolt that passes through the mast section. It is unknown if there is any reinforcing sleeve on this bolt apart from the aluminium piece mentioned above.
Some photographs: rigging
The question is, what to do about this. So far, there are two ideas:
- Fit a piece of stainless rod through the aluminium piece with special fittings to hold it tightly in compression, fore and aft. Replace the stainless crane over this. This is simple, but not the most elegant.
- Manufacture a sleeve with a tubular section that goes over the top of the mast with new cranes welded to it. This could involve cutting off the small aluminium cranes or fitting over them. This could be made in aluminium and welded. It could also be done in stainless (heavy) or titanium (lighter, somewhat expensive) and riveted.
