DaySailer.org Forum

I need a mast, preferably used, for my DS1, Cookie. I am located in Seattle. Anyone have a mast?

The tale of woe: we were launching in Seattle's 14th Street boat ramp in Ballard. We were putting in to watch Seattle's fireworks from Lake Union.
We rigged the boat in the usual boat parking area and were driving the 50 feet to the ramp. We did not notice the wires overhead! I guess mainly powerboats launch at this ramp. fortunately, it was not a powerline that we struck, it was a telephone or DSL line. But our mast snapped in two pretty quickly. So, we had to watch the fireworks without our mast, and me berating myself for doing something so stupid.

sorry to laugh but this is the stuff movies are made of.
it really cheers me up after capsizing on the weekend end during the maiden voyage and breaking thhe mast.

best,
tony
jacksonville , fl

FWIW, I ended up building a mast and it wasn't very hard. I ordered an extrusion from Cape Cod Shipbuilding and had it shipped to Seattle. The shipping cost as much as the extrusion, as I recall. Then I just got out my drill and started making holes in the exrusion to rivet all the hardware on. I used an ordinary drill and pop rivet tool. The new mast works just as well as the old one.

I can't recall the cost of the extrusion, but it was a lot less than a racy tapered Proctor mast from the people who build them in LA. Those things are imported from England. No doubt the tapered mast would have been faster and made a prettier shaped sail. But I was a cheapskate, and I don't compete.