Mast troubles...

[minerva]

I was out sailing my DS2 yesterday in a nice breeze when *BANG* my port sidestay lets go. I tacked and got the sails down and in to the dock, but while I was fiddling with it, the whole mast (tabernacle up) splashed into the water.

The mast is a bit bent and the bolts for the tabernacle tore right through the bottom section of the mast.

I don't know what to do at this point. DR Marine has masts for sale, but they range from pricey to very pricey. In addition to that, my mast step is pretty rusty and I'm not sure if I'll break something trying to get a new mast in there.

I don't have much experience with boat repairs in general, and this is way out of my league. I don't even know where to start. I got the whole boat for $1,100 a few years ago and it looks like a mast could cost almost that much by itself.

The links are all to pictures. They were too big for the phpbb so I'm hosting them on a dinky and somewhat slow server. Be gentle.

[GreenLake]

Bending a mast back can be done; it takes more force than you might anticipate and it's possible to end up with a S or double S instead of a straight mast. There are descriptions here on the forum if you look, and you can also search for "bent mast" on other forums. Each time you bend the mast you are hardening (work hardening) the mast section; that's in principle a problem, but with your bend I think (from what I have read) a repair may be doable. Get as much information as you can, then assemble some sober helpers, make a plan and take it slowly.

The mast step seems like it could use some TLC. If you can remove it, that would be best. I would de-scale it, grind / sand all the rust off of it, use rust remover as the final step and repaint (possibly coat in epoxy first). You might find that there's still enough metal there.

For the "bottom" section. The first thing you could try is end-over-end the piece. That should give you a clean edge to re-drill the holes for the tabernacle. If the other end is no good, you could purchase a short length of mast section. Or, you could try to "shim" the mast section with aluminum, bent into the same curve - about 4-5" wide and riveted to the existing mast bottom (because of the tabernacle, you might shim on the outside, not inside). Then you can re-drill for the tabernacle bolts.

One option, of course, is to look for a used mast, but perhaps this is not the first one to explore.

Final option, short of a new mast, is to purchase a few feet of the same mast section and cut off the sail track, so you have an oval-shaped "U". Then cut your mast at the bend, cutting out the actual bent section (the actual bent section should be short for this). Then squeeze the U to make a shim inside the mast going about 1' beyond the cut. Rivet in place. (You will find a description of this repair here on the forum).

This should give you some ideas of how to approach this problem.

[K.C. Walker]

I would say it's likely you could straighten your mast without too much problem. It's not that bad a bend. I would check it over carefully to see if there are any cracks, though. You can cut off the damaged part of the lower section which is likely to be no more than three quarters of an inch, and put a shim under the mast step, or in the mast step to raise it back up. Or, you could possibly just flip the lower section over and use the undamaged end up. Or, you could buy just the length of mast section that you need for the bottom piece. Dwyer is the source for most of those parts that you'll need. D & R buys their parts from Dwyer https://www.dwyermast.com/ . I find the Dwyer catalogue easy to navigate to figure out which parts are going to need.

I don't think the mast step being rusty is a hazard at this point, just unattractive. At some point you could pull it out and have it sandblasted and paint it with epoxy. I would replace all of the bolts that are not stainless steel! You still need some anticorrosive stuff between the aluminum and the stainless, I use Lanocote.

I think you will need a new set of shrouds, to be safe. Because you had one side stay let go you should probably check everything over for corrosion and possible replacement. Most of it is likely to be okay but check for fine cracks in the stainless steel that looks rusty.

[TIM WEBB]

Ouch! Yep, that mast is "afflicted".

First and foremost: what exactly caused the shroud to fail? Inquiring minds want to know ...

Obviously, you'll fix that problem along the way to getting the boat back to seaworthy condition. In the meantime, to repeat what GL and KC stated, you have a few options: in theory, it *is* possible to straighten a mast, but there are many ways, and not all produce a successful result. I had a stay fail a few years ago, and in the process of trying to straighten the (one-piece) mast, broke it, but right where a hinge would go, so I put one there. Barring being able to straighten this one, yes, new masts (even just the extrusion) are big bucks. You could go that route, and transfer all the fittings from the old mast to the new extrusion. Also, occasionally masts are offered for sale on this site's classifieds. What the heck - put up a wanted to buy post and see if you get any hits? Others on this forum have completed such transactions, even with the "logistics" involved.

As to your mast stub issues: it would be very easy to order a new stub extrusion from Dwyer and a new hinge from D&R (or even just get the lower hinge casting - your hinge looks OK, and I think it's the same casting as the normal mast step. Rudy at D&R will work with you) and replace everything from the hinge (tabernacle) down. Your mast step *is* pretty rough looking, and definitely not "stock". I'd have looked into replacing that anyway, failed shroud or no ...

Well, good luck with your efforts, and, oh, welcome to the site! Let us know how it goes ...

[Alan]

Hello, minerva, and welcome.

The mast looks like a Dwyer DM-284. The key is the rounded inner side of the sail slot. The DM-2, which has very similar dimensions, has a flat inner side. Here's the link to Dwyer mast profiles:

https://www.dwyermast.com/families.asp? ... Name=Masts

and here's a link to the DM-284 and its accessories:

https://www.dwyermast.com/items.asp?cat ... M-284+Mast

It looks to me like the hinge (tabernacle) is salvageable. For the bottom part of the mast that's torn off, I'd recommend buying a section of mast stub from Dwyer. Three feet is a good starting point, and you can shorten it if needed.

The step on the cuddy floor doesn't look like anything that came from the factory. In the link above for the DM-284, you'll find part 2112, which is the stock step. It attaches with a couple of vertical screws to the compression post under the cuddy floor, and to the bottom end of the mast stub with screws that come in from the sides.

[minerva]

Wow, thanks for all the advice and welcome and links.

To answer some of your questions...
The shroud gave at the turnbuckle. It looked like it would just go back on, but the other side was too tight (or the mast was bent, I didn't notice that until I went to take pictures). So I went to loosen that side and sheeeeeearSPLASH. I'm afraid it was my fault. I remember thinking that I might want to tighten up the rig before I went out, but daylight was burning and it was beautiful out...

The step has been rusty like that since I got the boat. I didn't really pay any attention to it, since there's a nice handy hinge. The previous owners told me that the owner before them was a naval architect or something. He made a few changes to the boat, and that step is probably one of them. They kept it in salt water, so that's probably how it got so corroded. Anyway, my concern about taking it out is those bolts. I have bad luck with rusty bolts. I assume I'll have to get the boat out of the water to get it off, since the bolts probably go into something.

I'll keep you all updated as things progress.

[jeadstx]

I agree with the others on getting a new hinge casting and lower section. I recently talked to someone in Dallas, Tx with a bent mast, they are taking their mast to a company there that straightens masts. Their bend is worse than yours.

The plate at the base of the mast is not standard. Originally there was an aluminum casting mast step.

I lost a side stay a couple years ago when a split ring came off. We capsized while attempting to fix it. I now tape my split rings.

John

[jeadstx]

Get a camera in the inspection ports to find what the plate bolts to.

John