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Does anyone know a source of carbon fiber mast kits? Or something similar which will give me a strong light mast?

The clip which held my pulleys for the throat halyard, peak halyard and such came off the mast 3 miles off shore on Monday. I had to take the mast down out there with 4ft swells and 15mph winds and I think my mast is way to heavy to ever do this again. I got it down, barely got it back up and now I have to replace the hinge and pin on the front because the boat's pitching bent the hardware due to the mast weight.

Granted, I didn't put much of a taper in my mast at all. But.. Even with a taper, I think it would still be too heavy. I'm wanting to make a new mast this winter and I don't think I have the skills to make a birdsmouth mast, so I am looking at other options. Perhaps I should try to find a used aluminum mast?

West marine claimed a 2000lb breaking strength on that clip.. They should have a likely hood it will come unscrewed statistic on the label

I am not to that point yet on mast choice, but I plan on checking into a birdsmouth mast. Sounds like it would be light and strong. I have seen lumber yards sell these (which a pillars). I plan on going to a mill. I wonder if anyone has had luck fabricating a hinge onto an aluminum mast. You could just get two masts, cut one down as the stump and attach the top?

Shave it down and lighten it up. I saw Richards wife rig their boat without any problems at all. I was shocked! Now my Vacationer is a lot heavier but after shaving it last winter it does seem easier to rig. You might consider through bolts with lock nuts on all your rigging points as well. I just think a wooden mast is what these boats deserve

Keith

Hey David, Dad's new boat which is a gaff rigged Bay Hen 22' or so...has an aluminum mast with a heavy gauge aluminum tabernacle. I was very impress with this boat, it is even shroudless no forward stay or back stay either. Looks like you are still in Fl, check out some used gear places you should be able to pick one up pretty cheap. Sorry to hear about your problems, glad everything worked out and you made it back safe.

If you are set on CF, you might check some sail board places for used gear or maybe Craigslist for your area. Good luck.

Carbon fiber is really expensive stuff, even in kit form. Kits generally revolve around performance oriented sailboats, usually of substantial production numbers and class rules. It may be possible to find a stick that is close to the size you need, but I'd be surprised, frankly. This is because gaffers typically aren't considered performance craft, have far fewer numbers and often require heft over weight savings in application.

You can build a carbon pole, but again the cost will be quite frightening. On a $50,000 racer needing a few 10th's of a second edge on the course, the investment can be justified. In your case, you may be well served to lighten your own stick, build a birdsmouth mast or find an aluminum extrusion that will suit the Weekender's needs.

There are other considerations to carbon fiber you should be aware of. A key one is you can't put screws in it, so you'll have to arrange aloft rigging in a different way (usually bonded tabs). The rig must be tensioned correctly and remain in "column" or it will come apart. Carbon is exceptionally good at accepting compression loads, but truly sucks in tension. A slightly loose rig will permit the mast to get out of column and it will explode (literally) which isn't much fun.

Carbon composite (carbon tow mixed with other materials in an epoxy matrix) is a different story and even more costly. You can buy or laminate carbon tow (or one of the wavy prepegs) with Kevlar or other ultra high elongation materials, which solves the tension issue, but increases the difficulty and expense of building these types of parts.

Your solution may only require a suitably designed tabernacle to replace the Mickey Mouse hinge arrangement the stock plans show. The hinge works, is cheap, but it's sloppy, weak and lacks the leverage a tabrinical can provide. With a well done tabernacle, you can raise and lower the stick with just a few pounds of pressure and no worries about it swinging out of control and bending things up in the process.

Hey all,

I'm sure I can take some of the weight off the mast by shaving it down.. But then I would have to replace the pretty mastband up top I found some links online which show you how to make a birdsmouth mast with some special router bits.. Perhaps the task is not above my abilities afterall...

My wooden mast sure looks pretty, but I'm not against using some other material. I am finding that having made it myself to begin with, it's never intimidating to have to fix it. So.. Whatever I do, I think I'm leaning towards making it myself.

Angie, Does pops have a camera? Maybe we can get a picture of the tabernacle. There is a used marine store up in St. Augustine and people tell me they have some really cool stuff there. I've been trying to get there to recycle some sail material.. I think I need to try harder if only to see examples of different hardware configurations. I'm still in FL.. The housing market has gone totally in the dumper. We're going to be here for the foreseeable future, it's a bummer but no house has sold in her town since 2005.


As for the mickey mouse hinge arrangement. Swinging out of control is a really good description for what was going on out there. I'm just glad it didn't completely fall back and break my wheel or taff rail. The hardware held even when the forestay slipped out of my hand 4 times. Another problem I'm having is with the turnbuckles binding on the chainplates causing the forestay to not reach to the kranziron clip. No big deal when two people are there, big deal when alone on heaving ocean.

Here is a photo of the bent hinge which seems really minor now that I'm back on land

Damn David, you came very close to sheering that hinge pin or tearing off one of the lugs. I've been in the exact situation you faced the other day, it sucks and is frightening to say the least. The good part is it didn't bonk you on the hat holder or bash your boat to bits. I was aboard a boat that lost it's stick over the side and in the mad rush to get injured back aboard the busted up stick and double spreader rig poked two fair size holes in the boat, both below the wet stuff line. Broken arms, blood everywhere and a sinking boat, all the while dragging a tangled mess of sails, rigging and broken stick, which prevented us from using the engine to gain control of the boat, which was trying its best to broach.

A cute trick to keep you turn buckles upright is to mount a spring between the fork and the eye, just like on fancy jib track blocks. The low buck route is to cut a section of automotive heater hose (which seems about the right size) and place this over the fork, with just enough room to fit the keeper. It then is slid down over the fork and eye, which will keep it sort of standing up right (it'll flop over a little but not enough to bind, usually). Rigging tape also can work. Just wrap it around the fork and eye. It will wear out every season, but it's handiness makes it worth it. A piece of PVC pipe will do the same thing, but it's not flexable like tape or rubber hose.

Over at Frank Hagan's site www.messing-about.com (good guy, great site, also dealing with Weekenders and the like) there are several previous threads covering birdsmouth mast construction (including links to a blog or two with photos documenting the method). I build a few each year and it's pretty easy. Save yourself the money and skip the router bits, you don't need them. A table saw or straight cut router bit will work just fine. I use a datto blade in the table saw myself, but have used routers too. I recently posted a better stave layout, which requires less material removal and a uniform octagonal arrangement if left unrounded.

Tell me about the housing market. We were looking to sell a rental property, which I just completely remodeled, but the 30% reduction in value means we'll be tolerating renter abuse for a few more years. It's probably worse out on the coast where you are.

Stock up on old bicycle inner tubes. They make the best temporary clamps to hold the staves together as you assemble the mast.

Carbon Fiber works OK but there is a bit more to it than just the TLAR of method stress analysis. TLAR being; "that looks about right". Size shape and materials content all must be designed and optimized for the load you expect to put on that carbon mast else you will need to way over build and that defeats the purpose. My carbon topmast was a bit too light for the load and not correctly stayed. I think she lasted three outings before catastrophic failure. And yes, I really am an engineer and should know better. Stay with the birds mouth, you’ll like it better in the long run and so will your wallet.