Gary King wrote:Well, the plot is thickens with Lexia's mast.  5" is pretty wimpy, but says something if it lasted for several decades (?). I feel much better about mine..

Lexia's main mast is 5 inches but the foremast was I understand 3 1/2 inches (subject to confirmation by measuring tomorrow!).  The break at the deck level shows it to have been sleeved.  The total length of the foremast is 30 feet. 

The recommendation from Alan Boswell, the designer, via Robin Blain ,the last link with the manufacturer, is to replace the foremast with 5 inch outide diameter and 1/4 inch wall thickness grade 6082 T6 anodised.  Apparently Alan Boswell then quoted a resultant safety factor of 2.72.

However, Robin also suggested the bottom half or so in 5" with the top  half in 4", although I am not sure if that would result in a step between thicknesses which would result in some drag against the batten parrels on reefing or stowing. 

I am simply reporting here, not necessarily claiming to  understand or have a view.  However, I may need to take a view shortly. 

I presume that both masts are original from 1978.  That is certainly the view of Robin Blain .

I should now record that overnight on Wed / Thu I had reduced sail.  It was rough, steep Channel chop, as there had been some days of heavy weather from the SW and the tides were springs. 'I slept in 10 minute stretches.  We sailed SW on a beam reach at about 4 knots.  At dawn the wind dropped and we wallowed at around half a knot.  If I had been just cruising I would probably have thought fine, let's wallow whilst I get some rest.  Alas, I thought that I should get some sail on and as it was pretty much dead calm I put both sails up fully.  I went below and set my timer for 15 mins.  As I woke up I noted that we were sailing much faster.  Just as I was getting up to look out the foremast went over the side, breaking at the deck. 

So, my fault I think.  A bad desision, perhaps made because I was tired and was very sea sick. 

Or maybe it was a failure waiting to happen. 

Uninsured as I was technically racing.  Salt in the wounds. 

Interestingly, Denis Sidebotham's 5" alloy mainmast on Janvier Aquilla failed at deck level two years ago in Plymouth Sound.  That was probably a similar vintage. It wasn't very rough or strong wind. In his case the inshore lifeboat came out and rescued his sail, yard, boom and battens.  The mast was let go in 50 feet.  Dennis says that I can have the mast if I can find and retrieve it.  I think that it is a very long shot ... !

Jonathan

I think for a timber mast (the laminated epoxied up kind - not a grown tree) the solution is glass sheaved and painted white to keep UV out and keep it cool, like the original Badger masts, which AFAIK are still going strong after 30 years. Thats how the tops of Ashiki's hybrid masts have been finished.

                                                                   Stavanger, Sunday

Graham, I surely like the dug-out spruce masts that I have had. Johanna’s 250mm mast is now 11 years and in good conditions, but I would still beef up the glass sheathing to 2-3 layers next time i build one - if there will be a next time. The sheathing of Malena’s mast lasted for only 12-14 years and now needs partial replacement. This was only varnished (2-pot Polyurethane) and I suspect that this has given the epoxy less protection from the sun than the paint on Johanna’s mast does.

The strong argument for the hybrid mast is that it is so quick to make. The dug-out spruce mast called for quite some work to build (but not super accuracy) and also long waiting for the log to cure. Building from staves sounds like a BIG job and calls for high quality at every stage. In comparison the recent construction of my new hybrid mast was a walk in the park.

Cheers, Arne

My junk-rigged sistership, Minke, has a solid timber mast, laminated from 2 inch (50mm) oregon planks.  It is 10 inches (250mm) at the partners, is unsheathed and oiled regularly.  It is still perfect after 20 years.  I'd be tempted to build a timber mast next time, though probably built like Gary Pick's (see his article in the newsletter).  I don't want to go up my mast to oil it, and if I had a 250mm dia I would have to rebuild the partners..  I would HEAVILY sheath it in epoxy and glass.  Lovely stuff, wood.

I must give a nod to Paul's hot dip galvanised steel masts.  They will never fatigue and will not need a lot of maintenance.  I have a friend, fellow JRA member Terry Pentford, who has been cruising Asia with steel masts in his junk schooner, Si Hai, for some years.  He had to replace his original hoop pine masts which rotted.  The reason they rotted was because they were just sealed with epoxy resin (not sheathed in glass), which cracked and trapped moisture.  Terry is convinced that if he'd just oiled them he's still be using them.

Another reason for liking timber is that my alloy mast is horrible noisy when the battens and parrels rub back and forth.  Ditto for steel, I presume.  Anyway, it's alloy I've got, so, until it falls down...I guess we are pioneers.  It's nice to be a pioneer.  Makes a change from hiding under the table...

Gary King wrote:

All this makes a great advert for timber masts..

Indeed it does, and I would have chosen one myself, except for the fact that it isn't easy to buy suitable (and affordable) wood in NZ.