Broken Mast Query:

  • 30 Mar 2015 19:25
    Reply # 3274785 on 3273907
    Deleted user

    Huzzah, I think we have found our culprit! 

  • 30 Mar 2015 18:33
    Reply # 3274748 on 3273907

    Yes, indeed it could, as the load from a ghoster, concentrated at the top of the mast, is not as fair to the mast as the load from a junk sail, spread evenly down the mast. I've bent a mast by flying a ghoster in too high a wind strength.

  • 30 Mar 2015 18:30
    Reply # 3274742 on 3273907
    Deleted user

    Thank you David,

    The previous owner had installed a forestay and a bowsprit for a ghosting jib, could this have caused the weakening of the mast?



  • 30 Mar 2015 18:15
    Reply # 3274731 on 3273907

    If the mast itself is GRP, and not CFRP, then the timber insert might be as strong as the original. However, it sounds as though the original was nowhere near strong enough, if a gybe, even if badly done, was all it took to bring it down. I think I would want to calculate the size of a wooden mast according to PJR scantlings. If the insert is this big, and made of good timber, then all well and good. But you can't be sure of what timber it was made from, and how well it was made. I'd view the whole matter with some misgivings, and factor the cost of a new mast into the deal.

  • 30 Mar 2015 08:13
    Message # 3273907
    Deleted user

    Dear Associates,

    I am looking to purchase the only Junk rig in South Africa that I know of, however, she needs some tlc and I am weighing up whether the fact that she is a junk rig makes up for the work needed.

    The current owner sailed her on trips of no more than 500nm and broke the foremast when the foresail gybe violently in large swell when entering our local harbour.

    He repaired it himself by filling the cavity with a large log/piece of timber (supposedly extending someways up the mast) and patching the fibreglass outer shell. He has sailed a few times in and around the harbour since the repair but hasnt done a long trip since and due to ill health hasnt sailed for the last 4 years.

    Your thoughts?

    http://www.junkrigassociation.org/photo_gallery/39721156

    http://www.junkrigassociation.org/photo_gallery/39721159

    http://www.junkrigassociation.org/photo_gallery/39721162

       " ...there is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in junk-rigged boats" 
                                                               - the Chinese Water Rat

                                                              Site contents © the Junk Rig Association and/or individual authors

Powered by Wild Apricot Membership Software