You might try West Coast Metals, a compny that distributes aluminum pipe.  Their Southern California address is, 3051 E Maria St
Rancho Dominguez, California 90221.  That is in the Los Angeles Harbor district. 

 

David Tyler wrote:

You'll find that the bottom third/half of the pole is parallel, so you just have to cut it off to the length you need. 44ft is just the standard length at that diameter. In the States, the standard diameters seem to be 8in and 10in, and Jay will be talking about a theoretical optimum, not something that one can go out and buy. I don't think you need a 10in pole - that's what the bottom of my mast is, to carry about twice as much sail. I think 8in is enough for 300 sq ft at the Benford Dory size and displacement. Just for comparison, Fantail, for example, is carrying about 300sq ft on a 6in pole.

Thanks again David.  That is very reassuring.  I think we will be able to source this fairly easily.  Now we just need to pick a source that has one available to ship.  I appreciate your insight.

Jason

David Tyler wrote:

Hi Jason,

I see from your profile that Etoile de Sud is a 34ft Benford Dory, similar to Badger, and therefore there will be two nearly equal sails of about 300 sq ft each. I think you are looking for 8in x .25in wall tubes. Greater thickness is not really desirable, as it is better to increase the diameter rather than increase the thickness. 

I see that several US flagpole suppliers offer a "hurricane" pole at 44ft overall length, 8in butt, 3.5in truck, .25in wall,  material 6063T6, and I think one of these suppliers should be able to satisfy your requirement, if you contact them about supplying a bare pole. One such is http://www.flagpolewarehouse.com/proddetail.php?prod=w323170

I would trim the top to 4in diameter, first, them trim the bottom to your required length.

Thank you David.  Is there a reason that you recommend a 44 ft. pole versus a 40' pole?  Is it to get the maximum diameter?  I spoke with  Jay Benford and he suggested a similar solution with a 9 - 9.5" base, .25" thickness and a moment (not sure what a "moment" is) of 17.83in3.  We can easily cut the poles, just need to find one a bit thicker.  Thank you for the suggestion on the hurricane poles.
Jason

Greetings fellow junkies,

I made the difficult decision to replace our wooden masts with aluminum.  I reviewed the mast database and it appears as though people there are many options available.  I'm looking for a 35ft and a 40ft masts for my schooner.  I want to make sure these masts are very strong as we plan to sail around the world through heavy weather.  


I am looking for specific source recommendations for aluminum masts.  There do not appear to be any suppliers in the US that specialize in unstayed masts for sailboats so we are likely looking at a light pole.  The commercial suppliers suggested in the JRA section (Junk Information -> Useful Links -> Sails, Masts, Gear etc) seem to have aluminum products with variable alloys and thicknesses.  I'm looking for a definitive suggestion for source and product.  I have not found suppliers with thicknesses greater than .25" but really would be interested if available.  


Once again, appreciate the responses.  Our boatyard is ready to proceed with restepping the masts and we would like to place an order this week or next for our masts.