Hi Richard & all,

I wasn't there for my Coromandel MissyMoto->LittleMin->minim's first or second dismasting. I believe the eventual repair by NeedleSpar involved inner-sleeving the upper mast. I look forward to examining it myself, but I expect it'll give me confidence, maybe not for much open ocean sailing, but I think a sleeve is a decent solution. I won't like to see lots of rivets...

I was aboard for mehitabel's mainmast breaking-but-not-falling in mid-passage. That started at a 3/4" vent hole with a clamshell cover screw at either side, half a metre above deck, right in front of the pilothouse window. It progressed well into the substantial, otherwise adequate timber mast, before our eyes. Got somewhere, fixed it sort of, then in NZ unstepped, much reinforced and even shortened the mast in converting to junk rig, and all's well.

Best no holes! Especially forward or aft facing. But our guilty one is still partly there, heavily 'sleeved' and proven harmless.

Cheers, Kurt

This might be a good time to ask where I might look for / how I might build a replacement mast. A mast with a hinge is handy for coastal exploration but I've long been a bit dubious about using it for, say, the transatlantic Jester Challenge. A mid-ocean dismasting would not be fun. David Tyler's shock at my hole-making has reminded me about all the other holes!

The existing mast is basically a heavily modified 8m × 100m tube of 3mm aluminium alloy.

David Tyler wrote:

Bruno,

If you should happen to read this, please could you Google "H M Bateman cartoons", and then draw one entitled "The man who drilled a hole in a junk rig aluminium mast at deck level" ready for the next JRA magazine?

Thanks.

This one I'll gladly own.

David Tyler wrote:

Leave well alone. If this is the worst that happens, the mast can consider itself well off. Talking of which, that screw through the mast near deck level!  Not good.

Hmm, the mast already has several rivet holes at roughly that level, to hold an aluminium collar around which the hinge sleeve fits. It also has a hole just below deck level that I assume was made for wiring, though the whole thing was dismantled when I got it. Perhaps the whole design is flawed. It was quite hard to figure out how the hinge was ever meant to work.

Richard Brooksby wrote:

Tammy Norie's mast has been damaged and I'd like some advice about what to do. These gouges have been caused by the screws holding in the anti-chafing strips on my battens and yard. (Ironic, eh? More detail in https://tammynorie.wordpress.com/2017/08/22/little-jobs-roundup-2017-08/.)

What do you recommend?

Leave well alone. If this is the worst that happens, the mast can consider itself well off. Talking of which, that screw through the mast near deck level!  Not good.