Cutting a mast

[playmaker]

Help!!!! All you smart folks. The bridge clearance where my slip is 42'(no problem for my mac). However,The boat I want to purchase has a mast height of 46'.Is there a reason I can't have the mast and rigging cut a little bit? Sail shop can cut main. boat has Hood RF - not sure about this? Any comments appreciated.

[March]

I would be leery about cutting the mast down. Wouldn't that affect the rigging? Or how the sail sits on it?
Of course, the other option is to carry extra ballast that will make the boat sink about ten extra inches. Then remove the balllast once you're past the bridge.
That's why the Mac is so great. you can lower the mast AND add extra ballast that you can pump out, if you so wish.

[Rich Plumb]

You didn't give the length of the new boat, but I assume that it will be 34' to 36' judging by the mast height. Have you considered looking at the same boat in a ketch configuration? The overall mast height might be just low enough to get you though.

~~~~~~~~~_/)~~~~~~~~~~
Rich Plumb, "Plumb Crazy"

[Scott]

Playmaker, my attitude is use the right tool for the Job or in this case maybe better to buy a boat that fits under the bridge. Sounds like a lot of work that will dramatically reduce the performance of the boats original design.

[Dimitri-2000X-Tampa]

I'm with Scott...why cut a perfectly good mast down and change the design of the boat. Although I can also see the other side. I have 4 bridges to get out of the bay myself. 40, 44, 43, and 175 feet vertical clearance respectively. When I was shopping for my first keelboat 10+ years ago, I was limited to a 27 ft boat because of the 40 foot clearance. All the 28 and longer boats I saw were too tall. And even at 27 ft, it couldn't be one of the taller mast designs because I saw a Hunter 26 which exceeded 40 feet clearance. Anyway, point is that I had to find a boat that would fit under the bridges as well as have a short enough draft for all the shallows around here.

Guess that would explain why all the racing boats (taller masts) are either in St Petersburg or Davis Islands where they don't have to go under the first 3 bridges. I think most boats would fit under the 175 foot clearance bridge (Sunshine Skyway).

[playmaker]

It is a 29.5 LWL. Has a fractional rig. I was told by z-spar (maker of the mast) that it should be fine to cut it as the forestay is 8 foot down the mast and of course no backstay. Hey Demitri-I here you-Courtney Campbell is low clearance 42 foot according to coastguard. 3 bridges for me to get out of safety harbor. Scott and others, love my mac use it every week since I've got it but great deal on a 29.5 and the admiral says please get this boat more creatur comforts with a 3 yr old boy and another one in the oven What a great dilemna! Anyway do you all think the perf would be to negatively impacted by chomping the sail.

[playmaker]

Hey dimitri you must be talking about the courtney,HF,and Gandy then old Sunshine. I am in Safety Harbor marina. Do you sail mostly in the bay? Surprised I have not seen you.

[Dan B]

What is the tidal range? Maybe you need to restrict yourself to passing under it at low tide.

[Dimitri-2000X-Tampa]

Hiya Playmaker, didn't realize you were in my backyard so close! I'm out on the bay quite often, in fact, I was out at Safety Harbor last night for the fireworks with 4 out of my 5 kids. I saw several sailboats but it was just dark as I got there so I couldn't make out what type they were. I had a large American flag part way up my mast and was occasionally shining the spot light on it to get cheers from other boats

I'm actually on the Tampa side of the bay north of the Causeway, although I haven't been out much in the last 2-3 weeks (wife just had a baby last week), I'm normally out at least once a week and have always been dissapointed that I never see another Mac. I also crew on other boats in races out of St Pete quite frequently and have never seen a Mac out there either.

With 5 kids now, I wondered about getting a larger boat too but the 26X actually has a lot of interior room for its size..and the open layout is less confining than my 27 foot O'day I used to have. I decided to keep it, not only because of the low mast height, but also because of the shallow draft. In fact, wasn't paying attention last night and ran into the ground a bit off one of the channels near home...simply tilted the motor up and got back into the channel, could have been the end of the trip if I was on my keel boat...grounded that one a couple times, once real hard where I had to wait 12 hours to get it off. So, I've decided to keep the Mac and get a full enclosure so that I can sleep two people in the cockpit if need be. I always say I would be first on the list for a 30X though.

Anyway, did a bunch of work recently, new stereo, TV/DVD, carpets, and Bill just sent me a Spinnaker which I'm dying to try out soon. Put in some new lights too (rear berth, and head) which came in handy last night. The rear berth light is one of those red/white combos which comes in very handy for night vision and illuminates the companionway steps for the kids. Talking about creature comforts, I'm pretty well decked out on my Mac now, microwave oven, blender, pressure water system with a 50ft long wash down hose. Pretty much the only thing left anymore that my 272LE had which I don't have on my 26X is the hot water heater and shower. But for the most part, we shower to get sand off after going to the beach and the washdown hose works great for that (dialed into the shower position) since I can wash everyone down in the cockpit and not get as much sand inside the cabin.

Good luck with the new boat, I guess you could cut down a fractional rig some but I expect you are going to lose a little performance because of it. Maybe I'll run into you one of these days, or perhaps we could even hook up for a tandem cruise some time. My kids are 0, 3, 5, 7, and 9 years old. Send me an email or PM if you like.

[playmaker]

Dimitri,Congrats on the baby. My wife is pregnant with our 2nd and due in Oct. I didn't buy the boat yet as I decided not to cut the mast and due to very shallow waters figured with a 4 ft draft would be stuck in mud in the marina many days. Figured I'd be ruining a very nice boat. Hope to see you out there. With 5 kids -that must be quite a challenge just getting out for the day. Jim

[Idle Time]

Nice thing about the Mac.....you can tire most of them out on the water toys and have some peace and quiet for the night.