Mast Rotation Friction?

[stndcommt]

Purchased my M last fall (used). Recently got her in the water and have enjoyed her for the last few weekends. Have noticed that that the mast is sluggish to rotate in light winds. I'm not sure whether it's caused by friction at the mounting plate area or whether the shrouds may need adjustment. Has anyone else ever encountered this. By the way have been reading the forum for several months. A lot of great info here!

[kziadie]

Provided your shrouds are not overtensioned (unlikely, most people who havent tuned their rig tend to be undertensioned) and you dont have your halyards or vang line led aft IMPROPERLY, then it is probably just friction. The factory setup has the mast pivoting on a metal washer which is not optimum. Blue Water Yachts sells a replacement ball bearing for the washer, it works great and is cheap and easy to install although you will have to take the mast down.

Kelly

[Boblee]

Will have to do something with mine too as it is pretty stiff to operate, maybe a bit of lube will do in the meantime.

[Calin]

Purchased my M last fall (used). Recently got her in the water and have enjoyed her for the last few weekends. Have noticed that that the mast is sluggish to rotate in light winds. I'm not sure whether it's caused by friction at the mounting plate area or whether the shrouds may need adjustment. Has anyone else ever encountered this. By the way have been reading the forum for several months. A lot of great info here!

Congratulations!

My mast does not rotate properly because of friction. My halyards or vang lines are correnctly installed. The shrouds are not overtensionned.
I found that if in light wind I release my vang, it rotates better. Likly that a tight vang adds extra friction. I think this is anyways the way to do in light winds.

[DLT]

The next time you drop the mast, just squirt some WD40 in there...

Even better, if you can, squeeze some of the prop grease in between the brass washers.

The earliest models had teflon washers, which eventually failed - got squeezed out. If that's the issue here, you might take a hard look at the ball bearing upgrade.

Otherwise, you probably just need to lube it... Life is better with lube...

[Terry]

The BWY Bearing for $20.00 US is the way to go, but I went an extra step. I saw on the Pearla Noir they had lines & bullet blocks connected to the mast plate and then to the baby stay attachments on the forward stantions with lines run aft so that they could control mast rotation from the cockpit. Probably not necessary but since it was easy and inexpensive I copied it, now it is convenient to be able to rotate the mast myself when winds are not strong enough.

[DLT]

Terry,
If properly lubed, you should never have to rotate it yourself, especially with ball bearings.

Heck, if there isn't enough wind to rotate a lubed or ball bearing mast, how can you expect it to move the boat? If the wind is taht light, I'll just crank the motor, if I'm trying to go somewhere, or sit back and fish, etc...

Are you sure that the lines weren't for some other purpose? For example, I have a block on either of the mast base, with lines running to blocks at the stanchion base baby stay attachments. But, those lines are my halyards, jib and main.

[kziadie]

I was in Seattle on business a few months back and stopped in at BWY just to nose around and see what they had that wasnt on their web site. The explanation that I got for the rig that Terry described is that with the ball bearing, sometimes the mast rotates too much and they use the lines to limit rotation. They say you want the mast to rotate a little when going upwind and a lot when going downwind. I have noticed that when beating or on a close reach the mast does rotate more than the boom. I have no idea how much difference it makes... I didnt bother rig the rotation lines because I dont think I am a good enough sailor to really appreciate the difference and I thought I had more than enough lines in the cockpit.

Kelly

[Catigale]

dont think I am a good enough sailor to really appreciate the difference

...i have that expression patented by overuse, kelly....

[kziadie]

OK... I was just to lazy to do it.

Kelly

[Terry]

I was in Seattle on business a few months back and stopped in at BWY just to nose around and see what they had that wasnt on their web site. The explanation that I got for the rig that Terry described is that with the ball bearing, sometimes the mast rotates too much and they use the lines to limit rotation. They say you want the mast to rotate a little when going upwind and a lot when going downwind. I have noticed that when beating or on a close reach the mast does rotate more than the boom. I have no idea how much difference it makes
Kelly

DLT,
The above was my main reason for copying, but as I was tightening my rig in the driveway I got it so tight that I could not rotate the mast easily by hand even with the ball bearings so I thought maybe light winds may not rotate it either. I have not tested it yet as weather is still unfavourable. I think I'll go price the Loos Gage.

[Cam]

Try spraying a silicone based cleaner like 'Mr Sheen'. I also use this on my garage door tracks as it does not attract dust and does not leave horrible black crap all over the place. Silicone is a fantastic lube for marine applications.

[delevi]

Spraying doesn't do much. Lube does a lot. Teflon lube works great. I have a lot of shroud tension and since I lubed up the washers at the mast base it rotates great.

[baldbaby2000]

I use teflon lube also.

[pokerrick1]

If you are in salt water, be SURE you hose down WELL at the botom of the mast where it rotates - - - my dealer JUST told me about this and it makes a large difference. Also, I just foud out the advice to release the boom vang in light winds is excellent!

Rick