MacGregorSailors.com

Long story short, I have a mast that is stressed about four feet from the base. it has a significant curvature, which is noticeable. Don't know if I can use it. I'm not looking to win any races or sail to Bermuda, just looking to day sail. Will a mast that is not perfectly straight work or have to get a new mast? Don't know how to upload a photo on here, but the mast is bent.

Thank you in advance for your advice.

Rick

Unlikely it is bent past the point of structural failure based on your description?..you would see folding, tears, other trauma if this were the case.

Any idea how it Happened?

(from 35000 feet en route to MSP)

Yes. Thanks for the response. It is not torn or cracked. It has a curvature that is noticeable. It fell once raised all the way up. Where it was attached came loose. Raised and lowered it many times but made a foolish mistake and it came crashing down. So I guess you could say it is bowed, is a better description. The channel for the sail is not bent or kinked but that's about the best description I have. I was just going to try it and if it doesn't work get a new mast. Biggest problem is that I live in Ohio and to buy a mast here custom made is very expensive and to ship the mast from California is also extremely expensive. I had one shipped previously when I first got the boat, the mast was about in the same shape and I bought a new one. At that time someone put it together with another load on their flatbed and was very reasonable. I think that was just luck but I could shop around for someone like that again, kind of like shipping wars on TV.

Thanks again,

Rick

Call all the boat dealers ( MacGregors) in your surrounding area and see who has a shipment scheduled to depart California soon..

Sail it, enjoy it, add a chain plate to the backstay if/when you sell the boat, add 1500 USD as a feature of racing adjustable lower mast bend...

As long as the mast was stressed within the elastic limit, no worries...

Take a straight 2x4 8-10 ft. long and put it next to the mast were it bends, (starting at bottom of mast )than measure the greatest distance from the straight edge 2x4 to mast.
Than let us know the greatest distance between them within 1/6 inch. If there is no signs of a crink or cracks and slide channel for sail is not disturbed, there may be a way thru low heat to straighten it.
Dave

Rick-D wrote:Long story short, I have a mast that is stressed about four feet from the base. it has a significant curvature, which is noticeable. Don't know if I can use it. I'm not looking to win any races or sail to Bermuda, just looking to day sail. Will a mast that is not perfectly straight work or have to get a new mast? Don't know how to upload a photo on here, but the mast is bent.

Thank you in advance for your advice.

Rick

I didn't see what boat you have but............ if it's a fractional rig (x boat) and it is tensioned properly there will be a arc or bend in the mast. Do you have the stays loose when you are checking the bend?

When a friend of mine dropped the mast on his Ranger 20 it fell onto the crutch and bent. We just fed it through the crotch of a tree and straightened it .

Wow - what a day

First we have a discussion about an old guy having a problem with getting his mast up (and down) and now we have a guy with a bent mast

And did you learn anything about these Posts, maybe you added a suggestion or two.
Dave

RobertB wrote:Wow - what a day

First we have a discussion about an old guy having a problem with getting his mast up (and down) and now we have a guy with a bent mast

DaveB wrote:And did you learn anything about these Posts, maybe you added a suggestion or two.
Dave

I learned way more than I wanted to

Robert... Gave me a chuckle too....

You could try to straighten it by holding the long part tightly in place ( which is not that easy) and inserting a long lever in the bottom part. I have done that with a smaller mast. Perhaps a machine shop could do that?. If the mast is really weakened a steel insert could correct that.

As long as there are no kinks or warps, it's probably fine. I say raise it, sail it, and find out. I bent my mast in much the same way, but when it's raised you can't tell. The stays keep it where it belongs and it sails just fine.

Do test whether the rotation still operates correctly however. I found that I'd also bent my mast foot, and replacing that helped quite a bit with both rotation and stepping.

The foot/base on the M is real easy to bend... it can get tweaked just from normal raising. At least mine appearse that way. It is not to difficult to bend the base back into shape as long as you have a good sturdy mounted vise and a heavy bar. Good thing is if your not happy with it Blue Water has got them in stock

Dropped the mast on my Catalina 22 years ago At the suggestion of the riggers where I purchased the boat mounted the mast between two stout trees and used the trailer winch to slowly draw down the bow being careful not to kink it. Took a large bannana shaped bow and reduced it to a still noticable rake especially in the top 1/3 of the mast length. Punch line to the story is that we sailed that boat at least another 5 years and at some point realized that the constant pressure of the wind on the tuned rig had in fact straightened the mast. That was a headsail rig so results might be a little different on a fractional rig.