Mast Repair
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Help! Have an old Sparcraft 107 with a crack just below the deck. Pulled an old plate of to find it. Looking for a 2′ section of mast to create a plate. I’ve checked w/ Buzz w/0 luck. Ideas?
Can you have someone roll a piece of 5052 aluminum and rivet the piece over it?
Your assuming that someone here on Kauai has that capability. Maybe now that the mast is out I can trace the section and send to someone…Do you know anybody?
ThanksDo you have a good welder around? I would think a welder would be able to help you.
Since it has already been sleeved, welding may be your only option. Fill in the front hole everyone! That is the source of the cracks. My “newer” mast only had holes in the sides of the mast. Every mast I’ve seen with a front hole eventually gets cracks if the mast has been pumping.
I had the ends of the crack drilled and welded as well as any old holes at the deck. Then replaced the old plate. and painted. Looking good.
curious about bruce’s comment above about masts with the front hole being susceptible to cracks there. the BPM guys had the same issue:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.336991409827623.1073741831.239179072942191&type=1
i wonder how many of the rigs with this cracking are double spreader and if single spreader do the cracked rigs still have and use the baby stay.
Survey: Did your front hole mast develop cracks? What did you do about it? Single or double spreader? Factory double spreader or modified? If you have side holes, any crack issues? Ballenger mast or ????
(My mast on Spar Wars is a Ballenger replacement with stock double spreaders. It has side holes and has no crack issues)
The rig on 108 is single spreader with intermediates. Exact same rig was on Old School. Baby stay is still on 108, was not on Old School. Neither rig developed cracks. Not sure if there’s any significance to any of it.
I have a single spreader rig on hull #27 with a hole in the front of the mast. No cracks. It looks like at some time a previous owner used something (a file maybe) to remove the sharp edges from the hole. I’m no expert but I’ve heard this helps to prevent stress fractures from starting.
i wonder if the powerful purchases people use for backstay adjusting contribute to the issue as well. with a 48:1 cascade you can put a lot more tension in the backstay – therefore more mast bend. 108 had the original split wire backstay (which is getting replaced).
Probably 48:1 contributes. In my case I have 48:1 but I limit absolute max movement to 2 1/2″ (ie measured from the top block to the deck). I could probably go more but no reason as I can get enough mast bend to flatten the main out. Make sure the lowers aren’t too tight so that the mast can kick forward.
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