First attempt was using a bike tire folded in half, wrapped with carbon, peel ply and plastic. This worked ok, but the middle of the part has a noticable dimple on one side and a butt cheek like seam on the other. The tire tube wanted to expand into a round and didnt conform well to the shape of the mast. Plus I was using a Acat mast, and that mast wall is pretty thin, so I couldnt use a whole lot of pressure because it would deflect the mast out of its original shape.

I decided that I needed a way to approximate the shape and keep the wrap pretty close to its final shape before applying pressure. So, I used some aluminum flashing, which will bends easily in a nice fair curve. I found a larger bladder - A 6x40 Hoty dighy bladder that worked better.

Stick the bladder in the flashing, wrap with carbon, peel ply and plastic onto the flashing, and slide carefully into the mast, being careful not to wrinkle the carbon or plastic. Pump up the bladder and let cure.

Next day deflate bladder and yank the whole assembly out using plyers. The plastic is pretty slippery and the whole assembly slides out easily.

Im going to rough up the insides of both sections of the mast, and insert the splint half way into each end and glue. Once thats cured, I'm going to sand back the original mast and fair in more uni carbon.

I'll keep track of the mast bend by comparing it to my other A cat mast to make sure its similiar. Too stiff and I'll sand it a bit. Too bendy - add more carbon.

With the HT mast I've got a pretty thick section to work with so I should be able to get close to the original mast bend.


The Acat mast if more of a challenge to get close to the original mast bend, but I'm planning on using this mast with a spin, so I'll need to stiffen it up a bit.

Bill