Ditto, sorta'. The last time we went through all the 16/17 rancor, I had a chance to speak with Bob a week or so later and he was very cordial and helpful. I wish I could sail with him more.


He's a shrewd guy. My guess would be that this was more or less his intention in the first place. This thread has brought the most attention the F17 has had all year.

Too bad about all the animosity.

Bob, you should put some smiley faces on your transoms. Then I can still spot you on the horizon.

When I broke my mast three years ago, I've gotten same type of responses from Perfomance - they were moving production to New Zealand at the time. I’ve wasted half of the season waiting.
I have some fiberglass/epoxy/plywood working experience and, from my point of view, mast is repairable, but it is not an easy task. Damage on my mast (it was broken at the same point in similar circumstances) was well beyond immediate area. It splinted about three feet in each direction. I voted to park a boat and sail my old A-cat.

Vlad

Nacra F-17 – sold without much regret
Wooden A-cat – neglected, but remembered
Russian Inflatable Cat – ready for adventure
Freedom 28 Cat Ketch monoslug –summer house with waterfront.


Oops, I was answering to "broken mast" tread. Something wrong here

Contact Bill Vining (forum user) I think he has recently repaired a broken carbon A-cat mast. Or at least he can put you into contact with the people that know (and can help you out).

Otherwise going alu is not a bad option if you are not doing much racing at all.

Not that I want to introduce "the class name that may not be mentioned" here, but "the class that may not be mentioned" actually has a very lightweight true wingshape mast that is very inexpensive in retail compared to the big builder alu sections. For me here locally the difference is a factor of 3. That is saving ALOT of money. More info on this alu mast section "of the class that may not be mentioned" can be requested by contacting this company.

www.VectorWorkssail.com

At least a good modern sail can be had for this alu mast as development is ongoing. The development for the I-17 alu mast has all but stopped several years ago.

Wouter

OK, cutting away all the crap that is flying around. How I set up my Inter 17 Alu mast.


I wanted to have power, but the mast must fit the prebend cut into the sail.

1, I "Eyeballed" the sail and then ran a cotton up the luff having pegged it out to get a rough idea of the prebed in the sail. Mine came out at 22mm (IIRC).
2, I wanted a stiff mast as the Alu masted Inter 17 is underpowered, so after some fecking around I set the rake on the spreaders at about 10mm (I think).
3, I then rigged the boat and hoisted the sail. I then took the sail off the hook at the top but the sail did not fall down. I then wound on prebend until the sail fell down. Thus implying that the sail shape matched the mast shape.
4, I then tipped the boat on it's side and measured the prebend by tieing a cotton from the top of the mast to the gooseneck and paied it tight to the mast. I then measured the gat at the spreaders - 22mm.
5, When I did this the mast actually looked quite bent and so I was not sure this was right. I went sailing in lightish (F3) wind with a spanner in the tramp bag and sailed for 20 mins, reduced the prebend and sailed again. Boat was slower so I convinced myself that the mast with this much prebend was right so I put it back in.

I never changed the prebend setting, I just left it. I just used the downhaul, and with the Alu mast, you should be aiming to get the bottom of the sail touching the mast spanner (my sail had the luff eye at the bottom of the sail, some had the eye further up).

I also cross validated but putting the sail back up, Max mast rotation, max downhaul, sheeting the mainsail in tight and then ensuring that the aft diamon wire was not too slack.

Thanks Scooby,

I'll be curious to see how the boat handles with aluminum. I'm also wondering more about fixing the old carbon fiber, what kind of cost are we talking about. I was told when I bought the boat 3 years ago that a new mast was around 3 grand but apparently the cost is now between 4 and 5 grand so a fix is looking more attractive. I'm still waiting to hear a final cost for the replacement from my dealer.

Nathan

Cannot help with the repair.

As for how the boat performs, I'm sure you will find it slower in the lighter stuff, and slightly slower in the windy stuff as you have more lard to drag around. You will find the Alu section very heavy compared with the carbon one (I assume). My Alu mast was very heavy !

Yes, I know an A cat excellent sailor who has a very effective repair.

I dunno...that Nacra carbon mast section has some very different bendy characteristics but the carbon is not as light as it could be (for instance; they rarely break). Judging merely by lifting effort, the 29' or 30' Blade F16 aluminum mast is lighter.

I've fixed 7 A-cat masts: 2 were mine - from pitchpoling in lots of wind. None have broken there again. These repairs seems to work just fine, and the critical mast bend character is not dramatically changed.

Can you b e bothered detailing the repair?

Holey moley !

When I picked up Paul W's mast at Datchet a few weeks ago I thought that was real heavy !


I was expecting the Nacra Carbon section to be around 10-12 kg, are you saying it is more like 20?

I've heard the same weight comparison in the past, made by other sailors.

Pretty much the alu F16 mast as a bare section is only about 14 kg. The same bear alu section used on the FX-ones and Inter-17's (same overall mast lengths) is 17 kg. In addition the F16 mast uses lighter fittings like foam blocks end caps up the mast and not cast aluminium end caps like the big builders are using. Other examples are 3 mm dyform diamond wires instead of plain 1x19 4 mm stainless. All these differences add up.

Indeed the Inter-17 alu mast is expected to be just over 20 kg when fully fitted. If the carbon Inter-17 mast is 4 to 5 kg lighter then its alu brother then it will be right about the same weight as the Alu superwing mast as used on the boat of the class "that may not be named in this thread"

Carbon masts used "in the class that not be named" are lighter again by some 4 to 5 kg's, reflecting your expectation of 10-12 kg for the bare carbon section. The fully fitted carbon masts will be a little heavier then that.

Wouter

Nathan,

re: your broken mast, try this thread:

Bill Vining mast repair

You can always PM Bill if you have a specific question.