In the last four months Performance catamarans have shipped 4 masts to Texas catamaran owners. 3 of them have arrived damaged (dented) and in one case they sent the wrong mast (an old F18 mast for an Infusion, despite the order clearly stating F18 Infusion mast).

Prior to this is seemed like they at least managed a 50% success rate delivering a mast without dents or other damage.

Seems like a very poor record. Hobie so far are 100% with shipping masts in my experience. Has any one else seen the same problems with Performance? (I'm thinking it's their choice of shipping company that may be the issue).

Chris.

Shipping is always a problem no matter who the company and I think you just had bad luck. The trucking companies are very hard on things. Best way to get things shipped is to put some orders together and then get your own container or truck. also avoid the shipping that isn't point to point because then the load gets unloaded/loaded several times.

Chris has a valid point. In the past, fellow sailors have had bad luck with other products from PC as well. Spinn poles for one. We have outright given up on getting a straight one from them and went with the Sunfish Upper Boom and cutting it to length. It's the same extrusion. Unfortunately PC seems to not care too much about the US sailors. I would be curious to see what the European sailors have to say about their service. The mast issue, in my opinion, is downright unexcusable. A fellow F18 sailor in Corpus had the same problem getting new sails for his '05 boat. They tried to ship Infusion sails and didn't get the order right for atleast a month or more.

took over a month to get a spin hoop and sock from them- even through a dealer- and it wasn't the dealer's fault. They first sent poles before they got it right.

I also had a F18 mast delivered with a crease in the middle of it. The shipping tube it came in was really heavy, and I wonder if it was picked up from the ends only by the shipper and the weight of the tube caused the crease in the middle of the mast?

Nacra did send a replacement extrusion and the dealer had to switch the hardware over, but in the end everything was eventually taken care of by Performance and the dealer.

**** on my behalf.

The Aus nacra dealer isn't any better. They keep sending bent masts. I even traveled to the factory on one occasion, and the mast was bent. When I complained they said it was normal.

In the end I got sick of it. (after the mast failed) told them to send a replacement and I would never deal with the gain.

oddly enough the replacement is dead straight!

Sold the boat and replaced it with a capricorn. Much happier.

Masts are very hard things for shipping companies to deal with. If you get less than a container full of stuff, or less than truckload the package (mast) gets moved from shipping company to shipping company, even in the US the less than full truckload companies, (refered to as LTL) are a hub and spoke system, so the mast could get passed through a number of hubs and handled a bunch of times. Its pretty easy to damage a mast and the more times its handled, the higher the probability.

When I needed a mast for my Dart 16, I talked the Vanguard customer service person into putting it into a shipping container they had coming with other stuff. It arrived perfectly.

I've heard so many stories of masts arriving crushed that I would never order one mast and expect it get here undamaged.

The only way to make it arrives safe is to put it in a container and handle it once. Obviously PC isnt doing this and Hobie is.

Which would make sense since Hobie can put more stuff in a container, more frequently.

If your mast comes into a specific port it might be worth going to pick it up from the shipping company.

My brother's business is marine mechanics/boat restoration. Certain manufacturers only ship their engines on specially designed pallets that must be shipped back once the engine is received. The pallets are techy and you must pay for it if it's not returned. Engine warranty is null if the engine is shipped without it.

So, for masts, I would propose a similar thing. A hardened reusable shipping tube (maybe it can store more than one mast) for masts/extrusions. It remains the property of the manufacturer, you get to buy it if you don't return it. It may raise cost somewhat, but the gains in customer satisfaction and reduction in repetitive warranty claims would more than make up for it.

you would think the mast could be crated up and shipped in a tube (or box) that wouldn’t crush without massive mishandling

Or $40 worth of PVC tubing.

Excellent solution! Cheap, easy to find, can be made up in multiple ten foot lengths, and after unpacking, you can replumb your house.

Marstrom send its Tornado masts in wooden boxes which don't look too expensive either. Certainly worth the money.

The cardboard tube that PC uses is "industrial strength". I've stood and bounced on it without being able to put a dent in it. I normally use a saw to cut it open. However all of the damaged masts I've seen looked like they were run over by something while in transit. I've refused to take delivery on both PC and Hobie masts because of damages incurred in transit.

Twice I have shipped a mast from the west coast to the east coast (both Prindle 18 mast) and used Grable Van Lines both times - the pick up point was around the corner when I lived in Long Beach, CA.

I had stumbled across this on a lark, as I had called many freight companies for quotes. Few things:

They were cheaper than the freight companies - but you had to drop it off at thier location, work on their delivery schedule, and the receiver will need to pick it up at their location on the other end.

They checked the package when it was dropped off and helped with repacking the first time. All that had to be done was cardboard on the ends of the mast - no problem. Even left the spreaders and d-wires on. Also, put it in the trailer ASAP up top

Everything was delivered when they said it would be and is the same shape when I dropped it off. No dents, cracks, creases, bends or folds.

Maybe PC and other should look at this as, or asked to have it shipped that way.

Just felt like throwing my 2 cents in here.

Mast delivery involves a certain amount of luck or misfortune. Even with all the care someone puts into delivering it, something may go wrong. My mast traveled A LOT untill it reached destination, and it is ok.

There are a lot of things that can be made to make the delivery secure, if someone does give a damn about it...

Still if something goes wrong it is much more important how the supplier/shipping company/insurance company handles the situation and how they manage to fix it. If they are helpful and courteous and deliver new mast then the mishap won't weigh much, but if it happens repeatedly - than someone is definitely not giving a damn on satisfying customers, supplier or shipping company...

Best of luck to all you taking delivery of new masts !!!

Industrial strength is an understatement. When mine came I had to cut up the tube with a chainsaw to throw it out. The tube is much heavier than the mast. Of the 3 mast I have had shipped to me over the years, two of them were damaged in transit, one was damaged by the fork of a forklift, and the good one that made it, the mast was undamaged, but the tube was toast. I will say the that the packaging (industrial strength tube) plastic wrap, styrofoam support, etc. was very well done. The shippers are hard as hell on everything.

We received some nice Carbon masts for some H20 project years ago. All looked to have been folded to fit in a shorter truck. Heart breaker!

Those cardboard tubes are strong, but a pallet of 50 gallon drums full of product... being pushed by either a forklift or a sudden stop on the highway are sure to crush everything in their path.

To avoid damage, we try to ship on only our own full loads. We have many full trucks headed out every day, so that makes it easier.

Yeah, I've been wondering when Performance was gonna start making Kayaks! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />

There's a great point, absolutely open the shipping tube and pull the mast out before you pay or sign anything.