A storm last week did this to my mast
Some really strong wind from the side flipped the boat over. I thougt I had secured the boat sufficiently...
In a way I was lucky, because nothing else than the mast got injured.
In another way I was unlucky, I just bought the boat and hadn´t yet filed the insurance papers...

I will try to repair the mast, but I do not know if it is possible.

What is the pricing for a new mast, and who sells them?

/Magnus in Sweden

One more pic.
The boat is a Taipan 4.9.

Sorry to hear it Magnus

The good news is that it can be repaired (needs sleeving etc.). The bad news is that you won't be happy with the resulting performance.

I broke a Tornado mast just above the spreaders many years ago and had it repaired. The result was dreadful. Although the repair was excellent (done by Sailspar), the mast just wasn't the same and we couldn't get our sail to work properly. I ended up buying a new mast and keeping the repaired one as a spare. I later sold it to a guy who was homebuilding a 25ft trimaran.

I really think you need to buy yourself a blank extrusion and transfer all your fittings......... (it's the cheapest way as you're unlikely to find a secondhand mast that would suit).

You could always consider buying a carbon blank mast from John Pierce at Stealth Marine in the UK if it's difficult to get a superwing?

I repaired a mast in the past myself and indeed repairs are possible, but your mast is much more severly damaged than mine ever was. I seriously doubt wether you repair it into a dependable mast again.

It looks like the damage is between the mast foot and the hound fitting; I can the spreader wire in the picture. This part of the mast is under alot of compression load while sailing and wall buckling is a serious danger here. So you need to get the side to straighten out really well or risk having the mast buckle and collapse WHILE sailing. This will often rip your mainsail in the proces.

I would really seriously consider replacing your mast by a new one.

I bought my superwing mast from AHPC in Australia and had it shipped together with some A-cats. I payed 880 Euro's in total for the bare section and that included mark-up and European taxes. In my opinion this is a very god price to pay. I know that the big boat dealors ask in excess of 1500 Euro's for their masts.





If you go for the alu superwing mast (the one you had) over a carbon custom build mast then you have two contacts were you can buy one. Both in the Netherlands I'm afraid.


-1- Dynautic ( www.dynautic.com ); Nico Wessels-Boer has superwing masts currently in stock and new Glenn Ashby sails as well. Contact him for the price, I think he charges less than had I paid for it when I imported one myself. By fast though as I think he is down to his last 3 masts (out of his original stock of 10).

-2- Hans Klok ( www.catamaranparts.nl ) : Hans Klok is currently composing a groupdeal for the Blade F16, it should be little effort for VectorWork Marine to throw in an extra mast section; I expect this option to be cheaper than my 880 Euro's as well.


Hans Klok is currently working on a carbon F16 mast together with Pieter Saarberg (well known in A-cat circles for his carbon masts); This one will be alot dearer though. Stealth marine will be cheaper in the way of carbon masts but you must not forget that when opt for carbon that you must also buy new mainsails as the old one will not work well at all with the carbon mast (far too much luff curve)


You can have them (Nico or Hans) build up your mast or you can do it yourself. It is not too difficult and I have updated mast building instructions for you. You can improve on some things. You will need acces to a good blind rivet tang (the professional kind) and monel 4.9 mm rivets. Other tools are plain, like a electric drill etc.

I'm really sorry to hear about the damage, but I can also say that it is a relative limited expense because the Superwing masts are very inexpensive when compared. I'm not too sure what you ferry costs will be if you come and pick it up. But the costs are limited, a new mainsail will set you back alot more.

Good luck and stay in contact several of us can really help you get this sorted.

Wouter

Ok, thanx for the info.

I will go for a new superwing bare section, so I am really interested in the building instructions you have Wouter!

My email is magnus.ekman(at)volvo.com

Do you think I can use the broken mast as 2,5m beams for a F16-setup?

If I will make new beams, then I am also thinking of maybe getting a self-tacking jib kit. Do you recommend that?

As I wrote earlier, I recently had a full PC crash so it will be a little while before I can mail them to you. After my exam this friday I will spend some quality time with my new PC and try to recover the old data. But as soon as I can accept this building file I will send it too you.




Mainbeam = definately yes. It is what I have used and it is still in one piece. You will have to make a NEW dolphinstriker strap but if you do that right then there is no reason to not use the broken mast for a new and longer mainbeam. I can give you the building specs for that as well.

Mind you, my own main beam is from a broken superwing mast as well.

Rearbeam = is more probablematic, you will better of using a similar, but stronger, square section. I can do the math for you if my PC is fully restored and I can access the excel sheet with calcs again. If you have a choice then go for a 80 mm by 2 mm round rearbeam section. Easier to get and will make the beam a little stiffer. You just have to work out how to laminate the new rearbeam landing. For this issue I refer to other experts like Phill Brander or even Greg Goodall himself. Call either of them and you will get a truckload of useful information, well worth the phone costs.





I recommend getting a selftacker warmly. And I would seriously consider getting longer beams as well. It all comes down to how much you are willing to invest but both mods will REALLY make the trampoline space feel alot larger. I know it is only 160 mm difference in width but everybody who has seen the two boats next to one-another comments on how the F16 version just look bigger and more roomy. Especially if you will be sailing with a spinnaker often then get a selftacker, your crew will love it and again it gets alot of the jib hardware of the trampoline where it is often in the way of the crew. Personally I think the top three of best modifications to a standard Taipan 4.9 are -1- Getting a spi setup -2- getting a selftacker -3- getting an modern F16 mainsail. Mod number -4- is making the boat 2.5 mtr wide.

In your case option -4- is alot easier to do as you have a broken mast section. But still you will have to make a good cost-benefit comparison. The first 3 mods are all heavily favoured to towards doing it, simply because they give so much speed increase and increase in sailing joy.

If you are not getting new beams then you should still consider getting a selftacker setup. The hardware is rather inexpensive. By far the biggest cost factor is buying a new jib sail. I think that I've spend 200 Euro's on the rail and cleats and little blocks a new jib will be about 450 Euro's. You can just as easly put this on your current (old ) mainbeam if you want to

By the way, a shipment of Blades is coming over from the USA this winter (it is final now) so you can order a new section from both Nico (www.Dynautic.com) or Hans (www.catamaranparts.nl)

Wouter