Splitting a mast

Boat talk and general conversation.

Moderator: Moderator

Post Reply
User avatar
Art Haberland
Major Contributor
Posts: 481
Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2014 3:08 pm
Location: The Garden State
Contact:

Splitting a mast

Post by Art Haberland »

On advice from those more knowledgeable than myself, I split Spark's Mast down the middle to repair it. Sometime in it's almost 30 years of sitting in a barn, the glue that held the two halves together had perished. After removing all the hardware all it took to seperate them was steely fingers and equally steely nerves.

Surprisingly, what I find inside was in excellent shape with no rot to be seen. Aside from the remains of an insect nest, the wood was just as clean and white as when it had been assembled way back in the early 60s. Thankfully the insects had only been using the mast as a home and next and not as a food source.

First: the hardware. All the halyards on the wooden masted GP14s is run within the mast. Mainsheet, Jib sheet, and even Spinnaker are all run up through the mast to their respective built in sheaves. This does wonders for cutting down on windage, but does make things more complicated to re-rig.

Image

Image

Image

Image

Even the bolt track for the mainsail is carved into the mast. It did suffer some damage sometime in the past, probably during her racing career in Stone Harbor NJ, but it looks to be repaired well.

Image

The internals do not look 55 years old

Image

Image

Image

Image

except for those pesky bugs

Image

I will also be replacing the standing rigging. I do not trust the original SS wire and one of the stays has a kink in it. What is everyone's opinion on dyneema?

Image

Next on the list is to drill out all the screw holes and replace with fresh wood, then I can sand the entire mast to fresh wood, glue it back together with epoxy, and varnish.
User avatar
Charlie P. (NY)
Regular Contributor
Posts: 116
Joined: Thu Oct 09, 2014 8:11 am
Location: Upstate NY

Re: Splitting a mast

Post by Charlie P. (NY) »

Some fun! Happily modern epoxies will last even longer than the resorcinol/formaldahyde glues of yesteryear - so you may not have to do it again for some time!

Looking good so far.
Charlie Pearsall
Mud Hen 17 (1986)
s/v Mad Hatter
User avatar
Art Haberland
Major Contributor
Posts: 481
Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2014 3:08 pm
Location: The Garden State
Contact:

refinishing a mast

Post by Art Haberland »

two things: Spent the better part of the afternoon sanding, so half of Spark's mast is looking good. I have no fingerprints.

I started off with heat and a scraper to remove the varnish off of the square foot of Spark's mast, and it worked a treat until it went all oval shaped. I then had to resort to hand sanding with 80grit. Only cost me three sheets and my fingerprints. At this rate I will have forearms like popeye too.
Spark is an old gal, I am going to let her wear her gray with pride. The dents and scars I could not easily get out of the wood are going to stay, forever embedded beneath her new coats of varnish.

Before:
Image
After:
Image

22.5 feet of freshly sanded mast.
Image
Post Reply